Friday, March 31, 2006 I have encountered the mighty beast March 30, 2006 Hey, sorry, I know it’s been another week and I still haven’t posted anything but I really tries last weekend but I couldn’t because the internet was out at the café. However, this weekend I think I am going to Nicole and Pedro’s in La Vega, so I should be able to use the internet there. Well, that’s see…this week….I know really think anything that exciting happened. Our topic for lecture this week was Spiritual Warfare. That was pretty cool. I learned a lot. It a good thing we are having this class now too because that is a big problem in Haiti especially with all the Voodoo and stuff. I’ve heard some pretty crazy stories about Haiti. Oh, and there was something else that I wanted to mention. Please be praying for me and my team in Haiti. I was talking to people who have grow up there as missionary kids (Americans) and they said that they wouldn’t go into Haiti. There has been a lot of kidnappings and it is a very dangerous place. Now, don’t worry too much. We have many connections and I’m sure our leaders know they are doing, but that doesn’t mean that we are exempted from danger and as American, we have big targets on our backs. So…uhh…just pray. March 31, 2006 Well, I am here at the home of Pedro and Nicole where I will finally be able to use the internet, and use it a lot. However, right now, I don't really have anything to say. Let's see...I told you about Haiti...the class this week...umm....well, it rained a lot. One day I when swimming in the rain (well, I went swimming in the pool while it was raining) that was pretty fun. OH! last sunday I FINALLY got to make guacamoli, in fact I made it for everyone. I almost forgot how much I missed it. And there was one night, I can't remeber which night, but Carry was staying with us (me is married so she usually stays with the husband, for some reason) and we took out all my candy and had a girls night. So look at the picture, there is proof, yes Bill, I AM sharing the candy. It was a really fun night. Well that's all I really have for now. I think tomorrow we are going to the beach so that should be fun. Well I'm out for tonight. However, before I go. I will live you with one terrifying image. The monster the the Domincan. It's screaching cries can be heard throughout the night, stricking fear into the hearts of all who hear it and know it's formilliar call. It's beedy eyes pierce through the darkness like crystals illuminating a fearsome cave. It may come out of nowhere and dissapear into the darkness just as fast. No one is safe and no one can hide. Behold! The monster of the Dominican! Behold it! Fear it! And for the love of God, don't mess with it! (Unless of course your not a panzy Dominican, in which case you can pick it up, be perfectly fine and everyone will still freak out).

Hey, I know it’s been a couple of weeks but it’s really hard to find the time to write. Let’s see, what happened since the last time I wrote…well, Bill was here, wow that seems like a long time ago. It was a really busy week and we all had a lot of work to do but I think Bill had a good time. We went to the waterfall again. I went ahead of the group a little because I knew the way (and they were going kinda slow) and in this time, by myself, hiking up a mountain to get to this waterfall, in the Dominican jungle…I don’t know, would you call it a jungle? There were palm trees and stuff. It seemed pretty junglish to me. But anyway, I took this time to get in touch with my inner Amazon Women. Pretty tough looking, isn’t she? I wouldn’t want to mess with that. Anyway, it was another really good time. On Friday, we had a going away banquet for the West Pointers. That was pretty cool. We got a chance to dress up a little bit. It was outside and at the end of the banquet we were singing and it started to rain. It was a really cool time of singing to God and with each other. So that was last week. Oh yeah, something pretty important that I should probably tell everyone: I’m not going to Guyana anymore. There were just too many things going wrong with it. I for one wasn’t feeling too good about it and I guess one of our leaders had pulled put because she didn’t feel too good about it either, two students had also pulled out. Also the lady that was our contact there said that she really wasn’t feeling peace about us coming, and also the lady that was supposed to receive us broke her leg. Finally, the one student who everyone though was really set on going had just called a meeting where he was going to tell us that he didn’t feel good about it either. Now, I’m not quiet sure, but I think God might be trying to tell me something here. I mean, it’s a little fuzzy but I’m thinking that maybe I’m not supposed to go to Guyana. But its actually pretty cool because I was really going back and forth between Guyana and Haiti but I just thought that I would just pick one and that if God didn’t want me to go there something, would happen. So, I’m going to Haiti and I’m SO excited. I really like the team I’m going with and so glad that I get to return to Haiti. Also, it’s quite a bit cheaper. It’s only going to be about $850 instead of over $2,000. And the best thing about it is that now I know that this is where I am supposed to go. Now for this week, the main thing that stuck out this week was what we did Friday night. We had a concert in the street in Jarabacoa. We did some dramas (which were really cool by the way, I videoed them all and I’ll have to show them to you all when I get home, remind me) and then Logico did a rap concert (I also just want to mention that this was a rough neighborhood and they told us that before