Today we left Santo Domingo to head towards Bayahibe and La Romana. Here is a map....Let's see if I can help.
Santo Domingo is in purple and La Romana is in the yellow.....Bayahibe is 20 minutes to the east of La Romana. And from Santo Domingo to La Romana is about 2 hours of travel time if I remember right. La Romana is home to the orphanage that we were to see during this trip.
But the trip to La Romana was full of some fun and relaxation for us. We traveled to downtown Santo Domingo to go to the Market Place for some shopping. Which can I say was quite an experience. From the outside the market doesn't look so bad but when you walk in you are ambushed by everyone wanting to sell you something, and when you have very limited Spanish it gets a little confusing. Of course, like most girls I was having fun shopping and I was super excited to get stuff for my mom and dad. In fact I was able to learn while shopping. For mom I got a pair of earrings with a blue stone in it called Larimar, a stone that is only found in the Dominican Republic and is actually quite beautiful.
(The outside of the market)
(In the market)
But anyway on to the cooler stuff. In Santo Domingo stands a church that is the first church build in the new world. Wow, how awesome is that!? I was able to see the first church ever in this world. The feeling looking at this church was simply breathtaking. I will post pictures in a minute; but, pictures will never do this church justice. It was amazing that this place that was finished in 1511 still stood so majestically. Don't believe me....Look
Upon leaving the church we stopped to have lunch by the sea and enjoy some time out of the van....that was very cramped. But after lunch we continued on our way to La Romana and to the orphanage. I would say the van ride was full of fun and joking but in all honesty is was full of snoring and naps. I think we are all exhausted and will take any chance we get to sleep at this point.
But the exhaustion all changed once we reached the orphanage.....we all become energetic and excited. I think it had something to do with the fact that when we pulled up there was kids waving at us and smiling and just full of their own excitement.
This kids were full of joy and excitement upon our arrival. We quickly introduced everyone and then ventured outside to play some volleyball in the streets......or try to anyway, it didn't really work out as we were dodging cars and trying not to lose the ball.
(just a video of the volleyball playing, I hope it is okay I have never tried putting a video from my phone on here)
What amazed me most about these boys is how quickly they came to love everyone that was with us. I even had a couple kids that attached to me and stayed with me for most of the afternoon. They were filled with joy and loved taking pictures with the various cameras that were around. They also loved looking at the pictures and pointing out who was in the pictures. They wanted to show us toys and games and anything else they could. They loved jumping and running around just like most boys do. Looking at these boys just filled my heart with joy and love, and it is only day 1 with them.
Acts 20:35
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, "It is more blessed to give then to receive."
Well I thought I was there to give to these boys and the community but I am learning more and more that they are giving to me more then I could ever give to them. They were showing me joy that I have never seen before. They were showing excitement that I could only hope to possess one day.
We were even excited when a visitor came by. A baseball player from the Detroit Tigers lived a couple houses down came to visit and take pictures with the boys. I honestly don't know who was more excited us or them. It was so cool seeing the interaction this man had with these boys and how we was so excited to meet with them and us. He even started asking us about why we were there and we were beyond excited to tell him.
(The tallest one is the baseball player)
Today we also put in the bunk beds that they had built in Santo Domingo. That was exciting to watch because we went from just building them to seeing who will be sleeping in them and how excited they were to get new beds. And I can safely say it was a huge improvement for them as well.
(Putting in the new beds)
(carrying in the new beds)
(Taking apart the old ones)
So today was full of travel and meeting the boys. Tomorrow I am sure will be a lot busier and more interesting.....but hey we all need one day to relax, even God did. And after a trip to Bayahibe in a van full of exhausted people singing N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, Disney, and any other songs we could think of all the way back because we were tired and hungry......well we all figured we were going to sleep soundly tonight.
Oh and on a side note. Dinner tonight was amazing!!! Whole fish with tostadas and a coke. Man I could eat Dominican food all the time if given the chance.
Til Tomorrow!
God Bless
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