Home Again

We got back at 4:30 this morning, at JFK and then went back to a hotel my mom got and napped for awhile. We got back to my house at about 4pm. Pat and I had a wonderful last week, and we didn't end up going to Puerto Plata, which gave us a bunch of extra money to give away. We had enough money to do the following things between the money Pat's dad/Pat gave and mine:

Pay for a family of 7 to have rice and beans for 2 months
A family of 5 to have rice and beans for 3 months
A family of 4 to have rice and beans for 3.5-4 months
Pay for the first close to a year of renting a house to use to start a church in the country side without a church
Pay for the church to build a latrine behind it.

Pat and I had a wonderful time and I will post a link to my picasa album very soon....I will write more later but I'm still pretty tired. If you have any need to get in touch with me my cell phone is now working and I will be checking my email daily again. I love you all and thank you so much for everything.
Dios les Bendiga,
Nora

Less than 2 weeks left

So I have been building friendships with the youth and young adults my age here more this week. I had to have a talk with my friend Eliza,- she is a good singer who was having some trouble with the way she was acting during her singing in front of people in the church, and I felt like I needed to correct her on it,- so we sat and talked about it, and she was totally okay with being corrected. This 1. really humbled me, because I would probably make every excuse in the book, and 2. really touched me, that she trusts me that much to listen to my opinion and love me and stuff. I was so blessed by that, that we could sit down together and talk things out, and she was totally okay with listening to me, like we´ve been best friends for eternity. That was such a blessing. I can´t wait until we´re dancing together in heaven! That was just such a blessing. Also, my friend Hanoy and I have gotten a lot closer. I have actually been cooped up in the house a lot during the day, which is hotter than being in the shade outside, because the house doesn´t catch much of a breeze, and I told Hanoy that I was getting bored during the day (I can always tell when I get bored, because I start eating, which is a good thing and a VERY bad thing haha). So anyway, Hanoy has been rescuing me a lot from the house so I don´t go nuts. Also, like I was telling you guys, I have been really missing spending time with ¨the guys¨ if you know what I mean, especially like when I am at home and get to hang out with Hunter and David and Pat and Jeff, like, that´s so awesome for me, and having Kris there or Kaylee, was always cool for me, but too many girls is just, draining. So I got to know a couple of the guys here in the church, like the hardcore Christians, and that has been SO awesome for me. They are really rock-solid, and it is such a blessing to know them. Michel and Robert (haha, such English sounding names but they are pronounced Mee-CHEL and -roll the r-Roberrrrr) haha. They are so awesome though, and really funny too. The four of us (M R Hanoy and I) went out for Tacos and asked how many we would have to eat to be free and he told us 50, and I don´t know anyone who can eat 50 tacos by themselves, I know Uncle John is famous, but 50...tell me Uncle John, could you do it?
I guess they are pretty hardcore here. Haha. In anycase. I have been spending lots of time with Michel and Hanoy, last night we had more french fries or papas fritas a la Nora (as we call them), and just spending time with them was great. Michel´s dad died while I have been here, and so in the beginning of my trip it was not easy to get to know him, all the guys here were always at his house, trying to pray with him and stuff, and so I really wanted to keep out of the way, but he has actually talked to me about it, his dad dying and stuff, between the two of us, so that has really been a blessing to see him 1. trust me so much and 2. get through the mourning process that quickly, because he was really close with his dad. Man, it really has been a blessing to know him. And it has also just been such a blessing to see how Robert and Larry (Lau-rrrrry another friend of ours) surround him all the time with love and prayers. And I say I am from the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia doesn´t know anything haha. It´s just so beautiful the human interaction here. Seriously.
I do have a sweetheart here, her name is Guida and she is 4 years old and she is the cutest girl, oh man. Her mom asked me if I wanted to take her to the states and you don´t even know!!! She is soooooooo cute. and funny. she smiles and the whole world sings! Seriously guys, when you see pictures, you will die. Her grandmother lives next door to me here, so she´s around a lot, if her mom goes out or something. She is just too adorable.
Also, I went out with a big group of people to the dam where they make the energy (which is terrible and goes out all the time btw, it would never fly in the states) and my friends ate fish, and I ate fried plantanes because I hate fish. And we played dominoes and Robert and I lost by 5, which means I need to play again and keep practicing. Then we walked along the dam and got pictures by the plaque donated by papi leo (haha, a.k.a. Leonel, the president). And then rode back in the bed of the truck at 10 something at night with the wind blowing in our faces and giggling together about Americans and speaking English and Spanglish. Very fun, it was Eliza, Michel, Robert, Hanoy, Hanoy´s neice and I back there, and it was a great time.
SO yeah, I wanted to try and put more in about my relationships with the people here, because Drew asked me to. I have not been doing so much with kids since the VBS ended, but I have a couple that I see a lot (Guida, Papi, etc.). And that has been a blessing to me. Also, I should probably put in here a little more about me and Wilman and Eunice. We have been doing well. I was timid in the beginning, because, as you understand, there is no privacy. It´s very strange to live with people and have no privacy. Especially when they´re not your first family haha. But I have been impressed with how quickly they adapt when I ask them to do something a little more ¨americanly¨if you will. (I.e. not touch my stuff, knock before coming into my bedroom, etc.) That has been a blessing to me, seriously. Also, we have had our conflicts but NO ONE here holds grudges. This is the best part. No one does it. If you have a spat, in 20 seconds or less you´re back to normal. Oh man do I need that encouragement. The forgiveness here is incredible. I just am so humbled everytime, because that is not how it works in the states, ever.

