The last few days have been pretty fantastic. Yesterday, on the way to our church, we stopped off at the Haitian church which was started/supported by Mission Emanuel. We took our group in to visit, because they financially support this church in huge ways. We only stayed for about twenty minutes, but it was an amazing time of worship with them. All of the members of the church stood up to sing some songs for us, and they were INCREDIBLE. All of the participants were singing and worshipping with such passion, and the music was so overwhelming and beautiful. They had tambourines, wooden blocks, and cowbells, and were making quite a joyful noise. It was impossible not to cry and be overwhelmed with thankfulness for these people.

One thing that made that time at the Haitian church so powerful has a lot to do with the social structure of the DR. Here, Haitians are definitely hated and looked down on by many of the Dominicans. It has taken a lot of work on the part of Mission Emanuel to try to change the stigma against the Haitians in Cielo and Nazaret. These people are forced to the margins because they are immigrants in search of a better life. Last week, I was carrying a Haitian girl through Cielo and kids were running up to call her Chocolate because of her dark skin, and an adult man even came over to me to make fun of her. (Don't worry...he heard some words from me!) Mission Emanuel has made a big difference in this community and has done a great deal to help Haitians in the area, as well as working to show the Dominicans how important it is to love the Haitians and set an example for others in the community. As I stood in the church on Sunday, it was such a blessing to see that these people who have to suffer so much because of their nationality have a place to gather together in worship, and not be chastised because of who they are. It was a powerful experience, and one I am so thankful to have had. Before we left, the Haitians asked if they could pray for us. Wow. All at once, around 50 of them started praying outloud for us, and it was such a peaceful feeling to have all of those prayers wash over us. It was so unexpected that they would ask to pray for us, and really blew me away. More often, I feel the need to ask to pray for them, rather than receive their prayers. It was a glorious morning with them!

Today, I was invited to lunch at my friend Emmanuel's house (his picture is in the previous post). He is an amazing man of God who is serving on our summer staff. He works with us on the construction sites, interprets for us, and also has recently become the leader of Vida Joven, which is Dominican Young Life. He is doing a great job of building relationships with local teenagers who are not a part of the church, and is truly a blessing to what Mission Emanuel is doing as they partner with Vida Joven. Emmanuel invited 4 of us over for lunch, to meet his mother and spend time with his family. It was an incredible meal! She made us what they call the Dominican flag (rice, beans, and chicken). We sat for several hours talking to her, answering questions about what keeps bringing us back to the DR, and learning about her own childhood in the northern part of the DR. It is always such a blessing to be invited into someone's home for a meal, but for some reason, this invitation seemed extra special. Emmanuel's dad asked if he could pray for us before he left, and he said such beautiful words as he prayed over us and the work we are doing here. Emmanuel's mom even asked if I would come back to visit again tomorrow, because her mother is arriving in town from New Jersey! It made my day to meet her because of the strong friendship I have developed with her son, and I am so excited to visit her again tomorrow!! 

Thanks for your prayers...I only have about 1 week left, and am going to be extremely sad to leave. I have had such an amazing time here, and can't believe how blessed I am to have been given the opportunity to return here. Thanks for all of your support!!  

This is a house we finished building last week. We dedicated it, bought new furniture for the family, and moved them in! What an exciting time for their family! It makes all of the block-laying, cement-hauling, and digging worthwhile to see a beautiful house completed. At this point, Mission Emanuel has built over 30 homes in Cielo and Nazaret. M.E. has given an incredible gift to this community!
The high school group from Winston-Salem, NC spent the last week passing hundreds upon hundreds of buckets down this hill filled with sand, gravel, or cement. They also passed hundreds of concrete blocks, all of which are materials needed to complete a house at the bottom of the hill. Tough work!
The faces of people I love! Stephanie, Emmanuel, Hannah, and Bailey
Two girls dressed up for church on Sunday morning
The family group from Orlando came two weeks ago. They hosted this Family Fun Festival at our baseball field that brought out a thousand kids and families for games, prizes, and a lot of insanity. 
Kids doing some crafts at VBS with one of our groups.
Ayendy, the sweet guy I have sponsored for the last six years. He had his tenth birthday while I was here, and it has been such a blessing to spend time with his family this summer. 

Sorry again for my lack of blogging! Its been a crazy week...110 high school students, 4 different construction sites to run between, and a lot of logistics to figure out. These 3 youth groups have done an incredible job in their physical labor, in the relationships they are building in Cielo and Nazaret, and in their own group dynamics. So great to be here to witness the changes that are taking place! 

