medical teams and roadtrips

last Saturday a medical team arrived from jefferson city, missouri and we have been working with them all week in different communities. their first full day here we were out in nazaret at the clinic, sorting drugs, writing labels and a couple artists on the team were painting an incredible mural on the main wall in the clinic. later that afternoon we had the 1 year anniversary of “Centro de Salud Danica”. it was an awesome party with balloon hats, a million homemade desserts (from momma d), homemade, freshly squeezed and chopped fruit juice and a ton of people.
on monday we were out sorting drugs again in nazaret and i took groups of people around down to meet some families and invite the kids to a grande fiesta (big party) we were having up at the school in the afternoon. the strangest thing happened that day though – the kids showed up half an hour EARLY for the fiesta, they just couldn’t handle the anticipation. so we ended up doing face paint, playing different beach ball and “little kid birthday party” games, telling stories, having a colouring station for the younger kids, and all the kids got a cup of dirt and planted a tomato seed in it to take home. it was awesomely chaotic – like most things end up being when you are talking about over 100 kids in the same place at the same time.
for the next three days we had mobile medical clinics in a couple different locations (one in la monteada where we went to the infamous SPORTS DAY - at this particular clinic a local barber decided to come out with us and give free haircuts, which was the coolest thing). in the clinics it was fantastic because i got to sit with and help translate for one of the nurses, in between two fantastic doctors, so i learned so much and got to help with a lot of cool things like ‘lancing’ an abscess on a poor little boy’s leg (he didn’t love us after that), but the team has seen and treated so many people and not only helped them with medical issues but also in taking the time to sit and talk and play with them and their kids is worth more.
yesterday i ended up getting the day off because i had been up at 730 every day all week working with the team, so i went with some friends and people from sadrak’s church on a roadtrip to samana, a city about 4ish hours away (that i happen to be flying out of on august 16th L). we were supposed to leave at 5am but one particular person made us all wait an hour in the bus as he slept in, showered and wandered over – oh the Dominican. on the drive there the guys were all singing and playing their guitars, and we picked up random tourists and Dominicans as if we were a real guagua (so funny) and when we finally got to samana we did a little bit of walking around and then went to a natural water spring? (i don’t know what it really was) but it was so nice, and we were the only people there. after lunch though it had filled up and i was apparently the only white person they had seen in awhile because as Sadrak, lardwin and i walked in, every person stopped talking and stared – it even made them feel awkward next to me haha – so that was fun as i quickly jumped in the water. but then as i was swimming i felt someone grab my feet and up comes a boy who was obviously dared by his friends to grab the white girl as they all stood laughing in the corner... anyways around 330 we were leaving but of course the bus decided not to change into gear. we ended up driving so slowly for an hour until we reached a city called nagua, where we found a mechanic. so then we sat in the bus and hung out for about an hour while he tried to fix it until finally we climbed off and they decided we should probably get a guagua back because the bus wouldn’t go anywhere. so after a little sing-a-long a guagua came for all 18 of us, plus the two guitars and other baggage – wasn’t the most comfortable ride of my life as i shared one fold down seat with someone else and we were squeezed beside the two biggest people in the bus, i had a buckle up my butt and my knees were too long to fit behind the seat infront haha. but that only lasted for an hour or so when we unloaded and hopped in another one. everything was going well until we get taken on a back, dirt road detour past a cow farm in the pitch black. but finally we made it back after about 6+ hours of adventure and i can happily say this was one of the funnest adventures i’ve been on.
anyways, the medical team is leaving today so we will be spending some time with them and then tomorrow KYLE comes and then this week we will be starting to prepare for hero holiday, who come the first week of july. crazy crazy!

p.s thanks again for all of your love and support. please keep praying for the dominican and the things i am being called to do here and also for health because i have recently developed some strange ‘boil’ issues that the doctor things i might need surgery on when i get home, and my wisdom teeth are coming in – uh oh!!!

Love you all!!!