We finally rejoined the rest of our group, piled on the buses and were off to Santo Domingo. It was about an hour and 15 minute drive to he market. Before we got there, we were told that bartering was ok. Joelle said that things are really over priced anyway. As soon as we walked in Serenity and I were bombarded by merchants. If we pointed at anything they would immediately take it out of the case and try to have us make an offer. If we said no, then they tried really really hard to get us into their shops! It really was quite creepy. But after awhile we came up with our strategy of hands in your packets and just answer everyone with "No, gracias". :)
By then we had scouted things out and went back to buy the things we were interested in. The market was definitely an interesting experience, but, it is nothing I would want to do again. It was mostly a huge tourist trap.
Anyway, after 45 minutes to an hour at the market, it was time to head back to camp. We were way behind schedule, so we were not able to go to Old Town or swimming. I was a little bummed about the swimming. But, it was getting late. Shortly after we got back, we had dinner. It was hamburgers and french fries. (Oh, and I forgot to mention that we stopped for lunch in Santo Domingo. We went to Pizza Hut - which tasted amazing!)
Right after dinner, we got together for our last large 'circle time'. It was a great time of reflection, sharing and thanking the staff, interpreters, etc. We ended the night with one last circle time as a small group. It was really great sharing, especially since we were basically split in half the entire morning. Hearing the others experience at Kid's Club was much like what I had experienced... chaos! But it was still good. Matt was able to clearly present the gospel. No one chose to come up and pray at that time, but that doesn't mean that seeds weren't planted.
Also, during our small group time, Matt asked us to share about various experiences we had regarding different topics. One of the last questions he asked related to how challenging it is to share about Jesus with others for some reason. I decided to share. I don't know why. I haven't shared anything all week. I never do. I don't talk in front of groups. I finally worked up the courage to raise my hand. My heart was racing. I wasn't called on, so I put my hand down. I didn't raise it again until about 4-5 other people had gone. I half heartedly tried again, but I still wasn't called on. I was still crazy nervous. Finally 4-5 people again had gone and I sort of raised my hand, only this time he picked me. I don't know how I spoke with my heart in my throat like it was, but I did. I shared something along the lines of:
"I am definitely a behind the scenes type of person. When I decided to come on this trip, I thought that I would just do the construction part of things and leave the Jesus sharing to other people. You can even ask Erika - at our first home visit she looked at me and asked if I wanted to tell them why we were there. I was a deer in headlights and could only shake my head 'no'. But - by the end of the trip - at the market, one of the merchants asked Serenity and I if we were Americans. We could have simply said 'yes' and left it at that. But, we didn't. We said 'Yes. We are here telling people about Jesus and doing some work in La Represa'."
I couldn't believe that those words came out of my mouth at the market and now I couldn't believe that I was sharing these thoughts with the rest of my group!
The rest of our time together was great. We talked about what a solid, awesome and hard working group we had. God couldn't have picked a better team for us. It was the perfect mix of Adults, teens and kids. It really has been awesome to get to know more people from our church better. Not to mention, Maddy and Zai feel like my little brother and sister now. It's wonderful. I'm going to miss hanging out with this group and I'm going to miss some of the Dominican people and translators that we got to know.
But I really am quite excited to go home tomorrow. I miss Ethan and Reid a lot. I also think it will be weird to get 'home' from a trip like this and not be sitting in my parents house to tell them all about it. That will be strange for me. And having to mail them the things I bought them?! I'd rather hand it to them and tell them stories in person. Well, tomorrow morning we have to be packed and ready to go by 7:45am. Then we are going to take a quick group picture (just FBC) and be on our way.
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