A new day

The craziness of American groups is over! The last group left on Saturday. The last few members of the American staff left early this morning. And then, there was one. Today is my first day off in a month, and my first day as a solo americana in the DR. I must admit, while I do miss my wonderful and hilarious staff, I am pretty excited for what this time alone will bring. I am excited to explore the DR. I am excited to devote most of my time to studying Spanish and strengthening the relationships I have here. I am excited to be a part of this community without having to always run around and take care of logistics. I am excited to just BE.

I am entering a month of unknown. The only rhythm to my days will be studying spanish with my dear friend Emmanuel each morning. Otherwise, my days are free for God to use and guide. The adventure is already beginning! This weekend, I have been asked to travel to Castillo with the youth of the church to participate in a mission trip. Now, when I think of missions, I think of construction and physical labor, so I obviously said yes when asked to join the group. Then, days later, I found out that no, we are not doing any kind of construction...we are doing a drama. Yes, a drama. And do I now have a part in that drama? Oh yes! This could be hilarious...all I know right now is that I am playing someone bad in the drama. I can't wait to share stories, because I can't imagine how piling into a bus with a bunch of Dominican teenagers to travel and perform a drama could NOT be hysterical.

Thanks for all of your prayers over the last month. My hope and prayer for this next month is that God will guide my days. There are so many families I will have time to sit down and talk with, and my hope is that God will show me where to go each day. I hope this month will change me. Because I have spent so much time here, in many ways, the DR is a part of my comfort zone. I hope that during this month, I am taken out of my comfort zone and challenged and changed by this place.

'May your unfailing love be my comfort...' Psalm 119: 76

Rain, rain, go away!

Why do I have time to write a blog post mid-morning when I should be working? The Dominican Republic is currently getting pounded by rain. For the last three days, all of our work projects have had to be changed, adjusted, or cancelled because of the continuous rain. We had to cancel work entirely this morning, so instead of being in Cielo laying block or teaching Haitian children, we are sitting at the hotel watching the US World Cup team play Algeria. Nice to be able to watch the game, but certainly sad to be kept away from our friends in Cielo!

The last week has been crazy and really abnormal in terms of how weeks usually run here. It has been raining every day. Almost half of the staff got sick last Friday, some of which took 4 days to recover and lost up to ten pounds. We sent a group from Orlando home last Saturday with bottles of water and garbage bags for the plane because they were so sick as they left that morning. Church is cancelled tonight because of rain. My parents are here for the first time ever and are experiencing the weirdest week I have ever seen here. Certainly not ideal!

I am just not sure what to say about this week, other than we need prayer. We need prayer for sick staffers who are struggling through their last week here. We need prayer for the rain to go away long enough for this group from Winston-Salem to get some work done. We need prayer for Dominican friends who will likely be experiencing flooding in the upcoming days. And I need prayer for creativity as I (and a staff of brilliant minds) try to come up with ways to occupy 75 people when our normal plans require us to be outside all day. We have used up most of our ideas in the last three days, and we are quickly running out!

The slogan on our staff shirts for the summer says 'Love like the rain, Serve like the son.' We are certainly seeing a great example of that love as the rain pours down!

Sometimes I forget...

Working with family groups gets difficult. Logistics are harder, personalities of both adults and kids are more complicated, and my patience runs out more quickly. These weeks test me a lot more than others. I feel like I am always fighting myself...trying to keep a smile on my face, answer questions with grace and understanding, and move through the day without letting my frustration show. In those moments, I sometimes forget why we do this.

