Continued Discovery & Growth

I know its been a long time, (I feel like the last 5 blogs have started this way!)  I apologize!    I wont make any promises this time as I have in the past.  Lets face it, I'm not great at keeping y'all up dated!  BUT, here's the latest!

I have recently decided that I am going to extend my stay until March.  I'm approaching 5 months in DR, cant believe its been that long already!  As I look back on the last 5 months, I'm extremely humbled by so many different things; experiences, personal growth, opportunities, relationships.

I want to start by thanking my amazing parents, for making this a possibility for me, and for always supporting me in my frantic and crazy life!  You have truly been a blessing to me in so many ways, I cant even begin to express my gratitude.

I have had so many wonderful experiences here, things I will forever remember!  I have been pushed out of my comfort zone in so many ways, trying new foods, riding on motos, meeting new people, showering (& toileting) with out running water, cooking for 7-10 hungry men. (I have finally been told by the guys that I can cook rice like a Haitan! I was pumped about that.. cuz boyyyy their rice is gooood!)  I'm continually humbled by the everyday life of the Dominican & Haitian people.  They live with so little and work so hard!  At least once a day I see men in their 70's or 80's walking miles to and from work with machete in hand, a sign that they are likely doing hard physical labor.  Likely these men are only bringing home a few hundred pesos for the whole days work.  That's the equivalent of no more than $3-8 US Dollars.  I cant imagine supporting a family and in most of their cases a "grand" family on that amount of money.  But they are happy!  They have no worries about paying the car payments and credit card bills.  They live in the moment and for today, enjoying every minute of it.

I also want to thank the friends I've made here.  And thank them for their honesty.  As I've said before I have had a lot of personal growth as a result of my time here.  And a lot of that has to do with the genuine relationships we've made and the honesty of the people I call my family here!  A close friend from home brought to my attention that I have spent much of my life running from something.  It was hard for me to hear, but the more that I thought about it, he was right.  I'm not sure if I'm running form or searching for something, but I know that my time in the DR has helped me to clear my head, and discover more about myself and my crazy quirks.  I'm hoping that my remaining months here will be filled with just as fun, excitement and personal change as the last 5 have been.

It is a sad for me to think about spending Thanksgiving and Christmas away from my family again, as I did this for many years in Georgia, but I am looking forward to celebrating the Holidays with my "Jungle Family".

Please pray for the next few months, we are approaching high season and from what I hear things get CRAZY at the Jungle.  But more importantly pray for my continued growth & discovery.