.Moment of Truth.

July 17, 2011:


Today was the day we all helped out with the sermon in church. I think it went great!

Matt started out by explaining that we were not giving a typical 'trip report' - "we went here...ate this...did that...etc." But instead, he explained that together we would be giving a sermon on the lessons that we all learned while in the D.R.

There were four main lessons that he chose to cover. Then he had 2-3 of us share our experiences relating to each lesson.

1.) Be content.
Max and Maddy.

2.) Be Kind.
Angela and Paul.

3.) God provides.
Dori, Trey and Ben.

4.) Sharing Jesus takes courage.
Joelle, Jim and myself.

I thought Matt did a really good job of pulling so many different perspectives together. He was even able to whip up a PowerPoint [with Erika's help] on the plane, which was awesome.

I am so blessed that I had the opportunity to go on this missions trip and be a part of this team.

God is so good!

.Self Destruction.

July 16, 2011:

This morning everyone packed right up and were ready to go with time to spare! You should have seen the huge pile of stuff that was left behind as a donation. [Of course I didn't get a picture of it]. There was clothes, sheets, shoes, towels, tools, and lots more! DeLise said to leave anything that we didn't want. She said they could definitely find a way to use it all. Everything would be washed and given away or sold at a very reasonable price in one of the smaller communities. All of the profits would then go right back in to the World Servants ministry in the D.R. I left two towels, a pair of sneakers, two pair of work gloves and two pair of scrub pants. They were all in really good shape, so I felt good about that.

For breakfast we had donuts and our usual selection of fresh fruit. Right after breakfast, Matt pulled me aside, he started out by saying "Now, you don't have to do this. I'm not asking you to do this because you're the assistant. But, would you be willing to share what you did last night, at church tomorrow?" Immediately, I was like "Oh goodness! What have I done?!" But then I remembered - It's not about me. Well it is, in the fact that I need to get over myself and break out of my comfort zone. So I told him I would do it. Then he said that I would be up on stage with Joelle and Jim at the same time, which made me feel much better!

We got on the bus for one last ride. It took us just over 2 hours to get to the airport in Santo Domingo. On the plane, I sat between Max and Isaiah (for both flights). Max was nice enough to let Isaiah fit by the window both times. I had a great time chatting with Zai. We laughed a lot. He's probably the coolest 10 year old I know. :)

.Merchant Madness.

July 15, 2011:

We finally rejoined the rest of our group, piled on the buses and were off to Santo Domingo. It was about an hour and 15 minute drive to he market. Before we got there, we were told that bartering was ok. Joelle said that things are really over priced anyway. As soon as we walked in Serenity and I were bombarded by merchants. If we pointed at anything they would immediately take it out of the case and try to have us make an offer. If we said no, then they tried really really hard to get us into their shops! It really was quite creepy. But after awhile we came up with our strategy of hands in your packets and just answer everyone with "No, gracias". :)


By then we had scouted things out and went back to buy the things we were interested in. The market was definitely an interesting experience, but, it is nothing I would want to do again. It was mostly a huge tourist trap.

Anyway, after 45 minutes to an hour at the market, it was time to head back to camp. We were way behind schedule, so we were not able to go to Old Town or swimming. I was a little bummed about the swimming. But, it was getting late. Shortly after we got back, we had dinner. It was hamburgers and french fries. (Oh, and I forgot to mention that we stopped for lunch in Santo Domingo. We went to Pizza Hut - which tasted amazing!)


Right after dinner, we got together for our last large 'circle time'. It was a great time of reflection, sharing and thanking the staff, interpreters, etc. We ended the night with one last circle time as a small group. It was really great sharing, especially since we were basically split in half the entire morning. Hearing the others experience at Kid's Club was much like what I had experienced... chaos! But it was still good. Matt was able to clearly present the gospel. No one chose to come up and pray at that time, but that doesn't mean that seeds weren't planted.