By the way I don´t know if I told you, I have the most painful sunburn on my left shoulder, so please pray for that. It is going to peel like crazy. (and people here think it is so strange that I don´t peel the skin off the potatoes and they think it is even more bizarre that there is a dish made up of potatoe skins).

Well, please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers, as I am going to start to mourn leaving probably pretty soon. I usually deal with things before they happen, and knowing I have less than 2 weeks left is really sad. I am going to see my sponsor child again before I leave, probably the 25 or the 26th, so please be praying for that. I am going to bring her some school supplies and I think I will try to do a drawing for her before then too. I am excited to see her again, she´s so beautiful and sweet.
So Please pray for all these things, and that God would continue to use to me be a blessing as all these people have blessed me.
I love you all and appreciate you soooo much. (btw people in the last post were in no particular order *cough* Peter! *cough* haha.
Love you all and thank you SO much!

Nora

Read the other post before this one too

Sorry I forgot something
I have been meaning to make a list of people that I have been thinking of down here, so they know that I have been thinking of them:
Pat
Mama
Daddy
Nolan, Kasey, Kim, PJ, Russ, Andy
Liz
Nan
Bri
Luis
Dr. Yonan
Redmond
Allie
Charlie
T.J.
Samantha/Trisha
Aunt Kitty
Dr. Unander
Dean and Ruth
Peter
Kyle G.
Courtney & Ashley & Nicole
Kris and Jeff (of course=)
P. M. Christine & Drew

And más.

just wanted you all to know I love you and I am thinking of you!
God Bless,
Nora

I love lists

So I have a few things to discuss, they are as follows:
Food/Cooking
Games
Sleep-over
And probably more that I will remember later

First off, cooking has been fun, but crazy. Apparently potatoes are incredibly cheap here, but the culture is to eat tons of rice. I made french fries, and my dominican family here LOVED them. It´s very easy, so the next day, Eunice made them again. I also made hamburgers with the fries, and they were incredulous that the beef was so good (I used ground beef, not premade nastiness), and they didn´t know you could cook beef without water or oil or butter. They were impressed, I felt cool. Also, I made mashed potatoes, and they loved those too. Which is good, cause man I love mashed potatoes. One thing here is that if something comes from the ground (i.e. carrot, beet, potato, yuca, etc.) they ALWAYS peel it, and of course, I made the potatoes without peeling them because peeling is a waste of time IMO, but Eunice kind of had a little panic attack when I was making mashed potatoes and they were boiling with the peel on. She was not going to eat them like that, so I took some out and took off the peel (´cause it is easier that way) and then mashed them like that. She seemed to be greatful, which is good, but it was like, a big deal! Everyone was kind of like ...the American LEFT THE PEEL ON!!! and that was kind of funny to me.
Also, I have been trying to make a birthday cake for my friend Eliza (who I told you about a million times), and it has been a struggle because everytime I think I have the right ingredients, I realize that something is wrong. I am going to try to get over to the supermarket and get something else, but it´s crazy. For real...also, when I made cookies, the dough was SO gooey. Usually you can mold them into balls (ginger snaps), and like, everytime we dropped on in the sugar it looked like an alien from a will smith movie...scary. (btw I thought of you all on the 4th of July, speaking of Independence day). I think it was because it was pretty hot, and room temp. here is the temp. outside, so it was hard to make the cookies. And at first, i just kept adding flour, but then it got to the point where I just didn´t know what to do, so we just did it that way, and yeah, the first batch was like ginger bread, then I didn´t leave them in as long and they were great. So yeah, crazy climate!

I brought Spanish scrabble with me. Which has been AWESOME, but I am missing X, which is very sad. because maybe, I would have won a couple times if I had had it...haha, jk. But for real, it´s definitely a hit. They love it. I am going to try to get Pat to bring down another copy or two, because they really like it. Dominoes is really popular to play, and there are a few card games, but it seems like board games are few and far between...especially ones where you have to think. But man sometimes they are kicking my butt, and sometimes I am doing great, it´s really tough, because I know the game, and they know the language. haha. But yeah, it´s really fun, so we´ve been playing a lot. Oh, and they watch me shuffle cards like I am an alien. It´s very silly. I love it.

