Seema here. Tuesday morning, 7:25 AM. Just finished worship and waiting for breakfast to arrive. It’ll probably be the usual, plantains with a little bit of something on top. But I can’t forget the fruit on the side. OH, and the anticipation of the discovery of what freshly squeezed juice we get. Woah, it just arrived. So I was wrong, empanadas it is. After breakfast we plan to break up in to 2 groups. One small one going to Quisqueya to do rebar, and the rest going to Sandero to do the foundation. I will be going to Sandero to work with cement in the hot sun and then at 5 we have a VBS for the kids at Sandero. This has been the usual for the past 6 days. Time flies when you’re on the same schedule everyday. But it has been a great experience for me. I know I didn’t go into too much depth about how this has made me feel, but I will check in later! Keep us in your prayers, it’s going to be a hard day! Adios.

Seema Khandagle

Just a short note today. The past 2 days have been a blur of work and sleep. The projects are coming along nicely. No significant injuries or illnesses at this point. Most everyone has been so tired from working the past 2 nights we just fall into bed and sleep! I tried to get more kids to blog today but they were all "too tired!" I understand because just holding my arms up to type is killing me!

The quesqua site is almost finished. They are putting the last steel up and pouring the last concrete today. We just started pouring concrete at the Sandero site yesterday. Man is that some work. Pushing wheel barrow after wheel barrow load of concrete up, over, around, and under obsticals is a pain. Carrying the 94 pound bags of concrete, then pushing loads of rock, sand and gravel into the mixer is no fun either!

I must say I am very proud of these teens. After a group discussion and vote it was unanimously decided that we skip the snorkeling trip and invest that money back into our mission building projects! We will take that day and spend it playing volleyball on the beach and swimming in the ocean. Our only expense will be gas and food. What a wonderful and unselfish sacrifice they have chosen to make!

God has richly blessed on the trip. Our vehicles are held together by prayers, duct tape and a HUGE dose of Ralph Craig! If not for him Richie Silie and I would still be stuck on the side of the road thumbing a ride into town to post this blog.

The weather here is perfect! Low 80´s with a cool breeze all day and low 70´s at night. The mesquitos are not as bad as they were on the pre-trip and the breeze helps keep them away.

Sorry you have had to listen to me prattle on and on but since the posts today were so anemic I thought I would say a few things while the pictures upload (takes between 5-10 minutes per picture)

Love to all. Please continue the prayers and comments to previous posts. The kids love them!

Joel

Happy Sabbath!

Its only been three days since we have arrived here and it is already nice to have a day to rest. For the past few days we have already made a lot of progress on the projects that we have started. Block has been laid at Quisqueya. The lot recently purchased to continue the school at Sandero has already been marked to start the foundation. About fifty Bibles have been delivered to houses and more are going to be delivered today. VBS has been a great success having nearly two hundred kids each night (water color craft has already been completed without to much damage done to the church!)

We have all been astounded by the hospitality shown to us by the local people of the church. Every (delicious!) meal we have had has been hand prepared and served to us by these generous ladies. Every day they ask us to open the windows so they can hear what is going on inside of the church but we love because we can smell the great food that they are making for us. Then after every meal the clean all the dishes and help us tidy up the church. It is incredible to see how much the church gives.

Everyone is safe and doing well but now it is time to load up the bus and head over to the church for the service and after church we are all hoping for a trip down to the beach…..!

Sincerely,

Cassandra and Abie

Hey it’s William. So today was the Sabbath and I went to Quisquava. It was an all Spanish sermon spoken by ed. I didn’t understand it but I got about 5% percent of the Spanish words. Before the sermons there were these two men that dedicated a song us and I have never heard a song that sounded so awesome in a foreign language in my life. It was awesome.

For lunch we had potatoes with cheese, spaghetti, and the best fresh squeezed juice. I ate so much it was unbelievable. On the ride back sarah, kelli, kaitlyn, jr, joel, and I all sat in the bed off the truck driving through the town and highway. It was so relaxing just having the wind blow in your face. While leaving Quisquava we saw a lady and two little boys just digging through trash that the locals have thrown out of there vehicles or mopeds. It pretty hard to witness this when I wanted to just jump out and give them money to help so they can get new clothes probably for the first time ever.