This morning, I got a reminder. We are finishing up a house for a woman named Dominga. I was here when the construction began in March, and have been able to watch the progress and stand beside her as her excitement has grown. I took the group to pray with her on Sunday afternoon, and usually I don't remember actually what we pray when we do this. But this week I vividly remember praying and looking forward to the moment when we stand with her on Friday, inside her completed home, and get to shout 'Hallelujah!' to the God who has faithfully and graciously provided for her family. But, in the last few days of insanity, I had forgotten about that prayer. I had forgotten about how excited this family is. I had forgotten what a significant week this is for them. This morning, I was reminded of that looming 'Hallelujah!' when I saw Dominga standing outside of her home, as a group of loud, messy, crazy Americanos were painting her home, and watched her tear up. I saw her cry at least 5 times this morning because of the joy this week brings. She even told us later in the morning that her stomach has been hurting, because she is just so excited. I don't know if I know the kind of excitement she is feeling right now. Excitement rooted in the completion of God's promise for a home for her family. Excitement rooted in a new life of security, safety, and stability for her family. Excitement rooted in God's incredible faithfulness and presence during all of the hard times that have led up to this week. Her excitement makes ME excited, and brings me so much joy. Dominga reminds me of why I am here. She reminds me of why God continues to call me back to this place, and she reminds me of God's own faithfulness and planning in my own life.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. ~Psalm 115:1

Pictures from Haiti

Here are a few pictures from the day in Port au Prince. They are in completely random order, because blogging in foreign lands is difficult :) All of these are taken from the bus, so don't judge them for struggling!

The rubble clogging the streets of Port au Prince.
The Presidential Palace, directly across from Mission Rescate.
Our first view of the Presidential Palace as we turned the corner toward the mission.



One of the many tent cities around the city.
The line waiting to cross the border into the D.R.
The border. See that fence on the right with the barbed wire on the top? That is the official border between Haiti and the D.R. Secure, eh?
The insanity of the border on market day. This means that markets are set up on both sides of the border and people are free to walk/run across to buy whatever they need.

Me and Emmanuel at around 6am on our way to Haiti. We are only moderately struggling after no sleep. Emmanuel is the co-director of the Haitian Care Team with Mission Emanuel.

Reflections from Haiti

Yesterday is a day I will be processing for a long time. The delirium of beginning a drive to Haiti at 3:45am and returning at midnight keeps me from really being able to fully understand what yesterday will continue to mean as I rest and recover. I think I have gotten to a point in my life where I can enter into the heartbreaking conditions of third-world countries without focusing on how bad things really are. I have seen it so many times, so I am able to walk in and focus on loving the people I meet and getting to know their stories without engaging too much with how poor the conditions really are. Intellectually, I know it and I see it, but emotionally, I am able to be there without letting myself be gripped by all that I am seeing. That first mission trip feeling of being shocked by how people live has long since passed. Yesterday, Haiti broke me out of that. It was impossible to shut off my emotions as I drove through Port au Prince and thought about all that has transpired in the last six months for these people around me.

There was rubble all around us, piled high in the streets because the crumbles of concrete have nowhere else to go. Everywhere you turn, there are tent cities where thousands upon thousands of people have been living since the beginning of January. Some of them are real tents, but some people don't even have those, so instead are living in tent-like structures made out of tree branches and tarps provided by aid organizations. There is no running water or sanitation in these tent cities, and each one has only a few portable toilets for everyone to use. The smell is unbelievable when you open windows in the bus or get out of the car, and it is heartbreaking. Port au Prince is a sea of humanity, with millions of people packed in, trying to get back to their normal lives. There are markets, people selling clothes and food on the side of the road, and people clearly walking to or from work just on any other day. But amidst all of that normalcy are collapsed buildings, signs saying 'We need help please,' people still recovering from injury, tents in front of collapsed houses which have yet to be repaired, and spray-painted indicators on each house telling whether they are condemned, fixable, or already livable. Proof of the earthquake is everywhere, and it is hard to imagine how this city will ever recover.

