I finally made it to the beach...

So, it only took me three weeks to get there :) As a team, we decided we needed a day to rest on Saturday...so I hitched a ride in a taxi with the "Ocho Mujeres" to Boca Chica! I have been itching (not only from the mosquito bites) to get there. After our taxi arrived an hour-and-a-half late, we negotiated a price and were off! I had a lot of fun getting to know the women better on the rides to and from the beach. It was a bit rainy, but only rained a total of 5-10 minutes in the three hours we were there. Mom, I remembered to reapply sunscreen this time...so no sunburn! By the way, there weren't any little naked boys there today (sorry...inside joke for those who have traveled here before :) This picture is of Abby and I together. Abby is a summer intern with TIME this year and traveled to the DR with my team the past two summers. It has been a lot of fun to connect with her again.

Friday was an awesome day in our village! Our morning began with a Bible study and health/hygiene class for the women. The ladies from Massachusetts brought enough health packets (including five toothbrushes, toothpaste, washcloths, Neosporin, and some band-aids for each women who attended the health class from start to finish). It was amazing because they brought 54 packets and 51 women attended. They were hungry for the information, and really attended to the Bible study! In the afternoon the ladies finished the sewing project they began on Thursday. They made little satchel bags. One of the parts of the vision the Lord has given to Ina is that there will be opportunities for economic advancement in Cercadillo. These bags are a start toward something that could eventually be sold to bring in money for the family. The women in this photo are so proud of their accomplishment, and it was my privilege to witness this moment!

On Friday afternoon, a group of middle-schoolers from Florida who are here with TIME came out and did an evangelistic program for the children and a recreation time with face painting, football (both American and "soccer"), bubbles, a ring toss game, and a colorful parachute for the little ones. The kids had so much fun! Several of them ran up to Ina and said, "Ina, Ina, these are the best games. This is so much fun!" The top picture is of Jose Agusto and I during the game session. He was having so much fun it was hard for me to catch him for this photo! Jose Agusto has grown on all of our hearts. The bottom photo is one of my favorite pictures of Vladimir with the perrito (puppy) on his cheek! He was so excited! We finished one of the most amazing days yet with Esteban's "famous" mango shakes! I watched him very carefully (and took photos :) so maybe I'll be able to recreate them when I need a DR fix in Iowa!

On Sunday we attended Ina's church in the colonial area, and I came across yet another beautiful "Una Via" (One Way) sign. Everytime I see one of these signs I am reminded that God created my life to one end, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (thanks, Piper!). One of the ways I can do this is to share the love of Christ with everyone that God brings into my life. My prayer is that the people of Cercadillo will one day understand how much they are loved by God and seek Him! Ina's long-term vision is that Cercadillo will one day be transformed from a mission field to a mission force in the world! Awesome!

Please continue praying for our team. This team photo shows myself, Ben, Ina, Kristin, and Kasi from left to right. A few are experiencing some of the traveler's illness, and others just feel "funny". Please pray that our health will be restored to full strength and that we will rely on God's strength. We are continually reminded that God directs our paths! We need to be completely flexible and go where He leads us. Please also continue to pray for God's light to shine in the darkness of Cercadillo! He is doing amazing things and nearly everyday I hear Ina say "It's really happening! God's vision is happening!"

Muy divertido!

Hola! This week has been very fun, yet also very tiring so far! I am having a great time planning and teaching reading and English classes. I'm finding it difficult to lead a guided reading lesson (sorry, that's teacher talk) without much ability to ask questions in Spanish or understand my students' answers. I just do my best to piece together questions (sometimes they look at me funny :) and usually nod my head at the answers they give me just because they are participating. This method would never fly in the US, but it seems to work for me in a village where there are no books except what we bring. I am having a lot of fun teaching the English classes because I get to speak more English, and they eat it up! Today our whole group was really tired in Cercadillo because we had such a busy day yesterday.