Once we got back to the camp ground I was joking around with every one, having a great time, taking pictures with everyone. Everybody ended up at the roof of the building were the boys and girls were playing taps while I sat back resting in a hammock or talking to Ralph. When it got to 4:30 it was time to go to the beach.

When we got to the beach I started to get nervous because two nights ago I had told ed I wanted to do worship. So he said yes. We all were joking around on the beach, wrestling here and there when it came time for worship. Ed had gotten up and started the worship by singing a couple of songs. When he ended with Sanctuary to close the songs and then prayed he just stepped to the side. I had then gotten up from sitting down on the beach and started asking two questions then went right into my worship talk. To be honest all my nervousness about mumbling or not being loud enough was an issue. I felt so good being up there. After my worship talk I couldn’t believe it, the majority of people were hugging each other and some crying. I felt like I had done the best I could ever do. Everyone came up and told me how good of a job I did, it just made me feel so awesome inside.

Well tomorrow is going to be another great day cause I get to work with my bud Ralph laying brick.

Sincerely

William messenger.

Hey hey hey!!

Wow, what a great ending to our first week here! It truly has been a great an awesome blessing and experience for all participants; students and staff. If I had a few chapters I may be able to catch you all up on the work and experiences we have had. From almost not getting on the plane in Baltimore and sitting on a plane on a runway for 3 hours to eating so much food that we sit in a wonderful food coma afterwards! Shhhhh, I think there’s a conspiracy going on down here in the Dominican Republic. They are feeding us such awesome food and they’re making us all gain unwanted weight so that when we all get on the plane it won’t be able to take off and we’ll be stuck here eating more good food and building more schools….ahhhhh!!!......I haven’t quite confirmed it, but I am having my suspicions!!

On a more serious note, we, the staff, are being blessed by seeing the young people at work. It has been a blessing to see these young people working hard and arduously at the work sites and then seeing them at work at VBS with all the kids. If only you all were here to see the talents and love for Jesus these young people have! We’ve been challenging them to reconnect with Jesus during our worships. We have been doing a lot of praying and a lot of sharing. Our hope is that each participant can have a reencounter with Jesus through our mission this week.

Well, I don’t want to make this too long, so I better sign off for now. I hope to update you all later.

Hasta pronto! Desde la Republica Dominicana!

Ed Garcia

PS- Hi Jeannie, Gabriel, Briana and Conrad! Miss you and love you!

Day number five and I’m having a difficult time remembering what play we are doing in two weeks! This trip is such a reminder of what is truly important in life, to share Jesus with each other. Our Sabbath was a good example of that: the “Brown-Man-Group” hit the beach for vespers and William Messenger’s testimonial moved many hearts! It is truly wonderful to see this group work together laying block and directing a daily VBS. The camaraderie is wonderful and everyone is focused on delivering this country a new school and a half. This morning we received word that at the end of the evangelistic series 16,000 had been baptized, 700 yesterday alone. The Holy Spirit is clearly working the hearts of this country and the hearts of this team.

We ask that you continue to pray for us daily, hourly.

Missing you, Jim.

Jane Lanning

p

e

HAPPY SABBATH

This trip has been so AMAZING so far!!! Everything has been going smoothly and no one has gotten seriously hurt. The top four things I would have to say would be 1) The kids they are so cute and love to just be around you and even though you have no idea what they are saying you can tell they enjoy you being there. They are the most loving people I have ever seen!!! 2) The FOOD!!!!!!!!! If I could pick any food in the world that I would have every day it would be the food from here (although they aren’t big on spicy) it’s the best! One of the best part of that is the fruit! 3) The sights the area around here is so pretty and I could get used to seeing palm trees every day. 4) Everyone is so friendly here and the word I find myself using the most is “MUCHAS GRACIAS” ) just being her with my friends is like being with family. Ok that’s all for now “Hasta Luego!”

AMBER

The Dominican has been a blast so far!! The kids are so much fun to hang out with, they’re always wanting you to hold their hand or pick them up. They especially love it when you take a picture of them. Today was probably the best VBS ever! We were all jumping, clapping, and singing at the top of our lungs. The skits and crafts are also a lot of fun. This morning the VBS group went door-to-door handing out Spanish Bibles and praying with the local residents of the town. We were literally flocked with crowds of people. The construction progress has been so fast these past two days. It’s amazing how quickly the walls have been forming! Us shorter people now have to climb up on six layers of brick to reach the top of the wall! Also speaking of amazing…..the food is AMAZING!! Each of us is going to gain like ten pounds before we come back home! =] All of us has had no injures so far, only a little bit of sunburn but that’s nothing a little bit of aloe-vera can’t fix!! We miss all our parents and friends and can’t wait to see them again! =]

ADIOS!!!

