Friday

Friday was our last day in Jarabacoa and was full of laughter, tears, and goodbyes. We began our day trying to wrap up some projects at Palo Blanco. We made good progress with the painting and Chris Bennett accomplished a lot on getting the electrical wired in the new building. We had a quick lunch of cold cut sandwiches and chips and then went back to the team house to get cleaned up and ready to head to the Ark orphanage.

(The new building at Palo Blanco, before and after we painted it. Lots of painting was done inside too.)

We got to the Ark for recess just in time for the downpour of rain to begin. We unloaded the basketballs, board games, and nail polish and dodged the rain drops as we rushed through the campus to the big multipurpose room where we could play with the kids indoors. The room with cement walls and floor was soon echoing with the laughter and chatter of our beautiful kids that were so happy to see us. A quick glance around the room would show little girls giving manicures and pedicures to anyone who would accept, exerting games of tag and kickball, and board games being enjoyed and understood by all even though the rules could not be explained in one common language. It was so apparent that these beautiful brown skinned kiddos had formed a relationship with the Americanos who are wrapped around their little fingers. When the rain let up some of the team sat outside with the kids, just content to be together enjoying the cool breezes blowing in off of the mountain. Sitting next to a mango tree we would occasionally hear the thump of the fruit falling to the ground. Moments later any child that heard it would jump up and make a mad dash to see who could grab the mango first. The winner would immediately start peeling the fruit with their teeth and would soon have the orange, sticky juice dripping off of their faces and hands as they enjoyed their prize.  All too soon recess time was over and we loaded the bus to head back to the team house for dinner with a promise to return in a few hours for the talent show planned for later in the evening.

(Tracey playing cards with some of the Ark kids.)

After dinner we loaded back into the bus to head across town to go back to the Ark. This time we were greeted with the squeal of excited kids that were dressed as “loco” (crazy) as they could. Hats were on backwards, pants were inside out, shoes were mismatched, and faces were painted. The multipurpose room that we had been playing in just hours before had been transformed in the “Gran Circa”. And just when we thought the Ark kids couldn’t get any louder, they were given a microphone! While we couldn’t understand what the kids were saying we enjoyed watching them sing, dance, play games, and give what appeared to be a stand-up comedy routine.  At the end of the evening our team was asked to come up on stage so the kids could pray for our trip. Three kids took the microphone and prayed in Spanish for us. After praying the kids made a mad dash for the stage to give us goodbye hugs. Reality quickly set in that this was our final goodbye for this trip and the tears starting flowing. Some members of our team quickly circled up their sponsored children to pray over them.  Our sweet kids hugged us over and over again and wiped the tears off of our faces. We walked hand in hand back to our bus and watched in silence as our kids ran back to their houses.

(Chris Wert with her sponsored boy, Willy - all dressed up for the Gran Circa!)

(Coralma, sponsored by Chris and Rachel Russell, in her "loco" costume!)

Tomorrow we are heading to the beach for a day to unwind and process the trip as a team. We are all processing two main questions right now. “What did I learn about myself?” and “What did I learn about God?”.  When we get back home we encourage each of you to seek us out and ask us to share our stories. The stories and faces are forever imprinted on our hearts and we would love to share a piece of that with all of you.

Our names are Phyllis, Chris B, Chris W, April, Tracey, Chris R, Rachel, Jill, Kim, Tyler, Riley and Rose – and we made it personal!

(Our photo in front of the team house right before leaving. Also in the photo on the left is Katie and Derek Allen and on the right is Brian and Emily Veen. Both couples are missionaries in Jarabacoa.)

Thursday

Our day today was much like most of our other days as far as the routine. We started out the morning at Palo Blanco where several people continued the painting project and others in the group did home visits and walked through the barrios to get a better understanding of daily life in the Dominican Republic. One group went with Jan, the director of Palo Blanco, to visit a woman who wants to work at the care center. The woman explained that her husband has a job but all of the money goes to buy food for the family. The woman wants to work so she can afford to help improve the community bathroom that her family has to use. To emphasize her plea she guided the group past several homes to a small area that contained a wooden box that had several wooden boards overlapping the hole to make a seat. The area was permeated with the stench of human feces and urine.  Multiple families share this “bathroom” and it is unfit for animals.   As the team members took pictures of the areas they visited a Dominican woman was adamantly expressing something in Spanish. It was later translated that she was expressing over and over how important it was for us to share these photos and stories with people back at home in order to bring awareness and to get more people to help their community out of poverty. April later expressed to the group that one of her biggest fears is that she will go home and this week will be nothing more than a nice trip. We discussed how these experiences – all of these sights, sounds, and smells will mold us and change the way we live as we go forward. We also discussed that God has given us these children to care for and that in our abundance we have a huge responsibility to care for them well.  These children have softened our hearts and we are processing how to make that change permanent.

The staff at Palo Blanco has been incredibly hospitable and are so fun to watch work with the kids. Mirian, the director’s assistant is going through a very difficult time right now and has asked for prayers. She has been experiencing a lot of health issues and recently has undergone tests to determine if she has lupus. She will get her results on Monday and if the diagnosis is confirmed as the disease progresses she will require extensive medical care from multiple specialists. This disease effects multiple organs and the testing has already proven to be an extreme financial hardship to the family. Mirian and her husband Damaza are concerned about her future and what the future holds for her family. Please pray for God to perform a miracle in their lives and to provide for their financial needs as well.

