Chris went to the capital Santo Domingo this week so it was just Rubio and me holding down the fort.  There was a little boy named Noel that we met this summer.  Chris brought him down to the capital for surgery on his 2 club feet, but when it came time for the surgery, they said his blood wasn’t good enough.  They didn’t have any B+ blood on hand, so for now the surgery is on hold. Here is a photo Chris took of him.

My classes have been going great!

In each of the villages I am working in, the houses are spread out down a long dirt road.  As I drive in now for the class, there are a couple of kids that wait for me and are ready to hop into the car with me for a ride to class.  One of them is Mariel.

This is Mariel (in the red dress).  She is 3, always smiling, and FULL of energy!  I think her favorite part of the class is the dancing.  Her sister is Maria (blue dress) who I work with is the kindergarten class.  Friday there wasn’t any public school, so Maria was happy to join her sister in my class.

Wednesday, on my day off from the classes, I went to Puerta Plata with Sujer.  Sujer is the other woman who helps with the class in Pueblo Nuevo.  She is 21, and pregnant, and very eager to help however she can.  She and I took public transportation yesterday which was quite an experience.  We waited for half an hour out on the main road for a taxi car that wasn’t full. (and by full I mean the driver, 2 in the passenger seat, and 4 squished in back.  It was pretty crazy.  We squeezed into a car and away we went.  It was a half hour ride to Imbert, where we had to switch cars to go to Puerto Plata, another half hour ride squished in a car.  Once we were in Puerto Plata, Sujer brought me to a couple of different stores with school supplies.  The 3^rd store we went to was called La Sirena.  It is kind of like a Wal-Mart.  I have been to this store before and I wish there was one closer than an hour away.  They have pretty much everything you could need.  They also have fresh produce like a grocery store would have.  I bought a couple of fugi apples and gave one to Sujer.  Apples are imported here so they aren’t super cheap. 

Puerta Plata is a city right on the water.  Sujer and I walked along the beach after La Sirena.  Here’s a photo.

It was a beautiful beach, but it had a ton of trash all over it.  There was also a ton of sea glass.  Sujer then took me to a fort.  It had a statue of General Luperón outside of it.  It was a beautiful park.  Sujer was telling me about it but I didn’t really understand too much about it.   Haha

We walked back towards town and saw a Pizzaria.  Some German guy opened a pizzeria.  Sujer suggested we eat there and I jumped at the opportunity to eat some pizza.  It was pretty good.

After dinner, we hopped on the back of a motoconcho’s bike (guys who taxi people on their motorcycle), and he took us to a bus stop.  We hopped on the bus back to Imbert, and then squished into another car back to Luperón.

It was quite a day!

We were finally given permission from the church in Pueblo Nuevo to start using their church for our class.  Its much more room, but doesn't have that nice breeze the other place had.  But it is nice to spread out a little more.  Here's a photo.  I'm reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear (in English and Spanish).  This past week, and this next week we are working on colors in English and Spanish. 

Tim, Here is a photo of some of your chicks.  This was taken shortly after hatching.  They are obviously now bigger and more fluffy. :)

You can check out our website at www.villagemountainmission.com or our facebook page “The Village” Mountain Mission Project for  photos of Noel and my classes.

Have a great weekend! And thanks for reading!  :)