Making a tent... 

Easter Dinner with the Chases and Laws 

Easter Morning 

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Daniel and I celebrated our 2^nd Easter as a married couple. Last year it was in the Smoky Mountains. This year it was in the Dominican Republic. :)

Our Easter started with a very early sunrise service at the top of Escuela Caribe. We wanted to go to a worship service in English and with our “JCS family” for Easter; that is why we went to the Escuela Caribe service. The service consisted of some songs/ serious skits put on by each of the houses, a speaker, and singing. I love singing hymns about Christ’s death and resurrection!

After the service, we went down to the chapel and the choir sung with a video going in the background. The songs and video took us through Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. It ended with the congregation joining in the singing. After this, many of the male staff went to cook breakfast for everyone (including guests :) ). They played Veggie Tales “An Easter Carol” for the Escuela Caribe students while the men cooked and the younger kids (staff kids) had an Easter Egg hunt. The E.C. students had their own Easter Egg competition afterwards. The Easter Carol, while being silly, was a beautiful reminder of the hope of Easter. If the story ended with Christ’s death on the cross, it would have meant nothing. He would have been another wise prophet that came and died. But it didn’t end there! Through his resurrection Christ demonstrated that He did indeed have power over death! He is the son of God! Through his resurrection we can have new life! What a wonderful reminder when things are going well and when life seems bleak: This is not all there is. The best is yet to come!

Teresa with her trophy! 

Us afterward back at home 

The Americans wallking or running (before) 

Race Day!

Yesterday, Teresa and I ran in the 16^th Annual Jarabacoa "Marathon of the mountains."  It's a 7.8-mile race through Jarabacoa (and over some of its many hills).  It was the farthest either of us had ever run and we did it in 77 minutes.  Four teachers from our school (Me, Teresa, Steve Chase, and Katie Fluth) ran the race and one (Carrie Rohr) walked.  There were also children's divisions running a shorter course. It's certainly quite a bit different than American races.  First of all, we had to wait around for over an hour after the "start time" for them to get organized and to listen to various political people talk about something that may have been interesting if we knew more Spanish.  At the starting line, there was total confusion between who was starting in the runners and the walkers division and about a dozen people who started with us stopped and went back to start again… right through the rest of us.  Just like American races, there are people along the way who'll give you water.  That is, if you arrange for somebody to do it for you.  Thanks to Erin, Joshua and Emily for helping us out! 

Also, most Dominicans have no qualms with cheating.  It seems like the mentality is completely goal-oriented, and so many racers try to hop on motorcycles or take shortcuts.  To try to prevent this, they have people at various points checking your number to make sure you're running the whole course.  Also, we saw some of the "walkers" running in the more remote areas (clearly not allowed).

Probably the most Dominican part, though, is that all along the course there are people (mainly kids) waiting to get you wet.  Many of them will ask if you want it and only get you if you say "si," but there are others who just want to soak you no matter what.  Throughout the whole course people like this are just standing outside their houses either cheering or taunting.  We probably got more than our share of taunts as Americans in the race.

Our goal was just to run the whole thing, so we ran together.  It was so great to be doing something challenging together!  We could encourage and pace each other and even laugh at some of the weird things Dominicans seem to find funny.  So, not only did we finish, but Teresa took 2^nd place of the women from Jarabacoa!!  When we registered there was some question as to if we were really from Jarabacoa, but the race manager recognized one of us.  Teresa insists that I mention there were only 3 women runners from Jarabacoa, but I think it's an unnecessary detail J.  So, she got a trophy and money… 10% of our monthly income worth! 

After we were done we had to wait around for a couple of hours for them to announce the winners and give the prizes.  They have to go over all those records of the checkpoints to make sure nobody cheated, and then go over to the bank to print out the checks.  By the time we left, it was almost 7:00 after showing up for the race at 2:15.  We went out for pica pollo and then crashed for bed early.  So, that was Saturday… another blog coming very soon about Easter!

Lee and Nancy in front of the team house 

One of the houses for the orphanage 

Daniel painting 

The Constanza valley 

What a big boy! 

Ryan is a real cabbage patch kid! 

Garlic drying (I didn't know garlic was dried, but it makes sense) 

Constanza is known for growing garlic. 

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!

Yummy dinner in town 

The Gerigs at Kermes. :) 

Dorothy and the tin man at Kermes (our school carnival).