We have a group of women in from Massachusetts (they are doing a census of Cercadillo for Ina, sewing classes, a health session, and some Bible studies) so we went and did some extra sight-seeing yesterday. We went down to the Colonial City where all of the Christopher Columbus (Cristoval Colon en espanol) sights are. We visited the outside of the first church built in the Americas (I didn't pay to go in because they charge $16 per person and I went two years ago with TIME), a fortress from just after Columbus's time, and a park commemorating the three founding fathers, Duarte, Sanchez, and Mella. The park has some walls around it from just after Columbus's time and some amazing opportunities for flower photograpy. I have recently developed a love for taking pictures of flowers so I was in heaven! Surrounding the park where the "three dead guys" (as Ina likes to call them) are buried was an amazing display of photographs remembering the group of people who led the uprising against Trujillo. It was very interesting and informative. I am interested to learn more about this time in the Dominican Republic's history.

We finished our afternoon by visiting the Mercado where you can find gifts and souviners for awesome prices if you know how to bargain. I'm still learning this skill! After that we had some time to kill before our dinner reservations so we went to a beautiful spot to overlook the Caribbean. We were fortunate to be able to walk out on some rocks and sit out on a ledge where the ocean waves crashed underneath us! It was breathtaking with the ocean before me and only the sound of the waves crashing! I could have sat there forever, but more adventures awaited us! We ended our day by eating authentic Dominican cuisine at a restaurant called El Conuco that featured Dominican dancers and the opportunity to Merengue (the dance that originated in the Dominican Republic. Most of our team danced at least one dance with either Esteban, a friend from TIME, or the famous "man in the red hat"! Both amazing dancers. Hopefully we will be able to go one more time before I head home. I know, sounds like some "mission trip":)

Today we were in Cercadillo all day (yes, that means peeing in the bushes :) teaching reading and English classes and beginning a sewing project with the ladies from Massachusetts that we affectionately call the "Ocho Mujeres"! Tomorrow morning the women will be doing a much needed health information class and handing out hygiene and first aid kits to each household who sends a representative to the class as well as finishing the sewing projects. In the afternoon, we will be doing a lot of fun activities for the kids with the help of a group of junior high students who are currently working here with TIME Ministries. We are excited about this because they are planning everything so we get an evening off tonight!

Until next time please be praying for our team's energy level and some time of relaxation that is much needed but seeming to elude us. Please also continue praying for the Spirit to move in Cercadillo as we are planting seeds! Thank you for being part of our team!!! Until next time...

Time is going so fast!

We have been so busy working and playing that I haven't written in quite a while! Sorry, this may be a little long...Things are going very well and very fast! I can't believe that tomorrow is my two week anniversary, and I only have a couple of weeks left. The weather has been amazing so far. Fortunately I love torrential downpours because we've had quite a few of those lately. I enjoy them because of the relampagos (thunder) and because they cool down the air and remove some of the humidity.

We had a successful first day of reading and English classes last Thursday. Successful meaning that we had a few moments of calm amidst a lot of utter chaos. Ina is continually reminding us in prayer that God makes order out of chaos. Praise the Lord because we can do little to control these children on our own. Many of the children have no school experience and those who do have most likely been in a chaotic classroom of up to 50 students where the teacher just talks over everyone and hopes someone catches what they are teaching. I am realizing everyday how easy my teaching environment is in Iowa!!! Friday morning was our fun day with the kids enrolled in the classes. I was in charge of the craft area while Kasi and Kristin led drama and singing sessions with other kids. Friday afternoon we returned to Cercadillo loaded down with sewing machines, sewing tables, and a small generator for sewing classes with the women. I was able to help two women named Rosa and Cli sew their skirts. Steph, thanks for the brief refresher course before I came here :) We ended the day with a belated birthday party for one of Ina's missionary friends named Kirsten. Her husband Rich is an amazing guitarist, and he led us in some praise and worship on Ina's patio. What a perfect night!

We began our Saturday by going to Cercadillo to give water. We have to bring out a generator to give power to the pump, and the people bring whatever they have (buckets, old gas and bleach bottles, tin cans, etc.) to get filled with the water that will allow them to drink, bath, and wash their clothes for the next several days. When Kirsten was over on Friday night she said that us giving water to the people of Cercadillo is a good illustration of how Jesus is the well that never runs dry and He will fill whatever container we bring to Him. This picture of Cercadillo's containers (nice buckets next to rusty tin cans) is a wonderful reminder of this! We spent the rest of Saturday visiting the Museum of the Dominican Man (containing artifacts from the people who inhabited the island prior to Columbus), going to Price Smart (I felt like I was back in West Des Moines at Costco and they had AC), and going to an amazing restaurant called Adrian Tropical that had several layers of balconies overlooking the Caribbean and great fruit smoothies. This picture shows Ina and I with our limon, chinola, and naranja combination. It was the perfect ending to a great day!

