Summer is just flying by this year! I have the opportunity to go with another team, to a different part of the Dominican Republic. Past trips have been to Los Botados in Yamasa. This one will be to a community in the capitol city, Santo Domingo. More details below:

Can you imagine a section of your town or city getting washed away every time there is a heavy rain. Or perhaps you have encountered a family so poor that the shelter they call a home barely protects them from basic elements.

I am writing to share an opportunity I have to be a part of a team serving in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. We will be in a part of Santo Domingo where poverty prevents some of the basic things we take for granted, such as indoor plumbing and adequate sewer & drainage.
As a team we will contribute to the building of a drainage system, work with the people in Santo Domingo to totally rebuild a home for a family of 7, lead Vacation Bible School, and spend time with the children and their parents to build bridges that will lead to long-term relationships between us and the people in this community.

We will be leaving August 18th and returning on August 25th. I am excited about the opportunity to serve and to minister, and I ask you to prayerfully consider joining our team through your support. You can do so in at least two ways.

First, please partner with me in praying for the people we will be serving, for my health and effectiveness as a team member, and for the many details of this trip. The trip is being funded entirely through donations, and by those going on the mission trip.

Second, please consider supporting me financially for this outreach. The cost of this 8 day trip is $1600. If you would like to join the team in this way, please make your tax-deductible gift payable to “Crossroads Church” and send it to: Crossroads Church, 3815 S. Dutch Mill Rd., Madison, WI 53718 (Find addressed envelope enclosed). Please be sure to write “SHEILA DR MISSION TRIP” in the memo line. I will send you a receipt for use on your tax return. I thank you in advance for your prayers and your financial support.

May God bless you richly!

---

---

---

---

I will support you in the following way:

___ Through a financial contribution in the amount of $________;

___ By praying for you and the team

TEAM 2008 - We always take a serious photo, and a silly photo. Can you tell which this is? :-)

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Up at 3:20 a.m. to check in for our flight, which we discovered was postponed. Had we taken that flight, we would have missed our connecting flight in Florida. So Martires and Vonda worked with the ticket agents to get us on entirely different flights. We flew Delta out of Santo Domingo into Atlanta, Georgia, where we went through Customs, then American Airlines to Chicago, Illinois. Dilio and Martires stayed with us at the airport as long as they could, but they had another team waiting for them. We prayed for them – they’re scheduled with back-to-back teams for a month, and Dilio’s family lives too far away to come into Santo Domingo while he’s there.

We planned to take the Van Galder bus from Chicago to Madison, but Lynn’s husband, Kent, and their son and his wife, Reed and Becca, drove down in vans to take us home. He said: “My wife and daughter are two hours away and I’m going to wait for them to ride a bus? I don’t think so!”

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Finally got a good night’s sleep! Some of the youth from the group of music students stood around and watched as we packed up. Boomboxes are, apparently, another universal. The young men had it cranked up.

Since all our stuff was packed onto the truck, we rode in an air conditioned van to Santo Domingo. What a luxury!

We went shopping at the mall we always visit. Another of the annual traditions is for Fred to get his shoes shined by one of the people outside the mall. Since he wasn’t along, I planned to get mine shined (they needed it!), but there were no shoeshine boys today!

We had lunch at the same chicken place we visit each year – good food, lots of seating space. Martires has the waitress pack up the leftovers in doggie bags, and gives them to the young boys who are begging nearby.

After a short stop at the offices of FH, we drove on to our hotel. Eliezer headed out to meet the next team – we were sorry that he couldn’t stay with us another day. Lynn, Talia and I shared a room. We all enjoy being just a little on the chilly side, so we had the air conditioning cranked up! We headed for the pool right away. The water was warm and soothing. When we got there, some of the others were already involved in a game of keep-away with some of the other hotel guests, who looked about the age to be college students.