Tomorrow we are getting up bright and early to do some shopping before heading to Palo Blanco for our last work day. I hope the stores know we are coming because we are going to buy them out of coffee and vanilla!

Thursday

Our day today was much like most of our other days as far as the routine. We started out the morning at Palo Blanco where several people continued the painting project and others in the group did home visits and walked through the barrios to get a better understanding of daily life in the Dominican Republic. One group went with Jan, the director of Palo Blanco, to visit a woman who wants to work at the care center. The woman explained that her husband has a job but all of the money goes to buy food for the family. The woman wants to work so she can afford to help improve the community bathroom that her family has to use. To emphasize her plea she guided the group past several homes to a small area that contained a wooden box that had several wooden boards overlapping the hole to make a seat. The area was permeated with the stench of human feces and urine.  Multiple families share this “bathroom” and it is unfit for animals.   As the team members took pictures of the areas they visited a Dominican woman was adamantly expressing something in Spanish. It was later translated that she was expressing over and over how important it was for us to share these photos and stories with people back at home in order to bring awareness and to get more people to help their community out of poverty. April later expressed to the group that one of her biggest fears is that she will go home and this week will be nothing more than a nice trip. We discussed how these experiences – all of these sights, sounds, and smells will mold us and change the way we live as we go forward. We also discussed that God has given us these children to care for and that in our abundance we have a huge responsibility to care for them well.  These children have softened our hearts and we are processing how to make that change permanent.

The staff at Palo Blanco has been incredibly hospitable and are so fun to watch work with the kids. Mirian, the director’s assistant is going through a very difficult time right now and has asked for prayers. She has been experiencing a lot of health issues and recently has undergone tests to determine if she has lupus. She will get her results on Monday and if the diagnosis is confirmed as the disease progresses she will require extensive medical care from multiple specialists. This disease effects multiple organs and the testing has already proven to be an extreme financial hardship to the family. Mirian and her husband Damaza are concerned about her future and what the future holds for her family. Please pray for God to perform a miracle in their lives and to provide for their financial needs as well.

Tomorrow we are getting up bright and early to do some shopping before heading to Palo Blanco for our last work day. I hope the stores know we are coming because we are going to buy them out of coffee and vanilla!

Another picture

Rachel and Gabriel (sponsored by Reed and Sue Juday)

Pictures!!!

Tracey and her sponsored child Veronica.

Maria, Destini and Coralma with their Padrino, Chris.

Rose and her sponsored child, Esmarlin

Tyler and his sponsored boy, Antony.

Jill with her sponsored girl, Yescauly (left) and Arlin (sponsored by Rachel and Chris Russell and Leona Martin)

Riley, playing in the waterfall with her families sponsored boy, Esmarlin.

Wednesday

We started off the morning by joining the staff at Palo Blanco for devotions.  After we enjoyed listening to a few praise songs in Spanish, Chris had everyone get in groups (some of our team members and some of Palo’s staff) and gave everyone a small container of Play-Doh.  We each made something with the Play-Doh that represented something important to us or about us and shared it with the rest of the group. This activity was a fun way to interact with the staff and create some more personal relationships.  We then had a lesson that reminded us that we are the clay and Jesus is the potter (Isaiah 64:8) and if we stay in the center of the potter’s wheel we allow God to work in amazing ways in our lives. We prayed together while everyone held their play-doh (clay) and asked God to make us soft and moldable for His purposes.  Everyone then put stickers on their containers with our main verse in Spanish and English to keep as a reminder.

In the afternoon both Jill and Tyler got to go visit the homes of their sponsored child. Jill sponsors a six year old little girl named Yadielis (Jah-dee-el-ee) and was pleased to see that compared to many of the families around here she has a decent home and lots of family support. Jill was able to meet several family members including Yadielis’ mom, cousins, grandma and great-grandma. Yadielis’ home has several beds and she only has to share a bed with one cousin. Many of the homes we have seen only have one bed for the entire family and often the children end up sleeping on the floor or at a relative’s home.  Just a few days prior to our arrival Yadielis’ mom was in an accident. She was standing on the side of the road and got run over by two mopeds (mopeds outnumber cars in the D.R. 20 to 1). She has severe road rash on her arms which are starting to get infected and she is very bruised and sore.

Tyler sponsors a little boy named Antony who is 9 years old.  Tyler was very excited to get to see his home which is in one of the poorest areas of town. Antony thankfully has one of the better homes for the area. Their home has a refrigerator and a small stove top in the kitchen for food preparation.  Food for the day was stored on the cement floor (a bunch of bananas and several onions).  Most families are only able to afford meat once every few weeks and mostly eat whatever grows around their homes. Beside the kitchen is a small area with a little table to sit around and next to that a curtain partitions off the small bedroom.  Tyler was very excited when Antony sat on his lap to have his picture taken with his padrino (sponsor).

