Day 29: Girly Day #2

I finally got my nails done!!! The salon was open so I finally got them done and she only charged me about $6 for everything. I was very thankful for all of it.

I went with Eury, one of the drivers on Project Manana's staff, to the grocery store to buy butter for the churros since his mom needed to make around 100 at least for the weekend. So nothing exciting happened today...again, unfortunately.

Stay tuned until tomorrow when I will be posting photos or a walk-through video of my living quarters while I am down here. I can't decide yet which I''m going to do. 

Hasta Luego! See you later!

Day 28: Chill Day

So, today was pretty uneventful... I just wanted to post something saying that I am still alive and trying to deal with boredom in the house alone.

I went with one of the drivers to get some errands done so I was happy to get out of the house for sure. We went to a hardware store and placed an order for some products Brian, my supervisor, needs.

I was supposed to get my nails done today, but when we walked to the salon, she was closed, so I will be going tomorrow to get them redone.

One cool thing that happened today was that I tried Dominican, Fried Chicken which came really close to being as good as KFC chicken.

I hope to write about something more substantial soon. I will be hanging out with some friends I met when I was down here last time Saturday night. What will be doing? I have no idea. Possibly going to the movies to watch a movie in English with Spanish subtitles, go to the Project Manana churro truck, or go get ice cream at Bon.

What do you think we should do? Comment below on ideas of what we can do in Santiago.

Day 27: Girly Day #1

I finally slept in past 10 am this morning and didn't get up until 11 am. This may seem like something small or insignificant, but I have not had any chance to sleep in because my body is used to getting up at 7:30 am when there is a team here.

About a week before I talked to Brian about coming down here, I spent some quality, girl time with one of my friends since elementary school while we got our nails done. If anyone of you know how acrylics go, you know if you take off your nails after any amount of time of having acrylics without getting them redone, your nails are crap (flimsy, not strong, useless for anything including scratching your head or anything) until your nails completely grow back out. Since I found out about coming down here, I got them redone about maybe a couple of days before I left. So, knowing it will be four weeks tomorrow, you all can imagine the necessity of me needing to get my nails done. My nails have grown out so much that I am having to force myself to not pry them off. There is space between the top of my nail and the acrylic nail so when I try to wash my hair or comb it back, hair gets stuck and it is just awful.

To give you some perspective on this, the picture on the left is what they are supposed to look like and the picture on the right is what they look like right now.

So, I am going to get them done tomorrow. When I do get them done, I will post what they look like on another post tomorrow. I decided to do something a little crazy too!!!!

Don't worry dad, I didn't get another tattoo or anything (although that is on the agenda after I get back.)

Finally got out of the house today (it had been since Sunday) and I thought I would try out the front bangs for a while... Well, I for one cannot wait to see what all hairstyles I can try with these bangs!

That's all for today. I'll see you all tomorrow for some more girly fun.

Day 26: Work around the house

Since we have had three teams straight come back to back this June, Brian asked me to count how many shoes we had left as well as water filters. Something new he asked me to count were these:

        

This device here is an audio Bible translated in Spanish and English. There are 375 of these. I counted bags of 25 which are pictured in a large duffel bag below. These are only a few of the 25,000 audio bibles someone has so graciously donated to Project Manana to give to the inmates in all of the prisons in the Dominican Republic. 

All these inmates want is a Bible and a printed Bible only lasts about 3 months before falling apart due to the amount of use it gets. What is so sad is that many Christian, American families have over 5, maybe 10, bibles on their bookshelves at home. I know I personally have maybe 3 or 4. So it is by God's grace someone is helping Project Manana spread the gospel to all of the inmates in these prisons through a device that can fit in the palm of your hand. 

Thank you God for the many small things You do that cause great things to happen all for Your glory!

Day 25: DINNER FOR THE STAFF

To show my appreciation to the Project Manana staff, I decided to make them an American dinner (since I don't know how to cook Dominican food.)

I am going to give you blow by blow how this day has gone to help you experience everything it took to make dinner.

To even get to the grocery store, the cook, whom we call Mami (or mommy,) and I took an Uber. Who would have thought Uber would be in the Dominican Republic right? So we got to the grocery and I try to find what I need to make dinner. Mind you, Mami only speaks Spanish, so it was a little challenging to talk about what I needed to buy for dinner. She told me she has to help me make dinner, which I assume is only because she wants to make sure I cook it all correctly and because the cookware (stove, etc.) is very different from the states.

