Dominican Republic

It's taken me a while to blog about this trip because honestly it took this long to process it.  Last month we took a group of thirteen (8 highschoolers, 2 college students & 3 adults) to Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.  Grace partners with the missionaries who started the Doulos Discovery School and sends groups every summer to work on the school and in the community.  It was Kevin's (youth pastor) and my first time to go to the DR & it was quite an experience!

We flew from Houston to Miami to Santiago, DR where we were met by people from the school who accompanied us on a bus ride to Jarabacoa.  Jarabacoa is in the central, mountainous area of the DR and was beautiful!

The school was awesome!  Missionaries, Chad & Krista Wallace, started it about 7 years ago with the mission of educating and raising up leaders in the DR.  I loved hearing their story and the journey the Lord has led them on during their 15 years there.  We did a lot of painting in the school's library and classrooms.  Our work projects throughout the week we were there included: stripping existing paint, sanding, paining, mixing concrete, and cleaning the pond.  We also painted and cleaned up a police station in the town.  

Our team did fantastic!  There was very little complaining and a LOT of hard working!  I was very impressed with them!  To be honest though, the trip was hard.  We worked all day, every day.  It was hot & humid, there was no a/c, there were bugs & rodents in our "villas" where we stayed and the power went out nearly every day.  There were multiple points throughout the trip at which I thought "I am never coming back here again."   

It wasn't until I got back & was talking with a woman I meet with periodically, who had served over seas as a missionary for a few years did I realize we did exactly what we'd set out to accomplish.  Serve.  She listened to me tell about what was hard about the trip and she asked, "But did you get to serve the missionaries?"  And I had to admit, "yes."  We weren't there to get glory, we weren't there to go on vacation, we were there to represent Christ, who didn't come to be served, but to serve.  The hardest thing about the trip was getting over my own selfishness and attitude.  

I'm not volunteering to go back tomorrow, but I would go back.  I loved seeing what the Lord was doing there and I would like to see how He continues to grow the school and use it to reach the DR for Christ.

Here's a few pictures from the trip: the girls on our way to the school one day, one of the school families we had dinner with, the police station we painted and our whole group at the school.    

HELK 2010

Last weekend I got to spend the weekend with the girls I lived with my last year of college--The HELK girls--Holly, Erin, Lynn & Katy.  We went to Houston to stay at Lynn's super cute house.  We got to eat lots of yummy food, played putt-putt, did some shopping, drank lots of coffee, talked & laughed a lot.   It was a super fun time!

The HELK golf classic.  I think Katy won.

Fun pics at a park near Lynn's house.  We are masters of the self-timer!  

Since we all graduated in 2006 we've all gotten together at least once every year--which is pretty awesome considering we all live in different part of Texas & Erin lives overseas!  I'm so thankful for these girls & how much fun we have together each year!