DR: Day 8- Prayer mountain, the ocean and a surprise!

Spoiler alert! :)

Quiet time- I read Psalm 139 since Zach taught us a song from there last night. It’s a beautiful Psalm and it consoles me that God knows me so well and plans to take me to heaven in spite of it all, that He created me with all my defects. Today is when we will go to Prayer Mountain and then to the Community Center in Río San Juan, then the beach.

Afterwards, we said goodbye to Cristopher, Carlos and Nene, who were obviously sad to see us go. They are so sweet and have pretty tough lives. It’s so hard to say goodbye; we hugged tight, and for the first time didn’t joke around. We may see them in the morning too, but it won’t be for long since we have to get going – we must pack, eat breakfast, clean the rooms and bathrooms and make our group’s cement block. I will do it – the Southwest logo that Jeff designed. And all this to be done by 8:30am! Then we will go shopping in Cabarete and then have lunch on the beach at this amazing pizza place that they say has the best pizza around.

Today we started out with the Prayer Mountain. On our way, we dropped off Jeffrey in Río San Juan. I couldn’t hug him because he crossed the street and I was trapped in the Daihatsu, but we bade farewell with a wave and a smile. And the one who doesn’t cry at goodbyes cried.

On Prayer Mountain, we prayed as a whole group, then in our groups A, B, C,D.

We talked about what we have experienced and what these days have been like, and I could barely speak through the tears. We prayed together, popcorn style. Afterwards we prayed individually for the country, the city, the people we’ve met, for the missionaries and, of course, ourselves. I can’t imagine a better end to the trip than praying there in that gorgeous place.

I continued praying until Jeremy came to look for me (I was just over the edge, on the side of the mountain.) I didn’t hear anything, but everyone was already in the Daihatsu!

Then, we had lunch at the Community Center in Río San Juan. It was chicken salad – the best I’ve had! It was quite simple, but had grapes and was just perfect. It was Jarisa’s favorite and I think mine too. Then, we went to the beach. As we were walking by, a little girl (4 years old maybe?) asked excitedly, “Are you guys going to the beach?” I said yes and she ran back into her house, yelling, “They’re going to the beach!!” I just wanted to grab her and take her with us, she was so precious.

The afternoon was fabulous! Beach Day was everything it promised to be and more. The only bad thing was that the camera Jeremy bought me was very old, but I didn’t notice it until I got back to Omaha to develop the pictures. The film was completely black. When I looked at the bottom and it said develop by March 2009!

I applied a ton of sunscreen and got into the water immediately because the water felt so nice, and the vendors just don’t leave you alone on the beach. Besides taking a few pictures, I never got out of the water. The best part of the whole day was that Kylie and Sierrah Campbell were baptized! VIDEO

Of course, I cried again, as did just about everyone else, and it was so beautiful. Sierrah told me, “I couldn’t have done it without you!” and hugged me so tight. I don’t know what these kids see in me, but I feel so overwhelmed with love, to have helped these beautiful hearts. 

Finally at 4pm, after 3+ hours in the sun, I was pretty burnt. What a fool! The water just felt too good and it wasn’t sunny (it was cloudy), but obviously, that didn’t matter. Then, we showered there and there was a ton of water pressure – what a nice surprise! We lamented not having brought shampoo and soap. The showers were apparently a new addition, otherwise I'm sure our missionaries would have suggested the same.

Once we got back to Manna, we ran to play a little while with the kids at the children’s home. When we got there, I saw Isi, a precious little girl of about 6 or 7, who had colored the whole Joseph book from VBS and even traced and colored the picture of Joseph as king and copied the words that said how God did not forget about Joseph and how He made Joseph king of Egypt and saved his family. I almost cried. Suddenly, all the work I had done was worth it. It filled me with joy to be able to participate in God’s work here and to touch these precious lives.