Today Jamie, Laura and Tyler are telling you about their days. Enjoy!! Love to all back home, we miss you!!! ♥
Hi family!!! I miss you all! Yes, even you Brad… I actually had a dream about you the other night, weird, I know. Daddy, Happy Fathers Day tomorrow! Mom, everything is going great and I´m having a great experience. But I´m not going to lie, I miss your cooking and I´m hoping for a big dinner when I get home! Also, tell Michelle that I said hi and that I´ll have to tell her all about it when she gets home. Love you all, see you Tuesday!
Yesterday was by far the best day for me. We first started with the dental clinic for the last time where I got the chance to pray with everyone who came in to have their teeth checked. It was such a special thing for me to experience with these people. I loved when the older Dominicans would place a hand on me as I prayed for them, or when they muttered a prayer of their own while I prayed in English. But my favorite part was praying with the children who came to the clinic because they were just so cute and innocent. One of the women I got to pray with came up to me, Laura and Emily when she was leaving and gave each one of us a kiss on the cheek, it was so special and I will never forget it.
For our daily English lesson we didn´t have any plans, so we got the chance to have a casual conversation with some teens from the community. We started talking about our interests and discovered that almost all of us enjoyed singing, so we started to name off some of our favorite Church songs to see if we all knew one that we could sing together. Everyone knew Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord, and Come, Now is the Time to Worship and a few others so we sang together in English, Spanish and then both at the same time. I can´t even describe how beautiful it was because even though there was that language barrier, we could all still worship and praise God together. It was so wonderful that I wanted to cry, but I was too happy to… I feel blessed to have been a part of that wonderful moment with God.
Later on in the day, we all went across the street to finish painting the walls of the school. While I was walking by the outer gate three girls on the outside shouted ¨Americano! Americano!¨ I went over to them and we started having a full conversation in Spanish. They were absolutely adorable, and no older than 5. I don´t know what it was about those 3 girls but they each touched my heart in a special way. I also became close with another girl named Damar who has been helping us periodically throughout the week yesterday. We started playing simple games together and had a few conversations. She fell in love with my hair and decided to give me a new hair do and when she finished her and several other little girls said I was muy linda, or very beautiful… That made my heart smile. Damar then took my camera and started looking at pictures I had from home, she and several older boys were fascinated about my school and my friends. It was so cool to be able to share some of our culture with them just by telling stories and answering questions.
After that, it was time for dinner. We got to experience a Dominican home cooked meal, prepared by someone from the church. Let me tell you, it was absolutely delicious. We also had the pleasure of eating dinner with a newly wed couple from the church who showed us wedding pictures, which we girls got to oooh and ahhh over. As soon as we finished eating, me, Laura, Emily and Marisa got to go down to the church to practice singing with the worship team. Me and Laura will be singing Our God in spanish tomorrow, and all four of us will be singing up front with the worship group. It was absolutely incredible to be able to worship with the Dominicans in their church. They are all such a musical people, and each one of them had the most amazing voice with some crazy lungs on them. I am so excited and nervous to sing with them tomorrow, so prayers for a successful service would be very appreciated!
By this time it was time for the group to end the night with our traditional talk on the roof of the school. This group has bonded so closely and every night I feel we become closer. It was absolutely gorgeous sitting under a sky full of stars with the moon rising behind us. The day ended perfectly.
Adios, Jamie
Yesterday was by far the best day for me. We first started with the dental clinic for the last time where I got the chance to pray with everyone who came in to have their teeth checked. It was such a special thing for me to experience with these people. I loved when the older Dominicans would place a hand on me as I prayed for them, or when they muttered a prayer of their own while I prayed in English. But my favorite part was praying with the children who came to the clinic because they were just so cute and innocent. One of the women I got to pray with came up to me, Laura and Emily when she was leaving and gave each one of us a kiss on the cheek, it was so special and I will never forget it.
For our daily English lesson we didn´t have any plans, so we got the chance to have a casual conversation with some teens from the community. We started talking about our interests and discovered that almost all of us enjoyed singing, so we started to name off some of our favorite Church songs to see if we all knew one that we could sing together. Everyone knew Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord, and Come, Now is the Time to Worship and a few others so we sang together in English, Spanish and then both at the same time. I can´t even describe how beautiful it was because even though there was that language barrier, we could all still worship and praise God together. It was so wonderful that I wanted to cry, but I was too happy to… I feel blessed to have been a part of that wonderful moment with God.