Also, during our small group time, Matt asked us to share about various experiences we had regarding different topics. One of the last questions he asked related to how challenging it is to share about Jesus with others for some reason. I decided to share. I don't know why. I haven't shared anything all week. I never do. I don't talk in front of groups. I finally worked up the courage to raise my hand. My heart was racing. I wasn't called on, so I put my hand down. I didn't raise it again until about 4-5 other people had gone. I half heartedly tried again, but I still wasn't called on. I was still crazy nervous. Finally 4-5 people again had gone and I sort of raised my hand, only this time he picked me. I don't know how I spoke with my heart in my throat like it was, but I did. I shared something along the lines of:

"I am definitely a behind the scenes type of person. When I decided to come on this trip, I thought that I would just do the construction part of things and leave the Jesus sharing to other people. You can even ask Erika - at our first home visit she looked at me and asked if I wanted to tell them why we were there. I was a deer in headlights and could only shake my head 'no'. But - by the end of the trip - at the market, one of the merchants asked Serenity and I if we were Americans. We could have simply said 'yes' and left it at that. But, we didn't. We said 'Yes. We are here telling people about Jesus and doing some work in La Represa'."

I couldn't believe that those words came out of my mouth at the market and now I couldn't believe that I was sharing these thoughts with the rest of my group!

The rest of our time together was great. We talked about what a solid, awesome and hard working group we had. God couldn't have picked a better team for us. It was the perfect mix of Adults, teens and kids. It really has been awesome to get to know more people from our church better. Not to mention, Maddy and Zai feel like my little brother and sister now. It's wonderful. I'm going to miss hanging out with this group and I'm going to miss some of the Dominican people and translators that we got to know.

But I really am quite excited to go home tomorrow. I miss Ethan and Reid a lot. I also think it will be weird to get 'home' from a trip like this and not be sitting in my parents house to tell them all about it. That will be strange for me. And having to mail them the things I bought them?! I'd rather hand it to them and tell them stories in person. Well, tomorrow morning we have to be packed and ready to go by 7:45am. Then we are going to take a quick group picture (just FBC) and be on our way.

.Show and Tell.

More from July 15, 2011:

Now we were on our way to Ronald's house. He had been begging DeLise, literally - daily, for us to go and see his house. I saw him ask her on Thursday if we could go - she said she wasn't sure that we would have time. It literally looked like someone had just told him his mother had died. He looked crushed. So DeLise quickly changed her answer and told him that a whole bus full of people would be there at 8:00 the next morning! Well, he was so excited that he met us at the church the next morning and followed us all around town until it was time to go to his house. We were finally on our way and he was beaming.

I really did not know what to expect. He told me that he was building his own house. Well, building your own house in La Represa could mean anything. So we walked back down toward the river and up a side street to his house. I was completely surprised at the TINY house I saw.

Ronald's house.

Ronald lives alone and he has a little, one room home. The outside is all scraps of wood and the roof is made of left over pieces of metal. His 'kitchen' is under a lean-to outside. There is a make shift table with three large rocks on it. Balanced between the rocks is an old frying pan with no handle. He builds a fire underneath the frying pan and that's where he does all of his cooking. It was unbelievable. Ronald was so happy with what he has and wanted to share it with us so much. This was incredible to see, especially since his entire house was about the size of my guest room.

Ronald's 'kitchen'.

The 'stove'.

I mean, he was in the process of building a new house. He has the layout all set on the ground in front of his current house. He has "walls" that are about 3 blocks high so far. It is going to have 5 rooms and will probably feel like a mansion to him! I'm very happy that he will be able to move in to a bigger space someday. He told us the story that someone from a past trip donated the money for him to buy the blocks he had to get started.

Ronald's future house.

Ronald telling us about the gift he was given to be able to afford this new home.

This to - kind of amazed me. He had a stack of blocks there, waiting to be put on the walls. But, instead of working on his own home - he was working on the school all week with us. He praised God for the person who gave him the money to get his project started. I think it would be fun to go back sometime and see his progress.