I love Ina's church! It is downtown and is actually housed in Trujillo's old social club. Trujillo was a "not-so-good" dictator who was eventually assassinated. We sang several songs in Spanish that I know in English, and we attended Sunday school with our friends, Pepin, Laura, Claudia, and Maria Jose. Then we had our friends over for lunch and Mama Rosa showed us how to really make rice in the Dominican. We have had some failed attempts in the past :) It began to rain gatos y perros so we decided not to go to Cercadillo and spent some time in prayer instead.

This morning I had another "adventure"! I rode in a taxi to Cercadillo with some American friends. We have another group with us this week so we needed more transportation than Ina's vehicle can handle. The taxi driver is actually from Cercadillo so it is a good opportunity for us to show trust and put some earned money into the hands of the village. There were some hills that I wasn't sure we were going to make it up, but David is a very skilled driver! We began our day with reading classes in the morning. I got to teach two groups, one focusing on comprehension and the other on differentiating between syllables and words. Because Spanish is so completely phonetic, several kids who say they can read are really just reading syllables, not words. Both groups provided many opportunities for me to use my small Spanish vocabulary. It was a lot of fun! I am now writing all of the lesson plans for the afternoon English classes. I enjoy using my abilities as a teacher in a way that stretch my knowledge and skills. Unfortunately we didn't get to use my plans today because it again rained cats and dogs during class so we huddled in a circle with the few kids that showed up and sang some songs.

Praise God that things have been going better lately with us getting out to the village and having meaningful conversations and lessons with the kids. Also, those who had health issues are restored. Please pray for our energy levels as we have been busy nearly every waking moment and have very little time to rest. Pray also that we will show the love of Christ and glorify God in all we say and do in Cercadillo!

A Day of Rest!

Today is another declared "Day of Rest" for our team! We all welcome these days with joy! We have had a very busy week, though things have not gone as planned thus far. Sunday we were able to go out to Cercadillo in the afternoon along with some new amigos from Ina's church (Pepín, Maria Jose, "Mama" Rosa, and Laura) to present a lesson on the fall of man. It went very well, and both children and adults listened well to the message. We are going through a series of lessons specifically designed for missions that begin with creation and go all the way through God's plan of salvation. It is very important, especially in this culture, that we give a strong basis for why man needs to be saved and God's plan through Jesus before asking people to make a decision to follow Christ. Here in the Dominican Republic (as in many cultures around the world) people will say whatever they think will please you. For example, when we were trying to find a location in the central city on Saturday we asked several different people how to find it and got several different answers. Only one person admitted that he didn't know and didn't want to lead us astray! They simply give you some directions instead of saying they can't help. It is the same in the mission field. If you asked a group of people here to respond to the Gospel, most of them would reply with a "Yes!" but then would reply "Yes!" every other time you asked because they know that is what you want to hear. Therefore, it is more difficult than simply preaching and asking for a response. Teaching has to happen so they know why Jesus is so very different from what they currently believe to be true.

On Saturday, Ina's vehicle began making some not-so-healthy sounds so she called her mechanic, and he came and took the car on Monday morning. Since we were unable to go to Cercadillo as planned without a reliable vehicle we spent the day planning and making materials for our first day of classes. It turned out to be a much needed day of preparation!

On Tuesday, we began our day early with an awesome Spanish lesson at the Institute down the street. They usually teach Dominicans English but are reversing the lessons for us! Our teacher, a man named Joan (pronounce Joe-on), is a lot of fun and committed to teaching us as efficiently as he can in three one-hour sessions per week. He has spent some time in the United States so he knows English well. I am very excited about this opportunity! After returning to Ina's house after our lesson, we discovered that the car had not been returned yet and Ina was not feeling well so we spent another day in preparation. Again, this day proved to be very productive. After our sabbath day today, we are hoping and praying to be able to finally start our classes on Thursday!