In late afternoon we split into our two groups and went back to the neighborhoods for our second day of vacation Bible school. Each site again had over 50 kids show up from the barrios and we sang songs, played games, and did crafts. Katie, one of the missionaries, shared with us that each summer the Kid’s Alive teams host multiple VBS’s in different neighborhoods and by the end of the summer nearly every child in town has had the opportunity to attend and learn about Jesus! VBS in the DR is quite different than in the states. Kids show up on their own with no parents . Little girls who look to be about 8-10 years old walk in carrying their toddler siblings. The kids are rough and obviously haven’t spent much time in a structured environment.  Crafts are done under a small little lean to where supplies have to be rescued from the gusts of wind. The fact that these kids are showing up to VBS at all is a small victory!

Today we ask you to pray for Yadielis’ mom to recover from her accident and the infection in her arms to clear up. We also ask for prayers for each kid attending VBS this week to have soft hearts that are ready to receive Jesus into their hearts and lives.

Tuesday in the DR

The painting project at Palo Blanco continued today. Progress is slow with limited supplies but little by little the project is moving along.

This afternoon we split up into two groups and helped run the first day of a VBS program in two different barrios (neighborhoods).  Each site had around 50 kids show up ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers. As is typical in the Dominican Republic we lost power at one of the sites so we sang songs with no keyboard in the dim light of the small cement block church building. The children participating were enthusiastic and rambunctious and were especially pleased with the red sprinkle sugar cookies handed out at the end. We were told to expect the attendance to increase tomorrow as words spreads.

In the evening our team had the privilege of joining Vic and Leslie Trautwein and their family at their home for dinner. Vic is the field director for the Dominican Republic and has been serving with his family for about 11 years. The wisdom and stories shared by Vic and Leslie were both heartwarming and heartbreaking. We laughed and cried and felt so welcome by this amazing family’s hospitality.  For the past year Leslie has been living in Illinois (along with her family) battling breast cancer. We listened to her story and were overwhelmed by her trust in God and even, strangely enough, her gratitude for her trials. She shared that she has really learned to appreciate the mysteries of prayer and realizes that as a general rule we, as self-sufficient Americans, generally lack the understanding of a dependence on prayer. Leslie has been back in the DR for only about two weeks and will be returning the Illinois in a few short weeks to finish her chemotherapy treatments. She anticipates returning to the DR at the end of the year.

As our team is tiring of repeated meals of beans and rice, thin lumpy mattresses, lack of air conditioning, cockroaches and not being able to flush our toilet paper, we are grappling with the reality that this is daily life for the children we have fallen in love with. As we complain about the lumpy mattress we quickly remember the home that we saw today that had no mattress. As we wish for something different than rice and beans for the second time today we realize that some of the kids we sponsor only ate once today. And as we joke with each other about the inconvenience of not flushing toilet paper we understand that most of the families we have met don’t have any indoor plumbing at all. We are working hard to reconcile the dichotomy of our life at home with life in the D.R. And we are ever so humbled to be a small part of a bigger organization that is making huge difference in the lives of these children and their families every single day.  Child sponsorship is changing lives and it is changing the future of this city.

Today we ask that you keep Leslie Trautwein and her family in your prayers as she continues treatment. We also ask that you pray for each individual team member (Tracey, April, Phyllis, Chris W, Chris B, Chris R, Rachel, Rose, Riley, Tyler, Jill, Kim) to have a clear understanding of what God wants them to learn and take home with them from their experiences. And as always pray for the beautiful children of Jarabacoa (if you sponsor a child pray for them specifically by name!) to be safe, loved, nourished and most of all that they have a relationship with Jesus.

Tuesday in the DR

The painting project at Palo Blanco continued today. Progress is slow with limited supplies but little by little the project is moving along.

This afternoon we split up into two groups and helped run the first day of a VBS program in two different barrios (neighborhoods).  Each site had around 50 kids show up ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers. As is typical in the Dominican Republic we lost power at one of the sites so we sang songs with no keyboard in the dim light of the small cement block church building. The children participating were enthusiastic and rambunctious and were especially pleased with the red sprinkle sugar cookies handed out at the end. We were told to expect the attendance to increase tomorrow as words spreads.

In the evening our team had the privilege of joining Vic and Leslie Trautwein and their family at their home for dinner. Vic is the field director for the Dominican Republic and has been serving with his family for about 11 years. The wisdom and stories shared by Vic and Leslie were both heartwarming and heartbreaking. We laughed and cried and felt so welcome by this amazing family’s hospitality.  For the past year Leslie has been living in Illinois (along with her family) battling breast cancer. We listened to her story and were overwhelmed by her trust in God and even, strangely enough, her gratitude for her trials. She shared that she has really learned to appreciate the mysteries of prayer and realizes that as a general rule we, as self-sufficient Americans, generally lack the understanding of a dependence on prayer. Leslie has been back in the DR for only about two weeks and will be returning the Illinois in a few short weeks to finish her chemotherapy treatments. She anticipates returning to the DR at the end of the year.