Later on in the day, we all went across the street to finish painting the walls of the school. While I was walking by the outer gate three girls on the outside shouted ¨Americano! Americano!¨ I went over to them and we started having a full conversation in Spanish. They were absolutely adorable, and no older than 5. I don´t know what it was about those 3 girls but they each touched my heart in a special way. I also became close with another girl named Damar who has been helping us periodically throughout the week yesterday. We started playing simple games together and had a few conversations. She fell in love with my hair and decided to give me a new hair do and when she finished her and several other little girls said I was muy linda, or very beautiful… That made my heart smile. Damar then took my camera and started looking at pictures I had from home, she and several older boys were fascinated about my school and my friends. It was so cool to be able to share some of our culture with them just by telling stories and answering questions.
After that, it was time for dinner. We got to experience a Dominican home cooked meal, prepared by someone from the church. Let me tell you, it was absolutely delicious. We also had the pleasure of eating dinner with a newly wed couple from the church who showed us wedding pictures, which we girls got to oooh and ahhh over. As soon as we finished eating, me, Laura, Emily and Marisa got to go down to the church to practice singing with the worship team. Me and Laura will be singing Our God in spanish tomorrow, and all four of us will be singing up front with the worship group. It was absolutely incredible to be able to worship with the Dominicans in their church. They are all such a musical people, and each one of them had the most amazing voice with some crazy lungs on them. I am so excited and nervous to sing with them tomorrow, so prayers for a successful service would be very appreciated!
By this time it was time for the group to end the night with our traditional talk on the roof of the school. This group has bonded so closely and every night I feel we become closer. It was absolutely gorgeous sitting under a sky full of stars with the moon rising behind us. The day ended perfectly.
Adios, Jamie
Hi everyone! I don´t know about the rest of the group, but I have been having an awesome time! Although it was very hot yesterday, it was probably the best day so far. In the morning I got to help out in the dental clinic explaining how to brush teeth in Spanish, and it is now embedded in my brain! I could communicate well with most of the patients, which surprised me, and I was just amazed at how they would be so proud of just a simple compliment or receiving their very own tube of tooth paste and a tooth brush. I also got to experience the prayer station and it was very impactful because even though most of them do not know what I was saying they would pray under their breath with me in Spanish, and it was still all going to the same God. How amazing.
There are so many words to describe yesterday afternoon-eventful, exciting, heart-warming, awesome. It started off my me dropping the pineapple jelly all over the floor. (Just a side note: the pineapples here are amazing!) After lunch we went to teach an English lesson to the teenagers that come religiously to learn. We didn´t really have a lesson prepared, so I thought it was going to be a flop, but they proved me very very wrong! We first went around and asked them to answer the question ¨What do you like to do?” in English. Then it was our turn to do the same so they could practice their listening skills. Many of us, both Dominican and American, said we like to sing, and before we knew it, it had turned into this huge, emotional concert. We were singing worship songs for them in English and they would sing the same one but in Spanish. Then we would sing them together. It was so so touching and many of the girls were in tears. I cannot wait to see what will happen at the services on Sunday.
Next we got to experience the art of bartering as Moise brought some vendors to the school. And I must say, Dad, you would have been proud at times, but other times I just felt bad for arguing. Then Marisa, Megan, and I headed to the pre-school to continue working on the mural. But that´s not all we did. We learned how to do the traditional Dominican hairstyle from a 10-year-old named Damar, Jose taught us to salsa, and we learned some addicting hand games!
After dinner with Manuel and Karen, two members of the church, and worship practice with the worship team, Marisa, Tyler, Braden, Eli, and I all decided to get even higher up in the city by climbing up on the roof-without a ladder. Had Mrs. Spiegel known there was no ladder before she would not have let us try. So we put and chair on the table, and with spotters, used our upper body strength to get onto the roof, which we found out this morning is probably one of the highest points in the city! (I literally felt closer to God!) The sky was as clear as it has been this whole trip, and the view was just breath taking. I even saw a shooting star. So that was yesterday in a nutshell. I must say even though I´m having a blast I do miss my family, even Jana! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! I´m sorry I´m not at home to share it with you. And from all the kids: HAPPY FATHER´S DAY, DADS! See you all when we return.
Much love,
Laura
Tyler
There are so many words to describe yesterday afternoon-eventful, exciting, heart-warming, awesome. It started off my me dropping the pineapple jelly all over the floor. (Just a side note: the pineapples here are amazing!) After lunch we went to teach an English lesson to the teenagers that come religiously to learn. We didn´t really have a lesson prepared, so I thought it was going to be a flop, but they proved me very very wrong! We first went around and asked them to answer the question ¨What do you like to do?” in English. Then it was our turn to do the same so they could practice their listening skills. Many of us, both Dominican and American, said we like to sing, and before we knew it, it had turned into this huge, emotional concert. We were singing worship songs for them in English and they would sing the same one but in Spanish. Then we would sing them together. It was so so touching and many of the girls were in tears. I cannot wait to see what will happen at the services on Sunday.
