Saturday, May 26, 2007

Our Month in the US

Well, it has been a while since we posted! We had a whirlwind visit to Minnesota as we transitioned from Guatemala to the Dominican Republic. We visited with as many people as we could, dividing our time between Minneapolis and Rochester. It was great to reconnect with family, friends, and supporters. We are thankful for all the hospitality extended to us during the time. You are all welcome to visit us in the D.R., but not until we are settled!

We found the U.S. a bit of an adjustment from living in a 300 year old city for 7 months. Everything seemed HUGE and spread out. We had gotten used to walking everywhere in Antigua and so every time we left the houses we stayed in Minnesota our kids would ask, are we walking? No, we are driving, driving, driving everywhere. We did some shopping for things we found were hard to find in Latin America or very expensive. New shoes were top on the list for example. In the U.S. products are cheap and labor is expensive. In Guatemala and the Dominican Republic the reverse is true. So it is cheap to get a haircut, get your car fixed or hire someone to do your lawn, but shoes, plastic food containers, games/toys, are expensive since they are typically imported.

We were so eager to get to the D.R. and see our Dominican friends at church and set up our home. We had so many unanswered questions about the future and we felt like we had been nomads for over a year already. See our next entry for an update on the D.R.

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