When this group leaves on Saturday, we have one more group next week, and then we are finished. I am starting to see the end get closer and closer, and conversations are starting to happen when people talk about when we will be back, how much we will miss each other, etc. Even though I still have plenty of time, I am starting to realize how much I am going to miss this place and all of the people I have gotten used to seeing and hugging each day. It is going to be difficult to leave and get back to "normal life." My biggest prayer is that next week, as our last group is here, I will be more willing and able to pass off responsibilities to the staff and really take more time to be in conversation with those people I am going to miss. I don't want to spend my last days here worrying about the details. I want to sit down and talk to the people I love, hear what is going on in their lives, and learn how to pray for them over the next several months until I come back. 

I also need your prayer for strength and energy for all of us as we enter the home stretch. The days are long and exhausting, and we are all starting to struggle more and more as we get out of bed each morning. As we do that, more people are starting to give into random colds and stomach problems, so please pray for strength for our team and healing from all of the little illnesses that are starting to pop up. None of us want to be tired...we all want to enjoy every minute here as much as we can, so pray that we find the energy to do that! God has been taking great care of us thus far, and we certainly need that provision now. 

And last but not least, pray for my parents and brother, who are leading a mission team in Alaska right now. They are working hard as well, and need the power of prayer as they work with their team in the cold cold north! My mom hasn't been feeling well, so that means the team is without their Fun Engineer until she gets better! Thanks so much for your prayers for me, the staff here, and my family as well.

Love you all!!

This morning was a highlight for me. We went for our weekly trip to the leprosarium, which I had been unable to go to with the first team because I had a nasty cold and didn't want to infect anyone. I was really excited to go this week, because this care facility for lepers is one of the most powerful places I have ever experienced. It is always an honor to go and share the love of Christ with these amazing men and women.

While the huge group of families held a party in the main area of the facility, a group of 5 of us went room to room to sing to the patients who were unable to leave their rooms for the party. I have done this every year, and these are some of the most vivid memories I have from all of my time in the DR. This morning did not disappoint!

The first room we went to was a woman who has been at the leprosarium for all of the years I have been visiting, so this has been her home for at least 6 years. Today, her daughter was there visiting her. For most of these patients, visits from any friends or family are rare or nonexistent, so their contact is mainly with staff and groups like ours who come for visits. I was so thankful to see that this woman was loved and cared for well by her daughter. We sang them several songs, while the daughter cried, prayed, and called out 'Gloria a Dios!' (Glory to God). The patient sat quietly, listening and rocking back and forth on her bed while we sang for her. She thanked us when we finished, and her daughter spent some time talking to us about how much it means to both of them that we would come and share with them.

We left their room and walked down the hall to a man's room. I have seen this man for years, and have sung to him many times. He is mostly blind, missing the majority of his fingers and his right foot, but he has an incredible smile. He welcomed us in and allowed us to sing to him. As I was singing in Spanish, I started really thinking about how powerful it was to come and sing these particular words to this man. The song is called 'All Ye,' and the words in English are:

All ye heavy-laden

All ye heavy-hearted

All ye heavy-laden

Come, for the Lord will give you rest

Come, the Lord will give you rest

Oh come and be filled

Oh come and be healed

Oh come and be filled

By the Spirit of the Lord

By the Spirit of the Lord

What a powerful message for a man who is certainly in need of healing, rest, and the presence of the Lord. As I sang and cried, I felt so thankful that we indeed have a God who gives us rest, a sense of peace, and is filling us when we need it. This man reminds me to be thankful for the God we worship and serve. We all need rest, we all need to be filled, and we all need the Spirit of the Lord. After we prayed and hugged this man, he looked up at us and said, 'Thank you for bringing the bread of life."

Amen

Every time I sit down to write an update, it is hard to decide what to tell you. There are so many stories to share, pictures to post, and praise to be shared. I find myself at that usual loss of words tonight. 

My weekend away went well, and our staff here handled everything extremely well while I was gone. We have a family group of 75 people this week, and their arrival was pretty complicated on Saturday when I was gone. But our staff did an amazing job of getting everything taken care of, and so far, our group is still happy! 

I had a lot of travel troubles last weekend getting to the US and back. I almost missed several flights, got stuck in Customs for two hours, lost a bag, got sick on a plane, and had to watch two of my friends get left off of our plane to the DR. Needless to say, I was really relieved to make it back in one piece and be free of travel for several more weeks. I went to the US for two weddings, for my friends Katie and Christian, and Jeremy and Caroline. I was lucky to get to go back and celebrate with them, and am so thankful I got to go. BUT, I was very very glad to be back in the DR and found myself missing everything about being here. 