Kaitlyn Calhoun

Ok, so I know that this is the kid`s blog and no one wants to hear from one of the old people, I feel I must say something. As leaders we could not be happier or more impressed with these young people. They are working so hard! VBS is almost 100% done by the kids. We spent some time the first day organizing them and then just turned them loose! They are doing a wonderful job. The local kids scream and cheer and clap and sing until we about go deaf! Today a group of leaders just sat outside the church and listened through the window while our youth, OUR YOUTH lead out in VBS. What a blessing.

Thanks for the prayers. BTW other than the usual bumps and scrapes everyone is doing well!ç


Joel

Blog 3/26/09

(This is a blog for yesterday- there wasn’t time to write it last night)

Today was insane. I went to the airport around 415 after doing homework all night. I got to celebrate my birth minute there- it was very exciting! We boarded the plane to Atlanta and when we arrived, my travel group (Team Awesome!!) TOOK OFF for the gate- we even beat the tram they had in the airport that the rest of the group used. My legs were SO TIRED after that- it felt like the Amazing Race! ☺ After that, we got some lunch. One of my favorite parts about these trips is getting to eat lunch at like 1015 AM! It’s awesome. Then we boarded again and took off for Santo Domingo. Personally, I slept most of the time since I had been awake for 30 ½ hrs and I was beat. When we arrived we were greeted warmly-literally-the heat was a welcome change! The bus arrived and we went to the place where we are staying, La Casa de Abraham. The actual facility we are sleeping in is less developed then La Loma Luz was, but it is still more than efficient. Soon after we got there, buses full of children arrived. We all gathered around and started talking and playing. All the kids stood there and sang Happy Birthday to me in Spanish- that was really cool! We burned a lot of energy and then we met in the chapel room for a presentation by the locals. Now, I thought that this was going to be some little welcome, but they had a full blown spectacle prepared for us. I really can’t describe it- it was just amazing. I definitely feel pressure to do amazing work, because they had worked so hard to put that on. I heard today that they had rehearsed for over a month before we arrived to have that ready. We ate some dinner- Queso or Veggie Empanadas- DELICIOUS! and then we had worship. We sat out under the stars and then prayed for the person to our left. It was an awesome moment. Unfortunately, one of our teammates was not able to come with us, and I just want to take this moment to say that we are missing her and praying for her. We know that she will have an amazing Spring Break.

~Steven Blondo

Ok so this was a really great day. We woke up bright and early and got some breakfast. Then we split up and some people went straight to Quisqueya to start building the school there and the group doing VBS this evening went to Sendero, so that we would be able to come back and clean up before VBS. I was in the group going to Sendero, and on the way we stopped at the Conference Office for a pastor to sign some forms before we could do our work. Of course, what would be next to a Conference Office? An ABC! We went in to look around, and to my surprise, I saw a copy of “Gifted Hands” translated into Spanish. I thought that was really cool. When we got to Sendero, we were greeted by a lot that was covered in trash and a barb wire fence through the property. We started picking up the trash, chopping down the brush and trees with some machetes, and then cutting down the trees that were used as posts for the fence. It was long, tedious work, but it had to be done. We went in for some lunch, which was absolutely incredible. I tell you, these people are feeding us amazingly. Anyway, when we got back out, the locals had already marked off lines for the rooms, put up string, etc. and had made the lot look like a building was actually coming soon. It was amazing. We came back to La Casa, showered, changed, and then went to Quisqueya for VBS. There were TONS of children, all speaking Spanish, but somehow the Lord translated our broken Spanish and their super-speed Spanish into something that all of us could understand and we actually communicated quite well- Thanks Silie! The church members fed us an amazing dinner and we came back here for worship. Ed spoke a little and Maria got up and shared her testimony, which was really awesome. I truly feel charged to really let the Lord guide me on this trip and do His work. Well, I must go to bed now, because we have a big day of who knows what ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight!