Please pray for the health for our team (a couple of members have had rumbling stomachs, Kasi has a cold/allergies, and my back has been aching for three days now and my many bug bites drive me loco at times :). Ina's vehicle was returned this morning so please pray that it will prove reliable now. Please pray also that we will not be discouraged as we have not been able to be in Cercadillo as much as planned up to this point. We know that we are in a battle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces (somebody doesn't want us to do ministry here) so please pray that we will be strong in the name of Jesus against attacks. What satan means for evil the Lord will use for His glory!!!

Team Day #1

God is so good! Today we had a team day which basically means we had time to regroup and do something fun together! Kasi and I spent a large portion of the morning cutting up the huge supply of fresh mangoes we have accumulated in our kitchen. It is mango season in the DR so they are plentiful, cheap, and really sweet right now. First we bought some, and then the people of Cercadillo gave us several more so it was quite a sticky job to core and cut up all the fruit. To add to the fun, the city power wasn't on this morning (it comes and goes so Ina has an inverter that charges batteries when we have city power and provides battery power when the city power goes off, similar to a generator), and we couldn't run the water pump to get water from the cistern under her garage to the roof. Plumbing here is a little different than in the US as water is pumped up to the roof (this can only be done on city power) and then runs down the pipes to be used. All of this is to say that Kasi and I (and the entire kitchen counter) became a sticky, gooey mess from the mangoes, and we had no water to wash our hands :) Another adventure!!! Fortunately, the power came on, and we were able to pump water to the roof shortly after we were done.

Next, our team headed into the central city area of Santo Domingo to track down a missionary doctor from Haiti, (of whom I would love to share about when I return!!!) who through what I believe to be nothing short of a miracle, was able to pick up and deliver two water hand pumps for us to put in Cercadillo. I can't go into all the details of his story now, but he is an amazingly humble man of God who has risen above so many things to bring the Gospel to the people of both Haiti and the DR. Haiti is currently in a very volatile civil war of sorts with prominent people (including pastors and many missionaries) being kidnapped! Please be praying for Haiti and its people!

After we got the pumps we went for a lunch visit (at 4:00pm) to Pizza Hut where we chowed down two pan Meat Lover's pizzas in no time in honor of Kasi's birthday! It was a fun, American way to celebrate!

We are reading through Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper during our time here, and we spent our evening talking about the first chapter. I don't think any of us thought our book discussion would turn into a 2 hour talk, but it was great! I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in supporting or participating in missions.

Please pray for tomorrow as we will be going to Cercadillo in the afternoon with a few people from Ina's church to do a service there. Please pray that people will come, that their ears will be opened, and that above all, God will be glorified!!! Thank you!

First Day in Cercadillo

Hola! This morning, after my luggage finally showed up :) we headed to Cercadillo to officially begin registration for our summer camps (morning is reading in Spanish, afternoon is conversational English). I had the privilege of sitting with Ina while she interviewed each potential student about their age, family, preference for only one or both camps, and did running records to determine their reading levels. It's fun to see the same strategy to determine reading levels used in Spanish that I use all the time in my profession. We were going to be done with registrations at noon, but as all things happen in the Dominican, we finished around 3:00pm and then headed back to Ina's for a much anticipated lunch. She never turns any child or adult away no matter how hungry or tired we are or because they didn't show up during our "scheduled"time. It's such a good example of flexibility in service for me. Carmen, the Voodoo priestess for Cercadillo, showed up midway through the day and sat with us for awhile. It was awesome because when she first saw me, her face lit up, and she acted as if she remembered me from the two years past even though I'd made very short visits. For those of you who traveled here last summer, you might remember Alberto (pastor of the church in the extremely rough neighborhood). He worked with Ben today finishing up the bathrooms.

Another highlight for today was getting to see several amigos from past years. If you've been here before (or heard me talk a lot) you'll find several familiar names: Noe, Arjenes, Benjamin, Althussar, and Abbey :) I got to experience several huge Dominican hugs, and I am so excited to see them through out my month here. Last night Arjenes and Althussar showed up unexpectedly at Ina's house. Without a doorbell, you just head to the door anytime you hear someone yell, "Ina!" or "missionaria" from the front gate. Because we live in a semi-rough area of Santo Domingo, Ina has us safely locked behind several layers of padlocks, and we are quickly learning the system. I passed on several bags of Beef Jerky to my friends and it felt like I had never been gone!

