It's the most wonderful time of the year :)

Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Malygayan Pasko! 

I am home and trying to stay warm in Northern Virginia now - a strange change of pace from Banica. Christmas is probably the most beautiful time of year to come back home...maybe Fourth of July...but Christmas is pretty darn great. It's so beautiful because all of the lights are up, it's nice and chilly, you can smell fire places burning, and everyone (unless they are cramming their shopping in) it a little bit nicer. It's odd to be back form Banica though. More than anything - I miss the people! Last night I has a text message from one of the girls that I used to work with (one of the college students) and she texted me from Banica! How crazy?! 

But being home with family and loved ones feels better than ever! Merry Christmas!

Santa Domingo!

Wow! I am in the capital now to catch my early morning flight tomorrow. What a whirlwind! I am in a bit of culture shock with all of the buildings and cars and electricity after living in the campos for months haha. I am at a mall down the street from Sister Bab's house and will head to the airport at 4am tomorrow morning. Staying goodbye to the people in Banica was very hard: Keeton, Fr. O'Hare, Leon, Judy and Reyderson, Simona my students, everyone! So hard! They are all in my prayers and I cannot thank them enough for all of their LOVE!

I can hardly believe that in 24 hours I will be back in the US! Home will feel so great!

Keep me in your prayers please :)

Spider!

Last night I had a terrifying encounter with A SPIDER! This thing was HUGE, larger than my hand, and I was absolutely terrified. I had just finished showering up and was walking back to my room in my PJ's when I opened a drawer and out crawled this huge (not so) friend. I jumped on top of my bed and said, "ok...I am going to kill it!" and that failed. The thing came crawling towards me and I jumped back on my bed and just started screaming. Oris, one of the college students who stays in Banica to work Sunday-Tuesday as a joven missionero, came running into my room to ask what was wrong. She started killing it as we knocked just about everything off of my dresser and kept yelling "kill it!", "I think it is dead!", "ahhhh is it dead?" and before we knew it Simona was running across the street to see what was wrong with four friends. Too funny! There I was standing on top of my bed in my PJ's screaming over a huge spider. Gross! Spiders are GROSS! Back in the beginning of November I got bit by one and it hurt haha so I was not about to have that happen again. IT was while I was sleeping though and just swelled up and was painful.

Falling asleep last night was a little rough haha but I think I was safe!

1 Week

Woah! This time, next week, I will be in America? Crazy how travel works isn't it? The next days in Banica will be filled with my lasts: last Magdalena groups, last masses here, last dinners, last teaching days, last CCD classes. I am getting antsy to be home with my loved ones for Christmas but I know that I need to soak up every joy and blessing that I can here in these next 7 days.

Today will be my last Friday Magdalena group and we are having a going away dinner, tomorrow will be my last CCD class in Banica (and I will be listening to the Army v. Navy game too - GO NAVY!), Sunday through Tuesday afternoon will be my last "whirlwind" which includes SO many things but the schedule is so busy that I lose my mind those days haha, Tuesday night will be my going away dinner at Mari's house, and Wednesday will be my last full day in Banica. Wednesday will also include my last day in the Colegio teaching, my last Magdalena group of all, and my last dinner with my host mama Simona. I've got to pack up on Wednesday too because Thursday morning I leave for the capital. Banica is far removed from...well...everything hahahaha  so the trek to the capital will be too much to do on Friday morning for an early departure. I will be staying in the capital on Thursday with Sister Babs (a religious sister who runs a home for people who need medical help) and will head to the airport early Friday morning.

God is good and I know that everything will work out :) I know I am in for a great Christmas. This time away from my home and family and loved ones has really helped me appreciate their love so much more. I am so incredibly blessed to have the family, friends, boyfriends, and support that I do! I love you all!

Trip Day!

Hey Blog World,

I hope everyone is bundled up and enjoying winter as Christmas draws near! So today was a trip day for my Magdalenas (high school girls youth group). There were 50 girls today and some of the girls in the group were unable to make it because of family commitments or being sick or studying in the university. We went to the beautiful cathedral in San Juan which is about an hour away and took a tour of the church with a worker names Javier who knows Fr. O'Hare. After the tour we had a religious sister with a Fransican order in the capital come to speak. She is wonderful and spoke to the girls about prayer and the different forms and the importance of it. I loved how she so simply helped the girls realize that God already knows what it on their hearts...we just have to talk about it with him....figure things out...dive deeper! After lunch we took photos and brought out picnic lunch out to the park outside of the cathedral. Nuri, the cook at The Center, prepared us a big cooler of juice, lollipops, and billions of sandwiches! After lunch we headed over to the local university so that the girls could see it. We encouraged them to really look into it because the school is really pretty and they can commute twice a week from Banica (an hour + away). Sadly, a lot of these girls just do not have the money to be able to go. The school itself is public and therefore free...but you still have to pay for your transportation and books and it is just no feasible unless they get a scholarship. The church provides several scholarships and we are always looking for more donors. Check out www.banicamission.com for more information if you would like to help out! I know that once I have a full time job, this is going to be one of the first things I donate to, helping one of these girls go to college. Once we finished up we boarded the bus and headed back in time to teach CCD classes in Banica. We've got 50 girls this year and many wonderful little helpers - wowzers!

