Women's Conference at IBEM

This past October, our church had their annual Women’s Conference. I think this might have actually been the first women’s conference that I have ever gone to and I really enjoyed it. Women from all over came to the conference. Not just the women from our church but from other churches in San Pedro to La Romana, Santo Domingo and even Santiago! Our speaker was Damaris Carbaugh and she was not only a good speaker (at least from the Spanish parts that I could make out), she was also a really good singer and did a mini concert for our church the next night. I could see her passion for the work and encouraging others to dive into the Word as well. She spoke to us about God’s grace giving us peace. She also urged us to get into the Word every day and soaking it up. The real thing we should be concerned about is the inner condition of our heart and we can nurture it by growing closer to God and staying in His Word. She spoke from the book of Philippians which happens to be my favorite book in the Bible, even though it is usually very convicting as well. For the small group sessions, I got to enjoy I was able to learn how to make a simple necklace, how to deal with your children from a Biblical manner, how to teach child Bible stories/lessons and make it interesting and doing sign language to Christian songs. 

 

Singing together at the start of the conference

 

Our speaker, Damaris Carbaugh

Dominican National Anthem

The other day a fifth grader asked me what the American National Anthem was and strangely enough, another Dominican student in my class started to sing it. Besides being a little bit comical, it reminded me about a huge difference in the culture here as compared to the US. Every school morning, at a set time, (7:45) the students in every classroom stand up and sing the Dominican National Anthem. The police station next to the school also plays it every day at 8 in the morning for the community to hear. There is a high level of respect for the national anthem in the Dominican Republic, which is great. Even if you are not personally singing the song, if you are close to those who are, it is common courtesy to stop what you are doing and stand quietly, until the song is completed. Sometimes even people on the street will stop if they hear it and then continue on walking once it is complete. Sadly, this is not the case in the United States. It is not to say that people don’t respect the national anthem it is just not as highly revered. In fact, there are some people in the United States that don’t even know the whole the national anthem and can’t sing it. Even in the schools, students say the pledge of allegiance, but I remember many times when there were students who didn’t stand up or didn’t sing it and the teacher never said anything about it. But here in the Dominican Republic, you can walk into any classroom and see all the students standing up straight and tall and singing their national anthem with pride and vigor. It’s so cool to witness and reminds me that there are so many things you can learn and appreciate when you are living in a different culture. 

I wanted to put up a video of them singing the national anthem, but unfortunately it wouldn't upload. Sorry.But here is a photo of the students in grades 1st through 4th at assembly. 

Friday Morning Assembly