My Last Days in Jarabacoa

Sorry I haven’t blogged in SO long! I got caught up in the hustle and bustle of saying goodbye to people, having some last adventures, and then packing up and leaving. This blog might be a long one considering I have so much to say!

Where did I leave off? I’ll start on Wednesday. The rumor that Josh Hill and I (one of the interns) are dating is still going strong, and everyone gets a big kick out of that joke. You will see why later. Today was the day in which we traveled to La Vega to play volleyball, and then that night was the volleyball outreach night in the community I am normally in, Pinar Quemado. I went into this night with excitement to see my girls, not knowing that after I would have to say my last goodbyes to two of the ones I had gotten really close with because we wouldn’t be able to make it back to this community the rest of the time I was here. The outreach was good, we played around and Raul spoke at the end. When it came time for leaving I said bye to the girls ( Kasey and Lili) and Kasey started sobbing. I was strong up until that point. I don’t think it was the fact that I was going to miss her a lot, which I will! But more of the fact that I was starting my goodbye’s and I hate those. Jess held me on the bus on the way home while I shed some tears as quiet as I could. It’s a weird feeling not knowing if I will ever see these people again.

Thursday was the hike that we do for every outreach! It started out awesome and so fun until we got to the bottom. Being the klutz that I am, I fell and heard my ankle pop and immediately felt immense pain. It swelled up almost immediately and I seriously questioned whether or not it was broken. Then reality hit that I had to to hike the 40 min hike, UPHILL, with this ankle. Luckily, my friends Jess, Joan, and Moreno helped me. Joan and Moreno really are one of a kind friends, they were only concerned about my health, and made the trip actually kinda fun. We took breaks whenever I needed them, but being the stubborn person I am, I just wanted to get to the top without a lot of breaks. We finally made it to the top and I was rushed to the physical therapist, who told me to go get an X-ray b/c he wasn’t sure if it was broken. I went to the doctor, and had to get a shot, in my butt, for the inflammation. For those of you that really know, know that I HATE shots, and I had no idea what a shot in the butt felt like, but I found out real quick! The X-ray results showed that nothing was broken, but I was already bruised and so swollen, he told me it was just a grade 3 or 4 sprain and that I would need crutches for a few days and lots of icing. I think I used the crutches for... 3 days. I was just tired of using them, so I didn’t :) It’s still swollen and bruised but it’s gone down a lot, and i’m walking on it like a champ. That night I even went to watch Jess and Heather play another game in La Vega that I was invited to play in, but obviously couldn’t.

Friday was my last day of outreach duties, and it was weird to see it come to an end. My girls this outreach were absolutely amazing, I couldn’t have asked for more. They were so encouraging even with my hurt ankle and crutches, and made everything seem so much fun. That night was the banquet, my last one. At the end there is a time in which all the site leaders (like Jess) come up and say a little something about the students they had for the week. We conveniently went last, and after Jess said something about our students, she moved onto me. It was a very sweet, touching speech in which she was crying and couldn’t finish her words, and of course that made me cry. Jess was a very special person to me on this trip, and we got as close as sisters. It was awesome. After she was done, all the interns came up and Vicki (my boss) said some nice things about me, and all surrounded me and prayed over me. I got a few parting gifts. Some earrings, and a really cool photo album that Jess made, with letters in it from a lot of the people I had contact with here. It’s so cool to see the impact that you didn’t really think you had!

The next morning we left for the BEACH! All the interns and our bosses (Josh and Vicki that all of us call dad and mom) left for a resort a few hours away that was all inclusive, and absolutely beautiful. I felt so spoiled. The weekend consisted of our days being spent laying out at the beach and the many pools, going to the swim up bar for non-alcoholic drinks, and being in community with each other. Some of my favorite times were at nights when we would all just sit on the beach chairs down by the beach and talk, share testimonies, and worship together. There is one particular night that sticks out to me the most, because it was the night I was completely embarrassed, more embarrassed than I’ve ever been in my whole life. Well, remember the running joke about me and Josh Hill dating? Well he took it to a whole new level. Our last dinner night, he clinked his glass in the middle of the restaurant to get everyone’s attention in the WHOLE restaurant. I knew at that moment that I was going to be embarrassed. He proceeded to go this whole explanation of how we had fallen in love, in a really loud voice. And then got down on one knee and proposed with one of the interns old rings she had dug up. Needless to say, I screamed the entire time out of embarrassment. All I could hear was all the interns laughter, and everyone in the restaurant that we didn’t know saying.. say yes! So all I could do was mutter under my breath, sure. He jumped around like an idiot and screamed “I’m marrying this woman!!” which proceeded to embarrass me even more. We got congratulated several times, and Josh was loving it. When we got back to the base the next day, he told everyone there, all of our staff and our bosses. The director thought it was hilarious, and ended up playing a cruel joke on Josh to get him back yesterday, yess!

Tuesday I was officially signed out of Students International, and that meant that I could ride motorcycles. Jess had put together a motorcycle 4 hour trip for me her, and her visiting sister Heather to go on. It was so scary, and fun, and tiring! My body hurts more than I ever thought it could today, because of all the bumpiness and weird ways my body moved and stayed in one spot for so long. But riding in the Dominican Republic, with not a care in the world around mountains and rivers, was absolutely priceless. That night I went to the base to say bye to all the staff, and then after dinner the interns and some of my Dominican friends all came over to say goodbye. It’s a cool feeling knowing that all those people came for me, and I didn’t even cry saying goodbye because I think I’d already cried enough.

This morning we got up super early to drive Heather and I to the airport. My two closest guy friends, Joan and Moreno came with us just to say goodbye. Joan even made me a shirt with a bunch of spanish song lyrics on the back to signify our friendship, and we found it quite funny that he wrote his name in big letters on the front, instead of mine. I can’t wait to wear it :) Now i’m sitting in the airport with Heather in Miami as we wait for our departing flights to Michigan and me to St. Louis. Now I really know that my trip has come to an end. I never thought God could bless me as much as he has this past six weeks. I was blessed with an even stronger relationship with him, a strong strong love for another country, amazing interns who became my brothers and sisters in Christ and friendships I know I can rely on, and a special sister, Jess, who will always know how to help me and will continually try to get me to come back and be on staff somehow, someway. Who knows what my next step is? All I can concentrate on right now, is taking my state standard test, going home, student teaching, and then seeing where God wants me. I know he will show me in his timing, and I can’t take it for granted. Thanks for an amazing six weeks God, it was more than I could have EVER asked for.