As our team is tiring of repeated meals of beans and rice, thin lumpy mattresses, lack of air conditioning, cockroaches and not being able to flush our toilet paper, we are grappling with the reality that this is daily life for the children we have fallen in love with. As we complain about the lumpy mattress we quickly remember the home that we saw today that had no mattress. As we wish for something different than rice and beans for the second time today we realize that some of the kids we sponsor only ate once today. And as we joke with each other about the inconvenience of not flushing toilet paper we understand that most of the families we have met don’t have any indoor plumbing at all. We are working hard to reconcile the dichotomy of our life at home with life in the D.R. And we are ever so humbled to be a small part of a bigger organization that is making huge difference in the lives of these children and their families every single day.  Child sponsorship is changing lives and it is changing the future of this city.

Today we ask that you keep Leslie Trautwein and her family in your prayers as she continues treatment. We also ask that you pray for each individual team member (Tracey, April, Phyllis, Chris W, Chris B, Chris R, Rachel, Rose, Riley, Tyler, Jill, Kim) to have a clear understanding of what God wants them to learn and take home with them from their experiences. And as always pray for the beautiful children of Jarabacoa (if you sponsor a child pray for them specifically by name!) to be safe, loved, nourished and most of all that they have a relationship with Jesus.

Monday in the DR

Our morning started out with a learning experience for the women of the group. We learned how to get ready for the day with no electricity. We woke up to the power going out due to a rolling blackout and discovered that without showers, hair dryers and straighteners we had to significantly alter our routines. Just after we got things figured out the power switched back on and it was a mad scramble to hit the power button on the hair straighteners!

Our first stop of the day was Palo Blanco Care Center. We started painting the new building on the property that our February team was a part of constructing. It was amazing to see the progress of the building that was so far from completion just four months ago. The bottom floor of the building is now a woodshop where the older kids that attend Palo Blanco can learn wood working. It was so much fun to see some of the kids working on projects. The kids, with the help of instructors, had built folding chairs, miniature play houses, wall shelves, and corn hole games.

In the afternoon Tracey (accompanied by Chris, Rachel and April) got to visit the home of her sponsored girl, Veronica. Veronica’s story is heartbreaking and unfortunately very typical. We learned that Veronica’s dad had illegally gone to the US many months ago and on Mother’s Day in May her mother followed suit and abandoned Veronica and her two brothers. Veronica and her siblings now live with their grandmother who made it clear that she is not happy with the situation. The grandmother commented that the mother had left her with the children and she feels like she is stuck in prison now.  The importance of sponsorship and the involvement of Kid’s Alive in these children’s lives is so apparent. These kids are being provided for physically, emotionally and spiritually and being taught about God’s crazy love for them on a regular basis because of the Kid’s Alive sponsorship program.  And because of that we are able to pray and hope for an amazing future for them in the midst of unfathomable hardship.

In the evening we spent several hours at the Ark playing with the kids. We played board games, colored, played ball, and painted fingernails. Several of the girls at the Ark really enjoyed painting some of the guy’s fingernails. Chris Bennett looks great with sparkly purple fingernails but we wonder what kind of looks he will get on the construction site tomorrow!

Tomorrow we anticipate more painting at Palo Blanco, spending a little bit of time with our sponsored kids at ANIJA, and running our first day of VBS in a barrio (one of the little neighborhoods).  Tonight when you are saying your prayers we ask that you specifically pray for Veronica and her family and for intervention in a heart breaking situation.

Sunday in the Dominican Republic

Sunday – Day 1 in Jarabacoa

The first morning waking up in Jarabacoa was full of new sounds – roosters crowing, sky high bamboo shoots clinking together like wooden wind chimes, the warm breeze rustling the branches of the palm trees……the crashing sound of Phyllis running across the bedroom trying to smash a cockroach the size of a mouse, followed quickly by the screams and laughter of several of the other women.  It was quickly apparent that we are not in the U.S. anymore!

Our team had instructions to be ready for a quick orientation before church at 9:45am but due to unfamiliar beds, a new environment and most of all, excitement, most of us were up and getting ready by 6:30am. With the promise of seeing several of our sponsored kids from The Ark orphanage we were chomping at the bit to get the day going.

We attended church at La Vid  (The Vine) which is the home church for the kids at the Ark. Church is held in a big pavilion with a roof but no walls and it is not uncommon to see lizards darting around the beams of the ceiling. Several of the members of our team were able to sit with their sponsored kids during the service.  One of the most beautiful sounds in the world is the voices of those sweet kiddos singing praise in Spanish to our awesome God! The Dominican people worship with an enthusiasm that is contagious and soon we found ourselves singing along to worship choruses in Spanish. We may not have understood all of the words but God sure did. The reminder that God is a universal God – not an American God was refreshing and eye opening.  

Lunch was prepared at the team house by our amazing cook Carmen and her daughter Nani. We shared a meal of roasted chicken, beans and rice, fried yucca and carrot-raisin salad with several of the Dominican missionaries. After lunch we changed clothes and got ready to head to a waterfall for a hike with some of the Ark kids.