Even as we entered the grounds of Mission Rescate to unload supplies and work, our last view before turning into those gates was the severely damaged and partially collapsed Presidential Palace. It is impossible to forget why we are here and the tragedy these people have survived. We unloaded our 3000 bottles of water, clothes, and medical supplies, with the help of 5 lively, smiling, energetic young boys. They greeted Anna and Emmanuel, the leaders of Mission Emanuel's Haitian Care Team, with hugs, jokes, and laughs. They sang American pop songs to us that they learned from the radio. We introduced ourselves, hung out with these kids for a bit, and then got put to work elsewhere. Half of our group was packing food bags for families containing rice, water, and other essentials. The other half went to the clinic, where patients came in, gave us a paper proving they had seen the doctor, and then were given one of these bags of food. Standing in the clinic, I had a few minutes alone with a 12 year old boy named Emmanuel, Mani for short. We talked using a combo of french, spanish, and english (the only time high school french has ever paid off in the DR!). As we talked, laughed, and got to know each other, I was struck by the knowledge that this sweet young boy who didn't want to leave my side had suffered the loss of most of his family only six months ago. He is living in a tent, in a city full of despair and sadness, and yet he stands beside me with a smile on his face. Maybe he is young and resilient, maybe he is in denial, or maybe he is trying to move through tragedy the only way he knows how. No matter what the reason for the smiles, I still find it incredible.

There is so much I could describe or tell you, but I just don't know how. Mission Rescate is doing incredible work, and has assembled a team of people willing to sleep in tents and live in poor conditions themselves in order to care for the Haitian people. Just as the Haitians live without running water or sanitation, so do these missionaries at Mission Rescate. There were Dominicans, Haitians, and Americans working here to help the city of Port au Prince recover from tragedy. I am incredibly thankful for my day there, and humbled by the way these people are willing to sacrifice in order to help other children of God. It makes me think about what I can do for Haiti, and how I am called to give back to these people who need so much. I am praying and hoping God will show me a way. Will you pray with me for the Haitian people? Will you pray for ideas and resources to help? I know I didn't go to Haiti just to see it and forget about it. So now the question becomes 'what next?' How can we do more for the Haitian people? How can we help Mission Rescate with the incredible work they are giving their lives to?

Road trip to Port au Prince, anyone??

It is true, my friends. I am taking a road trip to Port au Prince tomorrow. Me and 15 others...we are loading the staff, the leaders of the Haitian Care Team, 3000 bottles of water, medical supplies, and clothes into the guagua (bus), and hitting the road for Haiti at 2:45am. Why so early, you may wonder. Well, that is because we will have to sit at the border for hours and wait to go through passport and security checks not once, but twice. Once with the Dominican border patrol, and once with the Haitianos. This is going to be quite the ride. We will be in Haiti for the afternoon, delivering the water and supplies to Missione Rescate, which is located in the center of Port au Prince directly across the street from the national palace. We are going to get to see a good bit of the city on the way in and out, but are largely making this run to deliver the supplies. No time for tourism or scoping things out! I am excited to just ride through the city and see for myself what is happening in terms of relief and recovery since the earthquake. I imagine it is still going to be quite the mess, but we are all looking forward to seeing for ourselves.

So, please pray for safe passage through the border, safe travels, and for our own processing as we return from our day. Mostly though, I would love prayer for the missionaries and relief workers we will encounter. I know they need to be loved on, encouraged, and strengthened for all of the hard work they are facing. Pray that they have the strength to continue serving God in such a tough environment, and for Missione Rescate as they bring in aid, workers, and ministry to the people of Port au Prince. I can't wait to send updates your way!

Miss you all,

Deeds

I started writing this yesterday, and then ran out of time...Oh well! Here it is, one day later!

Happy Friday!

We have made it almost completely through week one! The group leaves tomorrow, and the only hiccups of the week have been a lot of rain and a pretty nasty stomach virus hitting the staff and group. Since I am not in charge of viruses or weather, I think I did ok! We completed Carina's house, and were able to join them today for a dedication. The group poured floors, primed, painted, and the family is ready to move in! The hardest work of the week, though, was on Glendy and Bijo's house. We poured the footers all morning on Wednesday. If you are not used to construction in the DR, this means people lined up from the pile of cement next to the cement mixer, a lot of buckets, and a lot of passing buckets to get them across the lot to the footers. Shoveling, passing full buckets, passing back the empty buckets...we all arrived at lunch on Wednesday covering in cement and sweat. This is the most difficult part of any house we build, so it is nice to have that behind us! Walls are beginning as we speak, and the house will continue to progress throughout the month.

