Many thanks

Thanks to Dominican elections, we had a very long weekend… We had Mon-Wed off from school and needed to work only 4 hours at the school during that time.  Then there was some major concern for safety on Thursday after the elections, so school was canceled at 10am.  There turned out to be no problems, but supposedly there were threats of rioting and even personal threats if a certain party won.  That party didn't win the contested offices, so there were no problems and we had a long time to relax on Thursday.  Going back in time, Monday we had dinner and played games with some missionaries from Kid's Alive. Tuesday we had a picnic with some JCS staff out at a field and had a great time in the hot sun.  We even got to play some Ultimate for the first time since last summer! 

Thanks to Dominican engineering, we have not had running water since a week ago Thursday (9 days and counting).  Needless to say our trashcan of water was quickly emptied.  It's been very stressful not being able to clean as much as we'd like (dishes, the house, or ourselves).  Thankfully the Chases who live nearby have a well rather than city water, so we have been able to shower over there and fill our 5-gallon jug to have some water around.  We've had to be creative in using water for multiple things before letting it go down the drain (e.g. dishes and then flushing the toilet).  Last night I could hear water running and filling peoples' tanks below us, but it never made it up to the 2^nd floor L.  Supposedly the cause was a bunch of sand in the intake pipes that they've had to disconnect and clean out.

Thanks to Dominican climate it's been very, very hot.  We've broken 90 degrees a couple times this week and are frequently above 80 percent humidity.  We are incredibly thankful we bought a fan last weekend (we only had a desk fan before) because this week would have been unbearable. 

Thanks to the Internet, my grad classes are starting to move along.  It's neat corresponding with professors and students through online discussion forums… while there's no face-to-face, it's still very interactive.

Thanks to time flying by, we only have 3 more weeks of school, the last of which is all half-days for final exams.  This also means we'll be coming back to the States only 4 weeks from today!

 

Please continue to pray for our school next year. We still don't have a director, and space issues could be very severe.  Unless some alternative becomes available (ideally moving the Jr/Sr High to another location or somehow building more this summer), we're going to be very, very cramped.  That on top of the lack of water has made it very hard to keep positive attitudes.

 

Please pray that we are able to finish this year well and give God the glory during these last  weeks!