Showing me new things...

God is so good! Can i just say that first?

Okay great! So this weekend was a good one and a kinda busy one.

Saturday Katy and I led an excursion to the lower falls, and just sat by the water and read for a few hours which was SO relaxing and much needed even if it was way too hot, and we stayed there for wayyyy too long. oh well! That night we took teams around to shop in the city, and then to dinner as well. My group was pretty easy and simple, so they didn't stress me or Mackalah out at all!

Sunday some of the interns led the prayer walk in the morning while the others went to church and then vice versa in the afternoon. This prayer walk was cool because I for once felt the leader side in me come out, which is something I don't normally experience. Sure, I've been captain on a few teams I've been on in the past, but never really a spiritual leader. I've always looked up to certain role models in my life for that, and haven't really been looked up to or led in that way really before. The prayer walk opened my eyes to that. I had four girls, and we have a sheet where we pray for different things in the community of Jarabacoa that we are serving in. And yes, I've already led too, but this one they were so dependent on me and hung on my every word, it was so cool.

That same afternoon we went to Amor a Quisqueaya (I have NO idea how to spell it), which is the church I am prone to going to b/c Jess goes there and all my volleyball girls and baseball boys. Jess brought my favorite little five year old (Weeme) and she fell asleep on my lap. That night at bible study, we had a really good discussion over the book we are reading, "Crazy Love", and then split into our prayer groups (boys and girls). My prayer this week was a praise for feeling like such a leader with this team, and my request was for all the goodbyes I have to make soon. We all prayed and when it was my turn to be prayed for I bawled like a baby. I have grown so close to this group of interns, and we are just starting to have more and more fun. My heart is here and I'm not ready to leave.

Monday came and went, with lots of volleyball being played and fellowship with my students. We have been sharing our testimonies sparingly throughout this outreach, and on Monday we heard several. It was cool for us girls to just sit around and learn about each others lives for a few hours. Monday night was a free night for us interns, we went and had dinner in town (chicken fingers.. SO good) and then ice cream, and then to watch some of my guy friends play softball. That night when I got back I had a note waiting for me, from a girl from this outreach.

Let me back up, I had a couple awesome notes in my lunch earlier that day.. from two of the interns that were so encouraging and just all around awesome! Then that night when I saw I had a note and read it I realized how much God's hand is in all of this. The note was from a girl named Morgan whom i really BARELY know.. it was so sweet. It said that she has been thinking about me, and God had really laid me on her heart to pray for. So the letter was a prayer, and then she asked for some prayer for herself as well. I teared up and thanked God for all the weird and crazy things he does.

Today.. the men's sports intern Josh and I are pretty close, and we decided to take our day off together and visit the developmental therapy site where Mackalah works with her fun site leader Amy :)

I LOVED it.. I have a whole new appreciation for people who deal with special education kids like that that are so severe. Mackalah and Amy have such strong patience levels and high energy to deal with so many kids all day! Mack took lots of pictures of me with the kids since my camera isn't working, I'll put them on facebook soon! Meanwhile, Andrea (an intern) came to the site, and delivered me two more notes. One from my boss and her husband ( we call them mom and dad), and one from Angie an intern whom I'm so close with! I teared up, then realized that notes from people on staff here whom i've connected with is a reoccurring theme, what a wonderful friend in Mackalah I have. It was partly her idea and some other intern(s) as well. They are so great! They know how hard it is for me to leave, and are making me feel so good about it.

Also, this morning during worship one of the leaders of one of the groups here, whom I've gotten to talk to quite a bit about life and other things handed me a piece of paper with two verses on it, he said that he was praying last night and those came up for him to give to me. Isn't that so crazy? Ahh it's such a reassuring feeling seeing how God thinks about you and cares for you.

Tomorrow we have a game in La Vega again, and I'm excited!

Prayer:

Goodbye's suck.. help me to be at peace with leaving.

My shoulder has been bothering me a LOT lately with all the volleyball and activeness, but I love being able to play!

God to continue to show me great things this last week..

New Beginning, and Almost the end..

I've been wanting to blog for a few days now.. but just haven't been able to find the time. Now as I finally get my much needed two hour break.. i'm ready to blog.

I got a new team this week, six girls. At first, I was so nervous because six girls is a lot! I didn't know if I could handle the hormones of six teenagers. But I was completely wrong. I love these girls. One of the older ones is only two years younger than me and is in her second year of college, and that makes me relate to her so much better! These girls are just so different in their attitudes, the way they carry themselves, and their maturity level. Ahh, it's a relief.

Jess's sister Heather is also here visiting for a few weeks, we actually leave on the same day and the same flight. Which will be nice to have someone there to talk to and hang out with in the airport.

This week Jess and I have talked about really wanting to make sure we are being serious about wanting to practice volleyball a lot, and be able to motivate the girls for our weekly games in La Vega. I think this has been a big turning point for Jess and her site because this really motivates the girls to want to work hard to be able to travel and play. And when they do that, they are able to hear God's word and messages spoken through people from him, which is always so cool.

Wednesday we had a good English class in the morning. One of the new approaches Jess is taking to this class is to use groups which I have been taught is good way of learning, and it has been good interaction for the students, which is what they need! After class we went and played around for a couple hours in the sun on our volleyball court. Here, I had to actually use my spanish skills to ask one of the boys whose house the net was at, and could he go get it for me? Jess was picking up some of the girls from another community and wasn't there, so I felt as if I needed to step up for once! :) It was fun and encouraging for me.

After a couple hours of practice we ate and Jess and I shared testimonies, which was good. After that we went right back to practice. I could honestly say that by the end of that day, I was more exhausted than I've been since I've been here. It was just a long day in the sun, with no shade, but well worth it!

