Monday, June 10th LBMP

We have LOTS of pictures today because it was such a special day!  Enjoy and keep praying for us.  Tomorrow AM we will finish up our painting in the morning and spend the afternoon visiting some nearby bateys, relaxing in the waterfalls and beach. See you all soon!

Patti Spiegel

Dear Dee, Family, and Friends,
I would like to start off by saying that we all need to give Senora a hard time when she returns home for taking me away from my basketball game to blog. Impatient weenie >:( But in all honesty, I am having the time of my life. I've traveled to so many places over the past couple years, but it's always been for me and my leisure. Touristy type activities. But here, it's by far and away been the best trip I've ever been on, because here, service doesn't feel like a job. We all WANT to help and that in itself is inspiring. . . Today we painted in the morning, and let me tell you, painting is one of the most miserable jobs, but we make it so fun. It makes a world of difference when you're doing something for the good of the community, of the school, and of the church, rather than for yourself. Today we did different paintings including some detail paintings at the preschool. We painted fruits, modes of transportation, and the solar system there. I personally painted a pineapple today and it is a beautiful piece of work. It took me a couple hours and it's nothing special, but it was super fun to paint. Highlight of today was when Megan started painting highly accurate constellations on the solar system wall like a total nerd. It made me a little bit jealous honestly. After the painting there were English lessons. It started off slow, but by the end it atually turned into a spanish lesson for our group. We all ended up sharing our testimonies in spanish. That was the first time I'd ever shared mine out loud. A couple hours later after our Domincan meal (best meal of my life), we all shared them on our own with the Dominicans. We gathered in a circle and explained our journies. One by one we told each other about our lives and our religious walks with no shame or fear. I shared mine again in this larger group, in spanish, and it took me longer because I'm not as quick at my conjugations, but it was an amzing feeling. It's funny how even now, just after that talk, my testimony has changed. Hearing their testomnies alone has allowed me to grow in my faith and change my ideas. I just can't express my thanks in enough words. I don't want to leave here, but I can't wait to see the people I miss so dearly back home and share with them all that I have come to learn.
PS Griff got it wrong. I rocked the electric guitar like a boss while Mitch played the acoustic. I am clearly the more hardcore rocker.
-Sarah

One of the completed hop-scotch games in front of the preschool.

Megan and Julie are "out of this world" painting the solar system.

Sarah, KC, Lauren and Mackenzie are decorating the outside wall with fruits, named  in Spanish.

Lauren beginning her artistic mango and Mackenzie starting the bananas.

While some painted at the preschool the rest repainted the wall by the basketball courtyard. Here is Alexis touching up at the bottom of the wall.

Eli going up for the poster dunk... but don't let him fool you he was rim stuffed.

Leslie and Eli brightening up the place.

Don't mess with these two... Griffin and Brian are ferocious rollers!

Dear Americanos,
Hey everyone! Mitch here. I held out as long as I could, but Spej finally made me slow down for a minute and come blog for all of you. I have been enjoying every minute of this trip whether it be working, worshipping, or winning a game of basketball. Sarah and I got the easiest day to write because it was by far the most eventful and rewarding day for me. The only problem is Sarah already wrote about basically all of the important things, so I'm going to have to be creative. One amazing thing I did today was I got to ride with Oscar (who works here) into town on his motorcycle! We needed some painting supplies, and I had previously mentioned that I had interest in purchasing a machete, so they invited me to tag along. Motorcycles and mopeds are the most common way of transportation here I'd say. I mean if we had weather like this all the time I think I would zoom around on a motorcycle too. A little bit later, Marisa also had the opportunity to ride the motorcycle, and she loved it just as much as I did. In the evening there was some boys my age playing basketball outside, so they challenged me to a game of 5 on 5, Dominicans vs. Americans. So I brought my all-star team of us five boys and Marisa. Some of them are much better athletes than us, but they were no match for the skills of the gringos. We beat them on the last play with me feeding the ball to Brad for a fastbreak dunk! (Ok the rims are a little shorter, but it was still cool). But I especially enjoy doing things like this because it helps us find a commonality in which we could talk about and compete, and it also jump starts friendships and getting to know each other. I myself have become good friends with Moise's son Jonathon. He is about my age, but we both love to talk about and play basketball. He speaks some English, but I really use the time to practice my Spanish, which I have come to use more than I could have imagined while I've been here. I wasn't sure when I left at how well I would be able to communicate, but it's really been no problem at all. I mean shared my testimony entirely in spanish tonight. I thought that was hard in English! Well we are leaving soon, which is something I don't want to do, but it will be nice to see you all again!
Hasta pasta,
       Mitch



One of the English conversation groups with Yessica.



Another group helping Jonathon with his English.

Marisa and Alexis chillin' with their new friends.

