La Huelga

It's very quiet in the Makarios house this afternoon. Unfortunately, this is because the Usry's have just left for the States. There is definitely a six-person-shaped hole here in their wake, and I am dearly going to miss them! From getting to listen to Rose's wisdom on life and cooking to playing Jurassic Jumble with the kids, life here will just not be the same without them! Thank goodness they live in Austin.
The Usry Family -- Zach, Bill, Blake, Sara, Rose, and Paige

We have a couple staying with us this week from Westlake Bible Church, Garrett and Anne Boon. They are great; Anne used to be a Young Life leader in Austin so of course we have tons of mutual friends, including a summer staff boss of mine, Angie, and my old Young Life leader, Sara! This week is fairly laid back since they are the only guests and because we have significantly less people to transport and feed.

This morning we did some crafts and played baseball in Pancho Mateo, which was chaos as usual. In the afternoon I did some manual labor at El Boss -- that is the land where the educational center is being built (See photo). Can you believe I mixed cement? It was actually a nice change; although it is equally as difficult as working with kids, I didn't have to be talking all the time and there weren't six kids tugging on all my limbs.

I'm not quite sure what is going on exactly, but there is a national strike (huelga) going on here in the DR. I know for sure that involves public transportation striking, but Miguel, who is Dominican and on Makarios staff, says that it is a strike against a lot of complaints that the people have, including taxes and such. Well, strikes can make things more violent in the cities. Although our neighborhood is very safe, in other areas there have been injuries and deaths because of protestors rioting in the streets. So we came home a little early to be off the roads and are staying in tonight (like every night)!

If you are praying for us, please pray for safe travel for everyone traveling to and from Puerto Plata and the DR this week. And be praying for me as this Friday we have a large family group coming from Westlake Bible Church and I might be translating for them. I know I can do it, but prayer is always good to have behind me to give me confidence! Thanks for reading!