Started off today with another very uplifting devotion led by Stacey (the elementary principal). She talked about how the Hebrew people had seen God fulfill His promises to them time and again and yet were so quick to forget His continued faithfulness. How often I fall into the same trap when life becomes too comfortable. I see God bring me through so many things in my life, yet begin to doubt His faithfulness when things get difficult. But when I'm prone to let fear and distrust creep in, there is a team around me that will remind me of God's faithfulness, pray with me, and challenge me to move on. I didn't fully realize the support I'd get here at Santiago Christian School until I arrived. The administration truly cares about their staff and students! She shared a prayer that I'd like to post from Sir Francis Drake:

"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life, having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity, and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery, where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes, and to push us into the future in strength, hope, and love. This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ." - Francis Drake, Pirate/Sir

Also today the doctor that works for the school, Elizabeth, talked to us about how to stay healthy here in the Dominican Republic. She informed us of all the different illnesses that are somewhat common to the area, and how to recognize the symptoms of each. I came to the conclusion that I can wash my hands really frequently and wear mosquito repellent all the time, but ultimately I have to know that getting ill may happen and I'll work through it, with good care readily available, when it does. We then spent time working our way through the employee handbook, which wasn't fun but necessary (and Stacey did her best to throw in interesting "brain breaks" for us).

After lunch I finally got my hands on the teacher editions of my text books. Time to start figuring this curriculum out! (Step by step I might add.) Then Yoalba took Lori and me to Claro to sign our cell phone plans. I had the same employee from last time, who spoke English, so we were done in no time. Most of the group worked on figuring out how to call taxis (and getting them to the right locations), but I didn't have a chance today. It will happen soon enough though, and I'll probably give the wrong directions anyway and end up across town walking home. But I'd laugh about it since it's my fault for not knowing Spanish. After we all got home, Lori, Kyla, and I decided to go out on our first adventure- walking to the store. La Sirena is less than a half mile away from us, which makes it easy to get to. I was able to purchase curtains and curtain rods for my room. Hopefully they will keep the sun out during the day and make it cooler at night. We bought some other things we needed and set out for home. One thing about walking to the store, you want to think very carefully about what you buy and how much you buy. I will say that if we continue to do this my arm muscles will be quite strong. We all agreed it was good to get out and start exploring our neighborhood. The rest of the evening we had time to relax and Kyla practiced some worship songs on her guitar. Listening to her play makes me miss my guitar so much more.

Tonight there is a block meeting on the street outside our apartment. They shut down a portion of the street and everyone gets together to talk about things such as neighborhood safety, keeping things clean, noise control, etc. (This is what I learned from our neighbor.) It would be interesting to attend, but I wouldn't be able to understand what they were saying. With the loud speakers right outside my windows, I will see what I can pick up. On a different note, we're figuring out, with help from the other SCS staff, how to better cool down our apartment (especially my room), and tonight is the first night since I've been here that I don't feel like I'm sleeping in a sauna. I think God is being merciful and giving me slight relief from the heat! Another day, another adventure....

Tuesday was day two of orientation. During devotions Paul shared from Luke 14:25-33 about what it means to be a disciple of Christ- to follow Him. He talked about some different things that we here in the Dominican Republic have to give up, such as possessions, safety, and family. Of course we live in the top percentage of the people here, but we still had to leave behind items that made life more comfortable. Also, he reminded us that depending on where you live, it is safer here than in the United States. Finally, family isn't something you lose necessarily, but it is definitely an adjustment learning to live apart. There is a cost, but the reward is far greater. The mission of SCS is to disciple the youth that we connect with every day. It is based on building relationships with them and leading by example. First and foremost, He calls us to be His disciples. This devotion really encouraged me to continually remind myself of His purpose for me here and refocus when things get difficult.

The rest of the morning we went through some more technical information, which is a great thing for nontechnical me. I must say I'm catching on though. And they present it step by step, so we aren't crammed with information. We went to the main Claro store (cell phone company here) expecting to be there for hours getting our phones set up, but the group of us were in and out within 2 hours. I just have to wait to be approved and then I can go back and sign up for a monthly plan. The employee who helped me led me to believe he didn't speak English for 30 minutes while someone from SCS translated for me. Then the employee slipped up when talking with me and I realized he COULD speak English the whole time. He laughed and said he hates talking with his accent. No need for translation after that. It was quite funny that he could understand the whole time what I was saying and never let on. It made me wonder how many other Dominicans are the same way. I assume they can't understand English when in fact they can.

After lunch I started having an allergic reaction (breaking out in hives) to something, but Stacey knew just what to do. She was able to get me the medication I needed, and after a little time all the hives cleared up completely. Now it'll be a guessing game to rule out what food or environmental allergen would cause such a rapid reaction. God is good to me and my health is in His hands.

I finished off Tuesday shopping with several of the teachers. It seems like we shop a lot, but you can only buy so many groceries or things go bad and we are still figuring out what we need to make our apartments function better. We went to Bellon (like a Home Depot in the U.S.). Sometimes people tend to stare when a group of us "gringos" (white people) enters somewhere. It's interesting to take note of.

