week.[UNO]

I can’t believe it has only been a week, in all honesty. This place is rocking my world. At its worst, I am tired of cold showers and the word “Americana” (or worse…”la otra”…the OTHER ONE! Gah) and the stares that come with it.

After I left the team at the airport, I hopped back on the bus and Pastor Carlos started laughing to my friend Kristin. He said, “Now is the part where Kayla says—oh my gosh what am I doing here?” I was in for quite the ride. I got to meet Kristin’s friends Chappy and Sandy right away. Chappy used to teach at Bethel Seminary and now does Christ-centered rehabilitation inside the DR’s biggest and baddest prisons. I learned about their mission and how they’ve planted 12 churches (inside the prison! It’s like a city of it’s own), began teaching inductive Bible study & hold classes with exams, begin to teach the men a trade, and eventually put them out on a “parole ranch” where they are given agricultural and character work to do in exchange for more freedom and a savings account that they can access when they are released. It is so cool! Plus they are from San Diego so they speak perfect English and look like me ;) It’s kind of a breath of fresh air.

I’ve also gotten to attend lots more church services and am getting better at understanding Spanish through that muffled microphone and the horrible echo. On Thursday, Carlos sent me to the church early with Wascar on his motorcycle so I could play the piano while people came into the church. A little out of my comfort zone (piano and “el motor”), but Carlos told me I would never be “ready” when I tried to convince him that I definitely wasn’t! It was good for me. He hasn’t asked me to do it again though so I’m not sure if he was trying to intimidate me that first week or if I was just really bad. I’m trying not to overthink it.

I have been meeting a ton of the youth and young adults at the church and it has made this experience so much fun! They are intelligent, kind, and so welcoming to me. One of the girls, Mairobi, took us on a tour of her high school and then Kristin and I went to her team’s volleyball practice. The schools are so noisy! It’s like a zoo. But Mairobi told us that she learns so much there…I can’t even imagine. They all wear uniforms, but that’s about as professional as it got. At the volleyball practice they all were wearing jean shorts and street shoes, and they play on cement with garbage everywhere. I biffed it tripping over a girl, and so I still have some gravel in my palm, knee, and elbow. All in all it was a good day. And you want to know one of the best things about my new friends? They all live with their parents too! Also, I’m pretty sure that if one of the guys here could get a hold of my dad’s email address, there is a guy here who would be asking his permission to propose to me…it’s actually really unsettling and I’m trying to transcend language barriers as I tell him I have absolutely no interest. Boys.

On Sunday, as some of you have already seen (and probably heard) the Lord healed me of my food allergies! A special thanks to whoever left that walnut/almond/blueberry trail mix. It was delicious. So are the chocolates, caramels, other trail mix, and Cliff Bars. Thanks to you all and the Lord! Carlos told me to be careful though, or he would have to bounce me like a basketball back to the United States I will be so round.

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to travel to Boca Chica (on the local bus—el guagua) at 7:00am to meet Chappy and head to La Victoria, the biggest and “baddest” prison in the Dominican Republic. When we got there I was a little scared at first as we were let in to the prison. I looked straight down at my feet, walked as fast as I could behind Chappy and our guide, and ignored the whistles and “Americana” comments. We made our way into the middle of the prison where there is a church, and I watched as 30+ imprisoned men sat like little boys and waited to see the grades they had received for their first Bible exam. Some got A’s and Bibles, others B’s, C’s, and a few didn’t pass. Chappy last-minute asked me to talk to the men. The Lord gave me Romans 4:1-8. I spoke the whole thing in Spanish…so I can officially say I preached to and praised God with men in a 3^rd world prison. To see them praise and cry out to God—I can’t imagine anyone more at the end of themselves. In prison here, you don’t get food and if your family doesn’t bring you any then you don’t eat. Some people even pay rent to stay in nicer cells; they make their own “laws.” There is truly a city inside the walls. We are going back next Tuesday and I am already looking forward to it. You can pray for the ministry there and for the safety of the workers, but truly if God is for us than what can mere man do to us?

Today I am coming home from a 4 hour trip to La Vega to visit and encourage a woman named Selenia, her family, and her church. She and her husband and children were called to start a church in La Vega so they left their community to follow Him. La Vega is a mostly Catholic and Haitian community, and so they are facing a lot of difficulties trying to convey relationship in an atmosphere of religion. They are also having trouble finding work here and were down to eating just plantains for awhile and only have basic running water and occasional electricity. I watched last night as the Lord arranged for them a new, nicer and more secure home closer to their church! God is so good. Also, Carlos gave Selenia and her family some of the blankets from our 2010 mission group, pillows, deodorant and soap, and a big can of bugspray (for some perspective, last night Kristin and I got close to 20 mosquito bites each at their house. They said that is very normal). So God is already spreading the generosity of our group!

Continue to pray for our time here, Kristin and I are getting along so well and I can’ t believe I only met this woman 2 weeks ago. We are staying up in a room in Carlos’ house, and I have the top bunk! We’re also going through Restoration series together—very similar to Celebrate Recovery—and I am learning a lot. Oh—another praise, when the team left I took the money God provided me to stay here and found that I had more than I thought I needed for my stay here…only to find out a few days ago that Pastor Carlos needs $14/day! I am positive that I will have just enough money for my stay here. Only God would have known I would need that.

On a personal note, I am most assuredly ruined for a “normal life” in the United States. Sometimes I have to ask God to settle my heart when I begin to panic over how I’m going to get back here after January 20^th. I’m still not sure about my ministry here but God is speaking all the time and I still have a lot of time left here. Please be praying that God will reveal His plan to me and that I would trust His ability to provide a way for me to make this my life!

I hope this wasn’t too long J I wanted to make sure you guys could all smell what I’m steppin’ in, in this land of 'faith and flies.'