Week Two

Thankfully I was able to get on the internet tonight... it has been a fun week... so much to tell you all about. Lauren joined us at the beginning of the week and Stephanie, Cara and Micah joined us today. Cara is John's wife and Micah is John's son. Lauren is the intern that will be leaving on the same day as me... so we have become dear friends within the last week. Anyways enough about who is here and on to what we did this past week.

There was a group of 50 highschoolers from Kenniworth United Church (Chicago) so it was such a blessing to enjoy tons of energy on site this week. KUC worked on building volunteer housing for Orphanage Outreach as well as partnered with the interns to run the first ever VBS at Jaibon. I have told a couple of you this already, but this trip and especially this week has been Monica in a nutshell. I got to put my passion for Spanish, kids, teaching ESL all to work this week. Monday-Thursday morning I taught ESL to four groups of kids for 25 minutes each. Then in the afternoons I got to be a team leader for "team verde", which was a group of boys ages 6-13. The stations for the VBS were Crafts, ESL, Lesson, and Rec. It was so fun to be able to translate some, and spend time getting to know the kids.

This past weekend has been a great time of relaxation and an hour of internet time :)... but I am soooo excited about this upcoming week. I had a meeting with Heather, the program leader and friend from JBC, this afternoon and she asked me to be the program leader for the English camp next week. This means that I have done a lot of planning on the front end of things and provide leadership and framework for the English camp. I am so excited to be able to have this opportunity for this kind of leadership. In this role, I wont have the chance to teach per say, but will be able to oversee all that goes on at the camp with the help and guidance of Heather. Please pray for guidance and confidence in the abilities that God has given me as I adventure out on this exciting week!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and concern about the reaction.. I am pleased to say that my hands and feet are back to normal... God is good and He continues to pour blessings on me through friendships, conversations and those boys at the orphanage. God is good.

I am also VERY pleased to let you all know that I can get letters in the DR :)... It will probably take about a week and a half to get here, but I would welcome any cards or letters to know how you all are doing. Please don't send any packages, because chances are that they won't get here, save those for when I get back to JBC :)... ok so its

Monica Swartzentruber
Calle Alta Gracia #80
Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic

Thanks so much for all your love and prayers. You are such a blessing and I can't wait to hear about your summer and share more stories and pictures with you when I get back. Hopefully I will be able to get online next weekend, but I've learned to be flexible and thankful for the time that I do get. :)

Love ya,
Monica