A group of us in front of Ronald's house.

Once we left Ronald's house, it was time to walk back toward the church and meet up with the Kid's Club group. On the way we had to cross a bridge, where we very often saw the locals swimming and wading. Some people decided to wade through the water, while others took pictures, etc. One of the guys from Tennessee, accidentally dropped the lens cap to his camera in the water. We all knew it was gone. But as soon as Pastor Thomas caught wind of what had happened - he jumped in the river! He started running down stream to see if he could get ahead of it and find it. We all couldn't believe our eyes. What a servant! He jumped in to the river with his dress clothes on and his cell phone in his hand to find a lens cap. After a few minutes we were all waving him back to the bridge. When he climbed back up, DeLise explained that it was no big deal and he said "It was my desire to find it." Words really can not explain how humble this man is.

Wading in the river.

Pastor Thomas wayyy down stream looking for the lens cap.

.Tilapia Farms and Jesus.

Aaahhh... I'm such a slacker! I need to finish my entries from the D.R.

July 15, 2011:

Well plans for today changed.. yet again. But this time I think they were for the best. Rather than everyone going to Kid's Club - the original group was going to go and run it as planned. The rest of us were going to go see a few other things that New Vision Baptist Church and World Servants have set up in LaRepresa. I was pretty happy about this decision. Especially after I didn't have the best experience at Kid's Club on Wednesday.

Heading out to the Tilapia Farm

Once we dropped off the Kid's Club group (the other FBC group) we headed to the other side of town to see the Tilapia Farm. There is such a cool story behind this farm:

One of the Pastors from New Vision challenged three of their interns to take $50 and make the most difference in LaRepresa. Well one of them took the $50 - had t-shirts made that said "Tilapia es mi pez" which means, Tilapia is my fish. The money he made from the selling the t-shirts was enough to dig a pond, stock it with Tilapia, and run PVC pipe down from the mountains with fresh water to aerate it! When they ran the pipes down from the mountains to the pond they also made a place where the community could get water too. So not only will the farm help feed the community - it will help give them water as well. All from $50. That's pretty amazing!

Admiring the Tilapia Farm

After the Tilapia farm we walked back in to town toward the school. Joelle really wanted to find these two women that she had been connecting with and tell them about Jesus. She looked all over but they weren't in the street where she usually met them. So she found a little boy and asked him where they were. He said they were at their house. She asked him to take her there. He did. But they were nowhere to be found. Joelle was pretty upset. She prayed on her way back to the street. As she walked out of the bushes and onto the street - there they were! They were walking toward her with their children in tow.

Joelle was ecstatic! She shared with them (via translator) about having a son and how hard she thought it was raising a child. They laughed and one of the ladies was holding her fourth child. Joelle continued about how Jesus helps her in the process of raising Ryan along with other things. Then she asked the question if they wanted to follow Jesus. They said they did! Pastor Thomas was there and he spoke with them as well. He will be following up with them.

This was such an awesome thing to witness. I tried to stand near Joelle and listen to what she was sharing but it was just too overwhelming. I just stepped back and cried a little while she finished talking. As we walked away Joelle started crying too. It was a really powerful God moment.

John 14:6
⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.

.Eat Your Wheaties or Garlic Bread.

July 14, 2011:

Today we woke up and had garlic bread for breakfast. I thought this was very odd. Actually, we all did. But we ate it anyway and fresh fruit of course. We headed to the work site and were ready for another full day. We got there and found a pile of 420 cement blocks waiting for us. Surprisingly, we all formed the line rather quickly. Blocks are definitely harder than buckets. Anyway, the day started off rough. It seemed as though everyone has been promoted overnight to 'boss'. Everyone was shouting directions at each other and none of them were consistent. I finally kind of shouted that we needed a prayer break. Everyone kind of brushed me off. After a few more minutes, Serenity came over and said "You're right. Do you want to pray?" So we did. It definitely helped our moods. I'm not sure if it really did anything for the rest of the group or if we just didn't notice them anymore. But, God definitely changed frustration to joy.

