This past weekend was amazing! We took our longest trip to Barahona and Pedernales which included time at in Haiti. So let me tell you a little bit more specifically what all we did…
On Thursday we left for Barahona in the south (west i think) of the country and drove a long while until we got to an awesome mountain of dried up coral and we climbed up those rocks to see some Taino art that was on the walls of the caves. After that we went to the Lago Enriquillo and saw some massive iguanas, that was pretty cool. Then we made a trip across the border to go to a market in Haiti. It is amazing to see the culture differences in such a tiny island and just right on the other side of the boarder.
On Friday we got up and drove to Pedernales where we stopped at a Larimar beach. for those of you who don’t know Larimar is a type of stone or rock that is only found in the DR (they are really proud of it) So we stopped at a beach where this awesome stuff just washes up from the ocean and we had a chance to look for some and collect our own. That was really fun. After that we drove to a different beach and spent the day there, relaxing and swimming in the amazing Caribbean Sea (I’m not complaining!)
The next day we went to Haiti again but this time to an actual town/city. It was an amazing difference. The people are so much poorer in Haiti then in the DR but it was amazing how much more at ease and comfortable i felt around them in comparison to how i feel around the tigres in the DR sometimes. It was a great experience for the Haitians to show us their homes.
Then we went to Bahia see las Aguilas and i have been told that this is the worlds 7th best beach. And i would believe it. We had to take boats to get there because it is completely remote and untouched. it was AMAZING! unfortunately about 2/3 of the group got sick and were running for the bushes through out the day. But even in spite of illness we had a great time. The water was so clear and perfect for snorkeling (for people who like that sort of thing) and they even found large star fish!!!
The next day we left for home, but first we stopped in San Rafeal to do a river hike. A river hike is exactly how it sounds, we hiked up and down a river. it was so much fun going up, unfortunately the river was a little strong and i was a little cocky and i slipped on a rock going into a spot deeper than i expected and got my feet taken out from under me and landed HARD on my knee and came out with a sprained knee and HUGE bruises to remember my time there. luckily there were some awesome girls in my group who helped me down the river.
It was a great weekend overall!! i am having a great time here, we leave for service in about a week, and i still don’t know exactly where i will be but i will keep you updated! thank you so much for your emails and letters!!! keep them up they make me so happy to receive!!! blessings and love to all!!

As if the title doesn’t say it all Yeah, Cuzco and Machu Pichu were both breathtaking. Like the pictures in the books, but you’re actually there and the views just keep on going!! In all we only spent 3 and a half days in the area but fit in a lot of visits to Incan ruins, local markets, and other fun with our tour guide Elvis.

You may have also noticed that I haven’t posted in nearly two weeks. This means two things… I don’t get online all that often and I have been CRAZY busy these past two weeks. It however does NOT mean that I’ve forgotten all of you back home Because I only have 13 min left at my internet cafe I will give a nice quick list of my highlights from these past weeks and then, as always you can check out some photos on the GC site: www.goshen.edu/sst

• Cuzco, with it’s great architecture and ruins.
• Machu Pichu, simply beyond words!
• Euchre on the train to and from Machu Pichu
• Visiting the catacombs at a local cathedral
• Shopping in sightly sketchy neighborhoods for good deals under the constant guard of my brother Samuel.
• Las Islas Palominas. Nothing quite like relaxing on a boat and seeing thousands of sea lions and even some penguins!
• Going to a local soccer game! ¡Vive Alianza!
• Awesome music and dancing in El Carmen.
• Talking the author of the book American Chica.
• Just enjoying time with my wonderful SST group.

So there you have it. Fun times. Keep Beth and I (as well as all the families) as we get ready to head to our service assignments in a lil over a week! Crazy that SST is  almost half over by now. Talk to you all later!

