Sunday, April 20, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Demon Toilets and Hot Dogs
On Sunday we went to Gabriel, the pastor who started GO Ministries, church. This was about one block down from the dorm where we stay. This was a great experience to participate in a differnt cultures worship. Their worship is very similar to our format, except that it is in spanish and they play their music very loud. During the service Tim, another missionary with GO, gave a wonderful sermon/testimony about the birth of his daughter Zoey.
After church we started the hour and a half drive to Puerto Plata where the resort was at. When we arrived the resort was amazing and the beach was wonderful.
It was refreshing to finally eat some American food, even though they don't do it justice down here. The rooms were amazing with this wonderful invention called air conditioning. The rest that night was wonderfull except for the toilet in me, Brock, and Jonny's room. At about 3 am we woke up to the sound of are toilet exploding. It continued to try and kill us with it's demon growls for the next 10 minutes. Who knew toilets were so violent.
Today at the beach we went to the public area to shop and were intoduced to the world of hagling.
One of Brock's conversations went a little something like this
"This hat is normally 1800 peso's. What price do you think I should give it to you for?"
"Um, 400 peso's."
"OK, becasue I like you I'm going to give it to you for 800 peso's"
"I'm sorry, I don't have that much."
"OK, 500 peso's"
"I DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH."
"OK, because I like you I give it to you for 400 peso's."
"That what I said in the beginning!"
After this Brock went on to the beach without putting on sunscreen for the next four hours.
What a hot dog.
Tommorow we will be leaving at 5:15 am for the airport. Pray for safe travels on the way home and we will see you soon.
After church we started the hour and a half drive to Puerto Plata where the resort was at. When we arrived the resort was amazing and the beach was wonderful.
It was refreshing to finally eat some American food, even though they don't do it justice down here. The rooms were amazing with this wonderful invention called air conditioning. The rest that night was wonderfull except for the toilet in me, Brock, and Jonny's room. At about 3 am we woke up to the sound of are toilet exploding. It continued to try and kill us with it's demon growls for the next 10 minutes. Who knew toilets were so violent.Today at the beach we went to the public area to shop and were intoduced to the world of hagling.
One of Brock's conversations went a little something like this"This hat is normally 1800 peso's. What price do you think I should give it to you for?"
"Um, 400 peso's."
"OK, becasue I like you I'm going to give it to you for 800 peso's"
"I'm sorry, I don't have that much."
"OK, 500 peso's"
"I DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH."
"OK, because I like you I give it to you for 400 peso's."
"That what I said in the beginning!"
After this Brock went on to the beach without putting on sunscreen for the next four hours.
What a hot dog.Tommorow we will be leaving at 5:15 am for the airport. Pray for safe travels on the way home and we will see you soon.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
poo poo poo poo lucy's tired
today we went to 2 locations to do childrens ministry. we sang songs with the kids, told the story of the golden calf, and made God's eyes. we also handed out the prayer bears to the kids, they loved them. one of the locations was called santa lucia and was an active dump, the people made their living by retreiving items from the trash and trying to sell them or make things out of them. this evening we went to the banquet for the Claude Lemaster basketball tournament, we got to meet the teams and join them in a meal. tomorrow we are going to church at the local church and then going to the beach.
Friday, April 11, 2008
The Hole
We returned to Hato Del Yaque to dig trenches for the foundation of the wall surrounding the feeding center. 
Other people mixed and poured cement to fill the trench and septic areas. During the lunch break we made our trek to the hole. As we were desceding down the pathway to get to the hole you could see the trash piled up high and the pigs roaming the grounds and sewage streams. 
When we got to the church the kids were overjoyed to see us. They were jumping for joy and playing games with us. Then we fed the kids lunch and they ate every bite of the food. Then we returned to the job site. After dinner we went to Bienvo and Marviluz house to have a baby shower. Bienvo is a construction worker for G.O. ministries. He helps build churches and feeding centers. They were so glad to meet some of the people from the church that has supported them.
Other people mixed and poured cement to fill the trench and septic areas. During the lunch break we made our trek to the hole. As we were desceding down the pathway to get to the hole you could see the trash piled up high and the pigs roaming the grounds and sewage streams. 
When we got to the church the kids were overjoyed to see us. They were jumping for joy and playing games with us. Then we fed the kids lunch and they ate every bite of the food. Then we returned to the job site. After dinner we went to Bienvo and Marviluz house to have a baby shower. Bienvo is a construction worker for G.O. ministries. He helps build churches and feeding centers. They were so glad to meet some of the people from the church that has supported them.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
A Post from Jennifer
Hola . . . the trip is going great. It's wonderful to have the youth this year. Their willingness to work hard, interact with the nationals and eat the food is a good lead for all of us.
