Yesenia Gonzalez:

Today we woke up with excitement to complete the project we began yesterday. Our day started with an authentic Dominican breakfast: plantains, mangu, and vegetables. After that we got onto the bus to begin our journey back to Jinova. From the minute we got there we organized ourself into smaller groups and began working hard. In order to ensure that we completed all the designated tasks, we were productive by finishing our respective tasks and then helping others with theirs. Although I was not present for all the activities due to my illness, I was happy to hear that today was more efficient than yesterday as everyone had a list of tasks to complete. I was extremely proud that everyone continued pushing through despite the heat, bugs, and lack of sleep from the past night. It made me happy that the day I was a leader everyone was getting out of their comfort zone to try new tasks such as mixing cement, rebaring the wires, moving bricks, and transporting water from one location to another.

Overall, today was a long day with hard work, efficiency, and productivity; and I was glad to have the opportunity to be leader on a day like this. It made me happy to hear that the whole group pushed through today and helped the community get one step closer to their goal of building the community center. Even though I was not able to give my full effort today, I was proud that this opportunity shaped me into a better leader. I found it successful that I was able to get everyone’s attention and manage the group as a whole. Im extremely proud of my group and super excited to finish this amazing project tomorrow!

Mitzaly Maldonado:

Waking up today with no energy, I thought that I wouldn’t be able use my full capacity for the long, busy day that was ahead of us. Although today we had a rough morning, we all managed to work extremely hard on our jobs and remain positive when things got tough. From my point of view, today was beyond amazing from seeing the way the community members made cement and the development of the wall. I was genuinely smiling and laughing the entire day because of all the moments we had. I truly saw every individual being dedicated and committed to try and complete our mission today. Everyone is so excited to finish this community project tomorrow and we can’t wait to see the end results!

Being a leader today of 18 glimpsers, I can say it was not an easy task. I got to experience a day filled with many obstacles and majority of my crew not feeling well. I do want to say that I appreciate every single person who continued to push through and strive to work harder. It was also difficult to take the leader role on my own due to Yesenia being sick. At times I felt overwhelmed and that I couldn’t handle the task but I was able be positive and motivate others to do so as well. I felt very happy that my crew, the community members, and myself left Jinova feeling that we successfully did our job today. To leave it off here, I want to say that I feel that our last final days on this trip will be a lot of hard work, commitment, and many fun, exciting times. Thank you to those who leave positive, motivating comments to all of us which leaves us feeling great.