Hola! How is everyone doing? Honestly, I never want to leave
this place. It’s so beautiful down here. Watching the sunset every night over
the ocean might be one of the most breathtaking sights ever seen. Me, Conner,
and Owen are waking up early tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise over the
ocean and the mountains. Really craving a really cold glass of milk all week,
probably going to be the first thing that I have when I get back to the states.
Ummmmm well I’ve been told that I should probably talk about my experiences
here. My top 2 are probably walking down the stairs in the morning and having
all the little kids swarm around you and you have to play tag with basically
all of them at once. I’d say the other one is definitely playing sports with
the older kids. We can barely understand each other, but it is still a lot of
fun and actually get pretty competitive. Well that’s all I have to say for
tonight so adios!!! – Dalton
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| This mornings sunrise |
Hola Jeff y Kuenzli familia (This is Brooke and Abbey if you
didn’t know)! We would tell you we miss you, but you always taught us to never
tell a lie. However, you shouldn’t feel bad, we really don’t miss anyone and
could stay here forever (lo siento). This place is absolutely beautiful. We get
to sleep on the roof of the school that has an amazing view of Barahona. Every day
is hot and consists of a lot of dirt and sweat. The roof is where we like to
resort to after long, hot days. All our worries (and dirt) get swept away from
the breeze up there. We just finished our third day of camp and are continuing
to fall more in love with the children here every day. There are many that we
love, but there is one in particular that we will be bringing home. His name is
Jeremy, he is two, and he is the cutest little boy we have ever seen. Today was
one of our favorite days of camp because we got to take all the kids to a
nearby park. The weather was great too, cloudy and even some wind. At the park,
we had areas that involved soccer, baseball, gymnastics and even an area on the
track where we could race the kids. We were not confident at all with our Spanish
vocabulary when we first arrived; however, we are practically fluent now and can
have whole conversations – no big deal. Of course that is a joke, but every day
we are able to communicate more and more. Mom, it’s Brooke, today I told a
little girl about you and then showed her a picture. After seeing you she told
me “tu mama esta joven y bonita”. Look it up. It’ll make you feel good about
yourself. Sorry dad, I showed them a picture of you and they didn’t have much
to say. I’m bringing you some coffee and hopefully that will make you feel good.
Dad, it’s Abbey, for the past few days of camp, I’ve been seeing multiple kids
with extreme shirts from 2014 with Hempy Water sponsored on their backs. I
thought that was pretty neat. Don’t worry, I took a picture. I also ordered you
a package of Dominican ground coffee, seeing that it’s one of their major
exports and you’re an addict. We have made a lot of new friends here. You
should be proud. One of our good friends, Dalton, told us he would make sure he
left us a nice surprise in the toilet before we were on bathroom duty tonight.
We love our new friends. Not only are we growing closer with the kids here, the
people we came here with, but also God. We are beyond thankful for the
opportunity to experience this journey and how it has changed us as people.
This journey has also made us realize how thankful we are for: flushing
toilets, air conditioning, showers with lights, showers with warm water,
showers with lavender scented heads (Abbey is spoiled) – she says thanks Jeff,
CLEAN/COLD WATER – also thanks Jeff. We could go on forever naming the things
we take for granted every single day. You’ve taken enough sarcasm, so we really
do want to take the time out of our busy schedules (okay last time) to thank
you for all you’ve done and everything you’ve provided for us. Oh yeah and tell
my bed I’ll be back soon. THANK YOU, LOVE YOU, and don’t worry you’ll get to
see these beautiful faces (okay that really was the last time) soon! – Brooke &
Abbey (You’re favorite daughters & no this isn’t sarcasm)
One last shout out before posting other pictures from the day - Elliott and Katie wanted to wish their dad a Happy Birthday!!
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| The Morning Camp Crew |
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| The Afternoon Camp Crew |