You know we always have our own agendas, expectations and plans. . . but God's purpose prevails. . . every time! We are working as planned, however we had a delay of one day before going to our sight. As Tres Amigos mentioned the city went on strike and it was uncertain whether or not we could get to our sight, so we played it safe and stayed in the community and worked. There is opportunity everywhere.
We did get to Hato del Yaque today to work. That is where we tied rebar last year . . . you guys we stood in first floor on tile floors looked up to the ceiling where you could see the finished trusses with the rebar insides. (for you who know what I'm talking about, you know I didn't describe it well. we'll have pictures) It was so incredible that I just cried. The thought of hundreds of children being fed there on their color coded plates was almost more than I could take in.
Some of us painted the outside as others dug trenches behind the building (across from the blue house). There will eventually be a full basketball court behind the church, giving them 3 courts to accomodate tons of kids for camps.
Shari and Jennifer (Goodenough) had an impromptu kid's ministry . . . the children taught Shari Caminamos en la luz de Dios. (We Walk in the Light of God). Scott W., you would have loved it.
The mountains still surround the community, the sky was blue and the breeze could have been more constant to cool everyone off. We did not have rain, so we could work more efficiently.
We have had a couple of disapointments: Mary Luz, Bienvo's wife, had Wilson 4 weeks ago by C-section. Without help and two other children she has not healed so returned to the hospital for care. But God is so gracious. . . before she left we all crammed into her home, surrounded her and covered her in prayer as she wept. On the way back to the dorm we got to meet baby Wilson who was with a neighbor. I might have to bring him home, he's so darn cute!
Our bus driver, Paton, is unable to drive us this time. He has been having headaches and one side of his face is affected, fearing palsy, stroke or tumor. It's frustrating because he is poor and in need of attention. Thank God almost 10 yrs. ago He sent Virginia to our home and now she and her husband are practicing medicine in her father's clinic. Today they took him to see a neurologist that he probably would not have ever been able to see, and they are thinking he might have damaged a tendon in his neck. They are doing additional testing and possibly a procedure tomorrow . . . please pray for him and his family. Will and I visited them last night after our nightly meeting at the dorm and it was an honor to place our hands on his head and pray for him.
It's not the same without him, which is a reminder that life happens and changes occur, and somehow it seems to hurt more here because their lives are so difficult by our standards.
Hopefully, tomorrow night Bienvo, Mary Luz, Gwenifer, Wilby and Wilson will come over for dinner and their baby shower.
Our team is one . . . Michael did such a great job in our pre-trip meetings to ready us for this. Brock and Craig lead the worship; Sally's devotions challenge us; we sing our "Give Thanks" before the meals; the music goes out over the community as well as the chatter and laughter of people coming together as one in Christ. Each night we delve a little deeper into who God is and who we are in Him individually and as family. It happens so quickly . . . the beginning of the change, knowing we will never be the same.
Baker's Dozen. . .wish you were here. You are . . . in spirit and conversation and in the rebar at the feeding center in Hata del Yaque.
Hope all is well at home . . . with everyone scattered all over for spring break. Praying safe vacation and travel for all.
<>< Jennifer
You know we always have our own agendas, expectations and plans. . . but God's purpose prevails. . . every time! We are working as planned, however we had a delay of one day before going to our sight. As Tres Amigos mentioned the city went on strike and it was uncertain whether or not we could get to our sight, so we played it safe and stayed in the community and worked. There is opportunity everywhere.
We did get to Hato del Yaque today to work. That is where we tied rebar last year . . . you guys we stood in first floor on tile floors looked up to the ceiling where you could see the finished trusses with the rebar insides. (for you who know what I'm talking about, you know I didn't describe it well. we'll have pictures) It was so incredible that I just cried. The thought of hundreds of children being fed there on their color coded plates was almost more than I could take in.
Some of us painted the outside as others dug trenches behind the building (across from the blue house). There will eventually be a full basketball court behind the church, giving them 3 courts to accomodate tons of kids for camps.
Shari and Jennifer (Goodenough) had an impromptu kid's ministry . . . the children taught Shari Caminamos en la luz de Dios. (We Walk in the Light of God). Scott W., you would have loved it.
The mountains still surround the community, the sky was blue and the breeze could have been more constant to cool everyone off. We did not have rain, so we could work more efficiently.
We have had a couple of disapointments: Mary Luz, Bienvo's wife, had Wilson 4 weeks ago by C-section. Without help and two other children she has not healed so returned to the hospital for care. But God is so gracious. . . before she left we all crammed into her home, surrounded her and covered her in prayer as she wept. On the way back to the dorm we got to meet baby Wilson who was with a neighbor. I might have to bring him home, he's so darn cute!
