Semana Santa

Happy Easter everyone!! (maybe a little late) well, this past week was called 'semana santa' or 'holy week'. we had it off school, and so aside from a small project i was working on, we decided to take the opportunity to see somewhere besides jarabacoa! all of us younger interns took a trip to cabarete, the north coast beach for the first weekend, and then went tuesday through thursday to climb pico duarte, the highest mountain in the carribean!! wow, what a lot of fun. i also got to go to constanza and see the other kids alive ark up there, and meet some other missionaries who work in the capital. the beach was nice and relaxing, a good time to refresh. it was fun being out on the north coast - as we were standing there on the beach, jonathan said "well, when i come up here, i like to look at the ocean and say 'look, there's home, way over there'" and it's true! fun to think about, so i was thinking of all of you. : )

Then, climbing Pico Duarte was amazing - what an adventure!! we spend a day climbing up to peak camp (made it in only 8 hours!!!), then went all the way up the peak on wednesday, and climbed back down on thursday. quick trip, but powerful and amazing. God has put so much beauty in this country, it never ceases to amaze me! not to mention so diverse, i can't believe i got to see white sandy beaches one day, and rich green peaks the next; all covered in a perfectly turquoise blue sky. !que bellissima!

easter was good, though not very specially marked. because of problems differentiating between catholicism (which has a very violent and non-christian background) and christianity, the christian church shies away from having a huge easter celebration - because the catholic church does. anyways, long story short, church was basically the same, and it was somewhat odd to have such a little to-do, but we ended up having a missionary dinner together at josie's house, so it was a special easter afterall. so interesting learning about the things that make other cultures tick!

last but not least, constanza was fun too. needless to say, i was exhausted after climbing a mountain the day before, but i made it through on a little sleep, and enjoyed it overall. oh, and a hilarious little happening: i met a former soccer player from the venezuelan futbol team! (frank armani, for any soccer buffs) it was pretty exciting, just cause how many times do you meet professional soccer players walking around? he's part of a soccer ministry in the capital now, and his team was in constanza for semana santa as well. good times!

well, needless to say, i was really excited to get back to teaching the kids this week. it's great to be around them again. also, the trautwiens will be coming home today after a month and a half of raising support in the states. pray for their safe return and good transition back into life in the DR!! alright here i go, signing off after this particularly long entry. God bless!

~allison