hand) Now I just want to tell you a little bit about Logico; he is an amazing young man with an amazing story. Now he is a professional rapper and he uses that as his ministry. His turn around is amazing. I’ve been getting the opportunity to get to know him better lately and it has been SO great. I mean, this guy has gone into neighborhoods that the police wouldn’t even go into so that he could share with them what God had done in his life and those people really relate to him and lives have been changed because of him. But seriously, his music is awesome. I love it. I have his CD, that’s right he has a CD! Bill has it, so if you want to listen to it, you should talk to Bill, or, better yet, if you want to buy it, you can let me know. It’s $10 and it’s seriously worth it. Also, it would help him raise his outreach money. (He’s going to Africa so it’s going to be over $2,500 for him) But truly, seriously, it’s a really good CD so just let me know if you want one. Can I just say something? God is really cool, you know. I mean seriously. It’s amazing when you look at someone like Logico (his real name is Carlos, Logico is like his “rapper name”) and just see what God has done. I feel like a lot of times this “God” that everyone is looking for gets lost in the United States. We go to church (some of us) and we think that that’s it, that that’s God. We are so wrong. There is so much more, SO much more. I mean, do you have any idea? The things I’ve seen, I’ve done. I can’t describe it, but it’s God. For those who really know me, you know the things that I’ve dealt with and you know were I was. Do you know how many things I tried to make those things better? But they all failed one after other until I tried God. Now I’m not talking about the “church God” the God on the stain glass windows of the Catholic Churches or the Baptists churches, or ANY churches for that matter. But the real God, God who sent his son to die for us, not so that we could go be board a church every Sunday but who wants nothing more that to just have a relationship with us, to make things better for us, to save us, to free us from anything and everything. Anything and everything, maybe not every one knows what it’s like to be a slave to something, but I do. But I’m free now. Now I understand that probably some of you are a little lost. Drop me an email. I’d be glad to talk to you. Some of you might also be thinking, “Wow, yep, I’m pretty sure they brain washed her, doesn’t she know that’s she’s kind of making a fool of herself?” Well, one) I don’t care, two) those of you who know me know how I get when I’m passionate about something, this one of those times and three) those of you reading this, chances are that I love you and care a lot about you and if I found something that worked for me, I mean really worked, I want to share it with you. I mean think about it for a second, why is it so hard to believe? So I just want to challenge you, think about what I am saying. Think about a God who is real and who really doesn’t care if you go to church because more importantly he just wants you first. Just try to think about it. Why am I saying all of this all of a sudden? Well, what kind of a person would I be if I devoted my life to being a missionary and helping people and I never stopped to help those who are most important to me? and because why? Because I was ashamed, embarrassed…uncomfortable? That would be horrible, you guys are worth more to me then that and I just want you to know it. Yes, you are more important to me then what you think about me. So just think about what I’ve said, take it to heart and I’m just sorry that I was too scared to share with you sooner. God Bless and I love you! (Dude, I have such a big smile, just, like, plastered on my face right now:) Oh yeah, and I caught a lizzard -->

Sunday, March 12, 2006 Hey, ummm this is going to be kind of a sloppy entry because one) I want to make it quick and two) I didn't write anything before. So, let's see, what happened this week. Well, Bill's here. That's pretty cool, I guess ;p Well, this week we've mostly just been working hard to get everything ready for the WestPoint team. There is about 40 students here from West Point that came here to work and we had to get the place that they are going to stay ready, so we were cleaning out a lot of place that were used for storage for them to sleep in. It was a very dirty job, and dusty (hance the masks). There is also another team that came in today from the states. So it's kind of weird around here because most of the Dominicans went to the capital this weekend and now I'm sorrounded my Americans. And Having Bill here too, I think I'm experiencing reverce Culturen shock. Seriously, it's been hard. But Bill has gotten me into trouble already. Last night, his first night here I might add, he was showing me a swing dance move and he was flipping me around and my foot hit the light and it fell and shattered. Sandra, Pedro and Nicole were there too and we all were laughing really hard. But we felt really bad. It was only a bulb really so we offered to pay for it but they said that it won't be a problem, we just felt stupid. On a sadder (more sad?) note, my braids were starting to fall out so I took them all out. I'm still pretty depressed about it. I didn't even really want to take them out, I just started to and then about half way through I'm like "WHAT AM I DOING?!" but...by then, the damage was too great and they could not be recovered. but anyway, I miss them a lot. I'm definatly going to do them again before I go home and I might do them for my outreach too. So, well I think that's going to be it for now, I miss and love you all very much!

