It dosen't get any better than this!

I was asked by our family in DR "What will you tell people when you get
back. In other words "what is your perspective of our life and our new
country?"
Well here it is:

• A trip can't get any better than that
• The work that Bob and Carrie, Ter and Jill do is incredibly valuable!

Mom and Dad have a quote on their fridge that says" Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet". Visiting another country and in particular another culture, one has ample opportunity to walk in the rain or get wet. Another privilege of traveling is meeting people. Here are a few stories of people I met and rain I walked in. I didn't get very wet.

The first two people that I met were on the trip down. One was a woman from Iowa. She grew up on a farm, left to Dallas to be a lawyer, and had now retired back to Iowa to manage the farm. Pretty cool to see how people explore life, and even cooler to be able to connect with someone so different yet find things in common. The second seat mate was an expert in child development programs for organizations. She traveled to military bases, and other organizations across the world and helped them with the kids - as a volunteer. She was traveling home for thanksgiving with her one month old baby. Married for just over a year after a 7 day courtship. It took me a lot longer to convince Chris that I was worth her time.

I will copy the first page of my journal to give you an idea about the rain we walked in:

Nov 20~As I write I am serenaded by some loud, not very refined, birthday karaoke music, that is escaping from a party many blocks away. I had a perfect first day:

• Woke up to the roosters yelling "we don't sleep in the DR"


• Drank two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice.


• Exchanged money. Was shy and intimidated to speak in Spanish. I did not expect this feeling, and it ticked me off. I resolved to converse with anyone that I had the opportunity to.


• First person was the cook at school.


• Introduced myself to orange juice man. We talked about fruit and vegetable farming in the DR and he gave me free patata to try.


• Wandered into fireworks store and chatted with him about the unbelievable "quality" of the fireworks available to the general public. He gave me two free samples. Yes they were super loud.


• Had fried chicken on a sidewalk restaurant.


• Heard a lot about the work and passion of Bob, Carrie, Ter and Jill.


• Went to Drew, Ethan, and Brodie's school.


• Spent the last hours of the day playing dominoes with a couple of Terry's neighbors. We laughed a lot. They laughed at us lose a lot. We cheated a lot and still lost. I think they liked us.

One of the first things that struck me was the work these guys do. They have a huge potential to impact lives. Not just impact, but to love, be a part of, nurture, and basically parent. I have often heard that parenting our kids is the most important thing we can do on this earth. These guys are expanding their family to include a whole new dimension. The next thing was the heart they have for their students. The third thing I thought was, how crazy it was how God, yes I believe it, brought these four people together to the DR, with experiences and gifts and skills so varied (one might look at why they have these experiences and wonder how long God has been planning this) yet all needed right now at the school. Leadership, giant hearts, teaching skills, tech skills, social work skills, ex principle, faith in God, ...

Some other people with cool stories I met were Pedro the mechanic, who finally listened to his wife (who had a vision from God) and moved to Jarabacoa. After a year of struggles he has built a nice business for himself and gained the respect of a lot of foreigners.

And Harry, Ter's neighbor, whose father passed away years ago, yet he still carries his driver license in his wallet because he misses him and respects what he was for him. (This is the guy Ter and I lost to in Dominoes even when using English to hide our table talk). Harry invited me to help him install a gate in town. I learned a few things about wiring. Did you know if there is no plug-in for your welder you can strip wires on overhead power lines without getting a shock, then hook your welder to that. Quite resourceful I thought. At home we would have been stuck and had to go rent a generator or something.

A "funda" is something people wear on their head to keep off the rain I was told. I was not told it was really just something women wear to keep the rain off their hair. Brodie and I did not "get wet" as we "rode in the rain". But we got drenched. And the funda was very effective at catching the rain and funneling it down my jacket. Thanks Brodie for that fun experience.

Other stories I tell are almost getting shot at in the plaza, Terry teaching us to surf, fireworks at the river, no power no water, and scooting around with Bob's scooter.

Oh - and lastly I describe 27 waterfalls as one of the most beautiful places God made in the world (at least my traveled little world) The falls, the carved limestone, watching Ethan jump, watching Carrie jump, panicking under that big rock.

And that is what I tell people - It doesn't get any better than that. Best trip ever!