The Adventures of Pedro y Daniel

Thought I'd give a quick update on the happens in San Juan since the last of the team left on Weds. The last couple days have been packed but I'll try to give you a quick run down on their happenings.

The team was picked up from the guesthouse early Wed. morning by pastor Juan Ernesto and dropped off at the bus station to catch a bus to Santo Domingo. Daniel and I awoke at 5:45 and said goodbye to the team. Daniel said watching Tammy and the team leave was like having his security blanket ripped right from his hands. It was starting to become real to him what four months in the DR might really look like. Tony, Daniel's host-family dad picked us up from the guesthouse latter on that morning. We headed over to the home of Daniel's host family, dropped off our belongings, and promptly left to begin orientation at the school where Daniel will be teaching English. Larys, the mother of Daniel's host-family, is the principal of the school. The school is affiliated with the Evangelical Mennonite church and is located right in the heart of San Juan. We got a quick look at the school and were then taken to the "teachers lounge" where we spent the rest of the morning preparing lesson plans for English classes. For those of you who don't know, Daniel will be teaching English to middle school students while he stays in the DR. Thankfully we were helped by another English teacher at the school, a Dominican named Ramon. He was really helpful in teaching Daniel how to put together a lesson plan and collect material he'll need for his classes.

Daniel is doing a great job pressing through with all the unknown territory of teaching English and learning Spanish at the same time. He feels a little overwhelmed and stressed since he's never taught a class before. Plus, there's the challenge and mental wear down of learning and communicating in a foreign language. We found out that Daniel will be teaching students for 2hrs. a day, five days a week. He also has the added challenge of teaching grades 3rd-7th, which means he has to be prepared for just about every level of learning. I know he's up for the challenge but he'll need your prayers along the way! Pray that Daniel can take the new process of preparing and teaching lessons one week at a time without getting overwhelmed.

Wed. night we went to a church service on the very edge of town where two of Tony and Larys sons were playing in the worship band. It's been so encouraging to worship along with Dominican believers even though we both don't speak the same native tongue. I was explaining to Daniel how I found it interesting that the songs the Dominicans sing most passionately are the one's sung while the offering is being collected. I don't feel like this is coincidental considering the joy and excitement the people of this culture have when it comes to giving. This has been observed by Daniel and I once again as we stay in our host-family's home. My manners and idea of hospitality have seriously been challenged during my stay in the DR.

Tuesday morning was more time in the teachers' lounge preparing lesson plans and getting a better idea of what Daniel would be doing while teaching here. We met up with the rest of our Dominican family for lunch at a local restaurant in town. Then it was back to the house for a much needed siesta. It's really been enjoyable spending time getting to know Daniel's Dominican Family. They have three sons, Tommy (17yrs.), Seth (15yrs.), and Amos (11yrs.). We've had some good times with them already and I'm sure Daniel will have some good stories to share about them.

Today was once again a lot of work preparing lessons for classes, but we had something to look forward to this afternoon. Last night as we were eating dinner Tony asked me if there was anything I wanted to do with my last day in San Juan. I told him I couldn't think of anything so he suggested we go to the beach with the family after we had finished our work at the school. So, around 2:00 today we all loaded into the back of Tony's pick-up truck and set of for the beach! It was about an hour long drive and the view was beautiful! Tony is quite the driver. It's definitely an experience driving down the road at 65mph while sitting in the back of a pickup truck... fun times. We got to the beach and enjoyed ourselves for a couple hours before returning to San Juan.

Tonight really is a sad night. I had to get all my stuff packed up since we leave with Tony for the Capital tomorrow morning at 5:30am. I really don't want this trip to come to a close. God has shown me so much and I've truly grown to love the Dominican people. It's going to be really hard saying goodbye to Daniel tomorrow night when he returns to San Juan. The plan for tomorrow is to meet up with Gustavo (Tammy's friend) in Santo Domingo around 8.30am. We'll hang out with him and his family for the rest of the day and then Daniel will leave with Tony for San Juan later on that evening. I'll stay with Gustavo, go to church with him and his family in the morning, and then leave for the airport around 12:00pm on Sunday. If all goes to plan I will be Chicago by 11:00pm Sunday night. This will probably be my last blog post but keep on reading because Daniel will be posting while he's in the DR.

Peter & Daniel