Since being back, the week has been wonderful. Construction resumed on our two houses on Monday, cement blocks were passed down a steep hill, walls were built, floors were leveled and prepared to have concrete poured, and a lot of backs became sore and tired. Tuesday was one of our craziest days of summer. This group holds a HUGE carnival at night on the baseball field where kids play games, get candy, and go crazy for hours. It was so fun to watch everyone playing together, but even more fun to watch the insanity unfold. Kids started lining up hours in advance, police were arranged in advance to contain the craziness, and all hands were on deck to work carnival games, play games, and run a program at the end. I ended up in a booth where kids got to throw water balloons at me, but this turned into more fun for the adults who wanted to pelt me with balloons. We aren't talking random adults here either...we are talking about the Director of the ministry, our Dominican staff, members of the worship band, and pretty much anyone else I know in the village who thought this would be funny. I had a blast and laughed through the entire night! 

Tonight we went back out to Cielo after our day of work for a dinner and church. I love being here for worship. There is something incredibly beautiful about the way Dominicans worship that inspires me, amazes me, and humbles me. I see the passion and love they have for Christ and I feel like my faith is small and insignificant in comparison. And yet I feel so very joyful when I stand in this church and worship, even if I do feel like I am not enough. In some ways, God feels bigger here. I know that is strange, but that is a feeling I always have when I visit this place. 

I miss you all and am thankful for your prayers! 

It's been a while...

Sorry all! It's been a while since my last update! Last week, I got sick with a nasty cold, had a crazy last few days of work as we saw off our first group, and am now recovering. We have strange week right now, because our groups for this second week cancelled due to fundraising trouble, so we have an off week. Monday, we drove to the mountains at Jarabacoa and hiked to waterfall, ate lunch, and swam around all day. It was a great day to bond as a staff, and we had several of our Dominican staffers with us for the day, which made for a really fun day. There were a lot of silly games and laughs as we drove, and a lot of sunburn once we returned to Santo Domingo. 

That was only yesterday, but a lot has happened since. We had a girls night last night, complete with an episode of The Bachelorette, popcorn, and nail polish.  I spent this morning in meetings, and then rushed out to Cielo to meet the staff and paint a house, which is now mostly completed and dedicated last week. The family will be moving in over the next few days, which is a huge celebration and blessing for them! Then I came back to the hotel after the lunch to meet with the Manager and get all of our room assignments set up for our group arriving on Saturday. I finished that meeting, went for a quick run, and returned to bad news that our director, my boss, will need to fly back to the US tomorrow. His daughter was in a bad car accident in March, and has been dealing with a lot of recovery since then. We got a call yesterday that she was taken to the hospital because she had lost feeling in her legs and feet. After tests and not a lot of change, she stayed last night in hopes that they would find out more information today. After an MRI, they are still unsure, but a lot of the options they are giving are really scary, one of which is MS. So Jack is flying out tomorrow to be with his daughter, returning Saturday to lead our next several weeks of work teams. Please pray for his daughter, the doctors, and safe travels for Jack.

So now, I am here, planning out all of the details to cover our team while Jack is gone. And, to make it all more complicated, I am leaving on Thursday to return to the US for the weekend for 2 weddings. I am so excited to see friends, have a phone conversation with my family that is longer than 5 minutes, and celebrate 2 great relationships. But, the timing could not be more awful for the way things are working here. Jack's right hand man Ron left earlier this week, so I inherited his responsibility and have been helping run things while he is gone. Now, Jack, Ron, and I are all gone when a complicated group arrives. Pray that everything, all of our advance planning and preparation, holds until Jack returns on Saturday and I return on Sunday. I know God will do great things, but as I look at my to-do list that is several pages long, I wonder how it will all come together before I leave Thursday. God is definitely going to prove that it is not Jack, not Ron, and certainly not me that gets things done around here. I am excited to come back and be amazed by all God has done in our absence. 

A week in the life...

I realized yesterday that I haven't really explained what each week looks like for me. When each group from the US arrives, the construction projects begin. This summer, the main projects are two houses and a building that will be a part of the Mission Emanuel complex.  This building will house a Science Center which will use hands on activity to teach children, and will be the only one of its kind in the DR. All of these building projects consist of a lot of pouring concrete, which means shoveling, hauling buckets, pouring footers, and laying floors. All of these lead to sweat, tired shoulder and back muscles, and clothes covered in concrete. If you know me very well, you know I love ALL of those things! So each day starts with work on one or all of these construction sites. 