Sunday, March 05, 2006 I Need Your help As you know, I will be going to Guyana on my international outreach. The final cost is still unsure, but I expect it will be about $1,500-$2,000. If you would like to help or have any ideas on how I can get this money, please let me know. Also, The Dominicans here need to somehow raise their outreach money too. Many of them have no idea how they are going to do this. It is amazing that many of them were even able to pay for the lecture phase. If you would like to help you can talk to my parents or get ahold of me (by email or however) you can give the money to my parents, but if you want it to be tax deductable you need to send it to YWAM. I'm not really sure how to do that yet but I will let my parents know and they can get the word out. Also, and more importantly I could use your support through prayer. Here and in Guyana, we have a will be facing many challenges then are pretty unformilliar to us in the US. If you are not a regular prayer or don't pray, I suggest that this is a good time to start:) well that's it for now. I LOVE YOU ALL! DIOS TE BENDIGA!! posted by Lauren @ 9:15 AM 2 comments March 1, 2006 Sorry that I haven’t posted anything in a while. It’s pretty hard when we have to use the Internet café, especially to post pictures, but nevertheless, I will still try. So, let’s see, the last two weeks…well, the week days are pretty much the same. I stayed at the base again last weekend. It was pretty nice. They took us out for pizza Friday night, (luckily everyone gave me their crust so it was all good). Then Saturday was awesome! Saturday four of us went to this waterfall. It was close enough that we could walk to it. We went to the regular touristy part and saw that waterfall and it was okay, but then we found this other pretty rough looking trail that apparently led to another waterfall so we, me, Adave, and Jeremy (Jeremy is this guy from Chicago who was in the Dominican with a Prophetic missions team and when this team when home, he just decided to stay a little longer) went up this trail. Adave, poor Adave, was the only Spanish speaker with us but he is so cool. He drew the map of how to get there on his hand and we just followed him, and he didn’t fail us. When we finally got there, there was this beautiful waterfall falling into this small pool and we went swimming. It was so amazing, it looked like the places you see pictures of all the time and always wish you could go there. There were also a bunch of big rocks to climb around on and explore. It was so much fun. Jeremy is a climber and Adave is just and crazy little monkey man, so with there help, we pretty much explored most of the area up there. Also, you can climb down threw these little holes in the rock into these cave-like things. It was so amazing. I just kept thinking, I can’t believe I’m here. Well we pretty much stayed there all day. Sunday, we went to church and then went in to town for a little while. I went with Nicole, Pedro, and Sandra. We call ourselves the Fantastic Four (or Los Cuatro Fantastico). We always have so much fun. We had a little picnic in town and then went to the Internet Café. So that was pretty much my weekend, it was pretty good, I would have to say. All right, now, as for this week: well it’s only Wednesday, and nothing exciting usually happens on the weekdays so I don’t really have much to say yet. This week’s class is on "World Missions." OH! And one pretty exciting things is that I should be getting my package tomorrow! I’m pretty happy about that. Oh, and this also reminds me that if you want to send me anything (packages, letters, CHOCOLATE, whatever…) you have to send it to this address: YWAM DR/DTS Attn; Lauren McConkey PO Box 24770 West Palm Beach, FL 33416 They’re pretty picky about this and chances are that I probably would get it if its not labeled correctly, but send me mail. Please, I really like getting it. PRAYER REQUEST: · That me and the rest of the students here, especially the Dominican who don’t have any many resources, would be able to raise all of our outreach money. · SPANISH, SPANISH, SPANISH! · Patience with people. There some people here (especially one person in particular) are a little bit harder to love then the others · Patience the rules and authority. I have been having a frustrating