We packed into a van with our team, two Kids Alive missionaries from Haiti and two Haitian kids. The Haitian kids are in the D.R. for eye surgery at a nearby mission hospital but were able to join us for an afternoon of fun. The Ark kids rode to the waterfall in the back of a truck driven by one of the house parents and jumped out enthusiastically, ready to hike and swim. We made our way across several swinging bridges and a set of treacherous metal stairs before we made it to a small sandy beach at the base of the waterfall. The kids loved splashing in the water, throwing mud, sliding down rocks, getting buried in sand, and dunking the Americanos. Laughter and squeals were heard echoing off of the cliffs that surround the waterfall and everyone was reluctant to leave when the sky threatened rain.

After a fun filled afternoon we headed back to the house and waited for Jan, the director of Palo Blanco Care Center, to come to the team house and go out to dinner with us. We ate dinner at Delicias Columbianos – a Columbian restaurant that served up empanadas and homemade hot sauce out of a trailer under a thatched roof awning. The food was delicious and the meal ended with a walk in the rain to Bon, our favorite ice cream place.

Our team is looking forward to going to Palo Blanco tomorrow and helping with the first week of summer school. We will also be helping with painting and electrical on the building that we helped construct last February. More of our team will get to meet their sponsored kids, which has everyone excited!!! Thank you all for your continue thought and prayers!

On our way!!

Well we just paid a toll and are on the last leg of the van ride to O Hare! A big thank you to our fantastic driver, Troy Coblentz!  :) Our team has a trailer full of luggage and lots of excitement that we are taking along with us. We ask for prayers for open hearts, a willingness to let God break our hearts, good health, and blessings for all of the kids, families, missionaries, etc that we come in contact with. Here is a list of team members so that you can all pray for us by name!

Tracey Coblentz
April Clark
Chris Bennett
Chris Wert
Rachel Russell
Chris Russell
Kim Borden
Jill Roberts
Tyler Hager
Riley Martin
Rose Yoder
Phyllis Pierson



Thank you in advance for your prayers. Please leave comments on the blog and I will make sure the right team member sees them! Stay tuned for more updates - they will come as often as we have Internet!

Saturday - Fun at the Beach!

Saturday morning we packed up our bags, hopped on a bus and headed 2 1/2 hours away to the city of Sosua to enjoy a day in a beach resort. While I must say that a lot of our team had a hard time reconciling all the poverty we had been living among with staying a resort, we all enjoyed some time to unwind and relax after a busy, emotional week. The beach had clean sand, amazingly blue water and a stunning view of the mountains. It was one of the most beautiful sites we have ever seen!

This photo doesn't even do justice to the beauty of this beach!

We shopped (and got irritated by the very pushy vendors), ate, swam in the Atlantic Ocean, fell asleep on the beach and then ate again. After dinner we took beach towels and candles down to the beach and sat in a circle sharing stories about what we learned about ourselves and what we learned about God on this trip. Jan, the director of Palo Blanco was able to be with us at the resort and we were able to pray for her and her ministry and then sang a praise chorus together by candlelight with the sound of waves crashing in the ocean. We learned this week that God feels very close to you when surrounded by poverty and nature!



Sharing stories by candlelight on the beach.

 After our sharing time we spent a little more time relaxing and then went to bed to prepare for an early morning and a long day of traveling. It was a nice way to unwind from the week!

Friday

The five members of our team that were in the Dominican Republic last February requested to the Kid's Alive staff that we get to visit a small little community called Hipolito that we worked in a lot last year. So our first stop on Friday morning was a quick visit to Hipolito where we were quickly surrounded by the children that we spent time with last year. It was great to see the basketball hoops that some of our team constructed last year being put to good use! We also visited with the gentleman whose house we helped build last year. The house looks good but we were sad to see that the gentleman had broken his hip and is now in a wheelchair. 



Chris Bennett and our little buddy, Roberto and we spent a lot of time with last year. He has gotten so big!



Chris Wert and Onlady, the little girl who followed us around everywhere last year!



Two boys playing on with the basketball hoops constructed by our team last year!

Rachel and Yomairy, one of our little friends from last year.

After leaving Hipolito our crew headed over to ANIJA school to play with our sponsored kids and pass our gifts. We got to hear three testimonies of people who had either been sponsored to go to school at ANIJA just like the kids we now sponsor, or who had a kid that was currently being sponsored. All of them were now either working at the school, had given their lives to Christ and one young man was even studying at a university to become a doctor. What a blessing to hear some of the success stories!

The Neil Boston fan club at ANIJA!

The kids didn't know that they were going to be getting gifts and their eyes got huge when they realized that is what was happening! It was so much fun to see them sharing and playing with each other and not once did we hear any complaints that they didn't like what they had received or hadn't gotten enough!

Yerry, sponsored by Jerry and Donna Riley showing off his drawing.

After ANIJA we got to have one last visit playing with the kids at the Ark Orphanage. We played in the sand, played soccer, basketball, played on the swings and monkey bars and just had fun being silly together. It was very hard to say goodbye at the end of the visit and many tears were shed. There is no doubt that those kids each carry around a piece of our hearts that we left behind! We are so thankful to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that those kids are loved and taken care of every day by amazing house parents and staff!

Karen found herself a baby! He really belongs to one of the Ark house parents.