By far, one of my favorite parts of each week is Wednesday evening. The staff has some fun alone as we spend the evening in Cielo cooking together for the American visitors, and then going to church. I love that time when we are halfway through the week, dressed up for church, fighting off the mosquitos, and gather around the grill to cook. We listen to music, tell stories, get work done, but mostly act silly. It is always a fun time to be together. Then, it is topped off by a wonderful worship service with all of the people we only see on Sundays and Wednesdays. Every worship service feels like a reunion, and is a great time to greet friends and be reminded of why we come to the DR and why we serve. This week was different though. Thursday was a holiday in the DR, so everyone had the day off of work and school. In the US, that means a cookout, a party, inviting friends over, whatever. Here, that means they drop everything and spend the entire evening at church, worshipping from 8 until midnight. It makes me wonder how Americans would respond to that idea...I imagine they would not be lining up to attend. There is such a huge difference between the American church and the Dominican church. I have watched it for years, and I continue to think that the daily dependence on God for basic needs is a major source of that difference. This stay-at-church-all-night-for-your-holiday-extravaganza just feels like another example of that. A day off of work is a day for celebrating what God does each day, and what God provides each day. I am challenged and convicted by it. I think I need more celebration with God. I think the church needs more celebration with God...of God...

Group number one

Hi friends!

First of all, thanks to all who have been praying. Our first two days of work have gone extremely well. I was a little nervous Monday going into the week, because I am not used to being in charge without anyone to defer to when it comes to decision time. Monday was the first test of that, and all of the work projects went well. Javier, the Dominican Director of Mission Emanuel, has done an incredible job of setting up the projects, so he is making my job look easy. He is really the one in charge, and it is a blessing to work with him and watch him serve these communities and these crazy Americans so well. We are currently working on two different houses. The first is for a woman named Carina, who has one child in our school, and came to Mission Emanuel asking for help on their home. They have slowly been building their own home, a piece at a time when they have extra money, doing all of the construction themselves. So, for the last year, their entire family has been living in half of a home. In Cielo, that means living in about 1 room. They asked for help with materials and labor, so the group will work this week and complete their home. We went to visit them on Sunday, see the construction site, and pray with them before our work began. It is always beautiful to stand with a family and know that at the end of this week, their dream of a complete home of their own will finally come true. It is pretty amazing to watch their joy and excitement. These days of construction bring so much hope to their lives, and I am thrilled to dedicate their house on Friday morning. We will all gather with them, share in their joy, and pray for the life they will have in this new home. What an amazing moment to witness! We poured the concrete floors this morning, after hours of bucket lines to move all of the materials yesterday. The only thing left is to sand the walls, prime them, and paint. So exciting!

The second project is for a family who has worked for Mission Emanuel for many years. I helped build their current home when I was here for a spring break in college. They have been living within the compound of the ministry, with the husband taking care of the grounds and working with maintenance, the wife teaching in the school, and their three children always around to play, help out, and even serve on summer staff. This is a well-known family to all who serve Mission Emanuel, so it is special to build them another home. We are moving them because their first home was converted to offices for the mission, as they need to move in order to have a little space between work and home. This house means a little less insanity, more privacy, and some space away from work. Just like I wouldn't want to live in a manse attached to my church, they want some space! So, footers have been dug, rebar laid, and pouring of the footers begins tomorrow. Hours and hours of concreto!! My favorite :)

So far, all is going well. There are a few things about this trip that will be different for me. I am trying to view this as two months of living here, rather than visiting. So, my camera is safely tucked away in my bag, because I am no longer a tourist here. These are my friends, my community for two months, and my job. So, there will be a lot fewer pictures this time as I simply live here, rather than view moments as photo opps. My life in the DR this time will be much more like actual life, instead of a fun visit and adventure.

Continue to pray for our progress, strength and energy in the heat, and for all of the teenagers with us this week. I know how much international missions and service to others can change the life and attitude of a teenager, and I hope that God is doing a lot of that this week. I do sometimes need to be reminded of how I was so deeply changed at their age because of trips like this. God spoke to me then and continues to speak to me now...I sincerely hope God is speaking to these kids now and will continue to walk closely with them.

Thanks for your prayers!