Biggest adventure for the day: Last night we had a mild incident of hair singeing and skin reddening so Ina sent Ben and I out to buy some ice. By the time we got to the corner store we had forgotten the word for ice (will be writing these things down from now on :) so we tried to get ice by saying "agua mucho,mucho frio" with fingers making small square gestures but clearly we were not relaying the proper message because the store clerk just kept pulling out water bottles from farther in the back of his cooler! Since we weren't far from the Institute (where we will be taking Spanish classes) I suggested that we go there to see if anyone could help us. God blessed us by providing Althussar to help. He laughed a lot (not at us, but with us :), and helped us get the ice! Fun times!

Thank you for your continued prayers!

I have finally arrived...

...and only a day late! Praise the Lord! Yesterday I had a pretty uneventful day of travel (which is the best way to go if you ask me!) and made all of my scheduled flights. I even ran into two separate missions groups (one in Chicago and one in Miami) with shirts that implied they were going to the Dominican (they said "Go Missions to the Dominican Republic and Haiti: Summer 2008" so I took a risk :). It was fun to chat with them about their plans and my past experiences. When I got to the DR I quickly discovered, as did one-third of my plane, that my second piece of luggage didn't arrive from Miami. They assured me it will be delivered to Ina's house today. Praise the Lord, the one I did get has most of my clothes and important stuff in it. Ina was hosting a large party at her house at the time of my arrival so she hired a driver (don't worry, Mom, he has been used a lot to transport missions groups) to bring me from the airport to her house. I know little Spanish and he knew next to no English so we had a great "conversation". Lots of me saying, "Como se dice..." and lots of gesturing :) It was fun because I actually recognized things along the way to Ina's house. I've been here enough to recognize landmarks!

I met the three college students who are also staying with Ina during this time (Kristen, Kasi, and Ben) and they are going to be a lot of fun to serve with. They laugh pretty easily and have awesome hearts. I feel like I have luxury accommodations (minus AC) because I have my own room complete with queen-size bed, a huge ceiling fan, and some closet space. This is a little different from living completely out of a suitcase on a bottom bunk! Ina also recently installed screens on all her windows and doors so hopefully that will keep the sneaky mosquito attacks in the middle of the night to a minimum. Also nice to not have to wear bug spray to bed!

I was also blessed to learn that Ina has set aside every Wednesday as a Sabbath rest day since we do a lot of very active ministry on Sundays. So my first day here I get to relax, get acclimated, and spend some quiet time with the Lord. What a blessing! I might have to start this habit at home! Saturdays will be fun "Team Days"where we go the market for shopping, visit a tourist spot, or go the beach. During the remaining days we will be teaching reading in Spanish in the mornings and conversational English in the afternoons in Cercadillo. We will also be teaching some sewing classes (thanks to Steph for letting me practice!) and helping lead Sunday services in the village. The bathrooms in Cercadillo should hopefully be done this week :) I am also very excited that I will get to take a small group Spanish class with our team three mornings a week before we head to the village!

That's all for now! Thank you for your prayers, encouraging words, and for being part of this team!!!

Hello from the DR...er, the DM...

Well, after an eventful night and morning of canceled and delayed flights I'm hanging out in the comfort of my own home tonight far from where I thought I'd be. Isn't God amazing? The moment you think you are in total control of your plans, God gently reminds you that you are in fact, not in control at all :) I'm taking this as a lesson in patience and flexibility and praying that I'll get to see Ina by this time tomorrow night! Fortunately, God has blessed me with an amazing friend, Laura, who brought me to the airport this morning, then picked me up from the airport and brought me to her home for the afternoon so I could rest. I'm sure my plane wouldn't have been showing episodes of M*A*S*H or the Sandlot! And she's picking me up again early tomorrow morning! What a blessing! Thank you also to the wonderful ladies who sent me off this morning with hugs and prayers and to Nikki for sharing some of this evening with me! Hopefully I'll be off early tomorrow and should arrive in Santo Domingo around 6:15pm. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!