17 days in the Dominican Republic

Hey everyone!!
I´m sorry i havent been able to write sooner. We have been quite busy. Im still here in the Dominican Republic. We leave at 1pm on Wed. We will get back to the IOC late that night. So what have we been doing? I dont think i have a whole lot of time(im at an internet cafe at the moment) but ill try to fill you in. there are 11 of us on the team. I absolutely love our team. we get along great and work well with eachother. we have become like family and have had a lot of fun together. weve been working in a couple different villages. one named aguas negras(black water). There we are working with a dominican lady named sandra. She has a school, church, boys and girls club, clinic, etc. she is amazing. the boys and girls have been helping us build walls in the girls club, take one out of the boys club, build some shelves for the class rooms in the school, etc. We´ve also done some different painting projects. Sandra´s mom has been cooking our meals for us. she is the sweetest funniest old lady. shes one of those cute ones that still acts young. we have also helped her fix up her tiny kitchen. weve also worked in another village called villa ascension. weve helped with a feeding program where they serve a meal for kids and elderly 4 times a week. we helped serve, feed the little ones and clean up. it was chaotic but fun. we also helped deliver rabbits to certain families for this program for them to raise rabbits to sell, eat, etc. I had the experience of riding a motoconcio (motorcycle) while holding this guys rabbit to help him take it home. It was So much fun! and quite the experience navegating the dirt and rock roads and then going through a shallow river. Last weekend we went on this crazy hike up a huge mountain with the boys club from the other village. it was quite an adventure. we got lost and it ended up taking about 3 hours. Several people ended up getting stung by nettle and other plants. By some miracle I didn´t end up with more than a couple scratches from the rocks and roots. several times we climbe completely strait up on the mountain and the tree roots sticking out. Besides the frusteration of the situation it was So much fun. I love that kind of stuff. it was a challenge. but it was rewarding to finally get to the top. This weekend we went to the beach and me, Becca and Elliote swam out to a reef and took turns with beccas goggles looking at awesome fish and sea urchins. Then a managed to get extremely burnt. :( so i am cherry red but doing ok ;-p it doesnt hurt as much as it could. today we went on a nice little walk up another mountain, crossing a couple rivers and then swimming at the top after having a little service. It was very fun and relaxing. I joined the dominican kids and some of the team jumping off rocks into the river. and i made a nice jump from about 20 feet up a rock or more. So much fun! so tomarrow we go back to work and will work thru Tue. then its pack up time and we´ll say goodby to all our new friends and the dominican republic. It has been a great trip and God has stretched me and taught me. I feel very blessed to have had this opportunity. I feel it is also extremely relevant in preparing me for work in africa with mercyships. I will write when again when i get back summing up what i´ve learned from this trip. Hope everyone is well! missing you all :)