The afternoons have a little more variety...people are sent in groups into the village to spend time with the Dominican children and families. The Dominicans are extremely welcoming and eager to get to know the people who are coming to build up their community, so usually the groups are invited in, chairs are pulled up, and conversations begin. These end up being the most incredible moments, and I always look forward to visiting the homes of these families I have spent hours in the past getting to know. You feel a little bit like a rock star walking through the village, with children screaming "Americana!" and adults smiling, waving, stopping to shake your hands, and asking how your day is going. Tonight, as we left church, there were about twenty kids lined up at the gate to the Mission to yell and wave as we drove out. Rock stars...

In addition to home visits, the current group is running VBS in the afternoons, with screaming kids, games, and a lot of pictures and giggles. Simultaneously, a basketball camp is being run by Hannah, which is a lot of fun for the American and Dominican teenagers who interact on the court. Usually impromptu baseball games get started, and soccer balls are being kicked around as well. 

The evenings give us some chill time with the group, as well as alone with the staff. We nap, we go to dinner, we come back for some guitar and singing with the staff, and then we close our staff hang-time with a YouTube-of-the-Day, which usually turns into 3 or 4 videos, and a lot of hilarity and quotes for the next day. Wednesdays and Sundays are spent at church, giving us more interaction with members of the community we may not see everyday. 

And the last big event, which is tomorrow, is a trip to the leprosarium. This is essentially a nursing home for patients with leprosy, and is simultaneously one of the most difficult and beautiful places I have ever been. During my first visit six years ago, I cried the entire time. I have gotten better since then, but I leave every time wondering what it must be like to live a life where you are unable to feel touch, and are so isolated from relationships with friends and family. Many of these people are missing fingers, limbs, have lost their hearing and eyesight, and have not received a visit from family or friends in many years. And yet, when we sit down to worship with them, it is unbelievable to watch these people praise their God. I am humbled and amazed by their worship, and am looking forward to tomorrow. God is at work in these people in ways it is impossible to ignore. 

On Friday, we return for one last work day with the group, and then they leave us on Saturday. We take a quick nap, get all of the rooms ready for the next group, and then the next crew arrives Saturday night/afternoon, and we start all over again! This is the brief overview of a typical week for the Mission Emanuel staff, each day beginning at 6:30 am and ending at 11 pm. Pray for our energy and stamina as we run this marathon! 

Please pray for tomorrow, that we will show the patients at the leprosarium that they are loved and cared for, by us and by God. My prayer is that, even if only for one day, they will know how valuable they are and will experience the love of God. And I pray that we will learn from them how to pray, praise, and worship our God who stands by us through victory and struggle. 

When I decided to come to the DR, one of the things I was most excited about, aside from the work I would be doing, was the opportunity to spend time with my friend Hannah. Hannah just finished her first year at UNC, and is one of my former youth girls from 1st Pres in Winston-Salem. I met Hannah when she was in 6th grade, and during her seventh grade year, she chose me to be her mentor for Confirmation class. We met once a week for an entire year, and have continued to have a close relationship since then. I went to her volleyball and basketball games in high school, drove back to Winston-Salem to see her on Homecoming court during her 11th grade year, and now we are here working together. It has been a truly powerful experience to work alongside this woman who is now mature, wise, strong in her faith, and an incredible example of what it means to be a woman of God. I am amazed by what God has done in her, what God is currently doing through her in this place, and for what God has in store for her life. It has a huge blessing to reconnect with someone I have spent so much time laughing with and praying for. I find myself every day standing back and watching her work with this group and being thankful that God has given me this chance to see how teenagers can grow into amazing men and women of God. 

I think one of the reasons my work and play time with Hannah feels so significant right now is because this week, this group of 50 high school students, along with the ten college students serving as staff, are reminding me of how much I love youth ministry. I feel alive when I am with teenagers, which was something I thought I was finished with, something I thought I was burnt out on. I 

am realizing I may have been wrong. It is a powerful demonstration of God at work to see a teenage girl transformed into a woman of faith, leading her peers, and serving in revolutionary and sacrificial ways. I don't know what any of this means for my future, but I know that right now, I am excited to invest in these high school and college students. I cannot wait to see what the next 5 weeks brings, but I hope and pray that they will each grow in their ability and desire to lead, in their faith, and in their call to God's service to the world.