Right before lunch Rafael came and found me and asked me to mix another batch of blue cement for the top coat of the floor. Sandy was going to be my partner this time. We went in to the classroom to get started, but DeLise was setting up for lunch in there. So, we decided to wait until after lunch.

Rafael and I

We helped DeLise set up as many chairs in a huge circle around the room. She said that we were all taking lunch at the same time today because she had some announcements. This made me curious.

Maddy and I at lunch.

Once we all gathered, got our chips and sandwiches - DeLise gave Jeff the floor. He announced that not only were we way ahead of schedule - but if we just stayed one extra hour today - we would be finished! Everyone was so excited. We could not believe that we were able to complete four full days of projects, plus an additional huge project in just THREE DAYS! It was amazing! Then they announced that instead of going to the construction site on Friday, we would all go to Kid's Club to work, then to the market in Santo Domingo and Old Town. Also, we would end, back at that vacation home that we started at on Monday.

We were all so pumped! This gave us so much motivation to work so hard the rest of the afternoon. It really was unbelievable how hard we all worked. That was definitely a God thing. How we were all not sore, lame or injured was definitely a miracle! We continued with the bucket line for hours. Many of the local kids joined in. I was next to the funniest little 'drill sargent' ever! His name is Miguel and he just barked orders, in spanish of course, to everyone around him. He was so adorable and I could just tell that he was loving the fact that he was able to help. So I would give him a hard time right back and we had a really good time working together.

That's my lil 'drill sargent' - on the right.

Along with the bucket line we had four wheel barrels rolling. They were cleaning piles of rock, crumbled cement and mud from around the school. we also removed a huge clay mound that was behind the kitchen. With that huge pile back there - every time it rained - the kitchen flooded. So, I'm really hoping that they won't have to worry about that anymore.

Chipping away at the mound behind the kitchen.

Once the wheel barrels were full, they brought them to the front of the school where AJ, Aaron and Pastor Matt had to lift and flip them into the back of a truck. It was incredible. I don't know how they did that over and over and over. I think we loaded that truck 5-6 times.

At first they could use the ramp.

But once the truck was half full, they had to lift!

I can not explain how amazing it was to see every project that we started - come to a complete close. and then some!

The beautiful completed floors!

.Blocks and Bandages.

Back to the D.R.

More from July 13, 2011:

Once we all rotated through lunch breaks, we got things rolling again. We hauled a couple hundred blocks to the roof, filled yet another floor with cement and top coat and added powder color to two rooms. All of the class rooms on the second floor have real floors now! :) We also laid a few more layers of block along the roof up top for an area where they can hold a water purification system.


At one point today Rafael waved down Pastor Matt and myself. We followed him downstairs where he got Pedro (translator) to come too. We went in a classroom where he opened a bag of cement and dumped it on the floor. He then handed Matt another bag full of bright blue powder and a cut off coke bottle. He told Matt (via Pedro) to dump 15 full coke bottles of blue powder into the pile of cement powder. He then handed me a trowel and showed me how to mix it. So basically the bright blue and white powders had to be mixed evenly to make a lighter blue. But it had to be mixed really good. So I started mixing while Matt fought with his bag, within a bag, within a bag of blue powder (that's right - 3 bags). So his 15 bottle's full took a lot longer than expected. Anyway, he was getting this bright blue stuff all over his arms. I jokingly said "I hope that stuff washes off and it's not like food coloring."


We just kid of laughed about it. Once he finished his 15 bottles, he said "Well, I'm already blue." and just dug into the huge pile of powder and was stirring it with his hands. We got it all stirred very thoroughly, put it back into the empty cement bag and carried it upstairs to Rafael. Luckily this was the very end of our day so we just had to get on the bus and head back to camp. (By now the second bus was fixed).