I finally have something interesting to say! I thought I should get this online before Marcos comes back to tell you all about his amazing time to Cusco! So this weekend i went to Selcedo and Jarabacoa. They are two citys north of Santo Domingo. On Friday we left Casa Goshen at 7 am and headed to the Mirabal Muesam. The Mirabal sisters are national icons here. They were part of the 14th of June Movement to over throw the dictator Trujillo. Three of the four sisters were killed in a plot by Trujillo and his secret police the SIM. We were lucky enough to have a meeting with the last sister still alive. She is concederd a national tresure. Her name is Dede Meiabal, and her son was actually the vice presedent of the country a few years back.

After that historical feild trip we went up to the Mts. of Jarabacoa. It was BEAUTIFUL (i suggest you check out the pictures on Goshen’s website) We stayed in a beautiful community and played in the river all day and that night the locals taught us how to dance Dominican style. It was so much fun! On Saturday we took a trip to an organic coffee farm and saw that process and took and amazing hike and ate organic strawberrys and raspberrys on the way! After that we headed to a waterfall and played around for a while. It was an amazing time! I am really glad that we got the chance to get out of the city a little bit and see the beauty of the country! I can’t wait to show you all my pictures!!! Love to you all and I hope you are all well! Blessings!

Hi again from the DR! sorry it has been a while since i have had something to say! it has been nice though to have some time to get into the whole rutine of spanish classes and lectures! We did make the trip to San Palo (I think) The home of Sammy Sosa and we went to a sugar factory and a Batey that was an experiance, not only was it interesting to see how factory workers work and the conditions they have, it was interesting to see how the people who actually cut the sugar cain live. It was a little depressing to see these communities that are kept in oppression. anyway it was a real experiance. and this weekend i will be headed to the classic waterfall that the DR SST goes to all the time, so that will be exciting! anyway i will write more later, my time is almost up here! take care all (and be safe and have fun this weekend Marcos! And Mom and Dad have fun in CO!) Love to all!!

Of course I mean exploring in the safest meaning of the word We’ve been going on a lot of trips recently with the SST group here in Peru including a military museum/fort, the shanty-town of Pamplona, the national mint and this coming weekend Cuzco and Machu Pichu! Hopefully you’re able to check out all the photos from these places on Goshen’s site but if not here’s a bit of an update. Regarding my earlier concerns about being a tourist in poor areas of town… those fears were partially realized in the earlier visit to Callao, but the more recent trip to Pamplona was a much more positive experience. The children who came to the church sang and were so happy to just play with us even if we didn’t come bearing candy or gifts. It was also nice to be able to do a little work by putting up the shade and a lil “fencing.” The way the whole area was built was absolutely astounding. A sea of shacks and stone walls built to hold the mountain of sand in place.

As a complete reversal to our time in Pamplona, this Friday morning the group is catching a flight to Cuzco where we will be learning a bit more about Incan architecture and history. It seems that relatively few of our host families (or other Limeños) have actually been to Cuzco, let alone Machu Pichu because of the prohibitive costs. The area is very touristy and a bit remote to boot. However, regardless of the excessive tourism I’m quite excited to see the mountains of Peru! I’ll let you know it went when I return on Monday. Talk to you all later!

Hi all! Well, I just couldn’t let things go for more than a week without updates so here goes. I have really been enjoying several aspects of my time in Peru so far. The food, for one, is absolutely amazing. Between Lomo Saltado, Ceviche, Aroz con Pollo, and Masamora Morado I am staying plenty full (and that’s just the beginning of the list ). Another enjoyable part of my time in Peru has been involvement in my host family’s church. My siblings belong to celulas (basically small groups) and I have had the pleasure of going along w/ my younger brother, Samuel, to several meetings and outings with them. I even went to two birthday parties of members of the celula. They are extremely welcoming, and it’s been great to interact more with people in the church who are my age. The actual church is huge. Each sunday there are 7 services and all of them are packed out (I’m guessing 400 people each service?). The style of worship has been good for me tho. No hymns, but good praise music and if I’m lucky even a song or two that I know like Open the Eyes of My Heart. Then there’s usually a sermon, and while I can’t understand everything I usually at least get the main point. Anyway, It hasn’t been a tough transition in that respect which I really appreciate. Ok, I’ve gotta run, but happy Mother’s Day in advance mom!Catch you all later!

