Rebecca in the Dominican Republic: Saying Goodbye

I have spent my last days in the villages that have made up my entire summer, Pancho Mateo, Chichigua, and Tamarindo. My heart is overflowing with mixed emotions. I cannot wait to see everyone back home—all my friends and family, the girls I care for at Westwood HS, but each time I left a village, my heart ached for the kids who I have promised I will see again. I know I will, that I will be back here often, but I don’t know when, and I wish I could tell them I did know. It has really just hit me that I have learned so much from each child that I have grown to love, that they have humbled me through the way they have interacted with me, loved me, and given me when they had nothing. In Tamarindo, kids guard my backpack, carry it for me, and make sure no one takes anything from me. It’s ridiculous!

God gave me unreal amounts of energy these past few days. Two days ago it started pouring while we were in Tamarindo, playing out in this open field. Instead of not playing, Robin and Constance and I just started running around in the rain and dancing with the kids. We did cartwheels and I raced twenty kids, cheated, and won as the rain fell. It was just incredible.

I said good-bye to Jaina in Chichigua today. I got to carry her out to the field one last time and hear her beautiful laugh when we tickled her and her bright smile at all the attention she was getting. I brought some lotion for her and left it at her house. It was already inside when I brought it back so I have no idea if her family will ever use it on her or if they will just use it for themselves but I am thankful that I got to give it to her regardless.

There are two girls in Tamarindo, Amanda and Felicia, whom I met around a month ago. They are 13 and 12 and just amazing and I got to give them both Bibles and write in them. Even though we just barely communicate because my language skills are limited, we have gotten really close and I absolutely love them. Today we had a race across the fields with an awesome girl from the Austin Stone group, Ashley, and stopped to rest post-race. They started singing all these Christian songs they knew, and then all of a sudden, Amanda asked me if I wanted to pray. I was taken aback, and pretty certain I hadn’t heard her correctly – surely this 13-year-old girl isn’t asking me to pray in the middle of the day out of the blue? She was though, and I was terrified but said a basic prayer in Spanish solely because the Lord was right there with me, giving me words. After I finished, each girl in turn asked to pray and prayed the sweetest prayers I had ever heard, thanking God for our friendship and for his Word and that we could learn more and more about him. They prayed for my trip home and for our group.

Later on, we were all hanging out, and one of the boys whom I love, Ruben, said something completely mean to me because he was angry that someone else was playing with my camera instead of him. I guess Felicia could tell that he had kind of hurt me because she ran up to me and said, “Don’t listen to him. I love you so much!” in Spanish. Then Amanda chased him down and made him come apologize to me. I have been blessed to have these girls love me just as much as I love them. What a blessing it is!