I cannot believe that I’ve been living in the Dominican
Republic for about four months already! It seems like time has flew by, but
also it seems like I’ve been here forever. I am super excited about going home
to be with my friends and family for two weeks, but that’s pretty much it.
Friends and well, food. You see where my priorities lie :)
I have definitely learned a lot while being here in the DR.
This place is really home to me now, and I don’t want to leave it. If all my
friends and family (and Chick-Fil-A) moved down to the DR with me, I would
never miss the States. But for now, as classes have finished and studying for
finals have started, I have somewhat procrastinated on the latter and have
really been enjoying every moment here. I woke up this morning so thankful and
grateful: for the family at SCORE, the family at GAP, this culture, and for
everything about this place. I can’t wait for second semester to start already,
and the first one hasn’t even ended!
If I look at myself from the beginning of the GAP year to
now, I can definitely tell that I’ve matured and improved. I definitely have
matured in my faith (as evidenced by all of my other blog posts), but I also
have noticed an improvement in my Spanish. I really love the language, and I’m
learning so many new things that I never would’ve learned in just a classroom
setting. I had an experience yesterday where a Dominican was talking to a bilingual
person to tell me something in Spanish, but I knew exactly what he was saying!
The Dominicans are surprised when white people speak Spanish; I think that they
are also very thankful that someone would take the time to learn their
language. And I am absolutely loving every second of it! A lot of Dominicans
speak super fast, and I’m working on that, but for the most part I can understand
a lot!
Specifically, this week was really a week to wrap everything
up and to relax after being so busy. We attended and served at the annual
Christmas party for SCORE. I loved seeing everyone behind the scenes, from drivers
to housekeepers to cooks, coming together, looking beautiful, while having fun
and just enjoying themselves. Just last night, we also performed a Christmas
play through the church. It was an absolutely fantastic night; so many people
were involved, and it was fun to see that despite all of the sound issues and
power outage concerns beforehand, that the play was still a success. I was
privileged to be able to play violin and be a part of it, as well. At the end
of the play, the Gospel was given, and very beautifully given, I might add. One
thing that I really have been struck with this week is that no matter what
language you speak, the Gospel is still the same. The beautiful thing of the Gospel
is that it transcends all culture and language barriers. My teacher gave me a
big, 500 some page book on the topic of Heaven, and while I am midst of reading
it, I sense myself thinking about the topic more and more. I can’t wait until
people from all nations and tongues will come and celebrate God together. It’s
going to be such a beautiful day, and I feel like I have been and got to
experience a little bit of that yesterday. My heart is so full and happy.
Do not
be alarmed when I am in the States, and I…
1.
…get
confused why no one is playing Latino music on full blast in their car, for
everyone else who isn’t in the car to hear.
2.
…complain
about the lack of color on our currency.
3.
...get
confused why there are no Spanish subtitles in the movie theater.
4.
…try
to start a conversation with someone in Spanish just because they look like
they could be from the DR. Or if I get a little close to the Hispanic people
speaking Spanish, because I miss hearing people speak the language.
5.
…forget
what a simple word, like “chivo,” means in English. (I now know it means goat,
but one time I did forget that word in English!)
Prayer Requests:
-Please pray for safe flights home for all the GAP students
on Thursday and for a good, restful break for each one of them.
-I am fully funded for my trip (yay!), but some people in the
GAP program still need to raise more funds. Please pray that that funds come in
so that they can continue on this wonderful journey next semester.