Next we got to experience the art of bartering as Moise brought some vendors to the school. And I must say, Dad, you would have been proud at times, but other times I just felt bad for arguing. Then Marisa, Megan, and I headed to the pre-school to continue working on the mural. But that´s not all we did. We learned how to do the traditional Dominican hairstyle from a 10-year-old named Damar, Jose taught us to salsa, and we learned some addicting hand games!
After dinner with Manuel and Karen, two members of the church, and worship practice with the worship team, Marisa, Tyler, Braden, Eli, and I all decided to get even higher up in the city by climbing up on the roof-without a ladder. Had Mrs. Spiegel known there was no ladder before she would not have let us try. So we put and chair on the table, and with spotters, used our upper body strength to get onto the roof, which we found out this morning is probably one of the highest points in the city! (I literally felt closer to God!) The sky was as clear as it has been this whole trip, and the view was just breath taking. I even saw a shooting star. So that was yesterday in a nutshell. I must say even though I´m having a blast I do miss my family, even Jana! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! I´m sorry I´m not at home to share it with you. And from all the kids: HAPPY FATHER´S DAY, DADS! See you all when we return.
Much love,
Laura
Hola!!! So yesterday I was on the construction team with Greg and Eli Norden and also Braden Distel. We painted the outside wall of the new preschool across the street. Painting the school signifies that Moise and Mission Possible are good stewards of their possessions, the reason that their image is so important is that if their possessions blend in with the community they do not look different from anyone else. The image separation draws respect to Christianity and to the people of the church. Later that day our construction crew and the Millers carried about 100 or so cinder blocks to the roof of the building for the masons. We can not actually help with the construction of the 2nd story because the tasks now need special training and even if we had the training, our help would cause the contracted workers to lose money. Although I really wanted to work on building the 2nd level I completely understand why I can not help.
Today was more of a site-seeing day. We started off by taking Ruth´s sister to Haiti. On the way to the border it was a beautiful drive because we were traveling through some of the most unique mountains I have ever seen. But once we started to approach the border the scenery changed from beautiful to dreary. For some reason the valleys have started to flood, no one knows why, but the water just keeps rising. At the border the old Dominican Immigration Office was flooded up to its roof with water so dirty it looked pretty much like soda. All of the border offices are in trailers currently and they are having to bring in more dirt to raise the ground level because the water is still rising! Events like this are just so saddening because unlike in America where we have talented and highly trained engineers to fix the problem, the people of Haiti and the Dominican are more susceptible to weather and its consequences.
As far as lessons learned so far on the trip, I would have to say consequences would be a big lesson. Its not that I never knew about consequences, its just I realized how much more permanent and life altering they can become. Scott was telling us a few nights ago about how he saw a child with ´´screw teeth´ and that they were probably developed because the mother had been infected with syphilis. So that got me thinking about generational sin, and just the complete consequences of someone´s choices over their lifetime. The best analogy I could come up with is that life is like a wall (yeah, I came up with this while I was painting, had some thinking time). When you start your life the wall has been just freshly built. The imperfections in the concrete from construction is the generational sin, or the sin you inherit from your fathers and so on. Every stage of life we go through we add a layer of paint. This is where the consequences come in. I noticed that even though we were putting on multiple layers of paint, some of the errors from the old paint just could not be covered up completely. This is a lifetime consequence, no matter how far removed from the situation or action, you will still have to deal with it. Also the other main thing I noticed was for us to apply the new layers we had to completely sand off the old layer, if the flaky parts of the old layer weren't sanded off then the new layer would peel off quite quickly. In life if we just try to forget about something without truly making an honest effort at fixing the mistake, we will just revert back to what we were. If we do not go to God with our issues and have him help us with them we really have not changed, we have just covered up our problems to be revealed again at a later time. So that´s what I was able to take away from the painting yesterday. It probably does not make sense, but we were told to write about a lesson learned or something along the lines of that so this was the best I had!
Hi Jamie and the rest of our little missionaries!! You guys are surely making an impact down there. But I am not sure who is being changed the most - you or them! What wonderful good stories of all the great things happening and how God is working in and through you. Thank you for all you are doing and we will keep you in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteBlessings to all of you - Jan Steinman