I started off my day getting to wake up and play with Fin while I was getting ready for the day. Then Josh drove me over to Imani and Sarah's house in Montellano where we then took motos over to Pancho Mateo to visit the students and their families and tell them that we are taking the kids to the beach next Thursday before we start up summer school the following Monday. Once all of the staff arrived at Pancho we split up and walked the village. As soon as we started down the road I already starting seeing the kids I had played with in the past and they came running up to me to play! As I was getting closer to Dari Belto and Danilo's house (these have been the two boys that I have watched grow up the past three years and gotten closest to) I was getting very eager to see them and hoping that they would be in their house and not out working so I could see them. Before I had even had the chance to get to their house I heard the sound of someone running and all of sudden Danilo popped out of no where and jumped on me before I had even seen him!! I was so happy to see him that I actually started crying and he was laughing at me because I did the same thing last year when I came back. He has at least grown 4 inches since last summer and he is starting to become so much more mature! Danilo then ran into his house and told Dari Belto I was here and Dari Belto came out running full speed and they both jumped on me at once that I almost fell to the ground, but it was definitely the happiest moment of my day. We then went inside and I got to talk to their mom and grandma. Jenny and Cindy were two sisters that had pretended to be Dari Belto and Danilo's sisters for two years until we finally figured out they were playing a joke on us and while I was talking to the boy's mom Cindy came into the house and gave me a big hug! After I talked to her for a while she was asking me where is Abby, my friend who had come to the DR the past three summers in the same group as me. I told her Abby wasn't coming but she said to tell Abby how much she misses and loves her! I then pulled out my camera and let the kids take pictures for a while because they absolutely loveeee taking pictures and posing for pictures. So about 300 pictures later Danilo came with me to walk around Pancho and see the other kids and families. It was so great getting to see the kids again and even better when they said the remembered me and talked about what we did together in the past. Although we didn't get to stay in Pancho for a long time and play with the kids, I couldn't have been happier that I got to see them again. I know that when the groups come every other week I will be going with them to help them in the villages so I will get to spend much more time playing with all of the kids. Before we left Pancho Cakito took Dena, Imani, and me to see his house for the first time. Every summer I told him I would go see his house and meet his family, but I never got to until today!
After leaving Pancho, Imani and I went back to her house and had some awesome bonding time and she made us lunch. We then met up with Dena and took a carito (car) into Playa Dorada where there are multiple tourist hotels all together. Dena and Imani knew of a hotel that had a really nice area with comfy chairs where we could just go to relax with air conditioning, so we went inside for a couple of hours and enjoyed having a nice break. We then took a gua gua to a movie store so Imani could rent a few movies and La Sirena, which is basically like a Wal Mart. I was so shocked by how much American food they have imported into the store, but of course it is way more expensive to buy the food that is imported opposed to the local food.
Once we were done exploring the store we rode back to the Mak house and actually had dinner with the entire staff celebrating Kelsey and me! Belle made cupcakes too! After dinner we went onto the roof and spent a few hours talking and getting to know each other better. The staff mainly wanted to know more about us, so they each got to ask us one question about ourselves and then they would answer it too so that we could get to know them better as well. It is amazing how close I already feel to them even though this was only my second day here. Everyone is just so loving and selfless that it is almost impossible not to become so close with one another. The main prayer request that I repeatedly continue to pray for and ask to be prayed for is the communication barrier. I have found that in the past it has not been as difficult to communicate when you are playing with the kids and surrounded by several Americans who are also on the same level as you. Although I am not completely clueless, I have found it very difficult to talk about everything I would want to talk about with the staff because a lot of the time I will be able to understand them, but not necessarily know how to respond or say what I am looking to say. It has been such a blessing that some of the staff speak English and are able to help me out, but I am really praying that I will continue to get better at Spanish so that I have no limitations when it comes to building relationships with my friends. I know this will be my biggest struggle while I am here, but I know with God anything is possible and soon I will think back at how ridiculous I was to think that clear communication would be impossible, it is only a matter of time and until the time comes, God will use me to do exactly what he has planned for me!
