Home Sweet Home

We're home!

Our team made it safely home yesterday, after a long day of travel. God was very kind to us during our time in the Dominican Republic, and we each came home changed by our time there.

Thanks for all of your support and prayers!

Time Out

Today was our much-antipated recreation day. Hard to believe we've been in the Caribbean for over a week and had barely been outside. We headed out to the resort area of Juan Dolio to spend the day at Capella Beach Resort. The weather was beautiful (mostly), and the students (and adults:) spent the day between the pool and beach. We continued to do our part to support the Dominican economy, which wasn't hard with the barrage of vendors on the beach. And the sweetest part was, we didn't even have to move off our beach chairs to do it!

Everyone is feeing well and migraine-free today; thanks for your prayers on all of our behalves. Kara still has a minor headache and most of the team has some degree of sunburn, despite our best efforts to assure that everyone was reapplying. Tomorrow is our de-briefing day, where the team will have time to spend individually and collectively reflecting on the past week and what we can take away from it. Please pray that God would be at work in each of us and that we would have open eyes to see what He wants us to learn.

Well this certainly has been a trip well worth a blog. We have been at the hospital the past 3 days, and have almost finished our biggest project: cleaning out and painting the hospital's conference room. We have done alot of other random projects, cleaning chairs and rugs, organizing a storage room and the Physical Therapy department, which has apparently been defunct since February.

Yesterday we went to a church in a Haitian community and had a VBS for the children. Pastor Samuel called it a "Happy Afternoon." There certainly was A LOT of happy! (aka mobbing of Americans by Dominican children) We painted faces, sang songs (in Spanish of course), made a billion balloon animals, and tried to control the mass of happiness.

I spent time with a little boy named Junior. He loved wearing my sunglasses while I took his picture. Cameras are a funny thing here... it amazes them to see themselves in that small, yet entertaining screen.

Last night for dinner we went to El Conuco and there was music playing constantly. We couldn't help but move in our seats. Finally, after dinner we were able to see the Merengue, a Dominican dance. It was just contagious! We began to dance as well. Everyone danced with pretty much everyone... we just danced the night away! Music and Movement as we call it. There was a lot of it last night!

Well it's time for lunch: Beans and Rice. A common food group this trip.

See you all Saturday!

-Emma

-EFLB

-Emma Javalina Frances Logan Barker

Most of us are well, though tired. Kara and I (Laura) have both been battling migraines the past 2 days; we have a couple of team members with minor GI complaints. Overall the students are continuing to show exceptional attitudes and grace in the face of ever-changing schedules and times of inactivity. We remain proud of them.

We're still alive

Hola!

Just wanted to take the opportunity to quickly post that we are still alive. The tropical storm that came through knocked out the phones and internet so we do not have a reliable connection. We have a few free moments at the hospital right now.

Your kids are all doing well and I am very proud of the ways they continue to serve.

Pray for our afternoon, we are doing an outreach at a Haitian church in Santo Domingo. We are anticipating 70 to 100 kids.

We'll post more as soon as we are able.

-Kara

Viva del Sol!

Good morning!

The sun finally came out yesterday and we had a wonderful hot and muggy day in Santo Domingo. Tropical Storm Bonnie dumped a lot of water on the island which affected the phones and internet connections. We have internet today, but might not have it again tomorrow as they work on the phones.

Yesterday we took it easy and spent some time shopping and exploring the city on foot. We have all sorts of Dominican goodies to bring home. We certainly did our part in supporting the Dominican economy. Mama Joe we don't think Philip is bringing home a tarantula...

We had all sorts of adventures surrounding our meals yesterday. We went to a Chinese buffet for lunch. For dinner we walked to our favorite pizza place, Pizzarelli's, it's a close walk by Dominican standard; meaning it's on the island of Hispanola and not quite to Haiti.

We're off to tour the old city and will go to church later this afternoon. It's a special service honoring Fathers. We will sing a few songs and Emma and Elijah will share their testimonies. Please pray that we will be encouraging and God honoring during our time with the Dominican people today.

We'll have a few students post later tonight and we'll put some pictures up too. Everyone is feeling well and looking forward to the rest of our time here.