I found what I needed: boneless, chicken breasts, green beans, corn (since I couldn't find baked beans) and macaroni and cheese because you can't have an American dinner without macaroni and cheese. Mami asked if I wanted to make a salad and I said sure why not. I didn't know if she meant like a side salad sort of thing or what, but I wasn't going to eat it so that wasn't a problem.

We check out and have to take a taxi home since we didn't drive over here, which I paid for.

We didn't start cooking until around 6:30 pm so that it could be done by 8.

 So the Dominican salad was prepared by dicing up two heads of lettuce and one radish as a cucumber (not pictured) and tomatoes were sliced as a side dish for the salad.

Since I am really great at making any type of pasta, I made the macaroni and cheese. I decided to saute whole, green beans before putting together the buttered corn in a small, white bowl.

The chicken was the hardest part for me (which also took the longest.) We cut the chicken breasts into fillets and added a few, ground cloves of garlic with two Dominican, chicken bouillon cubes before frying it all in a large skillet with some flavored oil (I'm not exactly sure what she added.)

Above is the pictured smorgasbord of food that Mami and I cooked for the team. Some were not able to make it, but I was happy to receive high praises that it was good nonetheless from those who did.

I thought you might want to see what kind of chef I am in the kitchen when I put my mind to it. $70 dollars and 7 full stomachs later, I was happy to have done this small gesture of my appreciation for all that they have done these past three weeks.

Please pray for us while we are down here. My supervisor, Brian, has been dealing with a cold for the past three weeks and is slowly getting better. We will not have any breaks when the next team comes in on July 5th until the end of July, so please pray he makes a swift recovery this week before July 5th. Thank you for your prayers and love!

Day 18 - 24: Calvary Community Church

(It seems as though this is going to be a weekly thing rather than daily like I had hoped.)

I have been able to work with a team of high school students from Calvary Community Church based out of California this week. These kids took time out of their summer to come to a country that they had never gone to in order to have "open hands" and be flexible to what the staff had planned for them to do this week.

 

This team's leader, Hugo (pictured to the right,) did a splendid job taking care of this team of 18 students and 4 adults as they hosted 3 Vacation Bible School days, worked on removing a pile of dirt that was in the way of the construction team who is steadily building the upcoming Pre-school/ Elementary building, and even distributed more shoes and water filters like the team did two weeks ago.

 

These high school students used their mission trip motto of "open hands"  very literally this week as they opened their arms to hold kids of varying ages, most of which who were thankful for the time spent talking with them (for those who could speak Spanish) or just simply smiling and holding their hand. The team went out of their way to have an actual Americans vs. Dominicans baseball game with the local kids who completely smoked the American teens to the ground.

No matter where I travel on this island, I am always awe-struck with the magnificence of its beauty, No matter if it is the bird's-eye view of Santiago or the country side, it is always lovely to see what God has created. 

I want to get real with you for a second to show how I am human and that I make mistakes. While dealing with a summer cold this week, I had a relapse of realizing my reasoning as to why I am here. Wishing I was home in my bed with the many comforts I am used to, I was quickly put in my place by some family members that I am down here for a reason: to serve alongside Brian and the Project Manana team spreading the gospel, whether it be with holding a child in an impoverished community, putting a pair of shoes that grow on a kid who has only a very worn pair of sandals on his feet, or if it is smiling and waving at locals as we drive through the city. 

It is hard to keep my perspective of why I here in the forefront of my mind as I miss people from home. 

I get pictures like these and I realize it is a little less than a month before I am on a plane back home, back to my life. I need prayers to realize that I need to be in the moment and spend time with the teams here. Not many can say they have been to the Dominican Republic, let alone twice. Please pray that I can keep my mind and heart here as I finish out my internship here. I am happy to be spending time here and making new friends that I hope to keep for years to come. 

I wanted to share this little gem with you all. This is a true Dominican Church service song sung by one of the locals in the San Pablo Community this morning. Quality is not the best, but I hope you see that no matter what language someone is singing or speaking, it is all to the same God in Heaven who understands all languages who are singing to him. 

Unfortunately, I did not get a video recording of two of this week's team members singing a song this morning that the locals also knew. It was a very humbling experience to hear and see both Americans and Dominicans sing the same song. It literally brought a smile to my face to see everyone in the church singing together. It may be something that you have to see or hear before you realize how magnificent it is. 

I spent the day yesterday at the beach and thought I would share this view with everyone. The Caribbean is a very beautiful place. This is Sosua Beach on the northern shores of the island. 