Chris Bennett and Chris Wert with their sponsored kiddos Indiana, Teresa, and Willy.

Thursday

Today we were able to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the children of Palo Blanco. We held ten parties throughout the day with over 200 kids attending. All of the kids had a blast making Valentine’s crafts, decorating cookies and rolling marshmallows in different colors of jello. Chris R did a Bible study lesson with the kids about how God looks at the heart and not your physical appearance. Let’s just say that Chris looks very good in a long blonde curly wig!

(Rose with one of the older classes showing off their art project. Neil, our resident art teacher gave them an art lesson.)

Needless to say after partying with over 200 kids our team was pretty wiped out! 

When we left Palo Blanco yesterday it was sad to realize we weren’t returning. We didn’t know that the teachers and children of Palo Blanco had been working on a surprise for our team and all of the people in our church that sponser Palo kiddos.

(The kids of Palo Blanco and the sign they made for their sponsors. The handprints are each of the kids that our church sponsors and in the middle of the heart, in Spanish, the sign says “thank you for being a part of my life”. ) Yes, we brought the banner home so if you sponsor a kiddo from Palo Blanco you can find your kiddos handprint!

After leaving Palo Blanco we went back to the team house to get ready for a party with the Ark Orphanage kids. We got to go over to Jeff Vandermolen’s house (the director over Haiti, DR, Guatemala and Peru) and jump on the trampoline, play volleyball, eat pizza, decorate cookies, and give gifts. The kids from the Ark have stolen our hearts. I think it is safe to say that the majority of our team feels like we are more blessed to be a part of these kid’s lives than we could possibly be blessing them. We joke that it is a good thing there is a weight limit on our luggage or we may be packing a few stowaways to bring home!

(Coralma, sponsored by Chris and Rachel Russell, eating her Valentine’s cookie that she decorated.)

Friday morning we are going to have another busy day. We will spend our morning at Hipolito, the little community that last year’s team helped build in a home in. This community is one of the areas of extreme poverty and really opens your eyes to the daily life of many of the Dominican people. We will leave from there and spend time giving gifts to the kids at ANIJA and then hope to spend more time with the Ark kiddos. Please continue to pray for these beautiful children and the people that work with and love them everyday!

Home, Bittersweet, Home.....

Our team in front of the team house, where we stayed for the week,  on our last day in Jarabacoa.

We all made it home safe and sound late last night. While it was great to hug our families and pets, take a nice hot shower and sleep in our own beds, there is still something bittersweet about being home again. Every single one of us were changed in some way by this trip and we all fell in love with so many people that we left behind in the Dominican Republic. As I sit looking through pictures today I find my heart feeling overwhelmed at how quickly you can deeply love a person that doesn't even speak the same language. All of you following this blog, I challenge you to take some time to listen to the personal stories of someone on the team. Learn the stories behind the faces in the pictures and try to open your eyes and heart to the vastness of the world that is past our own communities. In turn, our team will try to share carefully and lovingly, as many of us have realized that our priorties need to be completely rearranged. We realize that it is hard to grasp the understanding of what we have felt, seen, heard, smelled, hugged and kissed without actually being a part of the trip. Each of us is praying about what our "next step" will be now that we are home so that this trip doesn't become just 9 days out of our lives that we look back on and say "remember when...". We want this trip to change how we love and serve and pray and as we ease back into our comfortable lives we will have to be intentional to not let our broken hearts mend completely. We ask for continued prayers as we process everything and get back to our regular routines.

Since the internet connection didn't allow for as many blog posts as I would have liked I am going to go back and create a blog for the rest of the days so that all of you can still see some pictures and stories of our trip. Thank you all for all of your prayers and support. It means so much!

Behind on the Blog

Well, as usual internet here isn't the greatest. I am trying to get up the post of our Thursday's activities but I am having trouble loading the pictures. I only have about 35 minutes left of free internet access at the hotel we are spending our last night at. We ask that you pray for safe travels for our team as we return tomorrow. We also ask that you pray specifically that each member of our team will be able to discern what to do with all we've seen and learned during our time here. I will get more blog posts up about how our week went as I am able. I will continue to try with the time I have left tonight to get some pictures loaded!

no internet

we have very limited internet today so I dont know if I will get a post up. I will try. we are all doing well! Getting ready to go visit some kiddos homes!

Wednesday at Palo Blanco and The Ark Orphanage

This morning (Wednesday) our team got to have a sweet time of worship and devotions with the staff at Palo Blanco. We sat around a big table with the staff in the lunchroom early in the morning before the students arrived and sang worship songs to the Lord. We knew the songs they were singing and were able to sing the English words at the same time as they the lyrics in Spanish. Talk about goose bumps! After worship Chris got to opportunity to share the story of how Community Church of Waterford got involved with Kid’s Alive. The staff and director at Palo Blanco had never heard the story of how God connected us and the morning ended with lots of praise, tears and hugs and we all felt that much more connected to each other. It was definitely one of those God moments that none of us are soon to forget!