Some of the team decided to go for a walk along the beach. Kristi (Martires’ wife) and Krismar, their daughter, stayed, so I did too. I was really enjoying the pool! The college students also stayed in the pool. They’re trying to learn English, so practiced with me. I thought one of them asked “How old are you?” - quite impertinent! Kristi cleared that up, though, he’d said “How are you?” One little word can lead to so much misunderstanding!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Game day!
Each year, the team faces off against the local folks, mostly church members, on the baseball diamond! Talia, Vicki and Lynn came up with a great idea to create a shaded “dugout” using ponchos on the rack of the truck. I can’t pitch, hit, or run, so I guarded the water in the dugout. It was really great to have the shade! It seemed like only a short time until the game was over. We lost this year! :-(

We went back to the camp for an afternoon nap, and to get our things together. Then we came back to the church for the community farewell, with kind speeches from the leaders in the community, and the president of the neighborhood association.

When we got back to camp and had finished supper, we decided it was time for another annual tradition: the tarantula hunt! Since Fred wasn’t along, and I thought it would be good to have a male presence, I invited our interpreters, Dilio and Eliezer. Eliezer was surprised to learn there were tarantulas to be found. Both wanted to know what we were going to do with them. We said we just take pictures. So, I grabbed the big flashlight, and Dilio, Eliezer, Courtney, Katie, Sarah and I went tarantula hunting. Dilio is a natural – he found tarantulas the rest of us would have missed. One was so far in its hole that, even after he pointed it out, we had to look twice to see it. We found four, including one that made its home in the outside wall of the men’s restroom.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Today was my turn to work at the construction site! While things got organized, I sat in the shade. Pretty soon, there was a small group of children around, wanting to sing. Pharaoh was pretty popular, as they were quickly learning that one. This year’s construction project is to stucco the community center that was built last year. So, there was a huge pile of sand, and some in a wheelbarrow. Katie and Talia added a little water to the wheelbarrow, and started showing the kids how to make sand castles. The kids had a great time in the big pile of sand – until the other adults came and chased them out. Oops!

It quickly became apparent that I wasn’t going to be much use with stucco, so I was assigned to guard the water. We have to buy water while we’re there, to avoid getting parasites or whatever from the well water. So, it’s important to keep the spout of the cooler from getting dirty. Sometimes, the smaller children try to drink directly from the spout, so we guard the water. It worked out well for me, because the water was in one of the rooms of the community center. It was out of the sun, and there was enough breeze that day to keep things fairly comfortable if one was out of the direct sunlight.

After lunch, we went back to the job site, and left a different team off to do VBS. It quickly dawned on them that all the singers were at the job site (me, Lynn, Talia), so Vicki came to get me to help with singing. With Nataniel and the other Sheila, the singing went really well. Still, I missed having Lynn there to do the Pharaoh motions!

At the end of VBS, we handed out the baseball caps. They were a smash hit! We got a little taste of what popular ball players must experience, as the children mobbed around us. Those who couldn’t speak English ran up to each of us, pointing at our name on the hat, and then at the team members, letting us know they knew which signature was which person. It was pretty cool.

That evening, the church hosted a farewell to us. Of course, there was lots of singing, let by the other Sheila. She invited me up to sing “Yo Celebrare”, which was a lot of fun.

Pastor sends his greetings to Fred, and hopes to see him next year.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

My devotion time is focused on Wisconsin – my son meets with his attorney for the first time today.

Breakfast was oatmeal, which always tastes better in the DR. No idea why; Millie says she does nothing special.

We met with another of the children Fred and I sponsor, Yesica. We drove in the truck, because it’s quite a ways from the school. Yesica, her brother and her sister live with her grandparents, and attend a charismatic Catholic church. Her grandparents said that protestants in the DR don’t think Catholics are Christians. I shared that I do, I grew up Catholic, and know that, as in many faiths, there are believers in Christ, and people who just go to church. Religion does not make a person a Christian; faith in the blood of Christ does. Dilio shared that, when he decided to accept Christ and leave the Catholic church, he was fired from his job in a Catholic school. Her prayer request is for her grandfather’s health.

