17 days in the Dominican Republic

Hey everyone!!
I´m sorry i havent been able to write sooner. We have been quite busy. Im still here in the Dominican Republic. We leave at 1pm on Wed. We will get back to the IOC late that night. So what have we been doing? I dont think i have a whole lot of time(im at an internet cafe at the moment) but ill try to fill you in. there are 11 of us on the team. I absolutely love our team. we get along great and work well with eachother. we have become like family and have had a lot of fun together. weve been working in a couple different villages. one named aguas negras(black water). There we are working with a dominican lady named sandra. She has a school, church, boys and girls club, clinic, etc. she is amazing. the boys and girls have been helping us build walls in the girls club, take one out of the boys club, build some shelves for the class rooms in the school, etc. We´ve also done some different painting projects. Sandra´s mom has been cooking our meals for us. she is the sweetest funniest old lady. shes one of those cute ones that still acts young. we have also helped her fix up her tiny kitchen. weve also worked in another village called villa ascension. weve helped with a feeding program where they serve a meal for kids and elderly 4 times a week. we helped serve, feed the little ones and clean up. it was chaotic but fun. we also helped deliver rabbits to certain families for this program for them to raise rabbits to sell, eat, etc. I had the experience of riding a motoconcio (motorcycle) while holding this guys rabbit to help him take it home. It was So much fun! and quite the experience navegating the dirt and rock roads and then going through a shallow river. Last weekend we went on this crazy hike up a huge mountain with the boys club from the other village. it was quite an adventure. we got lost and it ended up taking about 3 hours. Several people ended up getting stung by nettle and other plants. By some miracle I didn´t end up with more than a couple scratches from the rocks and roots. several times we climbe completely strait up on the mountain and the tree roots sticking out. Besides the frusteration of the situation it was So much fun. I love that kind of stuff. it was a challenge. but it was rewarding to finally get to the top. This weekend we went to the beach and me, Becca and Elliote swam out to a reef and took turns with beccas goggles looking at awesome fish and sea urchins. Then a managed to get extremely burnt. :( so i am cherry red but doing ok ;-p it doesnt hurt as much as it could. today we went on a nice little walk up another mountain, crossing a couple rivers and then swimming at the top after having a little service. It was very fun and relaxing. I joined the dominican kids and some of the team jumping off rocks into the river. and i made a nice jump from about 20 feet up a rock or more. So much fun! so tomarrow we go back to work and will work thru Tue. then its pack up time and we´ll say goodby to all our new friends and the dominican republic. It has been a great trip and God has stretched me and taught me. I feel very blessed to have had this opportunity. I feel it is also extremely relevant in preparing me for work in africa with mercyships. I will write when again when i get back summing up what i´ve learned from this trip. Hope everyone is well! missing you all :)

Leaving at 2:45am Zzzzzz

Now that BST is over, that is the last of the gateway training here at the IOC campus in Texas. Now I'll be leaving in 4 1/2 hours for the Dominican field service. I'm so excited. Pray for safety and that God does his work and use us in every way possible. I'm praying for a servants heart and a love like Jesus' for everyone I encounter. I'll probably update once while i'm there when we can get to an internet cafe. :) love you all!

Me and one of the girls, Heather :)

Fire Training!

We had fire fighting drills and learned to use the Self Contained Breathing Apparatis (SCBA: the masks in the picture). We learned about type A, B, C, & D fires. Different types of extinguishers used, how to put on the gear how to use the hose and how to actually go into a burning building and put a fire out (it was a real simulated exercise). Also other dynamics of fire and fire safetyThen we also had water safety training. We learned about life rafts, how to flip one. how to huddle up if you have to abandon ship. we learned to put on a "Gumby" suit. Its a full body insulation suit that looks rediculous :-p but may save yer life. we learned to jump in with it on, and swim and climb in a life raft. It was all so much fun! I am now BST certified by the coast guard! There are more pictures on facebook for anyone who has it and would like to look.

The gear before i'm sweating in it :-p
The oxygen for the AED

The AED masks. arent they flattering!! haha

CPR, 1st Aid, AED

Alright! Basic Safety Training is successfully complete. We learned Adult CPR and also basic first aid, different kinds of splints and wounds and what to do for them. We also learned how to use an Automatic external defibrilator. It was a lot of fun. We each got our own manaquin.

two rescue breaths, 30 compressions, and repeat...