Thursday we started playing volleyball right from the get-go. We played for a couple hours, then Heather , Viansy, and some of the DR girls went to Jess's to just hang out while the rest of the students and Jess made a trip to the store. After lunch and resting we headed to the river to a place called "The Jacuzzi". It's a little tiny waterfall with some rocks to jump off of, and the water below swirls around like crazy, like a jacuzzi :) The water was SO cold but felt good. That night we went to dinner in the community again, and we had it at Viansy's house. Viansy is a 19 year old Dominican girl that is Jess's assistant at the volleyball site. She is just an older example to the girls, and helps Jess out a lot when I'm not here, her and I bond and gel really well together and I like learning Spanish from her, and teaching English to her. Her mom is an amazing cook, so I knew I would be eating good! We ate so fast and had about 2 hours to waste, so we had a team photo shoot, with all my students from this outreach. It was really fun, and there were lots of giggles and craziness shared. We also had some time to love on some of the kids in the community. I would show you pictures.. BUT my camera is broken. The lens is stuck, and I think that some sand got in there and it won't open. Oh well, I'm hoping people can just take plenty of pictures for me :)

Today, we had class this morning but it was test, that the Americans took as well! Then we played some baseball with the men's sport site. We took a break for lunch and hung out for a bit during "siesta" then walked down to the river where we just played and swam and talked. There is a sand pit on shore that some people wrestled in, so we all surrounded the two would compete and watch, it is so funny and also kinda scary!

Tonight is a worship concert which I'm so excited about, who doesn't love a good worship time??

Also, I had to meet with the doctor on staff today because my big toenail is falling off. He said he is going to get some numbing stuff and just PULL it right off. He said if he doesn't so that, it will hurt really bad tomorrow, and possibly get infected. Yikes, not looking forward to that at all.

This weekend is the excursion (i'm going on a little hike), and shopping and dinner in town, church on sunday, and relaxation to start a new and long week! It should be wonderful.

Something you can pray for besides my usual requests that I will post in a second is clarity. I've been struggling with what God wants for me from here, whether to see about coming on staff as a full time missionary, or opening up doors just for summer work, or not even at all. I am trying not to let my emotions of wanting to be here get in the way of what God is calling me to do, so if you could pray for that.. that would be awesome!

Prayer Requests:

My toe! :)

Continue to keep me healthy

Peace- since i'm leaving SO soon and I definitely don't want to.. my heart is here!

Strength to finish my time here strong and with everything I have...

Thanks! :)

End of the Week and Weekend off!

I was so looking forward to Friday, because it meant the week and the outreach was over!

But when it finally came to an end, I was not as happy as I thought. I happened to get pretty close to a few of the high schoolers, and since I hate saying goodbye to people.. it was harder than I thought. The kids I got to know.. were my favorite by far. But we all exchanged facebook names and things like that, so I know we will be keeping in touch.

Friday, Mackalah came and hung out at the baseball site on her day off, which was absolutely fantastic! I loved her being able to see what I do and who I hang out with everyday. Except we didn't have volleyball practice so she didn't get to meet all my girls, but that's okay. We went to the river in the afternoon and jumped off cliffs again and it was a blast! Friday night was the banquet for the end of the outreach, and I loved being able to take pictures with everyone, socialize, and eat some wonderful food. After the banquet, we hung out and played some games with some of the Dominicans, and then Katy and I rematched out Domino opponents, David and Rodley, and lost again.. surprise surprise.

Saturday morning we got up to say goodbye to the Bakersfield group ( which has the students I got the closest with in it), and I said goodbye with the notion that I would be seeing them later since I was invited to go hang out with them at the resort they were spending the day at. One of the staff members here, Amy let me take her car there to hang out with them.. so nice of her! I went and laid by the pool and swam for a few hours and then said my real goodbyes.

That night we went over to the Slabach's house for hangout time, dinner, and a movie. Nate and Maggie Slabach's are two of the head missionaries in this area, and their daughters Andrea and Chastity have become pretty close with us interns, and we all wanted hangout time! One of the interns, Laurel, cooked up some Moroccan food, we played some games, and then we watched Nacho Libre, in which most of us fell asleep :)

Sunday was the day that most of us had been looking forward to for a week!! We were going to the beach!! We know that we have been living on an island for the past month, but since we are in the mountains you can't really tell, and now we have proof! The trip to the beach is about 2 hours, and so well worth it. We packed 14 people into the Students International 15 passenger van and had some great bonding time on the way. All of the interns are sharing their testimonies at one point or another before I leave, and we heard 3 yesterday, and 2 the week before that at Bible Study. I never realized how much testimonies open your eyes to, you can really have a better understanding of that person when you hear their background. It creates so much more community with the group. The beach itself was SO awesome.. oh my gosh. We left at 7:45 and got to the beach around 10. I was nervous how long we were going to stay, because I know that I could stay at the beach ALL day and be completely content with it. We all got to the beach, and we immediately rented some umbrellas and chairs and ran into the water. Oh my gosh, I wish I could explain what it felt like to finally be in salt water again. I loved every second of it! After playing around and laying out for a few hours we walked to all the restaurants on the beach, and landed on one called Jose O'Shea's.. which was an irish pub with all kinds of american, mexican, italian, and dominican food. It was great!

We headed back to where our stuff was, laid out, read, went swimming, body surfed, walked along the beach, laid out, read and swam :) We didn't leave until 6 at night, and got back at like 8:30 ( we were going up the mountain so it took a little longer) We were all sunburnt and tired so we just watched Kung Fu Panda and went to bed. It was a wonderful wonderful day.. I LOVE the beach :)

Today we meet the new teams that are coming in! I'm excited and have big expectations for the SIX girls that I have at my site. Josh (the boys sports site intern) has TEN students, and since we do a lot of things together, it is going to be a big group this outreach. But it gives me more responsibility and I'm really excited about that :)

Prayer Requests:

The new team coming in, that the girls at my site would go a little better than last time

Strength for my next few weeks here, i'm getting sad that I'm leaving so soon!

Continuous bonding with the interns, and all of us being a body as a whole together

The girls that we are coaching would continue to show up and work hard

Have a great day!

An Exciting Couple of Days!

So I left you all with the beginning of the week that I considered to be EXTREMELY long. Well, it kinda was.. but now that it's coming to an end, I don't really know how I feel about it. One, it makes me think of how I only have a little less than three weeks left, and two.. I've really connected with some of the high schoolers and I'm going to miss them a lot.

So Monday and Tuesday were pretty chill days, which was nice. I've created for myself somewhat of a social life since I've been here. Which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that is reading this whatsoever. We "work" all day, then dinner and then if we don't have to help out with the activity for that evening we try to make other plans. Our newest hangout has been in Cristo Rey, which is the place where the baseball site is. We go with Jess and watch the men play softball, which they are so awesome at. My guy friends that I'm always hanging out with are always there. My friend Moreno and I have been having more conversations lately, but there is a language barrier there b/c he only speaks Spanish and I only speak English, but I really am learning a lot and am trying to get better at it and he is working on English so it's working.. kinda!

