a few photos

hey guys,
things are still going great here - the big team turned out to be a lot of fun and though i was in charge, somehow things still got done! hoorah.
i don't feel like writing too much so i'm going to give ya'll some photos to check out!
here is a picture from the top of El Morrito, a small mountain we climb just about every week to watch the sunrise and go swimming...

here is another picture of the sunrise, this one includes the cross on the top of the mountain, there are the stages of the cross as you hike the mountain and then this big one is at the top

here is a picture of me and winston from the orphanage

here is a picture of me and some of my friends who are now gone :( they are steph, stef and heather

here is a photo of me and my friend katie, who is also gone now

this is the CMU crew, my frends beth, josh and alissa

one day we went on a tour of this swamp type area, it was a mix of fresh and salt water and there was probably parasites in it, but josh swam in it anyway -- here is a photo of my friends kelly, rachelle and i on the boat (they are both gone now too, and they are also both awesome)

here is a photo of the beach we swim at, it's the same beach as you can see in the pictures from el morrito

here is a pic of my eye that was infected, sick

here is a pic of this crazy scrape thing i got on my leg somehow, (i really don't know how i got it, it just appeared the other day)

well, that's good for now,
take care, i'm thinking of you all.
in Christ
-BR in the DR

Scoobsss NOOOO

Week 4

This past week we held a VBS camp here at the Orphanage during the morning and at a Desert Batey during the afternoon. The camp here was a struggle, interesting – but a lot of fun. My friend Kristen and I were guides for the oldest boys at the Orphanage. They all actually behaved better than we expected throughout the week. It’s really touch and go with the kids here; they aren’t like any kids I have ever encountered really. They all are very different and have quirks about them. One of my favorites, Winston, for example hardly ever speaks. He’s a really shy kid, but he has a big heart. The best thing we can do here is show the kids the love of Christ through us; that’s not just the best but also the only. Some of the kids are more receptive and some are not, you just have to have a lot of patience and a lax attitude. I don’t spend nearly as much time over at the Orphanage as most people and I think that’s something I need to change – I just get nervous I guess, I don’t want them not to like me so I haven’t even given most of them a chance to. But something you can pray for me about, if you’re into that, is just that I’ll have more confidence and less ridiculous fear about venturing over there.

At the Desert there were more adults than children that came to the camp. Usually when we go to Bateys we have a few adults who usually just by stand and listen and occasionally will play an active role however, this week there were so many we had a whole group for them. Kristen and I were guides for the adults. It was kind of hard to figure out our role there as “camp guides” to people who were some 30+ years older than me but after a while I just kind of figured it out and started being less hesitative and more loving. On the last day of camp we showed the Jesus film in Spanish and then gave away sheet sets with tooth brush and toothpaste and deodorant and a few other things, baseball or jump rope for the kids. It was pretty cool to see the looks on some of these people’s faces as we gave them something like that. Indescribable. One of the adults at the Desert was actually Winston’s mom. She was a sweatheart. We brought her a card that her son Winston, and her other two kids at the Orphanage, Yulisa and Wiliam had made for her which read, “Mom we love you. You are the mother we will never forget. We love you mom.” Precious.

This week is a big week. There are people here from Georgia this week (for those of you who have been here before and know those peeps) and a few other churches as well. The Ramadas (where we sleep) are at max capacity. There is also an equal number of guys and girls this week, usually it’s just Josh and maybe like one other guy. So it’ll be different.

They placed me as a camp leader this week – so that should be interesting too. We have camp leaders every week but it is a volunteer and usually Eric and Amanda or Beth will come with us so it’s not like you’re really in charge in charge… but this week, I am in charge in charge.

So anyway that’s enough for right now, I should go change.

We are in a water drought right now, so keep that in your prayers, I just took a shower and it will be my last until Tuesday at the earliest I think, sometimes it takes a couple weeks I’ve heard though. Esta Bien.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers, keeping you in mine.
-Brooke

Ps, my eye actually oozed and bled all over and then the swelling went down. But today it developed again on my lower eyelid as opposed to my upper. So lame. No idea but keep that in prayers, thank you!

in Christ alone, my hope is found

So week 3...
Things are going great still.
We went to this batey this week and God seriously did great works there.
My friend Max started talking to this older half paralized woman and on Thursday I went and visited her with him and we prayed over here and brought her cookies and read her the Bible. I can tell you more in depth in person but it was an amazing experience. To see the way Christ changed us through her and her through us. You know. God is an awesome God.

I really don't have a lot of time this week. I will try to be more in depth next week.

I miss everyone though, if anyone wants to send me mail or packages that'd be much appreciated, I would like something like that. Just anything really.

Love you.
-Brooke

And we have all we need in You

Hey!
2nd week down, 8 to go! Time is flying by like mad, it is really so great here though.

This week we went to bateys which are like Plantations (there are like banana trees and plantane trees) that were once overtaken by Americans and the Dominicans were forced to work for a small amount but then the Dominicans got sick of it and went on strike so the Americans left and now the Dominicans just live there kind of in there own small commune, it's actually pretty cool. We taught at the Kunane Daycare center there which is similar to like a Child Protective services kind of thing.
The kids we worked with were age 5 and under, all adorable and sometimes hard to make listen but it was never overwhelming really -- It began to just be "okay" if they were screaming and crying and not listening to you attempt to read Jonah and the Whale in spanish. It was a fun experience though.

We eat really good here, I don't know if I mentioned that really -- my favorite meal is this like, slop stuff, I guess that's the best word to describe it, lol. You get white rice and then this chicken and carrots and potato slop stuff on top, it's really good.

I am so thankful to have my new digital camera here, I am taking some awesome pictures that I already cherish.

It's Saturday which means old people leave and new people come. Saturdays are always weird. A few of my favorite people left today -- it's weird because it def. is sad that they are going but it's already like home here for me so even though I miss them very much I also know that I have great people to get to know better still and stuff. Jesus works in great and mysterious ways.

God is teaching me so much down here -- I never really just embraced Him so much as I have been here, there are a lot of things you know are going on and you believe with your faith but until you actually have the feelings caused by that truth you really don't know how great God is.

So the other day, we walked to Church which is about a mile and a half away from the Orphanage, a group took the bus but me and some of my friends walked. At church it started raining and on our way home we were like, wahtev, we will walk and then it was SO incredibly muddy, we were all in skirts in flip-flops attempting to pick up our feet but finding them getting stuck more often than anything. It was my friends Rachelle, Kelly and I and we stared singing "How Great is My God", it was really hilarious because we ended getting picked up by the bus. At one point we got off the road because it was so muddy and got on the sidewalk, well for the most part everything is overgrown here and so there were huge thorn bushes on the sidewalks that kept whapping into our faces as we walked. It really was awesome though. Trust me. We got home and took pictures, because we were all just COVERED, actually no, i was COVERED everyone else wasn't at all, which i don't get but you know... Stepping in HUGE puddles just comes with the job here I think. It's awesome.

Anyway, that's all I got for now, glad to hear some of you creepers got to check us out on the webcam lol!
I think there is a new one up now w/ like sound and zoom and stuff. I don't really know.

I must go and eat lunch but Love you all!!

-brooke