I have had a very exciting past few days… let me tell you….

On Friday we went to the colonial zone and had a lot of fun not being the only white people around. we saw old forts and where Columbus lived. We also saw churches and where the heros of Dominican Republic are burried. It was a VERY linda ciudad, and i enjoyed it a lot! After we were done, Maria and I got ready to go home, but got a little confused. My host dad had given me directions to where to go to get home, but obviously i needed a little more direction. Maria and i asked a few people for directions in our broken spanish and found out at least we were walking the right direction. We ended up walking a little more than 2 1/2 miles and were very dirty and gross when we finally got a carro publico. I told Maria that its probably good that my mom doesn’t know what I’m doing all the time, she might not like to know we were walking down (sometimes through) a busy street lost hot and dirty trying to ask directions in a language we don’t really know… it was a good experiance.

Today was also very exciting all around! I got up early at 6 am to leave for casa goshen. From there we went to tres ojos which are beautiful caves with bright blue water at the bottom. It was quite the fun experiance. We even sang 606 at the bottom of one of the caves. From there we left for the beach!! My whole self was in the Caribbean Sea it was beautiful! we had 5 hours to have as much fun as possible on the beach. I did a lot of swiming in the clearest water i have ever seen and we played water vollyball and ultimate frisbie. Amoung other things we also did some sun tanning, and dispite the SPF 30 i put on before going in the water, I am bright red!! its really sad and uncomfortable! my three year old sister even asked why i was so red today!

After i got home I found my host mom, her sister and cousin having a “beauty parlor” in their house. It was fun and they decided they wanted to make me look more feminine. So they gave me a french manicure and plucked my eyebrows and put a LOT of makeup on my face. It was quite the experiance. But i had a lot of fun!! They are really great people. SO as you can see i am having a great time and i am excited for a new week to start. and i also can’t wait until my sunburn turns into an awesome tan! Other than that thank you all for youe prayers, I am off to watch Willy Wonka for the 2nd time tonight in spanish! Have a great weekend!

As you probably suspected, along with studying hard all day long, we also get some free time here on SST. It seems like we in Peru have been getting a bit more travel in at the beginning of SST. For example, we’ve visited the Government Palace, a local mountain overlook, and several pre-Incan ruins. Yesterday we even made it to a Peruvian beach which despite a fishy smell and cool temperatures was quite clean and a lot of fun. The waves were amazing! Today, we get a bit of a change in traveling experiences as we visit several local shanty-towns. I really have mixed emotions about these visits. On one hand I’m sure it’s important to see poverty first hand and spending time with the local children will hopefully be good for them to. On the other hand I feel a bit awkward. Here I am, a wealthy American “tourist” coming by to observe their lives, their poverty. I pray that in some way this trip will truly effect me and encourage me to pursue more effective ways of helping those in need and isn’t just an unwelcome intrusion.

Well, I officially survived my first full week in Peru. Now that we’ve started with classes I feel like I’m settling into a bit more of a routine which is nice and helps the time pass a bit more quickly. Now that I’ve been in Peru for a week I also feel a bit more at home getting around. To get to the seminary where we have classes every morning I meet up with my “travel group” (Sam, Greta and Hannah) and flag down a taxi. However I’ve even managed to get the hang of things enough to usually feel comfortable getting around by combi (the local variety mini-bus).

Other things are also going quite well for me. My family is wonderful and makes me feel SO at home. I even got to go with my younger brother Samuel and his youth group to a park in the mountains where we enjoyed football, games and swimming. Yeah, so things are going pretty well. I pray everything is going well for you as well. I’ll post more updates later!

PS. One correction I do need to make. The photo of the Peruvian flag I posted earlier I have discovered is NOT actually what the flag looks like. Yeah, it definitely has a crest in the middle.