Not only did the Dominicans learn English, but the Americans learned a lot about Spanish in the process.

Mackenzie blends in nicely in this one!

Mitch and Oscar going to get painting supplies.

Marisa, about to head to the grocery store.

Street scene in Barahona.

The yummy Dominican meal that Ruth and Carlota prepared for us.  Everyone's favorite meal so far!

This was a very special evening.  Each person you see here shared their testimony in Spanish in a circle in the courtyard.  My students all did an AMAZING job being able to do this using their Spanish.  I (Mrs. Spiegel) sat back in awe and listened but helped very little.  What a blessing to hear how they met God in a personal way and although each story was different, each had a personal encounter with the God of this universe.  I got teary-eyed just listening.

Sunday June 9th 2013 LBMP

On the bus heading to the river for baptism

Awwwww... Mommy y su hija

Mitch and Daniel on the bus going to the river for the baptism.

Las profesores

Moise beginning the baptism

The group waiting for their turn to enter the river.

One of the 15-20 people getting baptized

Hello from your friends and family in the D.R.

We have been doing many different activities in the last 5 days, including construction jobs, teaching, and painting. The weather here is wonderful like always, and I wish I could express how amazing of a country the Dominican Republic is. I especially requested to write on the blog after at least one church service because that is one of the most spectacular parts of the entire journey. The culture of the church service is very different from that of a traditional American church. The instruments are basically the same: guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums, and microphones. However, the difference shows up in the enthusiasm of the congregation to participate in singing, clapping, and even dancing. The dance instructor for the chicas at the church, Daniela, put it this way, "When you sing or dance for a worship song, you are doing it for and in front of God, his eyes are looking directly at you, so why wouldn’t you do your best?" That really stuck with me and I hope to be able to bring that back with me. Also, our group performed a song this morning, and will play another this evening. Sarah played the electric guitar, Mitch played his guitar, Megan played keyboard, then there was me on the bass. I would have been fine with that except the fact that I was told I was going to be playing on Saturday, with only one band practice for me to learn two songs. Luckily, both songs are very simple and at least the first song went smoothly. I am looking forward to this afternoon and the rest of the trip. See you soon!
Griffin Rath


PS We sang a simple verse in Spanish called "Te doy Gloria/I give you glory" then English and back to Spanish. Since this morning was a Creole and Spanish church service together, so they sang in Creole too. It was a great experience not to perform for the people but to be able to worship and have them participate with us. Tonight we will sing "Alabare" and the congregration knows the song better than us so I know they will enjoy and sing with us. All is going great here, everyone is happy and healthy and our God is good! 
Patti Spiegel

Everyone was in front for our song so we didn't get a picture during the service, but afterwards, Ruth took our picture while we sang it again!

This afternoon was quite relaxing for everybody. Finally we were able to lie down and catch up on some much-needed sleep. Most of the guys, like me, ended up playing cards and enjoying each other's company during our time off. Around 5:30, we ate some dinner. I believe we had spaghetti, salad, and, of course, a combination of fresh fruits, such as pineapples and mangos. After dinner, we went to the night service of our church, and it was very cool. Even though there were less people than in the morning, I felt that everyone there was truly happy to have us as a part of their service. The sermon was done by a young man named Yoel, who we all know well. We were all very impressed by his message, which lasted for about half an hour. The entire service lasted for and hour and a half, and there was A LOT of singing. It is actually really cool to hear them sing because everybody does it with their entire heart and soul because they are a happy and enjoyable people. Oh yeah, we also sang another song tonight called Alabare. It was all in Spanish and most of the congregation knew it and sang along with us. We're all having a great time down here, so don't worry so much (Mom :))
-Brian Dailey

See how happy Brian is to get an M&M?!



"Daniel the Great!" He told me to put that caption!! :-)
This is Moise' yougest son and he is certainly a ham!!



Yoel preaching during the evening message.

Saturday June 8th LBMP

Hola!!

I can't imagine sleeping in a more tranquil environment. Technically, we're sleeping inside but it feels as though we are outside with the breeze that flows through the windows at night. Today we were all able to sleep in a little bit since the kids are no longer in school AND it's Saturday ;). After breakfast we split up into two groups. My group went to the construction site in the morning and then painted in the afternoon whereas the other group painted in the morning and went to the construction site in the afternoon. Our job today at the construction site was to carry the cement blocks up onto the roof. I'm actually starting to get a tan line around my wrists now from wearing my gloves! It's quite hysterical. We had forgotten to bring extra water to the construction site, but thankfully Moise showed up with Gatorade and saved the day! So far, it has been a wonderful adventure here. As for me (and I think I can speak for the rest of the group as well) we are all learning and growing a lot here, individually and as a group. I praise God for this opportunity to be here.
Shelby

Moving the cement blocks up to the roof by forming a human chain, assembly line.