Next we visited Phil, Sarah and Courtney’s sponsored child, Rosa. She was very shy. During the course of the visit, we learned that she and her sister sang in the church choir, so we asked her to sing her favorite song. She was too shy to sing alone, but when her sister agreed to sing with her, they sang a very beautiful song for us. We invited them to join us in the afternoon at VBS.

I don’t think I mentioned that it was hot. It was very, very hot. I didn’t take the temperature this year – when I did so last year, it seemed to make the heat harder to take! So, suffice it to say, it was hot.

At the home of Carol’s sponsored child, there really wasn’t room for all of us to go inside, so Courtney, Sarah and I sat on the porch and visited. Courtney asked me what it was like to grow up Catholic. I had an overwhelmingly positive experience in Catholic schools, so I shared that with her.

After that visit, we went back to the school for a lunch of spaghetti with chicken. I must’ve looked hot, because Vicki insisted on having me use her fan, which was a more powerful than mine. We hitched a ride on the truck to the church for VBS, singing all the way. I’ll get those songs down, yet!!

Nataniel and Katarina joined us to lead singing. I saw Rosa and her sister, and the were all smiles during Pharoah! I’m not as graceful as Lynn doing the motions, so I’m sure it was pretty funny to watch! One of the songs Nataniel and Katarina sang was called “Tu Fidelidad” and it’s very beautiful. If I got it down right, the words are:

Tu fidelidad, es grande
Tu fidelidad incomparable es
Nadi es como tu, Bendito Dios
Grande es tu fidelidad

Quiero llenar tu trono de alabanza
Quiero llenar tu trono de Adoracion
Quiero Adorar postrado en tu presencia
Y Proclamar te Señor

The craft project for the day was to make friendship bracelets. Courtney had cut all the colors of the strings, and sorted them into baggies with a bead for each. She went to a lot of work! The kids loved the craft – the strings were braided together about halfway, the gold bead added, then the rest of the string braided. The children were to give it to a friend.

After VBS, I was pampered so much I joked about getting the spa treatment – Martires and Lynn brought me ice water, Mario fanned me, Nataniel gave me a shoulder rub. I could get spoiled!

Some of the team were handing out more letters to sponsored children, and we took the other children outside. One of the children asked me if I liked to dance (because I’d been doing the motions to Pharaoh, I suppose). I said, yes, I used to enjoy doing a polka. Naturally, that wasn’t a dance they knew, so I had to show them. There’s nothing quite like a vigorous polka in the 100+ degree heat! After I showed them the basic steps, I dragged Rick into the demonstration. Dilio also took a go at it. It was fun!
Phil, Sarah and Courtney led the devotional on what it means to be a missional church. Wish I’d written more down, because it was a really good devotional.

Dilio looked very sad, so a couple of us talked to him and learned he would be away from his family for a month. He showed us pictures of his wife, and said he has two sons and an infant daughter.

Then we gathered in the camp’s conference room to sign caps. Sarah had the great idea to get baseball caps, and have all the team members sign them, to give to the VBS students. 150 caps take a while to sign, so it got to be a bit late before we slept.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The coffee drinkers on the team were delighted to be having breakfast at the school, because it meant that Millie would have coffee for them! We enjoyed a breakfast of scrambled eggs (huevos), toast with guava or pineapple jelly, and fruit – papaya and mango.

Today’s home visit was to one of the children we sponsor – Rafael. His home is near the school and kitchen that previous teams built. When we got there, only Rafael and his older sister were home. Both parents work in the city of Santo Domingo. We had a nice visit. When we asked for prayer requests, Rafael asked that we’d pray his mother finds a better job. They sent us on our way with plenty of fresh coconuts to share with the team! We dropped those off at the kitchen, and walked on to visit Jenny’s sponsored child, Ray (rah-ee).

As we walk, we often sing, and I noticed Nataniel sings very well. I asked him if he would help sing in VBS, and he said that he didn’t bring his guitar. (He leads music at his home church.) I tried to convince him he didn’t need to play guitar to sing, but he seemed reluctant.