I will have the next few days off, so I hope to post about my week and the little things I do around here during my free time. Please feel free to comment or message me on Facebook about my trip. 

Day 11 - 17: Brock Gill and team

This week went a little differently than the first week I was here. Rather than work on building the San Pablo new Preschool/ Kindergarten school or host a VBS in another community, the famous Illusionist, Brock Gill and his wife, came to perform illusions while sharing the gospel in 5 local prisons here in the Dominican Republic.

This photo is of Brock Gill (third from the left) and his wife (to the right in white shirt) with a father-daughter duo team (two to the right of Gill's wife) from Gill's church with Project Manana staff.

Some people know how a prison or a jail (there is a difference) goes on in the States; unfortunately, I have no previous experience to compare to the experiences I had while walking around the prisons....

It is not only a humbling experience, but it is a serious fact of life that I had not focused on before being pat down and led to walk across the grounds to one of their pavilions. As a woman at an all men prison, it is strange to have a bunch of men stare at you in respect, and what I mean by that is without cat-calls or whistling, just staring in wonder of why a group of Americans, 3 of which are women, are at their prison.

Of the 5 prisons that Brock Gill and his team visited, I went to four of them. Of these performances, my supervisor, Brian, was able to take many photos and video content as well. It is the photos of these prisons that I want to focus your attention to at this moment.

These photos just scream the words: "containment," "claustrophobic," "cramped." There is no privacy, no real vision of a future of doing something great again, no hope. Until Project Manana got involved, those in these prisons were not given the chance of doing something good for the community or something good for themselves. 

Project Manana not only gave these men a renounced feeling of grace that God has for them, no matter what they had done to get there in the first place. It is a great thing that Project Manana is doing within these prisons.

This photo is of the team and I talking with the warden at the Moca Prison of his job at the prison of trying to share the gospel and keep everyone safe. The photo below is of the team, Project Manana staff and some of the staff from the prison in front of the building. 

The sign reads "Correction Center and Rehabilitation The Island Moca, Dominican Republic."

Project Manana has partnered with a few American-based organizations to help prison fathers be real dads to their children on the other side of the glass, to help these men see the light, find Jesus, and how to be a Christian. 

Brock Gill found time in his busy schedule to come and share the gospel to 1,096 inmates in 5 different prisons on the island. With his illusions, he shared his testimony of feeling alone and invisible, how he found God and how God made him whole. I will share a video of one of his tricks below.

These prisons are set up to where the inmate has an allotted amount of time each day to work on a trade or an "extra-curricular activity," if you will, which they then work on, practice and perform in a competition for trophies within their area or within all of the prisons as something good to do or focus on in their life rather than the idea of them being stuck in a prison. After Brock performed his routine, the Moca warden asked us to sit down as the inmates had practiced a few things for us. One of which is the guy in the next video who has found his love for singing. Although the song is in Spanish and I could not understand what he was saying, I was touched with his performance as he has changed his life around for something that God gave him, his voice. 

Brock shared a few words to Brian and his fans of his experience at this prison as it had been his first, complete day of performing to the inmates.

The last two performance of the week spoke to me the most concerning a response from the inmates. At the end of each performance, Brock would make sure to tell the inmates that Jesus was there for them to help them not feel alone or invisible any longer and prayed with them through translation a simple, sinner's prayer. Of the 1,096 inmates Brock Gill had talked to, 548 raised their hand saying that they had given their heart to the Lord in that moment, not before, but in that moment. The amount of hands raised made not only my heart, but God's heart happy. 

548 inmates were given a new life in Christ all because Brock came to the Dominican Republic for a few days.

548!!!

This number is exactly 50% of the inmates. It may not seem like a great percentage to some people, but it is very important to me because that is 548 inmates who heard God through Brock and made the decision to follow Jesus. 

Some people who evangelize to others may feel like they are not getting through to them or that they did not do their all, but I know that it was not the case this week. The last prison we went to gave an inmate the chance to say a few words after Brock's performance and it was meant to be heard. I think it is important for any evangelist or follower of Jesus to hear this video.

This video gives everyone a chance to see how thankful that people can be for what it is that many Christians get persecuted for. To give you a perspective of who all is in the prison, below is a photo that was taken just two days ago of the number of inmates, by age, reason for imprisonment and if they have a sentence, are in one prison alone. The number of inmates in the jail is 1,561; all are either in for preventative, condemned or foreign (most likely Haitians.) Clasificacion Por Delitos is the classification of offense the inmate is in prison for; in order: Homicide, Drugs, Stealing, Violation, Other.