Yeah, so last night, OH RIGHT, before that. So on Wednesday when we normally have the like youth group thing, that my friend Hanoy runs, instead of doing like a little meeting, we decided we would walk up to the "casita blanca" which was a house of a former president, and when he died he left it to the government, which now uses it for a place for addicts. They have a couple different workshops and a bakery where the men work outside in the back and then they sleep in the house. So the only thing was, I didn´t quite realize that what separated me from the casita was approx. 2.5 mountains, which we climbed for an hour there and a little less back. It was nuts. I am not kidding. And you probably know that I am not the athletic type, so I was kind of like...uhhhh....*huff huff puff puff* *gasp*...you get the idea. But we got there and I was proud of us. Of course we had four boys about 12 yrs old and they LOVED it, so that makes me happy.


Okay, so then the next day, I made ginger snaps, and then that night we had a sleepover with all the teenage girls (except Hanoy, sadface, and I don´t really know why she didn´t come), and it was a blast. We did a bible study of James and talked about it, and then talked about this vision this lady had, and what we thought, and then they asked me about my walk with God and my testimony, and I got to share with them a little bit about myself, and I got to know them better too. Which was awesome. I loved it. We all slept on the floor, even though my bed was right there...but then at 5am there was a cockroach (cucaracha) and I shot up and ran to my bed and slept for another like 5 hours. it was scary.
Then I called my mom and we talked for a little bit.
Then I came here to write to you all.

I will try the supermarket soon for the ingredients to make a bizcocho (birthday cake) for Eunice, Eunice, and Eliza (yes two Eunices, I know!)

Anyway, I am having an awesome time and have some plans to continue my ministry here with Wilman´s church. I would like to try and form a partnership with a church from the states and the church here and I have a fundraising goal that´s totally nuts but would accomplish CRAZY amounts of awesome things down here. We will see where it all goes, but I would love to see this church continue to grow, because there´s only so much that the government down here can do, and it uses all the money it can to help but that never can feed enough people. You know?
Hopefully this all makes sense. In anycase, If you happen to know of Pastors who I can be in touch with about getting some money down here to help this church out, give them my contact info, and i will be in touch.

Thanks again, as always for your prayers and support.
I love you all. Dios les bendiga muchísimo!

Nora (roll that r ;)

More great cultural notes from Nora =)

Hey All!
I am having a good time. I purposely fasted for the first time in my life (from food that is) - the verb is ayunar for all you who care :), I started on Thursday and today is my last day. It´s nice, but I think I would have preferred a little bit more privacy...except there is no privacy here, so it´s okay...haha. Eunice started writing on a page that I had crossed out the writing in my prayer journal, literally no one else ever has touched it except me, and she didn´t ask or anything, and she didn´t tear it out right away either...not going to lie I was upset. But here we have an example of the culture, there is a complete lack of privacy, and no need to ask if you can touch something that belongs to someone else.

Another cultural note, the ¨Catholicism¨here is a worship of saints and that´s it. To the Christians it is idolatry. Which is crazy, to me, since my whole Barth clan is catholic and I know they worship Jesus. So yeah, it´s kind of nuts. But I am seeing where they are coming from in what they say, because the catholics here DONT pray to God, at all, only to saints, and this is misguided. But now you know, this is very different.

Also, please be praying for the community down here, apparently brujeria (witchcraft) is common in this area, although I have only encountered on demon possessed person (Glory to God). Please be praying for this. The further in the campos (rural area) you get, the worse this sort of thing is. Please pray for protection and knowledge of the power that the Christians have in Christ.

Thank you so much for your support in everything.
Wilman was working with a group of Americans (I think I told you this) and he got back from this escapade yesterday and was telling me all about the crazy problems they had.
He said there is no handbook for american culture for people working with americans through food for the hungry, and he said we need a book. At this I took the opportunity to explain that we did have a book, and that this group apparently neglected to read it, because as he had told me, they neglected to have any meetings before coming. It was nuts. Plus it was mostly teenagers on the trip and they were not prepared at all to enter into another culture. Especially one which they knew nothing about. SO, yesterday I wrote an essay in Spanish about American and U.S. culture and how they are. If you would like to read it, well, just send me an email, but it´s in Spanish. In anycase, I will send that to Fior (a big boss in FH) so that she can look over it, and if need be, send it out to her employees.
I felt like being american was useful for once, so that´s good :)
Anyway I should get going cause i always take like a whole hour and I wanted to put up some photos or something.
Thanks again for everything guys. Love you and God Bless,
Nora