Day 6

Today we woke up to a beautiful day, though it was overcast, we were optismistic that it was going to be a great day! They prepared french toast, sausages and banana's, a substantial meal for the full day of work ahead of us! We loaded into the van and we started on the 45 minute trek to the school. Once we got to the school we started our work by putting some finishing touches on a couple of the classrooms that we had started. Tessa was not feeling well and Nathan, our COCREF co-ordinator brought her back to the camp with Alyssa, while Hilmer held down the fort at the school. The boys proceeded with moving a pile of sand from outside the school to inside the school yard, while the girls continued on with painting the upper hallway and other classrooms. The children were singing a song that was recognized by some of the girl team members, and the teacher allowed them to go into the classroom and they joined in with singing the song in English, to which the children all replied with cheers of excitement. We were taking a water break and playing keep up when we were completely surrounded by many of the children wanting to play as well. We all enjoyed this time with the kids. Today in total we ended up finishing painting 4 classrooms. We got back to the camp at 5:30 pm. Some of us had a quick cool-off in the pool and checked up on Tessa who was feeling a lot better. For supper we had spaghetti, lettuce, tomatoes and bread, some familiar food. We played basketball after supper. Debra led us in devotions today and we had a discussion about being strong and courageous in our faith and knowing that everything is in God's control, including whatever sicknesses we may face while we are here in the Domincan. Some games of volleyball were played before heading to bed for an early night because we wanted to ensure we were well rested for our work day tomorrow.