The best of times, The worst of times ( Mostly good :) : Road Trip 2016

Macry dancing the Merenge on the boat in Bayahibes

In most Latin cultures, Holy Week (or Semana Santa) is a week when most businesses shut down or at least shut down on Good Friday and Saturday. SI usually takes Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday that week off and so Marcy and I took that opportunity to visit the southeast part of the island. We went to a part of the DR that I had only been in briefly about 12 years ago. We saw a lot of beaches, drove through a "National Park,. we visited some caves in Santo Domingo and went on a "rope pulley ferry" in the cave, we stayed at a couple of "lesser quality" hotels and experienced some foods we had not experienced yet. It really was a nice time away and since we drove the Tonka Truck, we drove 650+ miles on 13.6 gallons of gasoline. (that is one of the many things I will miss here is the Tonka Truck). One common culture experience you can see here is on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. On these days you will see men carrying a full size cross down the road usually for a long distance, maybe 20-30 miles or further. We saw two different men doing that.

Fish for breakfast

The rope pulley boat at Tres Ojos

While Marcy and I were gone on our road trip, Janae was up translating for a team in the Santiago Base of SI. She enjoys doing that whenever she has the opportunity. Then back in Jarabacoa, Karen and Nina were working part days in Genesis, where Karen is finishing up a few things that she wanted to get done before she leaves that site in the next week or so. She has been working on the back playground for the younger kids. It is looking really good. We had a couple work teams in January and February in Santiago and I brought them down to Genesis for a couple days to put a roof over the eating area and then pour a small slab of concrete for that area. Then a couple days before Marcy and I left, I put new metal on the roof of the main building there. It had been leaking for some time and it was pretty much past the "patch and seal" stage. With the new roof, new gutter, and back playground area, that site is looking really good and will be ready for the students when they return in a couple weeks for the summer trimester. I also made a couple wheel chair swings. I am anxious to see how they work for the ones in wheelchairs that up til now, just had to watch everyone else swing during their recess time.

The Caverns at Tres Ojos

As we begin to think more about coming back to Indiana we started to sell some of the things in our home. A new family from California will be moving down late summer/fall and they will buy most of our household items. Our vehicles will most likely end up going to the base in Santiago but that is not for sure yet. Pray for us as we prepare to transition back. The packing up, the finishing up small projects, the saying good-byes, and everything in between is what we have on our minds. I will be looking for employment when we return so also be praying for the "right job". We are really trying to take it slow and find out what God has for us in that area.