time, lately, with some things that have been going on. · Just that all of us here are safe and health, there has been a bit of a cold going around. · My Mexico children. I MISS THEM SOO MUCH! Well something very hard happened today. I chewed my last piece of gum. This is when I start to see what I’m really made of. Well, I don’t think I really have anything else to say for now. You can call me! It is very hard for me to call out, very very hard HOWEVER, if you want to, you can call me. You can get the number from my dad and you can call me anytime between 5-7:30 on weekdays and pretty much any time on the weekend. I must warn you however, that the calls would probably have to be pretty short but I would still like them all the same. Now, here are some random facts about the Dominican: · You generally greet someone with a kiss on one side. (Usually the guys actually kissed your cheek and the girls just go cheek to cheek but I don’t think guys do this to each other, they just usually hug or shake hands) · Here and it most part of The Dominican the plumbing isn’t so good, so you can’t flush the toilet paper down the toilet (if you’ve ever been to Mexico, it’s the same thing) · Most Dominicans are very afraid of frogs, I don’t really know why, but a frog was in our classroom one time and everyone freak out and me and Sandra were just like "we don’t get it." I thought I maybe heard something about frogs being related to some kind of evil thing, I’m not really sure. · Santa Domingo in the Capital · Haiti and the Dominican have had a long history of conflict, many times The Dominicans will look down on the Haitians (I heard it said that Haiti to The Dominican is kind of like how Mexico is to the United States) · For the most part, the bigger cities are pretty modern (I went to a Movies in a mall in Santiago and it was just like a mall you would see in the States) · They eat a lot of rice and chicken and, of course, PLANTIANS! We have rice with our meals probably 5 or 6 times a week. · They use, I guess want we would just think of as bananas, they have Ginaos, (sp?) which would be like our regular yellow bananas but they rarely eat them the way we do. They usually boil them when they are really green still. They are kind of similar to a baked potato. Then they also have platinos (or plantains) which they eat all the time in many different ways. The ways I’ve had them are as tostidos (which are pretty much like the fried bananas I would make) and mongu, (MON-GOO) which is boiled and then mashed, very similar to mashed potatoes. All of this just reminded me of all the different foods I’ve eaten here so here I go with another list: · Fried Egg plants (which is really good, I can’t even really describe it) · Queso Frito or Fried Cheese (which is also amazing but doesn’t it just sound horrible for you?) · This thing that’s kind of like a fried corn bread balls, I forgot want it’s called but it’s one of my favorite things here. · I had an Empenada, it’s kind of like a Fried taco and it can have all different kinds of stuffing but the one I had had cheese and bacon in it · They also have these chips that are made from plantains that taste just like potato chips but a little better I think that’s about it. Overall I would have to say that I like Dominican food pretty well, but as you’ve probably notice almost everything comes fried, which can’t be too good for you. March 3, 2006 Well, I guess for the first time in a long time sense I’ve been hear, I kind of feel alone. The Fantastic Four have split. Sandra went to the capital with her small group leader and Nicole and Pedro went home, they (Nicole and Pedro) asked me if I wanted to go with but I decided to stay. I went to bed at 8:30 last night! It was really nice through because I got, like, twelve hours of sleep. Today went and helped with the clinic. There was a group of doctors and nurses that came in for a week or so and I went with to help. I didn’t really do much. However, they did need me to translate a couple times so that was pretty cool. I also played with the kids some. That was nice. I don’t really know what all I have planned for the rest of this weekend. It’s kind of weird being without Sandra, Nicole and Pedro. I think tomorrow I’m going to go into town with one people and then to the waterfall again.