Look at Internos Por Edad, which means by age. 478 of the inmates are still teenagers, from the age of 18-25. Anos is year in Spanish. It broke my heart to see that most of them are still so young. They are in jail because they were not taught well as a child to stay away from the bad influences in life, to stay in school or anything about Jesus. I see a true reason to come and talk to these young men in prison about Jesus and tell them that they are not alone. I pray that Jesus spreads like a wildfire throughout all 10 prisons in the country.

Please pray that Project Manana continues to do great things in these prison communities and for the 548 inmates that got saved this week as they begin their spiritual fight with Satan. These inmates do not see any hope or grace, but with Jesus, they do have hope and a wonderful future in Heaven forever. I am very thankful for all that Brian and his team is doing for these men that most people just try to forget.

Day 5 - 10: Centerpoint Church

Hi all!

This week has been eventful for sure! This week, I have been given the privilege to work with a team from Centerpoint Church in Cincinatti, Ohio, some of which I have gotten to know really well.

With a mixture of age from the group, I was included into conversations with high school students to college-age kids as well as a few adults. A group of 21 gives a girl a great amount of people to get to know and make memories with.

 This team worked on building the upcoming preschool and kindergarten school so that the school system Project Manana has set up can grow. (pictures of this to come)

One day this week, we were able to take a trip to another community called Cien Fuegos, or 100 fires in Spanish. We were able to assemble over 20 water filters and pass out almost 50 pairs of shoes to kids in this impoverish community. I was even able to fit a pair of shoes on a kid.

 

For a more detailed explanation of the shoe distribution, CLICK HERE!!!

I decorated one of the filters and took a picture with the guy who received the water filter I decorated and assembled, after explaining how we are like the dirty water put inside the filter before God changes us into something pure. 

One highlight of this trip was the opening night of the churro cart that Project Manana has decided to purchase and run to help raise funds for the organization. Funny enough, it was named after and based off of the Executive Director, Brian Berman, who is also my supervisor here (pictured below).

This group leaves tomorrow morning early, so more relaxing time for me continues this week as there is only a team of 4 or 5 this week.

Until next time!

Day 4

Today was the first day of real work with the team. With delays in the flight schedule, most of the team didn't go to bed until around 1 am, some later even. Including the lack of sleep and long, dreadful flights, the team woke up, a little groggy, but ready to start their day with a devotional and dive in to work on what was planned for the day.

It is awesome to see these teens, college students and parents come together and work on digging ditches for the upcoming building that will become the preschool and kindergarten school in a small community of around 330 families called Villa Gonzales in the town San Pablo.

Due to the fact that I do not have camera opportunities this internship around, I will be receiving photos from this group's leader when he returns home on Monday, so I will try to go back and add photos when I get the chance, or I may just post a bunch of pictures on one post of a recap of what all went on this week. Not sure yet...

One thing that really stuck out to me was the commitment that these teens had. Project Manana gives the opportunity to whomever to sponsor a kid for them to get 5 hot meals a week with a vitamin supplement for $30 a month or the opportunity to sponsor a kid for the nutritional factor and the chance for them to go to the Private school that they have set up in the community stated earlier for $60 a month. There are a few teens here in this group of 22 that sponsor a kid on their own, without the help of their parents. I thought it was great that these kids take money that they earn to help another kid get nutrition and an education of the Gospel.

I highly suggest to those reading to think and pray about sponsoring a child here for the opportunity for a child to go to school and get food and a vitamin supplement for their health. The link will be added, but I think it is a great opportunity to help even if you cannot come down here. Brian was telling the team today that they really need to sponsor more kids before August since that will be the beginning of school, so this might be something that could touch you and make you feel like you are making a difference in the world, and it makes it better since you are!

Sponsor Me Here!

These kids here are at the nutrition center within the Villa Gonzales community. There are over 100 kids who get a hot meal and they have to come in shifts due to the amount of kids there are. This is just a snap shot I was able to take earlier. Even though it was hot and the room was full of bodies, the team still served food and sat with these kids to talk to them ( as much Spanish that each team member knows) and to just be there for them. 

After a long and hard day of work, the team came back to the guest house to get refreshed and washed up for dinner where we went to a local treat called "Bon" which is an ice-cream/frozen yogurt treat here that I have only found to be in the Dominican since 1987 to be exact. This is always one of my favorite things about coming here, besides the work we do for the community itself. Most of the flavors are similar to those from home, but this ice-cream is a lot more creamier than from home. 