Anyway, after scrubbing his arms in the shower and twice in the sink - something is definitely not coming off! haha Luckily - they are no longer bright blue, but they are all white where the powder was. [Maybe it is from the lime in the cement?]

Everyone showered and then we had dinner. Rice (white) beans on top of that and then beef on top of the beans. Then there were more avocados and some sort of potato and prune salad, and bread. The rice mixture was ok, but the salad and avocados didn't do much for me.

After dinner everyone circled up and the World Servants staff asked some questions about the day. How we were seeing God at work, etc. Once we were done with that 'circle time' we went and had our own FBC group time on the basketball court again. We talked and shared about how we saw people serving and taking care of others that day - power clap style. Then some people shared how God was working in them, etc. It was a pretty awesome conversation. We didn't sing any worship songs tonight, but everyone was tired enough - I don't think it mattered.

Oh! and one thing I forgot... Jeff (our construction 'foreman') gave an update after dinner. Even with the bus issues this morning we are still ahead of schedule as far as construction goes! He thinks we will finish everything and some extra projects by lunch on Friday! He is trying to convince DeLise to rent that vacation house again for us for Friday afternoon! I really hope we can do that. That pool definitely sounds good after construction days - and what better way to end our trip?!

But - we shall see I guess. Well the generator should be turned off any minute and I have another full day of construction in the morning, so I'm off to sleep.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last night after the generator went off I remembered something that happened yesterday. There was a crew of people working on the ground around the school building, cleaning up piles of unusable rock and dirt. There was also a crew of people laying block around the perimeter of the third floor. Steve, one of the Pastors from Tennessee, was working on the third floor. As he was putting mortar down to lay his next block, the trowel slipped out of his hand! It fell to the ground level and landed sideways on the top of Matt H's head! There was blood everywhere. But all three nurses looked at it and agreed that he would not need stitches. Head injuries just bleed a lot. Matt was definitely a trooper about the whole thing. He never complained. Steve felt terrible! I felt bad because everyone kept teasing him about it.

.How Much is that Doggy in the Window.

After many summer months of a weed filled garden, I finally got the urge to pull them all out and throw down some mulch last week. Unfortunately, that also gave Reid the urge to dig a big fat hole in it! :(
Anyone want a puppy?!

.Kid's Club Chaos.

It has been awhile since I last posted. I have lots of other things I could tell you about, but I think I will continue with my D.R. trip for now.

Journal entry from July 13, 2011:

Today didn't start off that great. After breakfast we piled in the buses. One for construction and one for Kid's Club. I was feeling ok about it, but then the buses starting moving. We got about 100 yards down the driveway and we were stopped again. What in the world?!

We look forward and the driver of the first bus walks to the back of his bus and opens what I would have called the trunk. Well that's where the motor is... and it wasn't running. The first bus was toast. The men had to push that bus out of the way so that our bus, the second bus, could pass it on the driveway.


But - before they did that, DeLise come on the bus and said that half of the kids club people had to get off and they would be replaced with half of the construction crew. This did not make any sense to me. So the rest of the people would have to wait as the bus drove us an hour to LaRepresa, an hour for the bus to come back and yet again, another hour to LaRepresa. That meant that by the time the rest of the team arrived - Kid's Club would be over! This is when I started to panic. It didn't make any sense. Why would we send two 'half teams' and [pardon my french] half ass both projects?! We all thought that it would have made more sense to send all the construction people and postpone Kid's Club until noon - or vice versa.

But, we were off. Without Joelle or Sandy. Once we got to LaRepresa (only 15 minutes late) the kids started cheering as we walked toward the church. It was neat to see them so excited. The first thing we did was play games. Dan taught them a game that they loved!