Here is Susy hehehe :PPracticing different kinds of carries. It was hillarious everyone started running around the room like that. :-p

Canoeing!

Church went great this morning. It was a really neat time. Canoeing was a blast! Here is the photo record :) i'll take you through the day with me....

Before we started. My team, Noah(middle: South Korean) and Murray (on right: south african)

And we're off!

Out on the great wide river!

Smile ;-p

A dragon fly wanted to join our team...

More of the group (I guess the sun was in my eyes :-p haha)

More of our group
Paddle harder!!
There they all go! (we had 7 canoes full)
We stopped at a little bank beside the swamp for lunch: chicken salad sandwhiches, chips, cookies, and peaches. Mmm!

This is what we got to look at and float through! it was gorgeous!

After. Hot, sweaty, sungreased/sunburned! It was a great 4 hour ride.

Then we went and found a little local icecream, antique, everything store! The ice cream was awesome. Completely hit the spot!

The lady running the store was named Shelly. She showed us around. This was where they do parties for little girls. they get to dress up and learn tea manners etc. She let us have a little fun ;)

On the way home. Danae and Christina (driving). Me and britaney were in the back. very fun day! Please pray for me now, as I take basic safety training this week. I have to take some tests on what we learn and i am required to pass them. Please pray all goes well. Thanks!

African Lunch!

Hey Everyone! Today was our last day of classroom!! It was great. We had a speaker from Sierra Leone. We talked about some really crucial and interesting things about going into other cultures, such as body language. Some of the points we discussed were as follows. Go in as a learner; Look for common interests; Learn to know something about their culture; seek God in every relationship; Share about your own culture; find ways to serve them; and find ways to connect with the whole family (Ex: attend weddings/funerals etc.);

Edward brought up a sad but true statement. As missionaries, "we tend to use people as projects, not relationships." basically the lesson could be summed up in this saying: "People don't care how much you know untill they see how much you care."

So now that the classroom phase is over, We will have a whole week of Basic Safety Training (BST) starting Monday. I am so excited! We will learn basic CPR, fire and water safety, etc. Tomarrow we are having our own small church service in a chapel here on campus. Mike one of our Gateway team members is a pastor and will be speaking. Myself and a couple other girls are going to help with worship. It will be early 7:15am. Then at 8:15am almost the entire team is loading up and driving an hour and a half to go canoeing! It should be fun. Today I finally finished my shopping for the dominican and the ship. I was able to find the clothes i need for my uniform as receptionist, as well as other things like water bottle, bug spray, work gloves, etc. for the Dominican.

After BST this week, 9 of us will leave around 3am for the Dominican. We will be working with a school there; helping the local boys put a wall up for a boys and girls club. We will also help the local people continue to build a rabbit buisness begun earlier. We will help them build more cages as well as buy some other rabbits to distribute (these rabbits will come from a local man who made good of this program himself earlier and now has rabbits to sell to support himself!). We will spend time with some shoeshine boys as well as other kids and families. I'm so excited. Please pray for health, spiritual protection, team unity, divine appointments, and that God will be glorified.

This is Edmond, the son of our speaker, Edward Davis from Sierra Leone.

We had an African lunch today after Edward spoke in our class! It was Yummy! :)
Pineapple Pie. Mmmmm!

Plantain and blackeyed peas; chicken, beef and rice curry, eggs. Very Good!

4th of July!

The gang out bowling
Girl pose ;-p
danae, Christina O, me, Christina K. havin a blast!

Me and some friends went to the store and out for a snack, this goat was in the lobby :-p

after doing the obstacle course!

Eating at Texas Burger

Hey everyone! Training is still going well. We've been learning about spiritual warfare, conflict resolution, and community living. It's been very interesting and relevent. I am more excited than ever :) I am also getting very excited about our field service trip to the Dominican. We will be helping put a wall up in a room they will be using for boy's and girls club. We will also be helping with a school, and building rabbit hutches for raising rabbits. This way they can have a small buisness.

Besides class, we have enjoyed playing some wally ball and other sports. One of the guys had a birthday this week, so the whole group went out to the Texas Burger and bowling. It was a lot of fun. Then on Saturday we went to a 4th of July celebration with fireworks, a blow-up obstacle course, rock wall etc. It was a blast :) the rock wall and fireworks were my favorite. So its been a good week and I've really enjoyed relaxing and refreshing over the weekend. Now i'm looking forward to seeing what this week holds!