Our bus driver, Paton, is unable to drive us this time. He has been having headaches and one side of his face is affected, fearing palsy, stroke or tumor. It's frustrating because he is poor and in need of attention. Thank God almost 10 yrs. ago He sent Virginia to our home and now she and her husband are practicing medicine in her father's clinic. Today they took him to see a neurologist that he probably would not have ever been able to see, and they are thinking he might have damaged a tendon in his neck. They are doing additional testing and possibly a procedure tomorrow . . . please pray for him and his family. Will and I visited them last night after our nightly meeting at the dorm and it was an honor to place our hands on his head and pray for him.
It's not the same without him, which is a reminder that life happens and changes occur, and somehow it seems to hurt more here because their lives are so difficult by our standards.
Hopefully, tomorrow night Bienvo, Mary Luz, Gwenifer, Wilby and Wilson will come over for dinner and their baby shower.
Our team is one . . . Michael did such a great job in our pre-trip meetings to ready us for this. Brock and Craig lead the worship; Sally's devotions challenge us; we sing our "Give Thanks" before the meals; the music goes out over the community as well as the chatter and laughter of people coming together as one in Christ. Each night we delve a little deeper into who God is and who we are in Him individually and as family. It happens so quickly . . . the beginning of the change, knowing we will never be the same.
Baker's Dozen. . .wish you were here. You are . . . in spirit and conversation and in the rebar at the feeding center in Hata del Yaque.
Hope all is well at home . . . with everyone scattered all over for spring break. Praying safe vacation and travel for all.
<>< Jennifer
Hato Del Yaque
Today we finally got to go to the feeding center at Hato Del Yaque. We dug a trench to fill up with concrete to support the wall being built. This is the same place where the group from last year tied rebar. Tonight we went to the equivalent of walmart called La Sirena. We shopped for an hour and got a lot of interesting food.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Snow Day!
Today, the area was on strike so we were not able to get to the main job site. However, they made sure we had plenty to do, we went to one of missionary's houses that was being built. We were able to help them smooth out walls, move sand, and clean up the property overall. It was a very cool experience to see how they did so much without power tools. This evening we took a group trip to the local ice cream shop, "Bon's", we had a slightly difficult time understanding and ordering ice cream. The noise is quite astonishing all day and night, from the roosters to the mopeds, and even the occasional car with a blaring stereo make sleeping that much more challenging. Tonight i doubt sleeping will be hard since we had a full day of work. We are looking forward to get to the actual job site tomorrow and meet the people in that area.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
First Day
Day By The Numbers:
5 times Johnny hit his head on the plane
8 bathroom breaks by the Bell family
9 types of snacks passed out by Jerry Taylor
6 hours spent waiting for planes
4 hours spent riding on planes
7 holes put in Brock's new hat
1 smiling flight attendent
30 minutes spent hagling with customs officials by Will
6 boxes of medicine detained
1 bag of baseball gloves saved
30 new bug bites on Brock alone (number expected to rise)
1 mission to fullfill
5 times Johnny hit his head on the plane
8 bathroom breaks by the Bell family
9 types of snacks passed out by Jerry Taylor
6 hours spent waiting for planes
4 hours spent riding on planes
7 holes put in Brock's new hat
1 smiling flight attendent
30 minutes spent hagling with customs officials by Will
6 boxes of medicine detained
1 bag of baseball gloves saved
30 new bug bites on Brock alone (number expected to rise)
1 mission to fullfill
DR Team #2 is off!
The DR Team #2 left without a hitch earlier today en route to a week in the mission field in the Dominican Republic. Weeks of preparation left them anxious, excited, and looking forward to fulfilling God's call for them as they seek to build his kingdom and share their faith with all they meet this week. Both flights were on time, and as of this blog, they are likely processing through customs and celebrating seeing the G.O. Staff, Will, Audrey, as well as teammates Lucy and Harry, Shari, and Ian (all of whom traveled to the D.R. days earlier). They begin their construction project first thing Wednesday morning...keep those prayers coming!
Keep checking the site to hear of their experiences this week as they represent all of us at St. John.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
D.R. Trip #2 is forming
As the group that will make up D.R. Trip #2 solidifies, I thought it was time to resurrect the blog.
This group will be traveling to the D.R. this spring as part of a medical mission.
Please keep the traveling group in your prayers as they prepare, but also keep the "silent" supporters as well. Having been on D.R. Trip #1, you don't realize how much work goes into it. And a lot of that work coming from behind the scenes.
This group will be traveling to the D.R. this spring as part of a medical mission.
Please keep the traveling group in your prayers as they prepare, but also keep the "silent" supporters as well. Having been on D.R. Trip #1, you don't realize how much work goes into it. And a lot of that work coming from behind the scenes.
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