After devotions we were able to do a Bible study lesson and pass out gifts to the rest of our Palo Blanco sponsored kiddos.  Rose also had a fun time leading the kids in some Bible songs and teaching them dance moves to “Pharoah Pharoah” and “Big House”.  It was fun seeing the kids smile and laugh and just be silly kids.

(Karen doing her Bible study lesson with the kiddos. The little boy participating in her demonstration is sponsored by Dave and Katy Gaskill.)

(Bobbie giving her gift to her sponsored boy, Ricar.)

Most of the week while the rest of the team has been doing construction or playing with the kids, Neil has been hard at work decorating the school! Neil painted two murals in the school and is getting started soon on painting on at ANIJA.

(Neil’s mural of Roberto Clemente.)

We went back to the team house for lunch and had a little bit of time to do some shopping for souvenirs. Brian, the missionary down here that has been our host for the week just kept shaking his head and laughing because he said he has never seen a team buy so much coffee and vanilla before. We made the shelves in the colmado (grocery store) bare and the employees were already restocking before we even walked out!

After shopping we headed over to El Arca (the Ark) orphanage to play with the kids during their free time. The Ark campus and staff are so impressive and provide a safe, loving environment for these kids to grow up in. We got to hear stories of some of the kids and why they were at the orphanage. Many of them still have parents but were living in abusive situations. Some of the little kids were given alcohol in their bottles to get them drunk so that when they were begging on the streets they would appear retarded and get more sympathy. Others were roaming around the streets being forced to take care a lots of younger siblings when they were still just a child themselves. One sweet little boy who appeared to be only about two old had more places on his legs with scars then he did without.  He had only been at The Ark for about 3-4 weeks and proudly announced to Joan “Tengo camisa!” which means “I have a shirt!”. This little boy finally had something to call his own and now lived in a safe and secure place. Watching these kids run around a play it is easy to forget all the brokenness and hurt that they have in their lives. They look just like happy, “normal” children but they all have loss beyond anything we can comprehend.

(Sweet little Esmerlin – the two year old boy that was just happy to have his own shirt!)

Our time at The Ark passed way too quickly and soon it was time to go back to the team house. After dinner we cut out paper hearts and baked cookies in preparation for the Valentine’s Day party that we are having with the children of Palo Blanco and The Ark.

(Cookie baking and heart cutting in preparation for Valentine’s Day!)

Thursday is going to be a busy, but fun day. We are all looking forward to celebrating Dia de Amor (Valentine’s Day) with all of the kids ….and who doesn’t like to decorate their own cookie!?! Thank you all again for your prayers and we ask you pray specifically for these kiddos to have hearts that are mended and feel loved and cherished as we spend Valentine’s Day with them!

Tuesday at Palo Blanco - work, play and home visits.

This morning started extra early so that we could make it to ANIJA school in time to be a part of the student’s opening ceremony.  We were quickly greeted by many of the Ark orphanage kids that attend school at Anija. Many of the Ark kids recognized us from last year or from church service on Sunday and were excited to see their sponsors again! We also got to greet a lot of our sponsored kiddos that we hadn’t seen yet this trip. We will have time to have a little party with them and hand out gifts on Friday. The opening ceremony consisted of some announcements, raising the Christian flag and singing the Christian anthem and also raising the Dominican flag and the singing of the Dominican national anthem. Gabriel Peralta, sponsored by Reed and Sue Juday was proud to be the one to raise the Dominican flag up the pole!

(Gabriel, sponsored by Reed and Sue Juday, before the opening school ceremony.)

After the opening ceremony at ANIJA we exchanged out dollars to pesos so we could do some shopping a little later in the week and then headed back to Palo Blanco care center to do more construction and play with the kids. Today was hot and sunny and the construction crew got their workout hoisting over 100 cement bricks up a pulley system one at a time to the second floor of the building we were working on.  Chris B, Chris W, and Rose went out to the barrios of Palo Blanco to get to see the living conditions of some of the homes of our sponsored children. They went to the home of Patricia and Yordaliza, twins sponsored by Jamie and Jackie Mullet. The girl’s home had five people living in it and only had two rooms. All five people shared one bedroom and up until the family was recently given a second mattress the girls shared a mattress at nighttime that was smaller than a twin mattress. The home had no bathroom and no refrigerator. The family bathed with buckets of water filled from a neighbor’s water spicket. If any of you want help putting things in your life into perspective I strongly suggest you take this trip at least one time. It breaks your heart and makes you even more grateful for what you have all at once!

(Yordaliza and Patricia’s home.)

(Yordaliza)

In the afternoon some of us returned to the construction project while the rest made bead bracelets, colored and played games with some of the classes from Palo Blanco. It doesn’t take long to fall in love with these precious kids and realize that even though they live in extreme poverty, broken homes and abusive situations, they each have their own hopes and dreams for the future.  While in many cases it is easy to look at a child and hear their dreams and think that it will be impossible for them to achieve anything due to the situation they live in, it also gives us great hope that these kids are able to hope and dream. Thanks to Kids Alive and the amazing staff that works with and loves these kids everyday each of them has the chance to plan a great future for themselves and break the cycle of poverty and abuse in their family. It was such a blessing to be able to meet a few adults that were products of the Kids Alive program that are now teachers, working in administration at the school, and one woman that is training to be a dentist. Our church family is a part of something that is changing lives and changing communities all over the world! Stop for a minute and look at the pictures of these beautiful children and really take a minute to think about the impact that Kids Alive is having – and we are a part of it!!