Tuesday we went on the prayer walk in the evening for about an hour. I was given a group of 5 high school students, by myself, and we walked around the community of Cristo Rey. The instructions were, that if we felt led to stop and pray somewhere then we did it. Somehow, I got with the 5 high schoolers that I am the closest with. Which I was a little nervous about, because I wasn't sure how involved they would get, or how serious they would take it. It ended up going beyond my expectations. They started a lot of the prayers and the stops we made. But it did make me think, did I pray like that in high school? Did I pray without a lot of passion, but really did mean it? I'm not saying that my praying abilities are so amazing. Because I truly do believe that no matter what your prayer is or how it's prayed, God hears it. This made me look back at see how much I've matured over the years, and made me feel a little accomplished, but also SO proud of my high schoolers as the same time.

Wednesday was one of THE best days I've had here so far. You wanna know why? I really felt like I accomplished a LOT. Remember the game that I blogged about a bit ago that we were trying to get organized for the girls? Well it finally happened! With the help of Raul, we scheduled a game in La Vega, which is about 40 min away. We took two trucks, one for all the volleyball girls and then some, and one for all the baseball guys. They were supposed to have a game, but it got cancelled because of the rain, and they still came to support us, which was so cool! The place we ended up going to ended up being really nice and inside. When I say really nice, I mean it was still a concrete court, and there was no air condition, and no lights inside only natural light from the tons of little blocks cut out. Jess and I have been coaching the younger girls, so that was the most important game. Then we brought a few older girls, and used our two high school girls (who don't play volleyball) and me and Jess to play as well :)

It was fun being a volleyball coach again. ( I coached a 6th grade team for my high school senior project and these girls were about that same age.) And at first we were a little nervous b/c the other girls were all wayy bigger than our girls, and a little older too. But we ended up winning the first two games, and since it was 2 out of 3 it was over. It was a great feeling! Next came the big girls games. I haven't played competitively since high school, so this was so weird, but I loved being back in the competitive mode and getting into it. The guys were so supportive, and my proudest moment was jumping up to block a ball (which never happens b/c I'm so short), and actually getting a little bit of a hand on it and slowing it down! It was awesome :) The only downfall was, we were playing the National team. And they were all so awesome, but we only ended up losing each game by like 6, so that was an accomplishment, at the end we had a little devotional and then Jess exchanged numbers with the coach and one of the girls in order to set up more games in the future. Our goal is to go there once every outreach, and my heart leaped for joy when Jess turned me to as we were walking out and said, "Cristi look what you did, this was all your idea!" My immediate thought was Thank you Lord, you have helped me really be involved :)

Today, we went on that tiring hike again. But this time seemed to be SO much easier since I've done it once before, and I actually faced a fear and slid down the rock water slide. My fear of heights is so evident, but I'm trying little things :)

Tomorrow is the last day with these students from this outreach, and I don't know what to expect.. but i DO hate goodbyes.. with a passion.

Prayer Requests:

Clarity on some confusing thoughts..

Safe Travels for these teams as they head back home to the states..

Rest for me and Jess this weekend..

my family as they are on vacation :)

Thanks everyone.. sorry it's long :)

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while!

I feel like sometimes I get SO busy, all I want to do is plop on my bed and check things really quick and go to bed.

Okay.. so I've learned a little about high schoolers so far. One.. they aren't all at the same maturity level as my sister is (which is what I was expecting) and two.. there are some that I enjoy hanging out with. The girls that are at my site, are a little immature in some ways, but LOVE learning about the culture and are always excited to learn more and be involved which is SO awesome. I'm glad that I've found some of the high schoolers that I can really relate to and actually hang out with, because then I feel like I'm doing my job and being involved, which isn't how I felt with the last outreach group.

Thursday night we went to Dinner in the community at one of our volleyball girls' houses, Tita. She is about 10 and is the sweetest thing you will ever meet, and so is her mom and her twin brother Tito. They make my heart melt with how cute they are! They live in a cement shack, and it was hard to fit even the four of us in there to eat. But her mom made a fabulous meal, and we enjoyed playing with some of the neighborhood kids that kept walking by and talking to us. I even played some hopscotch with some of them, and don't worry I have a video of it :)

Friday, was the last day of the week and I was completely exhausted. I think most of it was just from emotionally actually having students this outreach, and they are a lot to keep up with but it's good for me! Jess got her ipod jack thing fixed, and we rocked out and released some of our negative energy singing High School Musical, ahh it was wonderful! Then after dinner we had a campfire worship time, which was very freeing and nice just to sing with voices and acoustically. We also had a time of prayer, and I felt like God really allowed me to pray as I've always wanted to pray, without the feeling of not saying the right things or looking stupid if I said something. I just prayed it out. I think he's been teaching me that these few couple weeks, to just pray to my heart's content.. kinda like the saying.. dance like no one's watching.. pray like you've never prayed before. It's nice!

Saturday was the excursion day, and then dinner and shopping in town. Mackalah and I got to go on the excursion of white water rafting. Now those of you who know me pretty well, know that adventure sometimes really isn't my thing. I'm freaked out by heights, and if something is dangerous, I just don't even try to attempt it. So going on this trip was kind of a big step. I was lucky enough to be in a boat with another intern, Andrea, and her boyfriend, who made it SO fun. Andrea is a great girl who i'm getting to know better and better, and all the pictures we took were so great. All in all, the rafting was awesome and made my heart race a few times! Our tour guide was funny and adventurous which made it more dangerous, but made it more fu at the same time. For shopping, we divided into groups. It made me feel good when I had a line of students wanting to me in "my group". But we had to evenly distribute everyone, so I only ended up with three, but they were 3 of my favorites so it made it okay :) I had AJ, Darrian, and his girlfriend Paige. Paige is so cute, she reminds me SO much of my sister it's weird. That's why I've really latched onto her this past week or just in the past couple of days we have gotten pretty close, and I love every minute of it.

Today, was the prayer walk, and then church in the afternoon. The prayer walk went well, and we even sang "How he loves us" overlooking Jarabacoa which always makes you feel good :) In church this afternoon an American spoke, and he was SO good. He talked all about "what you are filling your pot with", and it was based on Joseph in the Bible. He can speak some Spanish, but he was African-American and very energetic, so his Dominican wife translated and they were such a great team.