~Steven Blondo

Down here no one has their phones on and no one has a watch, so we woke up about thirteen minutes before worship started. With eighteen girls and four showers that weren’t working, it was a little chaotic.
Breakfast was a mashed plantain dish, called mangu..I think…and papaya juice.
Afterwards the group split into two, the VBS group and the working group. The students who were assigned to do VBS (our group) was supposed to work at a school called Sandero. We picked up trash for hours on the lot; it was as if they had been using the land as a dumpster for years. There was broken glass everywhere! The village kids helped pick stuff up too, they were all really sweet. And the parents brought us shovels and machetes because we got to the site with no tools. Oh, and there were ants everywhere. As soon as some of the trees were chopped down you would see them swarm all over, and they bit. Devon says it doesn’t hurt, only itches, but I think it does. There’s lizards everywhere too. Marilyn let one of them bite her ear so that it hung like an earring. It was pretty cool, but gross too.
Lunch was rice and beans with veggie meat and grapefruit juice, and also this pumpkin pie type dish. It was soooo good! Our group got to come back to the camp afterwards and take showers, and since it was still the hot afternoon the cold water felt good. Once we were ready we headed over to the other church and work site to set up for VBS. We performed a skit about Jesus caring about the birds and flowers and all of his children. Devon was Jesus, he did a really good job. The kids were laughing when he acted like a bird on the stage. We provided crayons and pictures for them to color and take home. All of them are really honest and sweet, we thought we would have trouble getting crayons back from them but not a single child was greedy. It was kind of funny to try and pick out the youth group members from the kids, Seema especially blended in with them and you couldn’t tell her from the Dominican kids.
Dinner was a yuca dish and bread and tamara juice. We’ve had a new and different kind of juice at every meal, we didn’t even know so many kinds existed! The fruit here tastes so incredible, it’s not like at home.
We have worship as a group before bed, and this time we all had a chance to find a partner you’ve never prayed with before and pick a private spot where you could talk about a prayer request and pray for each other. It was a really nice chance to connect with someone else and get something off your chest. It’s nice to know someone is praying for you.

-Jaime Jacobson and Devon Kittleson

Hello

For now our internet connection is not strong enough to upload pictures! please be patient as we work on this!

joel

Hellooo family and friends from the Dominican Republic!!!!

We arrived in Santo Domingo safely this afternoon and we have been so blessed by the children we have met. Our flights seemed to be very long but it was a great chance to get to know each other before reaching our destination. The ocean is so pretty and I absolutely LOVE the warm weather!

The Casa de Abraham, the place where we will be staying for the next week and a half is apparently like a resort in comparison to the hospital in Belize. We can’t flush toilet paper down the toilets… but so far that has been the only inconvenience. There is a playground and courts to play on and all sorts of recreational activities available. I have a feeling that someone will get hurt before the weekend comes but until then we will enjoy our play-time.

This afternoon after we had settled in, the children from the 2 schools we are going to be working on came to visit and play with us. My Spanish is definitely very rusty but I had fun getting to know some kids. We played games like duck-duck-goose (pato-pato-ganzo) basketball, and volleyball. After we played for a while we went into the building and all the kids did presentations for us. They were so cute! They were all dressed up in native costumes and told us all about their culture. The little ones each recited a line to welcome us into the country and before they left, they shared some food with us. It was a great afternoon and I cant wait to see what the rest of the trip brings.

Mom and Dad, I already took about 500 pictures ☺ I had lots of fun sticking up my mozzie net because there was no place to hang it and it doesn’t fit over the bed. Well I’m missing worship right now so I’ll say goodnight. Goodnight Hanna and Caleb! Love you lots! Stay out of trouble ;-)

~Meagan Thompson



We got here safely and I’m really excited because this is my first mission trip. I feel that I will be able to help many people and I saw that they were very thankful that we were here!

~ Kellie Dehm



Hello everyone!

Today was an awesome day. Meagan told you about a lot of things already, but I’ll just add a few words. The day was pretty long and tiring, but I was blessed in many ways. It was a lot of fun to be able to travel with all of my friends and to come to a new place, full of new adventures.

The people here are wonderful. Just like the past three mission trips I’ve been on, I have seen Christ through all the people that I’ve met. The children are so full of energy and always have a kind word to say – even if they have to say it five times before you understand it (hehe). I love seeing their smiling faces and their honest gratitude for all we do. I can’t wait to start working tomorrow! But first I will enjoy one night’s sleep ☺

~ Vanessa Lezeau