Our wild Halloween party!

Even though the seasons here don’t often find a way to change, it only felt natural to celebrate the beloved holiday of Halloween here in the Dominican. Fall has always been one of my favorite times of year, mainly due to my love of my family’s Thanksgiving celebration. Being such, we brought decided to bring the season to us. These kids love to have a good time with music and friends, as do all teenagers, so we planned a Halloween party in the Outreach center in Rio San Juan. The day of, my girls were so thrilled and excited for the fiesta later that evening. They even begged to come early and help with decorations. We spent our discipling time that day decorating goody bags with pumpkins, ghosts, and any other scary goofy things we could think of. I was so proud of one of my girls, Estefany, especially as we planned for the party. During this process I was able to see how much she truly wanted to use this opportunity to help and serve others. Through decorating all the bags for the kids, hanging up streamers, and blowing up balloons, for maybe the first time, I saw her put a great amount of effort into something for other people. This was so encouraging to me, and now that I think of it, I need to tell her this and how proud I am of her.

So many others showed up at 5, an hour early, and hung up streamers that said ‘Sangre!’ or ‘Blood!’, they blew up many balloons and punching balloons (you can imagine the excitement once they figured out how to use those!), they set out plates, and many other things to help us. The decorating  was maybe just as fun as the party itself, watching all the kids scurry around the room in complete chaos to set up for the perfect Halloween party!

We had sodas, cookies, and even a real jack-o-lantern that Jordan and I carved the night before! As all the kids started to arrive they became instantly moved by the blaring music of Michael Jackson in the room. These kids LOVE Michael Jackson and have a dance to probably every one of his songs. One of my favorite parts of the evening is when the song Thriller came on. Suddenly, as the song started and began picking up speed, 7-8 of the kids lined up in a row and started doing the Thriller dance. Thankfully I was able to record it on video. One of my disciples Graisy let down all of her hair then put it in front of her face and started walking around the room like a mummy. On the other side of the room we had a line, probably 15 people deep to bob for apples. In another corner we had water bottles with glow sticks in them set up for bowling. Then to top it off the other 30 kids were painting each other’s faces and every balloon they could find. Complete chaos could probably not fully describe this experience. As crazy, and messy, and overheated it was in the space, it was such a neat time we were able to share with the kids. They felt comfortable around us, sincerely wanted to bring their friends, and tell others about what we are doing. I pray for more experiences like this one, where the kids can come and truly be themselves and know they have a home in the outreach center.

This Halloween was special to me because I was able to see how my kids want to serve one another and just how comfortable the feel around us. Plus, it was a blast! Keep us and our ministry in your prayers. We are thankful for your support and encouragement for all of us and our disciples.

Love,

Audrey 

The Latest

Forgive the ridiculous length between my last post until now! I can't believe it has taken me so long. Many things have happened since I last updated. Everything with Manna Christian School has been going really well! The first 8 weeks we had English immersion and I taught English for 2 hours each day. Now that English immersion has ended, I teach Monday and Wednesday afternoons and continue to do my discipling time each day with my 3 girls. As there are probably countless things I could blog about, instead of trying to cover them all, I wanted to hit a highlight or two.

About a month ago, I had the opportunity to spend the night at Jailinne's house, one of my disciples. We had such a fun night and next day activities planned. After Club Chiquito on Friday Jailinne, Graisy, Estefany, and I went over to Jailinne's house to get ready for the fun evening ahead! Going back to my teenage days we tried on probably at least 5 different outfits until we all found just the right one. Then we went out for pizza and to watch the basketball game in town. It was interesting being with them in their own environment. Normally, they know me as 'teacher Audrey' or 'discipler Audrey' but it was nice to have this time were we could just be friends and enjoy our time together. Before the game started, we went to the park right next to the court and took probably 100 pictures with all kinds of different poses. They LOVE having their picture taken and looking at each and everyone after. We had a lot of fun and I'm sure entertained anyone and everyone who walked by. Then we watched the basketball game and headed back home later that evening. Jailinne, Graisy, and I had a real sleepover where we all crammed into a bed much too small for the three of us, and watched The Princess and the Frog. The next day we woke up and headed over to Milagros' house (Graisy's mother) and spent the morning with  her. I was able to go watch her get her hair rolled and just spend some time talking to her. Then Graisy cooked us her famous Dominican spaghetti, which was our first lunch of the day. Then we walked back to Jailinne's house where her father had also cooked us a lunch consisting of beef and all kinds of different vegetables. I was beyond stuffed by this point, but I thought it was really sweet that they both wanted to feed us.

After lunch we went to The Beach of the Dead (there is a graveyard there) and looked for grapes. We were actually able to find some and they were pretty tasty! We enjoyed some time just swimming in the ocean and spending time together. You could imagine by this point I was pretty checked out of Spanish after trying to translate in my head over the previous 12 hours, but nonetheless, I tried to keep up. Then we went swimming in the laguna and I continued to take pictures as they jumped into the water. Not soon after, I headed back to the outreach center and Evan picked me up. Even though I was completely exhausted after not a good nights sleep and trying to speak and understand Spanish over the previous 24 hours, I was really blessed to be with the girls in their own environment. It was complete immersion! They were really sweet trying to take care of me and make sure I was as comfortable as possible. They are good girls and I love them a lot! Here are some pictures...