Some prayer for me:

I am confused about my plans after Student Teaching or even just the rest of the summer, so clarity for that.

Being able to keep my heart open

Patience (still)

Missing my family while they get to vacation without me... which I know was my decision.. but still!

Thanks to all who are reading this, and I love hearing what you think and how you are following it.. so keep it comin! :)

Relaxing Weekend.. Then at it again..

This weekend was very relaxing, and at a couple times boring compared to what I have been doing. But it was really nice to relax and hang out with the interns, as well as some sunbathing thrown in :)

A new team came on Monday, a team of all high schoolers. There are some from Bakersfield Christian Highschool (in Cali) and then some from a church in Ohio. At first I was like yay high schoolers! I can relate to them, this will be fun! My thoughts changed somewhat fast yesterday :)

Yesterday we had worship in the morning, and then had lunch and sat with our individual sites. I have two girls this week; Emily and Danielle (or DJ). Emily is a sweet skinny little blonde 15 year old who loves to talk and is always smiling. Danielle, is a tomboy, and when I say tomboy I really do mean tom boy. She loves any sport she can get her hands on, and her favorite is motocross, and riding her dirtbike. That says it all right there. She is a very nice girl, and her intentions are awesome, she's ready to serve the Lord and help people out. The only hesitation is wanting to always be one of the boys. I've found that there is a big difference between kidding around with the boys in a friendly non-flirty way, and literally being with the boys and being one of them all the time. The problem is, the Dominican boys don't see it that way. They see it as a girl who constantly wants to be around them and do the things they do, and that's cool to them. But getting the attention of the boys is the last thing we want to get involved in. In the past, there has been a girl who came on an outreach, and left to go back to the states with her heart with one of the boys from the baseball site. "Special Relationships" are strictly prohibited to staff ( until they have been here at least 2 years), interns, and outreach teams. It takes away from the purpose of being on a missions trip. And i completely agree. It's a little hard for me and Jess, because the relationship we have with some of the older boys is so different, they are like my brothers, and I in turn their sister. There is an understanding of no relationship being able to go anywhere, so it's not even worth trying :)

In other news, today was the second day with the girls and they are hard-workers. I know that they look up to both me and Jess, so I have to be constantly aware of my actions, and learn patience in dealing with attitudes :) Today we taught English in the morning at the baseball field, played around a little, ate lunch, and played volleyball all afternoon.

Oh I forgot! Yesterday night; Me, Mackalah, and Katy took Jess's car (she lets me use it sometimes to have a social life :)) to the baseball field to watch a men's softball game with Jess and some of the guys from the baseball site. My friend Johan and I ended up playing this stupid rock, paper, scissors game. If you lost, you got punched by the winner in the arm as hard as you can. You keep going until someone can't take it anymore. Jess is pretty tough, and I certainly am not. But the boys are always calling me a scaredy cat, so I finally just did it. And today, I have a huge bruise on my left arm to prove it. Johan definitely won. We decided that we needed to make a club of these people that do these stupid games and get hurt while doing them. It's called "los masacis ( i have no idea how to spell it) but it means someone who likes pain for fun haha.

That's definitely not me, but oh well :)

I felt since I've been here that I am not doing as much as I would like to, to a certain extent. So I asked Jess if the girls were ever going to play in a tournament or anything. She was like no but that's a great idea! So we talked to Raul, and we are gonna start kinda slow at first. We are planning to play one game against a team in a different community called La Vega. Raul is planning is perfectly so that the boys will be playing a game there as well. That way we can all cheer each other on. That means that in practice this week, we have told the girls that they need to work hard and we will pick the best 8 to play in the game. I'm really excited and hope it works out!

Prayer requests:

The game against La Vega!

More bonding, and patience with my high school girls

Me being able to be a good example :)

Baseball Watching/Intern Outing/ Carnival

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, sometimes I feel like I need to wait longer in between blogs so I can build up the suspense, and make it more interesting. I'm sorry if this is long, but I'm considering this my journal, because my other journal is conversations with God.

Anyways, Thursday and Friday were the most relaxed days I've had since I've been here and it was awesome. Thursday we picked up some of the volleyball girls and boys from two different communities and went to go watch the older boys play against another community of boys. Since I love baseball, I was easily entertained. It also helped that I had little Weme there to play around with. (a little girl that is attached to me and Jess from one of the communities). After a long day of watching that, we headed back to the base. I only had a small break because we had an intern meeting, then the big staff bible study which was really good.

Friday... started off the same as Thursday. Katy took a day off from her site and decided to join us for the day which I loved. We went to OUR field this time to play, and it was fun to watch our boys enjoy playing. Jess, Katy, and I escaped for a little bit to get some frozen yogurt, then headed back to the field to pick everyone up to head to the river to jump off some big rocks.

On the long walk down there, I shared a little devotional with the girls about the harshness of words and how sometimes what we think won't hurt someone's feelings, might have hit pretty close to home for them. It was an issue that needed to be brought up with this group, and Jess got to relate it to them personally after I was done.

Jumping off the rocks was fun, I am too scared to jump off the taller one, and get constantly made fun of for being a scaredy cat by the baseball boys. I'm okay with it, and can embrace that I really am scared of a lot! :)

Last night was also the banquet for the team that's been here for the past two weeks. We got dressed in nice clothes, had dinner, and had a little goodbye ceremony for them. I got to know this team pretty well, considering I didn't have any specifically at the girls sports site. I wasn't as attached as some of the other interns, but i'm hoping since I have two high schoolers this next week that I will build great relationships with them.

After the banquet, four of the girl interns decided we wanted a night out. I was already planning on going out, b/c Jess had invited me. But it was fun to invite Angie, Mackalah, and Katy as well. I knew that they were just as excited as me to have some independence and get off the base. We also found out that we didn't have a curfew for once and were super pumped!