But the importance of college here is HUGE! Sadly, getting "married" when you are 15 to a man who is twice you are is very normal. It is one of the things that we are trying to STOP with groups like Magdalena's. We try and build up their self confidence and faith so that they realize their potential. It's my dream that they all are able to study in the university one day! However, some girls do end up getting married, and I was sad to miss three Magdalena's on the trip. Three girls, two 14 and one 15, were "married" (aka moved in with an older man) two weeks ago and did not go. Many say that it is rebellion to their abusive fathers and other say it is love...either way it breaks my heart...they are still girls. Value your education yall ;) it's worth a whole lot.

Happy Advent!

Prepare the way :)

What does Christmas mean to you? I've spent some times thinking about this question today and eventually will write something with a little more detail. Feel free to write responses!

What does Christmas mean to you?


Love,
Laura

Rest & a little bit of homecoming news...

0o0o0o0o0ohhhhhh the power of a day off! Today I had a day off and it was wonderful. Of course, I am still working but I do not have my regular schedule and it is nice to be able to catch up on e-mails and relax. I woke up at 9am (it was just too hot to sleep any later) and wrote letters for ten of my teen girls who are going on a retreat in the capital this weekend. Retreats are absolutely amazing and I hope that they get a lot out of it! They headed out at noon so I delivered the letter and headed to lunch with Fr. O'Hare and the group (Cal - an older American volunteer who is retired and lives an hour away and is out handy man, Tom - an American who runs The Center for groups who come through Banica on service trips and the USAID soup program, Levis - who is pretty much our Deacon haha, and yours truly). After lunch I baked chocolatechip cookies which were sent to me in a mix in September from Max and The Bennetts. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have such an amazing boyfriend (and his family)! I told myself that I would save the cookies for a rough day and Thanksgiving was that day haha. So after lunch I baked the cookies for "Black Friday" and then walked to The Center to deliver some to Tom and Cal as well as to Fr. O'Hare at his office.

While at the center I was able to walk around and remember ALL of the amazing memories from 3 years of ASB trips. The sea containers we climbed up on while playing flashlight tag, the big blue bus that picked us up at the airport, where the old tree house was, the dorm rooms I had stayed in, the outdoor dining room, everything. It was great to reflect back on that time and send up prayers for the amazing people who served with me. Hopefully one day I will be able to come back and visit with a youth group one day...how crazy would that be? Now I am back working on details for the trip I am taking with my teenage girls youth group - Magdalenas. On Saturday Dec. 3rd we are going to San Juan to have mass at the beautiful cathedral there, to  have a "charla" with a sister coming in from the Capital, to have lunch together, and to tour the beautiful university (and to understand the importance of education). I am putting rosaries together for the girls as well as necklaces that they will each get. There are about 50 girls going on the trip! After I will be working on cards I am leaving for each group of girls for when I leave which leads me to important point #2.

Many of you probably already know by the time you read this BUT I have no been speaking about it on my blog. First, God is absolutely amazing and has taught me more here than I have been taught about my faith and trust in Him in 22 years of life haha! Banica is an important part of my life but I am going to be coming home in December of 2011 instead of June of 2012. God calls us each to new and beautiful things and Banica was part of that journey for me. I have been SO blessed to have a great spiritual director and friend here in Fr. O'Hare and coming back in December really is the right choice for me. The people here are absolutely amazing and so full of love but because of my health and personal reasons I will be coming home in December and am so proud of the work I have been given the opportunity to do here. Some of you may know that I am diabetic and my medicine here has been a real struggle. For over a month now I have been off of my medicine because of the problems it was causing me each day and the long-term risks of that is just too much to sacrifice. I know that with the help of my doctors back home I will get everything back in line come December but it was a choice I needed to make. Thanks be to God, all of my programs are going to be continued with the help of wonderful Dominican college students even after I leave. That is the way it is supposed to be too! Dominicans helping Dominicans with the help of a little "hot sauce" called American volunteers! Everyone knows here and wonderful goodbye dinners and parties have been planned and I look forward to seeing my loved ones back home in December! I know the God's got a great plan for me when I get home :) and I know and trust that everything will work out! I cannot thank you all enough for your support and love :) and I will forever hold Banica in a VERY special place in my heart. My dream is to come back one day with a youth group and visit the people who so beautifully opened their hearts to me. And even from home I will be working for the people of Banica through fundraising efforts or service projects. For example, I am already looking into different ways to get shoes down to Banica for all of the children here who go without. I cannot wait to see what comes from it :)!