What We've Been Up To

While we have the itinerary posted (scroll down or click here!), you might be wondering what we've been up to these past two days at training camp.

Day 1 was yesterday (Thursday), and almost all of us were able to roll in with no problems and get somewhat set up in our dorms/apartments for the fall (poor Jean and Kira misplaced their passports and had to get new ones within 24 hours- eek! All is well now though!!!).  We met in the science building at 8:30 PM to get acquainted and talk about the trip before breaking off into our groups (one team is going to Panama, and we're the other team going to the DR).  We were able to share testimonies with each other both to get more familiar with one another and also to prepare for when we'll get to share our own testimonies to kids at the clinics in the DR.  Bedtime was early, because Day 2 started at 6:30 AM.

Day 2 (today) started off with a "team building exercise" that I don't think anyone was expecting.  We met at the rec sports field below Cemetery Hill, so all parties involved were definitely dreading what was to come (surely the terrible Hill Run!). However, we were surprised to be greeted by 3 wooden, 100-pound crosses.  Aaron informed us that our team building would be done by carrying each other's crosses and doing a team run with the crosses on our backs.  We were allowed to carry the cross in groups and rotate out as necessary, but believe me- it was still a burden, as was the key word later.  We ran the fitness trail carrying these crosses, up hills and through dirt trails and everything, stopping only twice for short devotionals from two soccer players who were there to help us keep our minds focused to the true task- remembering the burden that Jesus bore for us in order to be able to relate to us in our sufferings.  We stopped a third time along the Yellow Breeches to take Communion, then sprinted the home stretch past the maintenance buildings to our starting point. After arriving back at the base of the hill, a leader asked us to lay our crosses down and remember what Christ went through that we would not, and remember that He is familiar with all of our burdens that we so often fight Him in bearing.  He urged us to lay down our cross and sprint up the hill, so sprint we did.  There, we were greeted by two more soccer players who led us in a short worship session.  The experience of the Cross Run was a very humbling one all in all.

Breakfast followed, then we were asked to gather up all of our clothes for the trip and bring them in trash bags to the track.  There, we laid out our clothing in order to literally douse them in Sawyer's Permethrin, which will protect us from insect bites when we're in the DR.  Here's some photos from this experience!

We met back in the science building to talk about Sawyer's water filtration technology and get an idea of how the installation process works.  It's actually very, very simple- if you're interested, click here for a written description of the product or here for a video of the installation of the gravity filter.  This video shows what the bucket filter system is like when installed.

We had the opportunity to have some more team time since then, and I urge you to read the previous post to get an idea of what to pray for, in addition to the request for open hearts and minds of the Dominicans as we strive to humbly serve them.