Things are starting to wind down for us here in the D.R. We are now going into our last week of work with our normal schedules (next week will be wrapping up and a little vacation time in Santo Domingo). Last weekend, we had a team retreat, where we were able to spend time hanging out at a hotel (where the spring break team from the Inn stays when they come), and it was very nice and relaxing. Then on the Saturday, we went to a beach that was 3 hours away, called Bahia de los Aguillos.
Our host families came along and it was fun to spend the day all together and outside of our normal routine. Our families were in one van and the interns in another–just about everyone in the other van vomited (eight people total)! We were lucky to not be subjected to three hours of that. Poor Ashley was pretty sick for the whole retreat which was definitely unfortunate, but she is all better now, after drinking some mysterious garlic tea that one of the Dominican cooks makes for the peole who get a parasite. The beach was wonderful and extremely blue. It was probably one of the nicest beaches we have ever been to and it was fun to snorkel and have fun in the sun. We had an iguana friend that hung out nearby to where Ashley was camping out in the shade, keeping her company while she was not feeling well.
This past week was good, Taylor got to spend a lot of time last week in the bateyes with the nurses, Liz & Ashley had their normal routines with classes and got to go to one of the spiritual classes being done by some of the other interns which was cool. We went to a city league basketball game after work one day to watch some friends from one of the bateyes play. Liz & Taylor had a sleepover on Saturday night after a fathers day party that was hosted at Taylor’s house (their host homes are pretty close to each other and the families are friends).
As we go into this week, we would love it if you would pray for us to make the most of every moment and to take every opportunity we get in relationships with the people here; we also will need prayer as we prepare to transition home.