The second floor where they will use the sand and blocks to build the exterior wall.

The morning painting crew worked at the preschool and painting the inside of the exterior wall completely around the school. Since school is out now, thework begins to get ready for next school year.  Brad poses for me for a photo op.



In the patio of the prechool we are preparing to paint 2 hopscotch grids so the children have some games on the ground.  Today we painted the white oil based background and on Monday we will decorate it with bright colors.

 

Looking for the roof to the preschool you can see the dried area we will paint on Monday.



The afternoon work crew at the Crole church was moving fill dirt from around the cistern where there is to much into the future sanctuary where the level is too low.  Lots of digging and wheelbarrows!

Hola!

To start off a great Saturday here in Barahona, I went outside with a few others to watch the sun come up over the mountains! After our morning activities, my group came back to the school and started painting the hallways. It's amazing to see how much we can get done together! Once we had finished painting, we went back to the fifth floor. This was when I noticed that the view, already breath-taking, was even more spectacular than before because the ocean was the bluest I'd ever seen it! Of course I had to take a picture. Later, many of us went to the courtyard and made some new friends with the Dominicans. We raced, played games, and learned new dances. We even taught a little bit of swing dance!! After a delicious dinner and a devotional session, we hit the sack, excited for what God is planning for us tomorrow :)
Megan

The sugar cane factory

The amazing view of the Caribbean sea we have from the roof every day!  Today is was so clear and so blue. Below you can see the batey where many of the school children live.

Friday June 7 LBMP

Hola!
The trip so far has been wonderful.  While I have loved everything, I have to say that eating pizza a couple of nights ago was the best.  Not only did I fall in love with the pizza (maybe the best I've had so far), but we also talked and got to know each other (the air conditioning wasn't bad either).  We've worked on building the new church for the past couple afternoons but today we started to paint the school, a change that was welcome since my muscles were aching.  Not to mention that the painting was indoors, giving me time to recover from my sunburns.  This morning we went over to the preschool for their end of the year party.  All of the girls were in dresses and looked adorable!  We sang and danced with the children and I was afraid that a couple of the girls, like Alexis, were going to smuggle one of them back into our room.  Overall I've had a great time but I have missed home.  Can't wait to see you all soon!
-K.C.

Dear Findlay,

This place is far better than I could have imagined. Everything here is absolutely beautiful, the people, the places, the food. All great! The church has been coming along very nicely, and although I dont know what they could possibly do with all of the sand we put on top of the roof, it still looks incredible. The amount of work Moise and Mission Possible have gotten done since they started is a total blessing. Today at the end of the year celebration for the preschoolers, every person there was having a blast. Everybody had more than one child surrounding them and playing with them or taking pictures. The kids are all adorable and were always smiling.There was a game that they loved to play where they would sneak up behind you and tickle your sides or your neck. And while it's okay with one little kid, having six of them is a little painful! We all got to spend a few hours with them and that has been my favorite part of this trip so far.  It also helped that they talked much slower in Spanish than the adults which made it easier to understand. I'm so excited for the rest of our time here, and pray that it is as great as we all hope!

Hasta Luego!

=Brad

At the preschool party end of year fiesta!

One of the tables where the children were sitting for the party.

The party in full swing!

Sorting dental supplies for the children takes lots of concentration.

Leslie at the party with two of her newest little friends.

Shelby is a talented artist! She can paint AROUND the murals really well :)

The hunchback of the Republica Dominicana.

Sadrac and the Gringos (our unofficial band name) preparing for Sunday morning worship!

Trying to put the vocals with the instrument section. We are singing two songs, one Sunday morning and one Sunday eveining service.

Thursday June 6 2013 LBMP

Hola Ohio!
Today is our second full day of being here and we are all loving it! It is hot and humid, but we're all working and playing so much that we hardly even notice it. In the morning we were able to watch the kids do their morning formation. It was similar to how we say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning: they line up in the courtyard by grade and sing their national anthem. It was surprisingly long, probably over four minutes! We taught more English lessons today and the kids really seemed to like it. My group (Sarah, Megan, and I) taught a lesson on family members. One kid, Deonle or something like that, raised his hand right away to tell us he had finished the paper we handed out just a few seconds before. Even after we left the room the teacher was practicing the words with them that we had left written on the chalkboard! We then got to work preparing bags with dental supplies, and later went across the street to the preschool and set up for a big party tomorrow! That pretty much covers the first part of our day. I had so much fun today, and I can't wait for what we'll be doing for the rest of our time here!
Keep those prayers coming!
Julie Macmann

Here is the morning formation with all the students ready to start the day.  They sang National Anthem and other songs and listened to school announcements.

