Thanks for returning to read more about our adventures! This post covers our second and third weeks in Jarabacoa, which was filled with many more exciting experiences, new places, and still more changes.
On Sunday evening, we started the second phase of our “couple shuffle” and moved in with another couple from the school, Tim and Whitney. They too were amazing hosts and we really enjoyed our time with them! We spent the first few days of the week at school with some free time to get accustomed to our new roles, set up classrooms, and other more administrative things. As usual, our days began with all staff prayer, which continues to be an incredible blessing as we start our day each morning before God. On Thursday, Joe and all of the other administrative staff spent the day working on improvement projects around the school ranging from installing new windows, cleaning up neglected areas which were in disrepair from the summer, and painting the outdoor basketball court/play area. It was a good experience and just a day spent working on the physical buildings of the school gave Doulos a nice facelift!
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| (Re)Painted outdoor basketball/volleyball/hopscotch/four square court at Doulos |
On Friday August 12th, the entire staff spent the day at the local Young Life camp for an all staff retreat, which is a beautiful area removed from the city and higher up in the mountains. We spent the morning praising God in worship and learned about service, primarily through the symbolic act of washing one another’s feet. One of the main goals of Doulos is to train students to become servant leaders in their communities and throughout the country of the DR. As a staff, we seek to exemplify the qualities of servant leadership in order for the students to have a model to follow. It was an incredibly humbling experience and very valuable for both of us. In the afternoon, we were given free time to swim in the pool, play games in the field, and just relax/hang out. It was a great day!
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| "Pool" at the Young Life camp (filled by a mountain stream) |
The next day Joe had an opportunity to hike up one of the rivers near town (called Rio Camu) with some of the other men at the school. It was about a two mile hike up to two beautiful waterfalls with several fun stops along the way to jump off of 10 foot cliffs into deeper pools of freezing cold water down below. While Joe was out hiking, Christen went to a pancake breakfast at a few of the other teacher’s house, got a haircut, and spent the afternoon finishing her classroom set-up.
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| Hiking up the river |
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| The destination: beautiful waterfalls |
On Sunday, we returned to the church we have been attending , called “La Vid” (The Vine in English) with T&W. The services are done mainly in Spanish, but from time to time, they do have translators for the sermon. It has been a bit of a struggle for Christen, but in the long run, it should help her Spanish develop a bit quicker. After church, we had lunch and relaxed and then later that afternoon, we began phase three of the “couple shuffle” and moved in with another couple from the school, Rob and Meghan. We had a great week with T&W filled with laughter, stories and just generally good times. At the same time, we looked forward to getting to know R&M better. We even got their entire apartment to ourselves on the first night since R&M were housesitting for some friends who are missionaries with another organization in Jarabacoa. While it has been great being with these wonderful couples, it was very nice to have an afternoon and evening to ourselves.
Monday and Tuesday of the following week were local holidays, so work was “optional,” but since we both did not feel like we had gotten much done in the first two weeks, we decided to come in to school to get some things done (at least for the morning). Tuesday marked our third wedding anniversary, and so after sleeping in and then spending a few hours at the school, we walked back to R&M’s and relaxed, went on a run (which turned into running in the rain as the weather took a turn for the worse right after we started), and just enjoyed one another’s company. We dined that evening at a local restaurant called “La Parrillada” and had some of the best bruschetta either of us have ever tasted. It was a very enjoyable, yet simple day and we are continually grateful to God for the strong marriage he has blessed us with and all of the great support and encouragement we receive from all of you (so, thank you)!
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| Celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary at "La Parrillada" in Jarabacoa, DR |
Wednesday August 17th was the first day of school at Doulos and we were introduced to many new traditions here. Every day begins at 8am in the amphitheater on campus with announcements, the singing of the Dominican national anthem, prayer, and what is known as a “Doulos” for the day. Essentially this is some acrobatic act or “cool” move followed by pumping a fist in the air and shouting Doulos! First the volunteer for the day who “has a doulos” gets up on stage to demonstrate and then the rest of the students and staff follow suit and the entire school does the doulos. It’s been pretty entertaining what the kids come up with and always gives us a good laugh in the morning.
Christen’s first day of classes went well for her. She was a bit nervous, but God calmed her nerves and allowed her to use the great teaching skills He’s blessed her with to make an immediate impact on her students. She is teaching 6th grade devotions, 6th – 8th grade science, and 9th grade health. This means that she has five different classes to prepare for, which she says is “mucho trabajo” (a lot of work).
Joe is also teaching a class, in addition to his Finance Director roles. He was asked to teach a devotions class for high school once a week (on Thursday mornings) and decided to go through a sermon series (and book) by Chip Ingram entitled “Good to Great in God’s Eyes: Ten Practices Great Christians Have in Common.” He has 17 students and is really enjoying the experience thus far. Christen has also really enjoyed her students although the 6th grade class has been quite difficult for all of the Middle School teachers.
After school on Friday, we enjoyed a dessert party with friends from school which was to celebrate several birthdays from the summer which passed while they were back in the states. We played some fun games and got to know some of the other staff a bit better in a social setting, which was really great. The following morning we traveled with R&M to Santiago, the nearest city (about 45 min down the mountains) to go to La Sirena, which is essentially the Domincan equivalent of WalMart. We were able to purchase several items that we needed to outfit our home and see a bit more of a bigger city as we drove through town to the store. Despite being in the store for about two and a half hours, we both agreed that the experience was less frustrating than when we registered for wedding gifts three years ago! To cap off the evening, we made a great Italian dinner at R&M’s and spent the evening playing Settlers of Catan and other games with three other teachers from Doulos.
We continue to enjoy our time here and are amazed daily at the beauty of this part of the world. More importantly, we are blessed to have a God who provides for all of our needs and great family and friends to share in these experiences with us! We hope this finds you well and hope to hear from many of you soon! SDG
Love the updates! You both continue to be in our prayers!
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