(Leona helping a boy tie his bracelet.)

(Braldy, sponsored by Denny and Sandy Fisher, wearing the bracelet he made.)

We thank you again for all of your prayers and ask that if you are reading this blog that you take a moment to leave a comment for the team, or even a particular member. We have lots of people missing their friends and family and children and the comments are a bright spot in our day!

Monday at Palo Blanco

Our day today was spent at Palo Blanco. Eight members of our team spent the morning helping with a construction projects while the other three members of our team helped out with various projects in the school. Those of us on the construction crew were working to help build a two story, concrete block building on a piece of newly acquired land that allowed Palo Blanco to expand their property. The building will hold a woodshop on the first floor and some classrooms on the second floor that will allow people to learn and practice a trade

(The new building in progress at Palo Blanco.)

We had a little bit of downtime between our morning and afternoon activities and some of our team went outside to play with the kids, while others got ready for the afternoon Bible lesson.  Bianca found a little friend in the hallway the sat on her lap until it was time to go to class.

(Bianca with little Fan Fana Fanfan – yes, that is really her name!)

We spent the afternoon giving a Bible lesson to some of our sponsored kids and passing out gifts to about half of our sponsored kids at Palo Blanco. The kids seemed really engaged in the Bible lesson and of course loved getting their gifts from their Madrinas and Padrinos (sponsors).

(Alondra, the little five year old girl sponsored by Chris and Rachel Russell.)

After passing out the gifts we were able to enjoy some time playing and coloring with the sponsored kids. It was so much fun getting to interact with them and getting to know some of them individually.

We did have to cut short some of our construction time due to some heavy rains in the afternoon. We are scheduled to spend the day on Tuesday doing more construction so we are praying for some nice weather. Even in the rain it was still nice enough for part of our team to take a walk around town in flip flops and capris. We could get used to this weather!

We are winding down our night early tonight as many of our team members were tired early! I think Rose was in bed by 7pm and was followed within an hour and a half by Chris B, Chris W, Karen and Joan.  Chris R, Bianca, Bobbie and and Bianca are playing cards while the rest of us just relax. We start our day extra early tomorrow (Tuesday) at ANIJA where we will get to see them participate in their daily opening ceremony to start the school day. After that we will be back to work at Palo Blanco. Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers. We are having a great trip and praying that we are being a blessing to those we come in contact with.  We ask you to pray specifically for the young girls at Palo Blanco as we learned that recently many twelve year old girls have been dropping out of school to get married. These girls often feel trapped because of the need for someone to take care of them due to the poverty level and many boys and young men prey on them. The hope that being sponsored gives these girls is a big start to opening their eyes to possibility of a different future. We ask that you pray for these kids daily that this cycle can be broken!  

(P.S. -Sorry but the internet connection was terrible so I couldn't get any more pictures up. I had several more for this blog! I will try again later if I get a chance!)

Sunday in the DR......

We made it safe and sound to the team house in Jarabacoa on Saturday evening.  Sorry for the delay in information but the team house does not have internet so we can only post when we are at one of the missionaries houses or one of the schools. So each day’s post won’t get posted until we get to the site the next day.

Sunday was a day for worship, orientation, relaxation and of course eating.  We were all blessed to be able to attend church with the kids from the Ark orphanage. It was so much fun pulling up to the church (which was outside under a pavilion in the 75 degree weather) and being recognized by our kiddos. Chris R, Rachel, Chris B, Chris W, and Karen all had happy reunions with their sponsored kids and got to sit with them and sing worship songs in Spanish.  The enthusiasm that the Dominican people showed in their worship and participation in church was something our whole team took note of.

(The pavilion where church service was held.)

(Chris W and Chris B with sponsored children Indiana and Teresa.)

(Rachel and Chris with sponsored children Maria and Janna.)

After church we went back to the team house for lunch and then headed out for a waterfall hike. Neil  Boston decided to climb out on to the edge of the very high waterfall cliff and Bianca and Lara (who are high school students of Mrs. Boston) said they now understood why Mrs. Boston told them to keep an eye on Neil for her!

(Rose says hi!)

After the waterfall hike we spent some time unwinding at the team house and then headed out to dinner at a Columbian restaurant. We enjoyed several different kinds of empanadas along with some other cultural food that I don’t know the name of. We all agreed that it was delicious!

(Dinner at Delicias Columbianas.)

And of course, being true CCWers we weren’t done eating after dinner. We walked through the busy streets of Jarabacoa (Carnaval was going on so it was loud and the streets were flooded with people) and found an ice cream stand!

(Chris R and Chris B standing in line at “Bon” for icecream. )

We are wrapping up our evening by sorting the gifts for the kiddos. We are going to be taking part of the gifts to give out at Palo Blanco on Monday as well as doing some crafts with the kids and some construction projects.  Neil will also be beginning to paint some murals at the school. We are all heading to bed and ready for a very full day!