I found out that I would be headed to the Dominican Republic to serve as a Youth Development Promoter. I had started the process to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer after my grandmothers death in October 2010. I officially applied and submitted all of my materials in November 2010 and interviewed January 2011. I was nominated for youth development in Latin America leaving in August despite my lack of Spanish and despite the chaos that was my medical review process I still ended up with my original nomination. The process of applying to Peace Corps was a labor of love, and each setback and/or day of waiting only solidified my beliefs that this is where God was leading me. I remember that I had almost given up being invited. I just knew that the budget cuts would affect me and that I would be put on hold.
A year later, I have to say that the application process helped me realize how much I wanted to do this, and it has kept me focused during my hardest days here in the Dominican Republic. There are some days where my Spanish is just awful and I want hide behind a tree, I miss my family and friends more than tears can express, I'm lonelier than I've ever been in my life and no one seems to understand me, and nothing goes as planned. These are the days where I choose to reflect on everything that led me to this point, and how blessed I am to be serving here, and those tough days become motivation to give it my very best the next day. And I am also very blessed to say that there have been many more lessons learned, smiles, hugs, and joy than sad moments. It's only been 10 months, but I've gained lifelong friends, 3 Dominican families, a strong start in learning the Spanish language, and I've fallen in love with my org, the youth and donas here.
There is a lot more I want to write...but I need to finish a grant and prep for my Deportes para la Vida camp next week <-- please pray for this endeavor. I'll be sure to put up a blog post while I'm at language training about what I have been up to for the past 3 months...Time is really getting away from me here with these blog posts. Sorry1