Sunday, February 19, 2006 I have bad news... I'm sorry but I don't think I will be able to have picture for at least this time and the last one. However, I will attempt to create vivid imagry with my detailed desctiptions. (Or, I'll probably just show you the pictures when I get home). Okay well, for this week. Umm. I guess we'll start with monday. What..was..Monday..? OH! that's right, my birthday. Yeah, it was pretty cool. I woke up to my roomates singing. And then I went to breakfast and there was more singing. I then, that night, they throw we a suprise party. It was pretty cool. Nicole and Pedro can me a necklace. I think it looks very Dominican. So that was my Birthday. All in all it was a pretty cool day. Oh, and a big Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. Thanks for remembering me even when I'm not in the same country. It was pretty cool because the next day was Valentine's Day, so we had another party...WITH HEART COOKIES! it was so wonderful. We don't have many sweet things here and Chocolate is supprisingly, super expensive. (Thanks Colleen, when I saw that chocolate you sent me, I pretty much almost cried, it's true.) However, here, they DO have really good (and cheap) fried chicken. Why, I think that when I'm done with this, I might just get some. The rest of the week went by pretty fast. I'm glad it's the weekend. Hmmm...what else did I do this week. OH YEAH! I got my hair braided... with extentions! It's pretty cheap hear and SO easy to take care of and I LOVE having long hair again. Sorry I can't put a picture on yet, but I will eventually. I think I might have it done agian before I go home. Well, I think I know where I'm going on my outreach. Guyana (find it on a map) it's in South America, one of the Northermost coutries. Apparently that speak mostly English here so that should be nice, HOWEVER, I am the only American going so hopefully my spanish it pretty good by then. This is the first time this base is sending a group down there and there are only going to be four student and I'm not sure how many leaders. We are going to help a lady down there who has been woking at a YWAM base by herself for many, many years. She has taken up many responibilities in her area and has even been working with and learning the lauguages of the surrounding tribes. I guess it is right on the edge of the jungle. So I'm pretty excited about this. But, again, it's not for sure yet. I think we find out on monday where we are going for SURE. WEll, I know these keep getting shorter and shorter but I'm running out of time so I'm gonna have to get going. We are going to the church on the pastor that was our speaker this week. I really liked him. His lesson what on interpersonal relationships. well, I really better go this this. Hopefully next week, I can get the pictures working again. Adios !

Saturday, February 11, 2006 My Birthday weekend continues... I keep telling people that it's not my birthday until Monday, but Sandra said that in her family they celebrate the who weekend, so we are to. First Pedro's Parents took us out to dinner. Then we walked around La Vega for a little while. It's kind of interenting because it you want to buy water to drink, you can buy it in bags instead of bottles. I guess it's probably cheaper that way. It's only about two pesos (which is about 6 cents). Me and Sandra and Nicole, which took me a little convincing, got a pedicure, and guess how much (mom your going to freak out) it was only 30 pesos (which it about $1 US) crazy, huh? But not everything is that cheap, most things are pretty comparable. But I must say, my toes look pretty nice. After that we went back to their house for a little bit and then we went to a movie, The Pink Panther. It was pretty funny. It was in English too, just with spanish subtitles. Then we went to eat at this place that had really good empanadas (if you don't know what they are, I can't really explain them, but they are really good.) Then we had ice cream at Baskin Robins (I had chocolate Browie). I swear, I've eaten so much on this trip. And THEN we went to an arcade. (Who knew that the Dominican had all this stuff, I guess it's a little different then Haiti and it also depends where you're at. Oh, yeah, I forgot, we also got to see some on the historial site is La Vega. We saw some of the big Catholic churches and this "Holy Hole" thing where some tree was planted my Christaphor Columbus or something. Pedros mom was telling us that when she was little, her mom used to put her it there to try and "make her Holy." Crazy catholics (just kidding Colleen) but seriously, what the heck? She also was sent to a catholic bording school when she was only 6 years old. And at this school, a child wet there bed, they would have to stand outside with the matress on their head until it dried. Sad, huh? But the Catholics are pretty extreme here. Well anyway, that was my day, I think now we are going to watch the rest of the movie we rented. Bye for now

