El Reinado

Tonight is a big night in Banica - El Reinado! As part of the Fiestas Patronales (which I will be explaining in a later blog post) the town has a beauty pageant. Do not worry  -  I am not entering hahaha I would not make it down a runway without tripping!  A couple of the girls in my youth groups are participating so the Peace Corps volunteer (Keeton) and I are going to watch.  The girls have to have a talent and tonight is the talent night...this should be interesting! We are helping one girl with her make up right now and her talent is bracelet making. This should be fun! She is pretty much our best friend here and she is 16...the life in Banica! It starts at 8pm but I know that this is a Dominican event so it will really end up starting at 9pm. We are getting "dolled up" to go...which really just means that Keeton and I are going to do more with our hair than put it up into pony tails and maybe put some mascara on. Big times in Banica!

Fun!

The public school system in the Dominican Republic is completely political - and ridiculous! Today none of the schools in the area, except for the parish school, had classes because they teachers are striking. The school in Pedro Santana, the next town over, has been striking for a month and the kids have not had the chance to even start school. If they do not get their act together those poor kids will be a year behind all of the other towns. So sad...

OK enough about my vent!

So today, with this strike in the campo I usually teach in on Tuesdays, I got to spend time with the kids outside of the school room. Five college students came with me (the ones I spoke of that are on a scholarship with the church to go to school two days a week and work the others) and we held a morning sports camp with the kids. Very impromptu! We brought footballs (yes - America!), soccer balls, baseballs and bats, and jump ropes and played games with the kids and passed out candy. The campo of Hato Viejo is incredibly poor and a lot of the kids we worked with were Hatian and only spoke Creole but we had a great time. I may have gotten a little tan, but it was all worth it. There was one girl in particular that I just adored. We went door to door inviting the kids to come out to the field and play with us and she was on the street walking with a box of empanadas that she was trying to sell. No one was buying. She kept watching the kids play as she stood on the sidelines with her little box of empanadas and kept smiling at the other kids. I asked her to join us and she said that she could not because she had to work. My heart was so filled with joy when she put the box down twenty minutes later and joined in! She could not have been older than 9 years old. She did not go to school because she "worked" and she did not even have a pair of shoes to walk in. The poverty here is beyond belief!

Just something I was thinking about. I hope everyone in the US is doing well and I hope that I get to see you all or hear from you soon - I miss you all dearly.

Prayer Request:  My uncle Jim has been fighting cancer and this week my mom and dad have been driving up to South Dakota to see him. My dad and my uncle have almost the exact same DNA and are going to do a transplant or something that is above and beyond my understanding. Please pray that it all works out! Thank you!

Sick-y

Want to know what is not fun? Being sick! What is worse? Being sick on your own: no mom, no sissy, no Maxwell, no home-stay mom (she is in the capital this week visiting her kids), so no one to take care of you. Yesterday I woke up with a fever and the worst stomach ache - it was killer. I could not eat anything all day and I still taught my classes and had my new high school girls youth group (freshmen) at night. They knew I did not eat all day and made me a soup. Now I was a little skeptical...what were they going to make?! Was this some kind of Dominican myth or urban legend? The anser: chicken noodle soup! Some things never change :) haha. Now as much as I want my loved ones next to me taking care of me, it was nice to have someone make soup for me, even if I was only able to eat a few bites. The girls stayed with me until I ate the soup and brought me back to my house and got the neighbors to check in on me. Today was a full day of teaching but I took a fever reducer and woke up feeling better today and have been able to eat. I am feeling much better and will be taking tomorrow easy! I promise!

Prayer Request: no more getting sick! It is scary! Third world country with little to no near by health care! Gracias!

Food for Thought

A good friend of mine, we will call her B, sent me an e-mail today with this quote at the bottom of it. The quote came from a book I gave her two years ago. It might not have anything to do with your life or anything right now but I really loved it! Forge your own path friends :)

"My Princess,

You are not called to follow others, My beloved Warrior. I have appointed you to lead them to Me. Life will become a great adventure if you will step out to the front lines and fight for those that are too weak  to fight for themselves. Don't look back on what you have lost; look forward to the great victories that are in front of you.  You don't have to hide behind your fears  and insecurities any longer.  I can and will turn your pain into passion to change the world around you. As you find your way to the front line, hide this truth in your heart: "This fight is not just for you, it is for all those you truly love." " He will say to them, " Listen to me, all you men of Israel! Do not be afraid as you go out to fight your enemies today! Do not lose heart or panic or tremble before them." ( Deutronomy 20: 3)  

Mosquito Nets

I am working on lesson plans right now and though that I would take a break to blog. What to blog about...hmmm... my mosquito net!First it makes me feel like a princess because it is pink and I sleep under it but more importantly it keep the bugs away at night! My arms and legs were eaten up my first week here but it is getting better and I have tons of bug spray and itch cream so I will live. 

Now for the real update: work is good! There is a lot to be done here and a new team of 10 very dedicated young college students are here to help us out. The church is sponsoring these 10 youth by providing them with fully paid college scholarships to go to college in the next big town (San Juan) while working for the church here as teaching aids or youth ministers or writers. It is really beautiful to watch. They are an incredibly dynamic group and each person has a very different personality. We have the wild and loud ones and the patient and slow ones...it makes for an interesting group! They go to school and have all of their classes two days a week and work the rest. It is a good set up and I am really proud of each of them.

The weeks are getting easier here and my homesickness is getting better but being away from family and loves ones is very hard. Be sure to tell the ones you love just how much you love them when you are with them and I honestly mean it when I say that I will never take a moment with my loved ones for granted again. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, right? 

That is all for now! Thanks for following everyone!

CORRECT mailing address

Laura Schaefer
Parroquia San Francisco de Assis
BM #7038
8400 NW 25th St., Suite 110
Doral, Florida 33122

9 Months

So you might be reading this wondering "what does this have to do with Banica?" Hmmm...a lot! Just kidding! Today marks the ninth month that Max and I have been dating and the first one that we have spent apart like this. It's rough! The homesickness gets a little bit better with each passing day but your heart will always feel like it is missing it's better half. I know that mine is all the way in Washington! The next three of these anniversary's will be apart too but we can do it :) I know we can. I  know that not every girlfriend is lucky enough to have a boyfriend that supports them no matter how crazy their ideas are...eve if those ideas send them to a third world country! So thank you Maxwell for everything you do for me and thank you for the best nine months a girl could have ever asked for. I love you! I can't wait to be able to have a Skype date so I can see you! Pick me up at 8pm? :)

Happy Anniversary Maxwell :)