God is Great!! I MISS YOU GUYS!!!

Hey everyone parents included. Parents I would love to say that your kids are missing you but that wold not be the truth. They are having so much fun out there in Dom Republic as one student wrote they will find it so hard to leave those persons that they had met and have to come back home. Imagine that in those few short days they had made freindships that would last them a life time. They have had the chance to be the hands and feet of God in this world as they have worked with children in under privilidged communities and believe me when I say this.....THEY HAVE MADE THE KIDS LAUGH AND SMILE AND THE KIDS AHVE MADE THEM LAUGH AND SMILE....Several of the children said that it was the best day of their lives. To me that makes it al worthwhile, the car washes, fairs, stalls manned, cutting up sheep toungue for souse all of it. The students have had a wonderful time in every way.

Imagine they busy talking spanish now ordering food and drinks in Spanish and busy talkiing spanish with the new friends they have made. Some are already talking about coming back next year....so get ready to wash more cars.

I want to thank everyone for giving me the chance to be a part of this process.

To the students I say this...you have given me one of the best weeks I have ever had in my life. I want to thank each and every one of you for the wonderful time and for showing me how truly tremendous that you are.

Do continue to enjoy yourselves in Dom Rep and I know that Ms G and Mr Francis along with Alberti and his wonderufl wife Dr. Ingrid will take care of you all.

My love and best wishes to each and every one.

I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!

Vlog flashback

THANK YOU!!!

The 10 day journey has come to an end. Visiting our new friends in the Dominican Republic was an incredible experience. There are so many moments that we will never forget, such as serving with the students from Maria’s church, throwing water balloons at one another, painting, worshiping in Spanish, going boating, roasting marshmallows during the summer on a bonfire (that was really hot!), playing volleyball, and many other unmentionable moments that are just too many to list…

Between some drama, jokes, work and fun times we were able to get to know each other a lot better, learned that it does not matter what you have and what the price tag says you can still enjoy your life and lend a helping hand to the ones that need it; kids who have not seen the privileges that we enjoy seemed to not even need them to be happy – they easily find happiness in the simple things in life such as friendship and love. They are able to look at life through the eyes of Jesus who is the Lord of their lives and are so eager to share it with the rest of the world through showing love and compassion. No matter the age or the background, no matter the struggles of the past life children and adults alike seem to get what following Christ is all about…

Thanks to all who have been following this blog and to all our sponsors who made this trip possible. 
A huge GRACIAS to all the parents for your support and to the Team in the Dominican Republic, especially to Alberty and Ingrid for your kindness, love and hospitality while we were with you!!!

Spread the JOY!!!

No more pain, no more struggle...only fun times!

So, finally I am able to see what the kids are up to  here in the DR!!! It was definitely a journey for everyone...so much has happened in the past 6 days, feels like a lifetime. I was happy to see how Alberty, Ingrid, Clive and Mr. Bethell handled everything. One thing for sure, 6 girls with such different personalities all at once can be an interesting combination. However, I was also so glad to see how everyone matured just by encountering unfamiliar situations and having to deal with uncharted territory socially among one another as well as with others from a different culture altogether. 

Today had a chance to walk around the neighborhood. We all agree that there are so many little children here! It was hard to identify people over 50. We were giving out candy to the kids as we passed the houses along a dirt-road street. We were able to visit a school and saw how the kids behaved there - not much different from what we have back home. We caught one class performing something in French inside a French class. They had cute outfits and were dancing and singing something in French...Perhaps that was something different - they seemed more excited to learn and had cell phones and cameras in class!!!

Anyway, later on we watched and played some basketball...It turns out Fidel, who is the youth pastor of the church that we partnered with, had the game organized whereby the group from church (the believers) played against the group of young boys who are non-believers. He uses that as an opportunity to fellowship with them and after the game he shares Christ and the Word with everyone, encouraging them to accept Christ into their lives, praying with them and simply being friends with them. I was really moved by that...

Then, we had lunch...which ended with us finding a SERIOUSLY huge spider- the black widow, and certain someone decided to pick it up and chase people around with it...needless to say, Ms. G ran into some people's laundry that was hanging on the line....YEAH>>>not winning at all!

The best part about today was the fact that we did not have to work and actually had a chance to go to the mall!!! 

Tomorrow will be the first day that we can sleep until 10:00am! We also have planned to go to the beach and one other awesome thing to do...but you gotta stay tuned to find out what it is :)

 

Day 5

Franchesca Chelsea 25 April 19:30 It's awesome how you can get so emotional attached to people you only knew for three days, like Clara, Camil, Dianna, Diego, Nelson, Carlos, Jose and Maria, some of the most amazing people I think I'll ever get to meet. I'm extremely glad that I came on this trip and I don't want to think about how hard it's going to be saying goodbye. I put SWEAT, Blood (broke a part of my nail), and tears (some of the stories are very heart warming) into this experience... and I would do all of it over and over again.

Playing basketball at Pastor Maria's school