Friday, February 10, 2006 Finalmente, el fin de semana! February 10, 2006 Well, I hope don't dissapoint anyone but I didn't keep a journal of everyday this week like I did last week. Instead I will just try to recap. Right now I am at Pedro and Nicole's house. We invited us to stay here for the weekend. Tonight we are going to Burger King for supper and then tomorrow we are going to a movie...in the Dominican, AHH! Me and Sandra are so excited because we get to be tourists for the weekend! They are going to take us to some of the historical sites in La Vega. (by the way Jarabocoa, the town that I am staying in, is a suberb of La Vega) So we get personal tour guides. Okay, but as for this week: well, the schedual was the same as last week. We did talk about our outreaches a little bit (for those of you who don't know we have outreaches at the in April where we go to another country for about a month) The outreach options are. Uzbekistan-Asia, Peru- in which we would need to travel by boat for three days to get to the village where we would work, North Africa-where we would work with the Saharawi tribe (they are refugees from Spain), possible Guyana- in South America where we would work with a woman who has taking on many responsibilities in her city, including an Aids clinic, AND the love of my life, Haiti. I don't really know where I am suppost to go yet, I'm still waiting on God. By the way, if you ever want to hear some pretty intence stories. Talk to me when-sorry I have to go to burger king now. Okay, I'm back. What I was saying before it that if you ever want to hear some pretty crazy stories come to be, I'm not gonig to put them on here because I don't know who all will be reading this and I don't want to scared people. Anyway tonight was amazing. It was SO much fun. We kind of celebrated my birthday and we went to Burger King and this was the first time Nicole and Pedro had been to Burger king in like a year. It's a lot more expensive for them here. But when we were there they got me one of those Burger King Crowns and told me to wear it for my birthday (as if I didn't stick out enought already being as white as I am) and Pedro took down some of the balloons they had a decoration, it was pretty funny, and they sang happy birthday to me. After that we went to an ice cream shop and I got this really good ice cream, Pistacio. Then we all wanted to take a picture so we used the timer on my camera. I was setting it up and they were all ready and then I pressed the bottom and hurried to get over to where they were for the picture but the camera was kind of in an unsteady spot and I nudged it and it tipped out of place and then I was trying to hurry to fix it because we only had ten seconds before it would flash but I just kept running into things and I ended up knocking over a chair and the camera and just got a picture of the ceiling. We all were laughing SO hard. It was just like something that would happen with me back home. But then we finally go the picture. After that we just walked around town for a little while trying to find an open store. (If you want to hear the interesting storie of why, girls, I'll tell you later.) Then we finally did and then rented a movie from a video store the Nicole's uncle owned. Then we walked back to there house and watched the movie until we went to sleep. By the way, Pedro and Nicole live with Pedro's family and it's Nicoles job to do the dishes so I helped her for that night too. I don't really know what we're going to do today. I think were going to go see a movie. They said that if we come over another weekend, that we could probably go to the beach. Well I think that's all I have for now. Adios!

