Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Semana Santa (Holy Week)

We took advantage of our week off to go on a mini missions trip (hehe). We visited some family friends that work at Kids Alive in Constanza. My dad has known Lee Lewis since junior high. My mom was friends with Nancy from Taylor. One evening, Nancy and Lee had both my parents over for dinner to meet. They took it from there. :)
Constanza is a town South of Jarabacoa and higher up the mountains. It is the highest real city in the D.R. (About 4000 feet). The drive was long (windy dirt road), but beautiful. It took up about 2 hours to get there. We arrived Monday at about 11:30 and had lunch with a team from Lawrence, Kansas that was working with Kids Alive that week. After lunch, we painted a house that will be part of the orphanage. We had to stop once it started raining. We went back to the Lewis' house, cleaned up, and joined them for dinner. After dinner we had a great time sharing stories with Lee and Nancy, along with Steve and Erin Chase who went with us on the trip (and poor Steve had to drive- thanks Steve!). Of course, Ryan Chase came too!
The next morning we went to a barrio (poor area of town) where we helped tear down a house, and rebuild it. I (Teresa) had fun using a pick ax and shovel. I left with the girls at 10:30 to do some shopping and get ready for lunch. Daniel and Steve stayed and helped start rebuilding the house. After lunch, we headed back for Jarabacoa. It was so great to see how God is working in other ministries, especially ones in the D.R. We are also thankful to the Nancy and Lee for their hospitality!
Today was a workday for Daniel and I. He worked on finding jobs for the summer and finishing applying for grad school while I baked cookies and bread, made yogurt, pickles, snack mix, sun dried tomatoes... so, not too exciting.
Tomorrow we are going to Santiago to have an "American day." We're going to go to the big grocery store, the mall, and watch a movie! Yay! :)
On Saturday Jarabacoa is having a big race in which Daniel and I are going to run. I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be fun. I'm just hoping to finish. (It's a 12 k)
Sunday will be the second year in a row that we'll be gone for Easter. But the important thing is, of course, why we celebrate Easter. It's certainly good to know, when we're far away from home, that God is God in the Dominican Republic as well as in the United States. And no matter where we celebrate Easter (whether it be in the middle of the Smokey mountains or in Jarabacoa), Jesus still rose from the dead and conquered sin and death! What an amazing thing to be able to celebrate! Glorious freedom and the hope of eternal life with Him!

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