We went to a carnival. A Dominican version of a carnival. There were about 3 rides, all looking equally old and rickety. I only went on one, and it was the scariest one! The ferris wheel. Now your typical ferris wheel is a nice fun ride to check out the scenery and have a nice chat. NO. Not in the DR. This ferris wheel was about 30 feet high, and went around so fast I felt sick. I sat in the middle between Jess and Danjelly ( I don't think that's how it's spelled, but he's one of the boys from the sports site.. he's about 18 maybe? it's hard to tell age here haha) I linked arms with both of them and held on for my life. I lost my voice for the rest of the night b/c i was screaming NO so much and screaming b/c I was so scared. Jess LOVED to tip the cart we were on to make it scarier, and I saw my life flash before me a few times :) But i'm glad I did it :)

Today, since it's our FREE weekend, we slept in. YAY! Ah one of the best feelings ever. Then we just all hung out most of the morning, played some games, ate lunch, and got ready for the day. We went into Santiago, which is about 40 min away. It's a big city, and we got to explore a little. We went to the monument, the DR version of a walmart, a tourist market, and TGI Fridays. YES, the real TGI Fridays. AMERICAN FOOD. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I smelled the familiar aromas when I walked in to the restaurant. It was so good, and well worth the spent day. As well as lots of laughter with all the other interns, with some good memories made. We added one more intern to our group on Thursday, her name is Laurel. We are still getting to know her, but she seems really nice! We have two more coming tomorrow, and Mackalah and I are adding one to our room, which we are a little nervous about b/c we are so close and kinda weird, we hope that she is too :)

Tomorrow, Coach Ivan is coming to pick me up so I can spend the day with him, his wife, and his group of high schoolers from Greenville. I'm really excited to spend some time with him in his home country! We are going to some waterfalls, and then a country club to eat and swim. I know i'll be exhausted tomorrow night, but I can't wait for some good quality time spent with the Estevez's! I'll blog again soon :)

Hiking Day

I would have to say, that today was one of the hardest physical experiences I've had. Jess and I along with about 14 others, hiked down a mountain into the valley into a rushing river. It has been raining a lot in the afternoons, so the water was really high and the current was really strong, which made this trip even more dangerous. There wasn't a set trail for this excursion, we just bushwhacked our way down and up. While down at the river, we had lunch and sat in the sun for a while and then Pastor Don ( the head pastor of a church that is here on an outreach) spoke. He was so good that Raul (boys sport site leader) asked him to speak at an outreach in the community that we did tonight.

Going into this hike, I had white tennis shoes. They are a lovely color of brown now, and so heavy from all the sand stuck in them. The way up was the worst, my calves burned the entire time and I almost didn't think I was going to make it. Raul had warned us about these poisonous plants that had spikes on them, and I made sure to stay clear of them, or so I thought. All of a sudden I felt this awful burning sensation in my leg right below my knee. I was like, "hey uhh Jess, my leg is burning" Raul heard me say that and quickly went into Man vs Wild mode. He said that there were bubbles of venom from the plant in my knee, so he used a cactus needle to pop them and squeeze it out of my skin. I took it like a man :)

But I had been noticing all that day that a couple of my bug bites were getting larger and were radiating heat. Jess seemed a little concerned, and said that if it gets worse we need to tell the doctor. On the way back from the hike, I told Raul that my knee was still hurting and he said that there was still more venom in there. I haven't had a chance to go the doctor yet, so just pray that I get a good night's sleep tonight :)

Even with all my cuts, scrapes, and bruises I'm glad I did it. I will be doing it two more times when I'm here, so I better get used to it. :)

Seeing God's creation in a whole new way always shows you how powerful he really is. I took some pictures and they will definitely be on facebook soon!

Feeling Free

These past few days, I've been pondering what God is going to teach me while i'm here.

I don't think I've found the answer quite yet. But I know he is continually teaching me different things.

This weekend was awesome to me, I feel like I really bonded with the interns a lot more than I have been, and we just all seem to click. At our weekly bible study on Sunday night, we started talking about the book Crazy Love. I've read a few chapters before, but I feel like this is going to be a really good opportunity to learn with our group.

Sunday morning at church we met a fellow group of Americanas as we are always called, and it was cool to see some other people doing mission work in Jarabacoa that aren't associated with Students International.

A new group of students came for just this week. Except they aren't students.. they are all adults, and mostly couples from one church. The head pastor and his wife, the college group pastor and his wife, the worship pastor and his wife and a few others. The head pastor,the college pastor, and the worship leader are all at the boy's sports site but since i'm there almost everyday I've gotten to know them a little bit. They are very interesting to talk to, and one of them even reminds me of my dad. It made me miss him and my family a lot today. I also think that these older pastoral men have a lot to teach me.

God has been working in my life, I am completely immersed in his word every morning during devotions, and have been having daily conversations with him by journaling.

Last night was the Servants Challenge. It's a time when we can have some really alone time with God, and with a partner of your choosing you was each other's feet and pray for each other. Mackalah and I of course were partners. But the crazy thing was, when we asked each other what to pray for, we both had already known the other's answer. God was really using both of us to speak to each other in a way we've never experienced before and it was so great.

Yesterday at the site, I got a new nickname from one of the 7 year old boys. Besides Cristina, Catcha, and Cristi.. I have now adopted.. "cute eyebrows" which in spanish is las cejas linda. Which was SO weird to me haha. Jess and I have had a few good laughs over it since then, so it's probably worth it to have to hear it haha.

Today, was English class in the morning. Put up a quick prayer for two of my girls Kasey and Lili, they took a big English test today to get into a WONDERFUL school called Duolos. They are so smart, they need to be there!

During siesta (the countrywide 2 hour lunch break), we went to a baseball players house for lunch. The food was amazing as always. Then after lunch we started the long trek down to the riverfront to play some games. I saw some crazy dark clouds, but decided to ignore them since it has rained EVERY afternoon we have been here. We started walking and it started pouring. And I mean... the BIGGEST water droplets I have ever seen. There was no coverings or anything anywhere, so my only choice in my dry clothes and tennis shoes was to get soaked. At first I hated it, and was worried about my belongings getting wet. But we found an umbrella and someone carried all the bags under the umbrella. I've never experienced a freeing feeling like that before. It was like.. all was right with the world in just that moment b/c I was so out of control about how my body felt. No matter how cold or wet I was becoming, we reached the riverfront, there is a huge parking lot there that we played tennis ball baseball in, in the pouring rain. It was a BLAST. A moment I'll never forget. I love being the only girl with Jess at this site for right now, we get along with these boys as if they were our own brothers, and it's so nice not to have to impress anyone! I think i've worn makeup only a couple times since i've been here :)

Excursion Day... Intern Outing!