Wednesday in orientation we went through the philosophy of Christian education. It was so cool to see some of the places we partner with. SCS is reaching many places, not just here in Santiago. I'm excited that we get to visit some of these places! After lunch we went to IKEA to look for some home decorating items. They had things for every room of the house. You place an order and they send the items up from Santo Domingo in about a day or two.

 In the afternoon I got to spend a short time in my classroom, beginning to unwrap the containers I sent from the U.S.

I'm incredibly happy to see all the containers made it in one piece. Walking back into this classroom brought such joy and excitement to my heart. I could look out the windows at other buildings on campus and know this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. Now to start organizing everything.

I got to try Baskin Robbins for the first time here in the Dominican Republic and it was so good. It is a great way to cool down on a hot, sunny day. I will definitely be finding my way back to this place. We stopped by another grocery store, that had a book store in it, to look around. There were a lot of books I recognized from the titles, especially children's, except they were in Spanish. It's different to see the majority of the books in a bookstore in Spanish, not English (and not be able to pick up and read them, except the baby books).

Also today my roommates and I were able to find someone who could help us around the apartment. It will be wonderful with our busy school schedules to have someone come one day a week and help us with laundry, cleaning, and even some cooking. She is from Haiti, so we are looking forward to tasting some Dominican and Haitian food! Ir is very typical in the Dominican to have a maid. We couldn't have done this without some amazing people translating for us and knowing what to ask.

Praise report of the day: I used my new phone to calculate pesos and dollars at IKEA. When I left I forgot to pick it up. Hours later I realized I had lost it, and Paul was willing to go back to the store tonight to look for it. I spent much time asking God to please help us find it, as it is brand new. God answered my prayer and it is safely returned. This incident sure taught me many lessons in keeping track of my possessions and not doubting God's continual faithfulness to me even in the small things!

Sunday many of the teachers went to church at Vida Nueva. It is a Spanish speaking church, but they translated the service over headsets and radios for those of us who haven't conquered the language yet. I was so glad I could understand the message. I love worshiping here in the Dominican Republic, because so many churches sing well known songs and I can sing along. It brought back memories of when my students and I would sing along to Spanish worship songs off of youtube this past year. (Little did I know it would prepare me for moving here). After the service we went over to the Boehning's for lunch. It was another one of my favorite meals- tacos! However it got better because we had fresh pineapples and mangoes. It was a great afternoon of visiting, getting better acquainted, and playing games together. The ladies had an awesome game of Pictionary going on with a close ending. Several of us took another trip back to La Sirena to pick up things that we still needed. It's a place that draws you in and you wander aimlessly looking for things as you enjoy the air conditioning :) Like a Wal-Mart does for many in the states. We went back to the Boehning's house to hang out. It was interesting to see some of the different television stations/programs in Spanish. Watching them could be a good way to start picking up the language. Visiting at their house was my way of denying that I had several suitcases sitting unpacked in my room. But, relationships are very important in the DR, so I was glad for a day to hang out and get to know everyone more.

Today was an early day. One plus of getting ready early in the morning is it is still cool! We got picked up by bus to go to orientation (there is a bus route for teachers without vehicles). At orientation we each got to introduce ourselves and share how God brought us to Santiago Christian School. It was amazing to hear how God worked in each of us to get us to the place we are today. What a great team of teachers/administrators God has given me to work with this year (and hopefully years to come)! Then we took a tour of the campus and the administrators prayed for each new teacher as we came to each classroom. I wouldn't want to begin the year any other way than to ask God's blessing upon this school. There is much construction going on around the campus, including the construction of a building for more classrooms (hopefully to be done by the beginning of next school year). I loved seeing my classroom for the first time. It is almost surreal to think I'm actually going to be teaching here. And I heard my teaching things arrived that I shipped from home, so I'm really excited to see what I actually packed. (I can't remember what I sent, and I sent a lot!) I'll have the next few weeks to set it up and get my curriculum organized. I'm so thankful for the many people that are so willing to help me figure things out.

We went to lunch at a nice little restaurant (with an air conditioned room- notice the theme of where we go) next to a large moment in more central/western Santiago. Please don't ask me the names of the restaurant or the monument. I'm still working on street and grocery store names :) The food was wonderful, and again we had time to relax and visit. We then went to see the monument. We only walked up to the first landing area, but the view was breathtaking! I couldn't imagine the view if you went up further. Paul explained to us where things were located such as the school, the country of Haiti, the main river, etc.

 The rest of the afternoon I had time to relax and finish unpacking my suitcases, finally. I was able to Skype with much of my family. I have to love technology as untechnical as I am.

I'll end with this thought. Seth shared a devotion this morning that really challenged me. He read Matthew 14:22-33 where Jesus called Peter to come to Him on the water. Peter did, but then he began to look at his circumstances and sink. We are like Peter getting out of the boat. We are starting off strong. We are excited and determined. But, too often, we take our eyes off Jesus. We focus on our circumstances. But, Jesus never changed in this story. He was always right there with Peter. It challenged me to stay close to the Lord, to make time each day to spend with Him, because Satan wants me to doubt where God has placed me and sometimes I give in to his lies. How encouraging though that Jesus didn't give up on Peter and He isn't going to give up on me! Tomorrow's a new day, new adventure...