Made It to the DR!

It’s June 3, 2019 so we arrived to the DR two days ago! That morning consisted of waking up at 3 a.m., hopping on a plane from Austin to Charlotte, and getting on another plane an hour after from Charlotte to the Puerto Plata. The plane rides were long, but they ran really smooth and I thankfully was able to fall asleep for most of the rides. Once we arrived in the DR, we were greeted by our friends from Makarios and taken back to the Mak House. The Mak House is where all the groups stay when on a trip with Makarios. The Mak House and the Makarios school are different places!! At the Mak House, we were given the tour of our apartment and it is truly incredible! Our own kitchen, living space and bunk beds for us four girls. Sadly, Nate has to sleep by himself but I don’t think he’s complaining too much! Once all settled, we went to Ricardo’s for Mexican food and the food was amazing. Probably the best corn tortillas I’ve had in my life and the nachos were to die for. After eating we stopped at Bon for ice cream and then kicked back and relaxed at the Mak House for the rest of the evening! Finally, we ended the night having quiet time with Jesus and singing worship songs under the stars. It couldn’t get much better than that!

The second day started in the Spanish speaking church where we were given a translator to understand the message. Church in the DR is close to 3 hours, so a lot longer than what a typical service in the states is like. However, the pastor preached a great message, and even taught us some neat facts about Montellano (the city we are in) that we didn’t know before. For example, Montellano was home to a sugar factory and many people in the community worked there, and evangelists were introduced to the community around 1940-1950. Furthermore, after church we had lunch at a very nice restaurant, and between 4/5 interns, we shared the ribs, steak, and shrimp and it was so flavorful and delicious. Once everyone was finished, we continued our day at the grocery store and then received an orientation about Dominican life at the Mak House. There are so many differences yet so many similarities that we have with Dominicans. One thing I thought was interesting was that Dominicans point with their lips and scrunch their noses when they don’t understand what you’re saying, so that will definitely be an adjustment! To conclude the evening, we ate dinner and chatted with the mission trip group that is in for the week. They are so kind and easy to talk to, and they are making me very excited to work with all of the groups that come in and out of this place! God is going to work through us interns and through all of the people apart of Makarios this summer, and I am looking forward to see all that He does!!