Sunday, February 05, 2006 This is a spanish computar so I hope it works January 29, 2006 Well, I’m approaching the end of my first day in the Dominican. I will try to recap the past couple of days; this is what I wrote in my journal on the way to here: January 28, 2006 7:25am So I’m on the plane, we’ve just taken off, I’m listening to "At the bottom of everything my Bright Eyes (a song about a plan going down mind you), my eyes are still wet with tears from good byes and the only thing I can honestly think is ‘what am I doing here??’ and that’s kind of where I’m at right now. Turbulence, great… 4:20pm (I lost 2 hours) So, here I am, sitting in the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, waiting to board my flight to the Dominican. I spent $6 on a sandwich and $4 on a Puerto Rico bird statue (I had to get SOMETHING from Puerto Rico) and still I’m kind of wondering what I’m doing, ‘why did I want to do this again?!’ And then I look up and see the Haitian flag, and I remember, and I’m not scared anymore. (well… maybe a little) but mostly just excited So I’m on the plane now. I think this is probably the most awesome flight I’ve ever been on. There are only about 40 seats total and less then half of them are filled. It’s kind of cool too because I am the minority. I’m the only Caucasian person on this flight, including the pilot and the flight attendants. Now I’m getting really excited, however, it kind of sucks being the only one on the flight who doesn’t speak Spanish, but hopefully that will be different on the way home! When I got to the airport in the Dominican it was kind of funny because I was taking a lot of picture and I’m sure everyone was thinking, "look at that stupid American." I felt even more stupid when I realized that, yes, many of Dominicans at the airport don’t speak English, I guess they speak Spanish or something, huh, imagine that, Dominicans speaking Spanish…anyway it did pose a little bit of trouble in trying to get my visa but it all turned out okay. However it wasn’t too long before another little problem popped up; the airport had somehow misplaced one of my bag, but I don’t think that that should be too much of a problem, they said they would send it to me. Then luckily I found the people who were there to get me and it was about a 45 min drive back to the base. We had hot dogs for dinner and I slept very well that night. January 30, 2006 7:48am I haven’t had much time to right but I will try to recap the last two days. Yesterday was my first full day here. They let us sleep in until seven (versus the usual six) and then we had breakfast, cereal (something similar to fruit loops.) After that we kind of just waited for the Dominicans to arrive and boy you could tell when they did. They are very friendly, very excited people. I just remember a line of Dominicans, one after another, hugging me, kissing one cheek and then asking my name and saying theirs, nice to meet you, etc. I didn’t remember a single name. The place became a lot more lively once the Dominicans came. We had chicken and rice for dinner afterward I talked with two Dominican guys for a while. They said that they wanted to learn better English and I told them that I wanted to learn better Spanish, so we agreed to help each other. It is so pretty here; you would not even believe it. It’s like a picture. There are all different kinds of palm trees and beautiful flowers everywhere. Rich people in America would pay A LOT of money to get their property to look like this. And then you add the mountains in the background and you almost can’t even take it, it doesn’t seem real. I can tell already that I’m going to really love the Dominicans. I just wish I could speak better Spanish. But they are all very friendly and very willing to help you out. There are two other Dominican women stay with us, me and Sandra (Sandra is from El Paso, Texas. She was the first one here and she helps me out a lot. She is thirty years old) I don’t quite remember the names of the Dominicans yet but they are both very nice. I think one’s name is Yohanni (sounds like JO HONEY) I like her a lot. She is very pretty. Last night, at dinner, she gave me some of her food because she said I wasn’t eating enough (The Dominicans are very generous with there portions) Anyway that’s all I have time for now, I will have to write about today, later. 9:08pm Today was very cool. We got up and ate breakfast, pancakes, and then had class. We all introduced ourselves and the Dominicans are muy loco, in a good way. Every introduction was this who big ordeal. It was funny. Then there was this who student, Carlos, who is a professional Dominican rapper and when his turn came he just stared doing it up all rapper style and all the Dominicans were getting into it, it looked like a music video. I was like ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve died and gone to hip hop heaven. Then at lunch I told him that hip-hop was one of my favorite kinds of music and that I even was in a hip hop dance group. Later after dinner that news got out and they wanted me to teach them. Then they started a beat and wouldn’t stop until I dance for them. I was a lot of fun. They were all like, "Go Lauren, Go Lauren." Carlos also said that I looked like Lauren Hill (which I think is a bit of a stretch) they said that if I just painted my skin black I would look just like her. It was very funny. But then Carlos said that I was black at heart because I