The past few days have been the busiest yet! But I feel like if I wasn't busy, I wouldn't enjoy everything around me as much. Yesterday Jess and I taught English at the baseball site just like we always do every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But then after I got to join in on a game of baseball with the boys. Since I was here in January, they already know that for a girl I can play decent. I feel like I've earned those boys' respect and they ALWAYS insist I play. Jess always tell me that I fit in so well with these boys, and they have taken me under their wing as their sister. And being their "sister" comes with much trash talking and teasing. I always tell them, "Estas hablando baba" which means you are talking trash! I played the outfield, b/c I hate catching baseballs they are so small and white! I also told them they had to pitch it slow to me (muy suave- very soft!) b/c I wouldn't be able to hit it if not. The pitcher pitched it kinda slower and I smacked it over the left fielder's head.. he wouldn't pitch it slow to me again.. wonder why? :)

In the afternoon Jess and I had volleyball practice with the girls in our community, and I love when she introduces me and tells them I'm going to be here for six weeks and they all smile and say wow!

Needless to say, I've been getting a LOT of sun these past two days. I've been told a couple times how dark i'm getting. I have mixed feelings about it b/c I'm getting HORRIBLE tan lines, and Kaity and Austin's wedding that I'm in is in August!

The interns have been having more bonding time lately. Last night at the dinner table I randomly said, let's have hangout time after the worship service? A couple of the boys were quick to be sarcastic and say no, but we all ended up talking for about 2 hours after and really starting to get to know each other.

Today was the Excursion with the teams. Katy got to go white water rafting, and Me, Mack, Myles, and Peter took the rest of the group on a hike to the lower falls. It was quite amazing, and tired me out as well! I will post pictures on facebook. We, as interns, are gaining more independence as we had to take them without the staff on the hike, and then took them into the city by ourselves as well. But that's all part of the "job". I felt confident leading them around, and everything went so smooth.

While we were getting ice cream after dinner, Pete (one of the other interns) decided to tell a couple of the shoe shine boys that were begging us for money, to sing to me, just to embarrass me. At first I was like there isn't any way they will actually do this, will they? But I was wrong, they loved it and got like 7-10 other boys in on it. I was sitting on the ground as they surrounded me and rapped to me. It's definitely one of my most embarrassing moments.

On our way back from dinner, we saw this festival that we keep passing daily. It was pretty much a place where music is being played, and all these little booths with things being advertised and sold. I would compare it to like a market or like a town fair in the states. All of us had been so interested in it, but never knew whether or not we wanted to go. Finally, knowing that we as interns have some freedom, we mustered up the courage to ask to take the truck and go check it out by ourselves. Our leaders really like our group and say we are all really trustworthy so they let us go. It was our first outing together, and by ourselves! We felt really independent and so apart of the Dominican culture. The outing was definitely a success, and we can't wait to find more things to do together! :)

Another Day...

I dunno how often I can keep this posts coming, but with the free time I have at night I figure I should put it to good use.

Today was another fun-filled day, like I'm sure almost all of my days will be here.

We taught English to two little girls, Kasey and Lili, they are taking a test on Tuesday to try and get into the local nice school called Don Julos. So they have to know a lot of things in English in order to pass and be accepted into the school.

Jess and I do a lot of traveling between cities to pick up her volleyball girls and take them back to where there is a court. I commend her for having to do that ALL the time, it must get annoying!

Later on in the day we got our nails done by a 16 year old named Veyonce (spelling?) who is SO amazing at them, I will have to put up a picture sometime.

During nails, Jess asked if it was okay for her to go take some of the other girls home while i finished getting mine done. Of course I said yes, but quickly felt kinda awkward, because I can't speak Spanish well enough to have a conversation. Which is very frustrating for me, but also humbling at the same time.

But I did have a major breakthrough for me tonight! My friend Moreno (he's a Dominican baseball player at the site) I've known him since I came on my other outreach in January, and I asked him a few simple questions in spanish like hey how are you and stuff, then he told me in English that my spanish was getting better which felt good. Moreno and I have the type of relationship where he is constantly talking trash (that I have to get translated) and making fun of me like a sister. So after he told me good job I knew it wouldn't stop there :) He then said that only people who can speak Spanish can go to heaven, and I understood EVERY word! I screamed and said Me comprende!! and he laughed really hard, and said very good!

Tonight was also a night that happens with each team with have. It's called dinner in the community. Each intern takes their students to a house of a dominican from their site. Students International provides the funds for the family making the meal to get all the food supplies, because they can't afford it otherwise. Tonight we went to a baseball players house, his name is Alberto but all his friends call him Popo. His mom made this brown rice with corn, chicken, amazing pasta salad with tuna, and fried platanos (which is a type of potato/banana).

On the way walking to Popo's house, I saw a few of my little boys from the baseball site that I had played with in January. I got SO excited to see them and yelled for joy when they came sprinting towards me to jump on me, hug me, and yelled "christina!!" (that's what they called me since they always had a hard time with Cristi for some reason. It made my night, and it was so cool to see a familiar face in midst of everything unknown.

Tomorrow we go to the baseball site in the morning to teach some English, then play the sport I love.. well kinda! Baseball. Hopefully with some softball mixed in :)

First few busy days

I find myself thinking with every event that happens, "Oh my gosh I HAVE to blog that!"

I am constantly looking at Mackalah and saying that, good thing she knows me well enough to know exactly what I'm thinking before I even say it :)

Ayi yi yi.. it's been a BUSY couple of days. I'm hoping that my body can get used to it so i'm not so tired in the afternoons and can give my full attention to everything and everyone around me. Yesterday we had our first worship time with the first outreach group we have here. There are about 3 different groups, with a total of 17 people all together. One of the groups is from Chico, CA which is SO close to my house, so it's fun to see in actuality how SMALL the world really is.

There are 7 interns, 4 girls and 3 boys. I am lucky enough to have already gone on an outreach to the Dominican with Katy, so we know each other :) and then of course having one of my best friends here as my roommate makes my days complete.

Yesterday was orientation for the outreach group that is here, and as interns we need to know everything that they are doing, so just this first time we had to attend. Then we had lunch and headed out to our sites for the day. Jess (my site leader who is only a year and a half older than me, and we are a LOT alike) and I don't have a group this outreach, so I am just getting some quality time with her, which is WONDERFUL. Our personalities are so much alike, we have already had some awesome talks, and I thank God and am so blessed to get to spend the majority of my summer with her.

