jaibon.

Jaibon will always hold this special part of my heart that I know I'm never getting back.  I fell in love in Jaibon.  I fell in love with the people and the kids and the genuine smiles on wrinkled faces.  I fell in love with women's stories around a beat up picnic table and la bandera and coffee from a greca and some special boys who taught me how to do things like hunt for tarantulas.  Mostly, I just fell in love with some incredible hearts and souls.

It's kind of funny actually... because in 2009 when I first found out I was moving to Jaibon (instead of Monte Cristi) I cried.  And I'm not just talking about a few tears.  I'm talking about the kind of crying that leaves you curled up on a couch, surrounded by your friends, convinced that everything you knew about life would soon be changing.

So it's funny to look back on that moment because now I can't imagine life without Jaibon and without knowing all of the amazing people who live(d) there.  Jaibon changed me.  It stretched me, humbled me, and taught me what it meant to truly depend on the Lord.  It was there where I found that I loved leadership and pouring into the lives of young adults... especially when they are outside of their comfort zones and experiencing something for the first time.  It was sitting around that old beat up picnic table where my heart was broken for Dominican women who are oppressed.  It was when I was living there that my eyes were opened to trafficking and prostitution around the world... and where a fire was lit on the inside of me that yearns for restoration and wholeness for those who are enslaved.  It was in Jaibon that I caught a glimpse of the unconditional love of God and it was there that I learned the significance of it being worth it for one.

My life looks quite different now than it did four years ago, but I still enjoy every second that I get to spend in Jaibon.  The people have captured my heart and I'll never forget what the Lord taught me there.  

And so while boys have come and gone and are now scattered around the country, a piece of my heart still remains at the end of that long dusty road...

...

Yesterday...