Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo is incredible. It has the busy feel of a city, but also contains so much history. If you have a few minutes, I suggest spending the time and studing a little bit of history. Christopher Columbus first discovered Hispaniola which is the island that consists of the DR and Haiti. Santo Domingo is a very old city with the streets and buildings gushing of character.

Here is Christopher Columbus' house and there are many other tributes to him throughout the city.



Just a few of my favorite pictures from the city. I was pretty sick and made myself walk all over because we only had one day to shop and see everything. Needless to say I am not in any pictures and the pictures are not very good and are pretty random. All I could really think about was being able to walk and to capture in as much as I could.

Everyone knows and loves a "Lee." Thanks dad for giving me a great last name and to everyone else, I am not Asian.

The last two pictures show what you see when you get off the tourist road and see all the other things the city has to offer. There is more than just men staring and calling you a rubia. I just wish I could capture the sounds. Music is always playing






Did I mention that our main purpose of going to the capitol was to see the temple?! Well it was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures, but the best part was being able to be in a familiar place and to feel peace. Everything about the temple stood out in this city, to the perfectly trimmed lawn to the perfectly arranged flowers on the grounds. Every window and door in the city has iron bars that are usually quite decorative. I found out that it was not for decoration, but for safety. The temple was the only place that was not covered in protection measures. It was a great escape.

And this lovely edifice is where I spent two nights. It is the MTC and yes, I slept right below all the missionaries. So I got to sleep on temple grounds, I am pretty holy and I am thinking the next step in my life is translation (that was a joke, I try to be funny.)I talked to a few missionaries that said that people come from many different islands and Haiti and think they are staying in a 5 star hotel. They are blown away by the blinds on the window, let alone the hot water. I even got to flush my toilet paper! I thought about making a movie about this, but then decided to go to bed in a bed that I actually needed a comforter. Yes, I was cold at night, something I have not felt since I stayed at my parents house.

My weekend was wonderful, and I enjoyed pushing through my achy body and cold to experience the wonderful city of Santo Domingo.

Back Tracking...

I forgot to mention my previous Sunday and how the entire BYU group was invited over to a members house for dinner. It was wonderful to be brought into the humble home of a member from the Puerto Plata branch that we attend on Sundays. It was a huge party and other members from the ward were there and we all ate a wonderful meal that was complete with the usual rice and beans. The family did not have much, but their home was full of love.



I did not get a good picture that showed all the food or all the people that attended the lunch, but these three pictures show the wonderful people.

The first Sunday we attended the branch we met a white family! We have gotten to know them and my field facilitator invited them over to their condo for an evening of swimming. My friend Kathryn and I were the only ones who attended from the BYU group and we had a blast. This family which consists of four children with the oldest being six are living a life that I could only dream of living. The husband was a seminary teacher for six years and then felt the need to do humanitarian work. He tried contacting the church but was told to wait until his family was raised. One day, him and his wife decided to move to Costa Rica and do humanitarian work. They moved to the DR in March and are working on starting libraries. He does all of his work online, something with the stock market and they do a few other online jobs to support their family. They feel like Thailand is their next destination and are going to continue to move and serve. He told me that one day they will find a place to settle down, but until now they will live in many different places, seeing the world. Not only did I love playing with kids that could actually understand me and I could understand them, but I was very inspired to have a life that was based around service. I don't feel like you have to go foreign countries to serve, it can be done in your own town and in your own home, but service is an action that I want to be apart of every day of my life.

One last random fact for the night, check this picture out!

This is a picture of the sun. I have not had time to research it, but it was crazy and a little freaky to see.

I am heading to Santo Domingo tomorrow and we are going to the temple! I have also made it through half the camp. I CAN DO HARD THINGS!

Happenings From The Week

I am getting behind on updating so I am going to give a quick update.
Last Saturday we went white water rafting and it was incredible. Idaho rapids are a bunch of babies compared to these rapids. It was an all day experience which included a lot of food and a beautiful drive through the country. I cannot get over how green it is and it is not like the Washington green that I am familiar with.

During sports, our sports teacher thought it would be fun to do a scavenger hunt. Great in theory, horrible in practice. I am pretty sure I sweated off half of my weight as we ran all around La Loma. Here are a few quick pictures that don't include me and sweat.

Colors

Without color, what would our world look like?

Tuesday, I struggled with the ignorance of human beings. The Dominican Republic is beautiful with many colors of skin and eyes, but like the rest of the world some individuals lack tolerance for another race. I was completely shocked at remarks that came out of mouths about Haitians. These mouths were children.

I not only hope for tolerance, but I hope for love.

These week at camp has been one of the hardest things I have ever done and words cannot describe my emotions or the struggles. I am completely exhausted and I have found that all I can do is love. There are times during the day when I have to sit back and remember the love I have for these kids.

I think the Beatles had it right when they said "All you need is love."

The Time has Arrived

I first want to announce that I survived the first day of camp. I only had one nino pee from a rock, one fist fight, and one moment of utter chaos. Things are looking good! I am a co-counselor and then we have one Dominican counselor and together the three of us are over 20 children between the ages of nine and twelve.

This is the amazing Lindsey, who is so kind and has patience with me and my horrible espanol. She just graduated from North Carolina and is spending a year with the Dream Project. Like I said, she is amazing.
The boy squeezed between us is Pablo and he was our first camper to arrive.


Lunch Time! Now don't be fooled, it may look calm, but as we know looks can be deceiving.



Baseball. It is not only America's favorite past time. It is the way of life for Dominicans.

Shout Out to my Old Man!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!

Dad, another year has gone by and I hope you have enjoyed every moment, even the hard ones. You continue to be old enough to drive a Cadillac. I wish I could have been there to eat cake and ice cream, but how about we celebrate it again when I get home.

Thanks for supporting me in all of my endeavors and making so many possibilities available to me. Just yesterday a friend and I were talking about the things that dads let you get away with and I am so grateful for the times that we made brownies and you made me leave batter in the bowl for us to eat.

I will see you in a month and I hope you are excited for cake (and cake batter)!

Happy Birthday!!

Life in the DR

Well as you can tell, I don't update this blog because I am in the DR and I don't want to spend my time on a computer. I apologize to all those who read it, which means I am sorry mom and dad for not updating. I am alive and all is too well! This past week we had orientation and I have loved getting to know all the other counselors. There is a lot of East coast pride and everyone has a different story. I am amazed at how close we have all gotten in just one week.

The kids come on Monday!! We had registration on Thursday and the kids came and took tests and picked up their t-shirts. They were lined up outside the gate at 7:30 and we started registration at 8:00. They were all so excited and I don't think I have ever had people be so excited to see me. All though, they were probably just excited to get their t-shirts.

I am getting use to the humidity and living in my sweat. Oh and I am also use to cockroaches and waking up to them on our floor. I am just glad that I am a hard sleeper because I don't want to know what goes on at night.

Well below you will find a few of my favorite shots from the week.

DREAM

This is why I am in the DR.