~Kara & Laura

Quiero Wasakaka

Guessing from everyone's prayer requests tonight I would venture to say today was one of the harder days for the group. After finally completing the physical therapy room at the hospital, the entire group visited an orphanage for severely disabled children. The sight was overwhelming; children tied to beds and clothed only in cloth diapers for lack of proper clothing and theirown protection. Tears filled my eyes instantly as I started playing with a young girl about ten years old. Her eyes lit up as we started playing guitar and singing and the smile on her face was so precious that I will never forget it. Moments like these touched every single person today; whether it was Elizabeth teaching a little girl to say "Hola!" or Webster and Chris showing the little boys their guitars, God was truly at work in our hearts today.

On a lighter note, we also had a wonderful dinner with our translators tonight. We have really come a long way in attempting Spanish and interacting as an entire group and with the CURE staff. We enjoyed our "Wasakaka" or chicken salt sauce at dinner and I look forward to tasting more comida Dominicana!

The waiter used garden clippers to cut the chickens for us. We've never seen anything like it.

~ Johanna

NOISE! If I could describe Santo Domingo in one word this is the one I would use. 24 hours a day Santo Domingo is a noisy place. Horns are constantly honking (Claire says they honk just because they can). If a car's horn isn't honking the alarm is going off. There are people walking up and down the streets selling fruit, antennas, phone cards, and everything in between. Then there are the joyful noises we're creating in the hospital as we sing and play with the children. And my favorite noise is the fan that is powered by a jet engine that helps to keep our room cool. We're somewhere in between embracing the noise and forgetting it's there.

We had a great day of ministry. I (Kara) had the chance to go on a home visit in one of the

barrios with Kristin A., Ryan, Emma, and Elijah. Some members of the CURE team we are working with took us to see the Perez family. The patient we were visiting was Francisco, a 15 year old boy whose leg was amputated in January due to a tumor. His surgery was actually the day of the earthquake in Haiti. It was very encouraging to hear Francisco and his family share how God has used CURE to bless them and change their lives. Francisco is a very joyful young man who wants to be an architect when he grows up.

While we were on an adventure through Santo Domingo the rest of the team was hard at work in the hospital. Laura will share what they did at the hospital.

We spent the first part of the morning in the waiting room, singing, coloring and making balloon animals with the children while they waited to see the doctors

for follow-up. Webster and I (Laura) spent some time with a little guy named Angel. He is in a body cast following surgery for what appears to be scoliosis, and is facing another surgery in December. He is 7 years old and likes baseball. At first he was really reserved, but after Webster finished coloring with him, the interpreter and I started asking him questions, and we even got him to smile. He is a precious little boy with incredible eyes and a sweet smile. Check out a picture of Angel

This afternoon, the entire team worked for a second day on cleaning out a room being used as storage that is supposed to be the physical therapy department. Several of our students 'went the extra mile', hauling MANY pairs of crutches and walkers up to the floor above. The students as a whole are maintaining great attitudes and flexibility in serving without complaining. We are proud of them and you should be too.

Everyone is feeling well so far. We've eaten some Dominican food both at the hospital and out at restaurants, and we even had pizza last night--eaten outside in the middle of a torrential downpour! This afternoon was the first time since we arrived that it stopped raining for any length of time, which is apparently quite unusual for the DR. We are glad that our reason for being here wasn't to work on our tans! We do pray that the weather will clear by the end of the week when we are scheduled to go sight seeing.

Prayer Requests:

1. Continued safety and health.

2. That we would serve with willing hearts and good attitudes.

3. Continued flexibility as we set our American watches and schedules to the laid back Dominican time.

4. That we would focus on the work God has for us here and not be distracted by the things waiting for us at home.

5. That we would continue to have good relationships as a team - we're living in very close quarters and have little time away from the group.

We're Here

Buen Dia Familias y Amigos!

I'm sorry for the delayed posting, but it took me a while to conquer the internet :)

We arrived safely in la Republica Dominicana last night! Our flight was of course a little late, but we and all of our bags arrived.

We spent the day at the hospital. We planned for our week a little bit, toured the hospital, and helped clean up some.

We are off to dinner now and will post more later (but it might be a Dominican later).

-Kara