AM March 20

Pictures to follow later today.  VERY pushed for time today!
joel

March 19, 2011

Today was very eventful even though we weren’t laying brick. I am still as tired as if I was mixing mortar all day! But even though I’m tired today was very fun. We were able to sleep in which was amazing, and I’m sorry but we have a trio in the boy’s bedroom between Silie, Ralph, and Chris talk about all night snoring!! I even had to get up, and shake Silie’s bed to wake him up enough to stop just to fall back asleep. Anyway back to our day after we slept in we had. Breakfast was pretty good I guess, then when we went to church the whole group had to split up because we have so many. I went to Sendero, one of the sites we have been building. To be honest I didn’t understand a thing the pastor was saying, but I heard the pastor gave a good sermon. He was a very good singer too. The only good singer there actually. After church those of us that went to Sendero went back to Quisqueya the second site that we have been building to eat lunch. After we ate lunch we had bibles to hand out to the area around Quisqueya  and I was amazed to see how many people knew about bibles, and even more they all wanted one. One of the ladies called Reevan “Pretty Michael Jackson” we all laughed at him. One of the ladies was so thankful she said I have been praying for a bible for a long time. After we came back to the camp we got ready and went to the beach that was a lot of fun we all got in the water. After awhile just getting in the water and swimming wasn’t enough we started dragging in others who didn’t feel like getting in. The best part about the beach was dragging in the adults although I ended up getting scratched on the neck by Ralph, but its ok we got all of them real good. And of course we had to do some gymnastics too. After all the fun we had worship on the beach and then went home we had dinner then arm wrestling although most of the adults beat us guys its ok though. And that’s about it they are all practicing for the VBS that starts tomorrow, and I’m watching while writing this. And to my mom and dad I’m doing good doing a lot of hard work! Miss you all.

Sincerely,

Matthew Oh

The past day and a half have been very eventful for me. It all started when a small group of us went to work at Sendero while the rest stayed at Quisqueya. Everyone was working really hard, we had a block line going and I ended up getting a cinder block dropped on my foot. At first I was like “oww this really hurts”, and I was going to pass more block. But I sat down and took off my shoe. There was a huge bump and I was carried inside the church. Later the two nurses that were there said I was going into shock and that I was pale. I didn’t faint. Soon Mr. Silie and Pastor Shawn arrived and we went to the hospital so we could get it X-Rayed (as a precaution of course). I have never been to a hospital before so it was really weird being wheeled through a hospital in a foreign country no less. We got it X-Rayed and after my stomach stopped hurting I was smiling for the camera. =]  They told me I had a hairline fracture in two of my toes and they put a cast on from my toes to the middle of my shin. I had crutches and everyone was so nice wanting to help.

This all happened yesterday (Friday) so today I woke up and my foot didn’t hurt at all so I did not feel the need to have a ball and chain on my leg. Joel looked at the X-Ray and didn’t see a thing wrong. And the pain is completely gone.  YAY! So after lunch we cut the cast off! There is a pretty nasty bruise but other than that I’m fine. I was able to go pass out Bibles and be apart of the activities.

So mom I’m okay!

Michelle

Hello blog readers, it’s Jasmine! I’m loving the mission trip and almost everything about it. Just some of the downsides are the sunburns, getting sick (which I haven’t gotten either of, Mom), and the bathrooms getting backed up. But, mostly things are bareable, and I’m glad I’m not as high maintenance as I thought. It’s cool taking a big trip to a foreign country which of bunch of people from home, so we can all experience it together. The children here are so cute and excited to see us. We’re working right next to the current school, and a little girl stuck her hand through the window and asked a friend to give me a handmade bracelet. Dogs just roam around near our worksite and they’re extremely cute. Worship every morning (at 7 am) and evening is nice, and the evening ones are especially spiritual and we look at the stars and moon. For Sabbath, we went to a local church and after that, we went into the neighborhoods and passed out Bibles. It’s amazing how accepting and open the local people are. We ask to come into their homes and they quickly and happily open their doors and arrange their chairs for us. When we say we’re from the local SDA church, they respond with how their spiritual lives at the moment are, and when we ask to pray for them, they act like we’re giving them a gift. I wouldn’t think everyone out here would want a Bible so much, some have been praying for one for a while and are so grateful. My group met a local Jehovah’s witness and though he didn’t want to pray with us, he encouraged what we were doing and respected our efforts. For the evening, we went to the beach it was perfect! The weather was just right, the water a little cool, a little breeze, and soft sand. On the first day, my first attempt at laying block was awful, but I’ve got the hang of it now thankfully. Well we’re on the site and I need to start working now, so please forgive me for any typos and other mistakes.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Jovian, Edeny, and Ellen! Thinking of you all, sorry I can’t be there. Hi Mom and Dad! I’m healthy and fine, no bug bites yet surprisingly. Hope you’re well at home! Hey Crystal and Jovian, hope you had a great party. Hey Jenny F., miss you! And to everyone else back home, I miss and love you! I’ll try to post another update in a couple of days.

Jasmine

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March 19, 2011

Hello to everyone.  I made a commitment to myself that I would post at least one blog this year.  Here it is.  I have to say that this trip has seen its share of challenges but morale amongst staff and students is still high.  The devil is working extremely hard to chase us out of the Dominican Republic or to at least discourage us to the point that we become ineffective in our efforts here.  Praise the Lord, the students are determined to battle the devil in the Lord’s strength and not their own!  I am convinced that great things are in store for our work down here simply because of the amount of frustration he is throwing our way.

One thing I am noticing is that the group we have this year, by and large, is more spiritually inclined and earnest in their desire to be used by God on this trip.  This afternoon I saw several guys, which I would label as extremely shy, come out of their shells to do street evangelism in the form of handing out Bibles.  After we ran out of the 30 Bibles that our group had to pass out, these shy young men came to me and asked if they could get a few more Bibles and pass them out to the couple of houses that we couldn’t get to on our street.  They insisted that we needed to get the Bibles to these homes the next day, as if they were concerned that these homes not miss a single day of Bible reading.

We continue to covet your prayers.  Please remember to hold us up as we are definitely involved in spiritual warfare.  Continue to pray that each student’s faith grows as a result of their time on this trip and the evidence He has shown them of His mighty power.

Pastor Shawn