Ray is very tall! Jenny has sponsored him for several years, since he was quite small. His mother, Freddi, is a community health care worker. She shared that, a few years ago, leaders of the church walked around their community, claiming it in the name of Christ. This reminded Dilio of one of the songs we’d been singing, “Look What God is Doing”, so with him translating, we sang the verse that applied: “He is calling faithful men, to carry out His plan. So in the power of Jesus’ name, go possess the land!”

Freddi asked about Fred (my husband), and I assured her that he was well, but could not come to visit. A few years ago, he injured his knee badly. It’s fully recovered, but it took several months of therapy and treatment. He became very ill last year, and it took a long time to recover completely from whatever that was.

Jenny and Ray had a nice visit. He is handsome as well as tall, so we weren’t surprised when a lovely teen from nearby stopped in to talk!

Ray has a friend with a guitar that Nataniel could borrow, so no more excuses! He’ll be helping with singing this afternoon!

The last home we visited has four sponsored children! Their sponsors were not on the team, but we knew at least one of the sponsors. The oldest child is 15, and she showed us some of the academic awards she’s received. One of the boys’ names sounds like “Beeto” when he says it, but it’s Victor. He has an infectious smile!

After lunch, off to VBS! Nataniel, Sheila (in the DR, it’s pronounced Shay-lah) and Katarina helped us with the singing. The kids are catching on fast to the Pharaoh song!

After VBS, letters were given to the sponsored children. Lynn and some of the kids kept doing Pharaoh, and we tried to keep the children who didn’t have letters busy with singing and games.

Martires has another team coming before we leave, so he had to ride the bus into town to do some of the preparation. It’s a two-hour ride. I don’t envy him the schedule he’s keeping!

We were joined by Eliezer (Ay-lee-ay-TSER), a young man from Constanza, about two hours north of our location. At 19, he’s taught himself English. The team enjoyed teaching him and Dilio some English idioms – piece of cake, mind your p’s and q’s, that sort of thing.
Supper was mashed bananas and onions, similar to having mashed potatoes, and cheese. Eresmende of FH joined us for devotions. Then he talked about how FH and the church we work with, Iglesia La Senda, and Pastor Miguel have worked together. He talked about how the churches tend to be somewhat insular, and learning to reach out to others outside the church is a challenge that Pastor Miguel is meeting.

Monday, June 18, 2007

I woke earlier than Carol and Vonda. I tried to get my stuff so I could brush my teeth and do my devotions while I waited for the rest of the team to wake, but I wasn’t very well organized. I kept making enough noise to disturb Carol. While I was doing my devotions, I realized I didn’t have my pen or my reading glasses, so instead of disturbing Carol and Vonda AGAIN, I used it as prayer time. My daughter was traveling to New Jersey, and my son and his wife are getting a divorce, so there was no shortage of prayer material.

Dilio found me trying to practice “Alabare”, so he helped me get the words right. Throughout the rest of the trip, he and Nataniel and I sang it pretty often!

After breakfast, we headed to the work site. TeAnni was there, along with several other children, to greet us. TeAnni speaks some English, so she helped us carry on conversations with the children.

The VBS team went on home visits. The first day, Sarah, Lynn, Talia and I were on the home visits. Dilio translated, and Luis and Nataniel, the youth workers with FH, determined which homes we’d visit, and helped us find them!

We visited Lynn’s and Talia’s sponsored child first. Lynn and Talia hadn’t gotten to see their child in six years, so it was pretty exciting! Talia speaks Spanish quite well – she was home schooled, and her Spanish tutor is from Peru – so she was able to talk directly with their child. Their child is right next door to Maria, whom we sponsored for many years. During the course of the visit, we learned Maria had married an older brother of the child we were visiting. At each home, we ask if there is anything they’d like prayed about. Isobel would like us to pray for her husband, who is straying from the faith.