One side of the road was "Americana" and the other was "Republica Dominicana". They had to run and touch the building on whatever side of the road he called. If you were already on the American side and that's what he called - anyone who left the wall would be out. The kids had such a great time playing this game and it was a lot of fun watching them, but the road was gravel and pretty uneven, so we did have a few kids wipe out.

Dan leading games!

After awhile they added a third country into the mix. Matt H. stood just a little down the street and he was "Puerto Rico". So now the kids were running in three directions. At one point Dan yelled Puerto Rico and they all turned toward Matt, but he took off running! So the kids all chased 'Puerto Rico' down the street! :)

The kids chasing "Puerto Rico" :)

Ben hanging out with some of the kids.

They played a few ore games before it was time to go inside and sing some songs. This was my least favorite part of Kid's Club. Our translator, Melissa, did an awesome job with the kids. But they were so loud! There was about 75 kids and they were all screaming the words so loud, and some of the boys were just pounding on the drums! Now maybe it's because I had an ear infection to begin with, but all of that noise in a tiny cement sanctuary was just too much to handle. I could tell Isaiah felt the same way. He sat away from the crowd just holding his ears and I stood near them and tried to get a few pictures, but I too just had to plug my ears most of the time.

Singing!

Finally, after about 4-5 songs it was time for our skit. Everything went great with that. Yemi read it in English and another translator, Danny, told it to the kids in Spanish. They all seemed genuinely interested and like they were having a good time. After the skit, three of the teens went over the memory verse several times. After they did this and let some of the kids say it, Danny then turned over the poster and asked if anyone could remember it. Surprisingly, one little girl could recite it back to him. That was awesome!

Jackie, Sola and Matt teaching the memory verse.

Kids watching the skit.

Last, we did the crafts. What a nightmare. We had one kit for everyone. They had two (pre-hole punched) paper plates that they had to flip one upside down on top of the other. They lined up the holes and then 'stitched' them together with two ribbons. Right before they were all the way around the plates, we used the small opening they had remaining and dumped about a 1/4 Cup of beads inside. Then they finished 'stitching' and tied off the ribbons so they each had a "tambourine". Finally, they used glue dots to stick on a cut out of a tambourine that said "Will you stand firm when the music plays?" (in Spanish).

Working hard on his 'tambourine'!

Finished product

This phrase related to our skit which was about Shadrach, Meshach and Abendago. They refused to bow down before King Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue when cued by musicians, so they got thrown in the fiery furnace. Anyway, things started winding down - and that's when I made a huge mistake. Kid's started asking for a craft kit for their sisters, brothers, cousins - whoever. And me, figuring - "Well we only had maybe 80 kids max - we brought supplies for 250. We don't want to bring them back on the plane... Why not?"



Well, this is why not: I opened the suitcase and kids started swarming! Grabbing from everywhere! One little girl took 5 and then wanted more. It started getting too crazy. I closed up the suitcase and said "No mas!" - No more - One of the Dominican mothers saw what was happening and came over to back me up. She yelled something in Spanish and then turned and said "Lo siento" to me - I' Sorry. After she left, still the kids came. Asking "Uno? Por mi hermana?" - "No mas." was all they got.

I hated that it ended this way. They were ecstatic that they had one - but after just a few minutes they were leaving sad because they didn't have six. It was chaos. They even tried getting my other team members to get them one. They would bring someone over, point to the suitcase and ask. Not all of my team knew what had happened, so I stepped in and made sure no one else tried to open that suitcase, in which World War 3, decorated in ribbon and beads would then coming flying out. We live and we learn, I guess.

Once we got all cleaned up from Kid's Club we had to walk back over to the school (our construction site). It seemed like a couple miles away. Some of the kids followed us all the way there. As we were approaching the school, so was the second bus full of our crew. We all immediately jumped in and let the morning construction crew go eat. They had literally been working all morning because there were not enough people to rotate or fill in for breaks. Everyone was always busy.

Somehow I survived Kid's Club. I'm not sure how. But I know I'll never volunteer to be in charge of that again!