Megan, Sarah and Julie teaching the 4th graders family memebers.  This was their first introduction to English but next year will begin it in the 5th grade.

The kids like to take our cameras and take silly pictures.  Mackenzie is being super silly here!

These girls helped us decorate for tomorrow's party.

Hi families!

This afternoon we all returned to the construction site of the new Creole church to work some more. The weather was a little cooler than this morning due to the cloud cover and wonderful breeze. The nice weather was much apprecitated during our work, as I'm sure you all can imagine. At the work site we hauled sand from the ground floor to the roof, using our pulley system like yesterday. Work was going smoothly until the concrete blocks arrived, 400 blocks to be exact. Working as the team we are, everyone joined in on making an assembly line to move the blocks up the three stories of the unfinished church. If you are wondering if the labor intensive work ever got boring, the answer for me at least is no; and we had a support team of Dominicans watching us from the street the whole time! After about 4 hours, we all went back to the school for showers and dinner. Today was just as amazing as the yesterday, and tomorrow will be great too. Thank you for all the prayers and love!

Lauren Marshall

Eli on the pile of concrete blocks, about to start handing them down.

We made too many piles on the roof so we had to go back and condense them!



Julie, Megan , and Lauren at the top of the pulley.





Alexis gathered the empty buckets that we threw down from the roof... in her own way!




Sara and Mitch made the best pulling team by far!



Wednesday June 5 2013 LBMP

We have arrived with no problems!  We couldn't connect to internet until this morning so later today we will update and hopefully share some pictures. 

Everyone is doing great and interacting with the preschool classes right now.

Keep praying for us!
Patti Spiegel


***************************************************************************

Yesterday was such a good beginning to our trip. The best thing about our flights was that I was able to get a window seat right over the left wing of the plane. The view was absolutely breathtaking! When the van met us outside of the airport it was amazing how nice and generous the men were to us. The bus ride took 4 hours, but it was definitely worth it. After we arrived at the Mission Possible Ebeenezer Ruth, Moises`s wife, made us a fantastic meal. The fresh fruit was like nothing I`d ever tried before. When they were done showing us around the building we had devotions and went to bed. This morning was the best though! We were able to teach an English lesson to the 4th grade class, and then we spent about an hour playing with the preschoolers. They were so loveable and just wanted someone to play with. After we were done we took a bus ride to the new Creole church site where  they are constructing their new facilities. It`s amazing to see how hard working the people are around here. This trip is extraordinary already, and I can`t wait to see what else God has in store for us!
Thanks for the prayers!
Alexis Shoffstall

We had fun playing with the little ones in the preschool!

The children LOVED playing with Brian here!

Everyone wanted the picture taken.  Even Alexis!  :-)

Brian "the Blockhead" LOL

Yesterday was a very long day of travel, but it was absolutely fabulous! I got a window seat on the flight from Miami to Santo Domingo, and it was beautiful to see Haiti and the DR from the air. When we landed, a bus brought us to Barahona which took four hours. The drive was fantastic with beaches to our left, and the beautiful cities to our right. It was amazing to watch everyone's faces when we drove by. They waved and were in awe of the sight of Americans. After getting to the school, we ate a delicious dinner, unpacked our bags, and finished with devotions. This morning my group taught an English lesson to fifth graders. We taught them parts of the body and sang Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, which they absolutely loved. After everyone finished teaching, we went across the street to the preschool. We played legos and took pictures with them.We then visited the new Creole church, which we are headed to this afternoon to work. The DR is a beautiful country, and is filled with a lot of great and happy people. I can't wait to see what this week will bring us, and I'm sure God has a special plan for it.
We appreciate everyone's prayer!
Leslie York



Check back later today, we are leaving for an afternoon of work at the new Creole church and hope to upload some pictures this evening.
Patti

The new Creole church is moving along so well!  Looking at the back of the church with the 2nd floor up.

Moise gave us a tour of the new building.

From the balcony looking down into the sanctuary.

They set up a great pulley system to haul the sand up to the 2nd floor to mix the cement there to start an outer wall.
Taking a break here and the kids had fun playing to try to lift each other off the ground.  Here Eli is hanging out with Griffin spotting him.

WOW, we are one strong group!  We worked about 4 hours and moved almost 2 big piles of sand to the roof.  Tomorrow we continue and will move the gravel up too.

MPCA

Today (Friday, March 22) we went to MPCA and had a clinic in the morning. We saw 166 patients. In the afternoon we taught the nursing students CPR, AED, baby births, IV procedures, care and compassion. We all enjoyed our last Haitian meal and watched the beautiful sunset. Austin's sponsor child came and we played games with him and talked.

We had a wonderful week serving our Lord and Savior in the beautiful country of Haiti. We have all been touched by the work that Mission Possible is doing and will all be praying that God's work through MP and Pastor Herve continues.