Today was her birthday, and we made so many cookies and a big cake for it. Also.. I had two BIG accomplishments today.. i DROVE here.. and I had to ask for a receipt in spanish by myself. Jess knows that I'll only learn if i'm forced to do certain things, so it's good for me!

Tonight was Jess's birthday party, and she asked me to join. It was really fun but also frustrating b/c don't know Spanish and everyone else there spoke Spanish. I am learning a little, but not enough to communicate, which is very different for me to be a quiet person rather than the center of attention. It's probably a good thing! :)

Orientation Day!

Today we got to sleep in for like the ONLY time all summer.

The interns and I had orientation, there are only about 9 of us this summer.

Our job is to oversee the outreach missions teams that come to the base (just like I did in January) and to be an assistant to our site leader.

I will be at the girl's sports site, working with my site leader Jess. She is who I was with when I came in January, and whom I immediately clicked with back then, and was so excited to jump on her this morning when she came to see me!

We met with our "bosses" Josh and Vicki to go over rules, responsibilities and things like that.

It was a little bit overwhelming, but after a bit, I think i'll get the hang of it. I hope! One of the major things we have to do, is for every team that comes.. we take them into the city of Jarabacoa and hang out with them as they shop and show them the stores to go to there and stuff, and we don't have a staff member with us, it's just US.. we are their main leader.That made me very nervous, especially since I don't know Spanish, like.. at all.

But to help us know the city a little bit better, we went to lunch, then we had a scavenger hunt. We had to find each store on there, then take a crazy picture in front of it, then when showing the pictures, come up with a unique way to present them. Mack and I will put the pictures up later, but we split up us four girls, and the three boys. Boys vs. Girls. Needless to say.. the girls definitely won :)

We went to ice cream afterwards, and are now taking a two hour break before dinner. There isn't really anything planned for after dinner.. But I know that we will find something fun to fill our time with :)

Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. I've Arrived

My day of traveling wasn't the most fun either.

I started it off with only 2 hours of sleep (b/c i was nervous, anxious, and stuffed up), I also woke up with a swollen left eye that was so red I couldn't see the white part of it. My nose was also red from being blown, and I was still really stuffed up. I'm not sure what I was allergic to, or if the fact that I had a lot of makeup on t

he day before made any difference, who knows? I immediately put on my glasses and started my trip to the airport, my good friend David Maurer drove me.

Then I realized that I had left my make-up bag with no

t only my make-up in it, but my toothbrush, other toiletries, and the phone charger I needed. I silently tried not to get frustrated, and just prayed that the

battery would last for the time I needed it to.

I've never traveled internationally by myself, and for some reason I was scared, nervous, and freaking out to say the least. It's a completely different ballgame than traveling home to Cali alone. I think I talked to one person, for a little bit. But other than that, no other words came out of my mouth for the entire day.

I got off the plane in Santiago, at around 8:30, and went to get in line to get my tourist card then go through immigration, then customs. As I was standing in line for my tourist card I saw the director Lowell waiting for me, but then I saw the most familiar face of all, Mackalah. I have never been so excited to see a familiar face in my life!

We drove back to the base talking and laughing, when we got back I got to meet all the other interns. They all s

eem really nice, and one boy is even from Chico, Ca.. which is close to my hometown!

I unpacked, and set up me and Mackalah's room with my stuff, played on my computer a little and went to sleep.

Here are some pictures of what our room looks like :)

Our room.. Mackalah and trying to get out of the picture.

The bathroom...

My bed.. Mackalah let me have the big one.. and soon another girl will join us in our room on the top bunk.

Jordan and Jered's Wedding

I was so excited to be apart of two of my special friend's once in a lifetime days!

It was a wonderful day, and everything went as planned, and it was so beautiful for the both of them.

It was also a very hectic day, and I knew that this was going to kick-off my summer of craziness. Some of the events weren't what I was hoping for.

The night before the wedding, a few of the bridesmaids and some of our friends were playing cards, and my phone dropped into my drink. I quickly tried to save it, but it still got wet. I let everything dry, and it worked for the rest of the night, so I thought I was good to go.

The next morning was wedding day! I knew it was going to be a busy day, so I packed the night before and then loaded into Kate's car. As I was turning on my phone, I noticed it actually wouldn't turn on. I tried not to freak out, but remembering I was leaving the country the next day, that was kind of hard.

Kate's mom was SO amazing to me the whole week I was there. She was willing to help me with whatever I needed. After finding out about my phone she quickly suggested I change over to Kate's old phone so that I would have at least some form of communication as I was traveling and then she offered to do it for me.

So we headed to the church to get ready, hair done, makeup done.. you know.. the works!

Kate's mom then called to tell me I needed to be there in person, so I borrowed a car and drove to meet her. I got my phone all switched over and thought that the day was starting to look up.

I realized that having a phone was way worse than having a big zit on my face, or getting a present from mother nature that morning that I was complaining about earlier... it just added to my worries and stresses :)

I had so much fun with the other bridesmaids and Jordan, getting ready, taking pictures, being goofy, walking down the aisle, and taking group pictures. It was a full day that ended with such a cute reception that we all ended up dancing like crazy people at together!

We saw the newlywed couple off, and knew that this was the last day in a long time that all of us would be together for a while. It was a sad feeling, but I was also excited for what the summer was going to hold.

Weekend Before Leaving

So first of all can I just say that packing up all you own and separating it into three different places is really hard?

I had to do that with everything I owned in Greenville the weekend of graduation. Luckily, I had roommates and my mom to help me calm down and put everything in order. But of course I still forgot things that were important.

I had to pack for my next semester at Greenville, living in the Walker's basement and everything I would need there. Next, I packed my suitcases for the Dominican. Then I added things in those suitcases in which I would need for my two weeks home after the Dominican, and also the things I would need before Jordan's wedding. It was crazy and insane, for the most part I figured it out!

The weekend before I left was graduation, in which my whole family was together again. It was so awesome to finally have them there, and to be able to share in another big step in my life. I thought that graduating would be a time in which I cried like a baby, but since I'm coming back in the fall for my student teaching, I knew that I would see most of the people again. That didn't stop me from taking as many pictures as I could, as my mom followed me around like my own personal paparazzi. My brother and dad left that night to start the long drive home, and I got some girl hangout time with my mom and sister. We left the next morning at about 4 in the morning, my roommate Kate drove us. Kate and I then stopped for breakfast with my wonderful friend Angie to say bye for the summer. Then we headed to Kate's hometown for the week before Jordan's wedding!