liked hip-hop. (I knew it all along, hehe) They later invited me to dance with them and practice some moves. I SO am meant to be here! It’s funny, they also play this game where there is a rope hanging from the ceiling with a ring on it and you have to try and get the ring on this hook on the wall. It’s pretty hard and surprisingly entertaining. There is also this little girl (hey, a child) named Isabella who is five. She likes to play on my computer. She is the daughter of the director of this DTS. She’s very cute and she keeps saying "Yo quiero ser tus aminga, yo quiero ser tus aminga" (I want to be your friend) she is very sweet. I thought I had my mind pretty well set on wanted to go to Haiti, or possibly even Peru, but the more I hear about North America, the more I want to go there. Roberta was telling me about them; they are refugees from Spain who settled in the Sierra Desert and they speak Spanish. Laura (one of the staff, she did her DTS with Jessica. She is from Puerto Rico and is very cool) showed me pictures today and told me stories about her trip to Africa. It sounds Amazing! Well I think that’s all I have for today. I’m going to work more on my Spanish. Buenos Nocha! January 31, 2006 Today was kind of the first actual day, we got up at 6:00am for devotions then breakfast, free time, then class. Class today was about hearing God’s voice. It was very interesting. I was thinking about Colleen while listening and I wish she could have been there. Later we talked about what are work duties will be for our time here. I ended up with working with computers and hospitalities (cleaning). After that we went into town. It was really fun. It seemed a lot safer then in Haiti. I mostly stayed with Porfolio. I help him with his English and he helped me with my Spanish. Yo pienso me espanol es major que ante. (ßcheck it, is it right?) Then we got alado (ice cream) on the way back we sat next to Carlos the rapper and he rapped for me. He said he was going to get me a CD. So when I get home, you all can listen to it. Then SOMEHOW I ended up rapping the MC peepants song for Aqua Teen (some of you know what I’m talking about). I didn’t want to, be once they start the beat, there is pretty much nothing else you can do. It was fun though. Before I go for now, I have to apologize, I could have posted this today and checked my email when I was in town but I was too busy learning Spanish with Porfolio. (I hope you understand). Well I probably won’t be writing everyday from now on, but I will try to get the important things. Adios! P.S. I though nothing else interesting would happen today, but apparently, some things did. I had an interesting dinner; I think it was very Dominican it was some sort of root and also a cooked banana, not a plantain, but a regular banana that was just very unripe. And also, somehow I got roped into being on the worship team for tomorrow so, I will have to sing in front of people and not only am I the only girl BUT also the only English singer who is going to be singing. February 1, 2006 I guess you could say I kind of started my day out the Dominican way (or at least the Dominican Missionary way; when I when to take a shower this mourning, I had a little friends waiting, a "cucaracha" (if you don’t know what that is ask someone, I bet they do) un grande cucaracha, yeah, bigger then the ones on Fear Factor. But we took care of it. Besides, the water was warm, so that made everything okay. So I sang in the worship team today (my first time ever singing in front of people. It was scary, but it was cool. Oh my goodness, Porfi, has such a beautiful voice! He is the worship leader at his church and you can tell. I wish you all could hear him. He has a very deep voice. Today he sang "God of wonders beyond our majesty…" it was amazing, especially in Spanish. For lunch today we had PLANTINOS FRITOS! It was really good (but not as good as mine). February 2, 2006 It seems as though I’m getting less and less time to write on here to I’m going to have to shorten it up. Today for lunch we had these really good corn meal, ball-like things. They were very good. Also today, it was really neat because I got to clean (I clean every day. We all have different chores and thats mine) with Yohonni. It’s interesting because she speaks very little English and I still don’t speak very good Spanish, so it is difficult to communicate but we will try and we get very excited when we understand each other. After we were done cleaning, we both sat in a hammock and talked, we actually had a conversation, don’t ask me how, but we did. It was really cool. February 4, 2006 Ah, finally, the weekend. Today was actually pretty amazing, we went to the River to swim and tube. The water was really cold and there were a lot of rocks but it was still very fun. I also went Horseback riding. Not like on a trail with everyone and a leader or anything but by myself. It was really cool. We (me and the horse) went up the river a little and on some trail. It was like the kind of experience that people back in the states would pay a lot of money to have but I did it for 100 pesos (about $3). Today I also had kitchen duty. It was really cool except for the fact that I was with three Spanish-speaking Dominicans, not much English was spoken. Well, I’m tired so I think I’m going to sign our for now. (I'm sorry about all the spelling errors I didn't have a lot of time to write this or look it over, hopefully you know what I mean)