With unlimited ice cream and chocolate options, I decided to do something good for my body and get frozen yogurt with fruit rather than chocolate. With help from Brian, my supervisor, I was able to receive a strawberry, mango and pineapple fro-yo concoction that was both good for my body and good for my sweet tooth.

Tonight though, after ice-cream, was the icing on the cake. Each night, there is a time to 'de-brief' all of what everyone was thinking of the day's activities and different aspects of what they saw or experienced touched them. Brian made the point of sort of challenging everyone in the group to figure out if they were a fan versus a follower of Jesus from Kyle Idleman's study on fan vs follower. With the definitions of the two words as so -- a fan is an enthusiastic admirer where a follower is someone who is a fan, but physically does something about it, like sharing the gospel.

This made me thinking and I wanted to share with you some of the questions that were asked.

Am I a fan or a follower?

What is my purpose in life? 

What is it that I am supposed to do?

How do I pick up my cross daily and follow him like He asked in Luke 7?

What do I need to change in my life to be a follower and not a fan?

Selah. Food for thought.

Day 3

Hi guys! Today is the day the first team comes in!!! Later tonight, the team will be coming in from Miami and will be brought to the Guest House (2-story, 30 bunk beds) where I will be staying the majority of my time.

Per Mom's request, I am sharing photos...

I was able to relax on the gazebo patio this morning after eating my almond, corn flakes with coconut milk (both a new and good experience for me.) I couldn't help but be intrigued and take a "Selah" moment to see creation as it is, blooming without Mankind's interference, colorful to the eye and showing those who see it how much detail God puts into even the small things in this crazy thing called Life.

This view, my friends, is the Dominican Republic off the gazebo patio just this morning...

Beautifully speechless, right?

My supervisor for the summer, Brian, brought me into his home last night to meet some of his family as they celebrated his son's kindergarten graduation with a cookout--- Dominican-style of course ---which was wonderful beyond words (I just might have to get some recipes of how they cook their food!)

This is Rancho de La Paz, or Peace Ranch in English. Its name rings true as it is peaceful with its spring-fed swimming pool and gazebo patio with wooden chairs looking out the beautiful view I shared above. 

So, what am I doing today? Relaxing until the teams come in between 8-9 pm tonight. I cannot wait to meet new people and see all that they plan to do for their week here. 

Until later, 

Dios te Bendiga, (or God Bless You.)

Day 2: Chill

After two more flights, with delays galore, I have officially arrived to the Dominican Republic (last night anyway.) The flights themselves were not bad, it was the waiting to depart that took a while, all due to weather of course.

It has been our "chill" day with a cookout and time spent getting to know one another. I have met new friends, such as Brian Berman and his family, which is great since they have been talking to me in both Spanish and English so that I can work on my Spanish speaking. I am staying around the same place, but where we will be working is not the same (more details on where later.)

I hope to post pictures soon. I do not have the opportunity to take photos like I did last time, so photos might come more sparingly.

Anyway, this post is more for everyone to know that I am okay and that I have arrived safely rather than an update on a team's arrival (which will be tomorrow) or what the team has done.

Have a good day!

Day 1

 

I have landed from my first flight which is stated above with some snap chats I posted while traveling.

As I write this, I am sitting in an airport awaiting my second flight, eating Krispy Kremes with a Dasani water, people watching families and couples make their way to their destination with the hustle and bustle of airport traffic.

Do not get me wrong, I love airports and flying rather than driving, but it is an experience in and of itself if you have never been in an airport like Miami or Chicago where there are people running to and fro everywhere. It is a madhouse year-round. I do not know if I could work in an airport or on a plane with the great amount of time they (pilots, flight attendants and the like) spend with the public. I work in a pharmacy and that is enough public exposure for me!

It will be an experience going through the Dominican Airport again, anxious on having my passport stamped and giving the local airport workers my paperwork of why I am in the country, knowing that if I tried to talk to them that it would be useless since they only speak Spanish (and my Spanish is not even close to theirs....and they are a little intimidating.)

Concerning school, I have thankfully finalized all of the paperwork for this internship to be deemed approved for college credit. I will only have to finish 8 classes before I graduate next May (*insert internal scream of excitement here*.)

My family is excited for me, even with tears in their eyes as they dropped me off this morning some time before 4am.

I cannot wait to make new friends as I embark on this journey, but I will miss my loved ones for sure.

Until later....
Adios