After lunch, we got ready for Vacation Bible School. Sarah prepared the lessons, and it was obvious she put a lot of work into the planning and preparation. While we were waiting for the children, I shared that the previous night, I dreamed we had 50 children on the first day of VBS. I pointed out that I don’t usually have prophetic dreams, so it was probably just a dream, but wouldn’t it be cool if we had 50 or so kids come?

Lynn and Talia opened with the singing. I mostly sat by the open door – I was feeling a little wobbly. (The temperature in the church is typically about 95°F, and it always takes me a day or two to get to where I’m drinking enough liquids to handle the heat.) I enjoyed watching Lynn and Talia teach the children the motions to “Pharaoh, Pharaoh”. Lynn is always so graceful in everything she does.

One kinda neat thing I noticed: When we do that song at our home church, there are almost always a few 4th or 5th grade boys who come up in the front to “strut their stuff”. Some things are universal – there were two boys today up front doing the motions. I had to smile! J

This week’s theme is Moses – how he answered God’s calling. Dilio told the story for the first lesson. He’s very good with children, his teaching experience certainly showed through. He kept the children engaged, attentive and involved.

Today’s craft was coloring a picture related to the story. We had Dilio emphasize to the children that we would distribute the paper and crayons and they were to stay seated, and share the crayons. It went very well – and the children enjoyed showing us their coloring.

Sarah did a head count, and was tickled to find we had 53 children on our first day!

Dilio, our interpreter, talking with Sarah and her daughter, Courtney. Donna in the background. (Picture courtesy of Phil)

The little shop beside the restaurant, where Vicki found a pair of sunglasses for me.

The flowers were a festive touch at the restaurant.

This fellow and about 18 others were in full voice - almost all night and all day.

Sunday, June 17:
Sleep was a little hard to come by – the roosters were in full voice for most of the night. Taking a little walk around camp, I found there were about two dozen of them in cages near the dormitories.

We had breakfast at the camp, orientation and getting organized in the morning. As well as a little extra play practice! Then we drove to the chicken place near Los Botados for lunch. It’s in a little mall, so Vicki checked out the store next to the restaurant. I’d forgotten my sunglasses, and Vicki found some for a really cheap price. After a sumptuous lunch, we loafed in the plaza for a little while. There were a couple of boys offering shoe-shines, so Aresmende got his shoes shined all spiffy. Then we went back to the camp for a siesta, and to get ready for the welcoming service in the evening.

The pastor’s wife, Josie, was asked to take my part – “Millie” – only using her own name. It’s a bit with Rick trying to tell the ladies who prepare our meals that lunch was “delicioso”, with a little coaching from Phil. So, I was able to focus on getting the play on video. When we came to the end of the play, which finishes with singing “Yo Celebrare”, pastor and some of the church music team provided accompaniment! We weren’t expecting that, and it was really cool! So we repeated the chorus several times, with all the congregation joining in.

The children of the church did “I’m in the Lord’s Army” (in Spanish, of course) – I always enjoy watching them. They mime playing trumpets, along with all the other motions.

When Pastor Miguel got up to speak, he asked about Fred, and if his knee, which he injured a few years earlier, was okay. I said it was perfect and he was fine.

The children presented each of us with a welcoming card. Pastor called our names, one by one. Phil looks so much like a Dominican, that the child with his card got confused as to whom she was to deliver the card!

I asked Sheila for help in learning the words to a song they do every year that we are in church: “Alabare”. I tried to write it down as I was hearing it, but don’t think I got it quite right.

Got to be a bit of a late night, but it was terrific to share the time with our friends and family in Christ.

The front of the complex at the camp - our home for a week. (Photo courtesy of Donna)

Waiting for luggage at the airport in Santo Domingo (Photo courtesy of Donna)

Saturday, June 16:
All of our flights were on time as we headed to the Dominican Republic. For two of the three flights, I was next to Lynn, who brought crossword puzzles. She and I enjoyed working them together. Everyone was in high spirits – we’re going to see our friends!

Martires, Dilio and Aresmende met us at the airport. Dilio is new to Food for the Hungry, so we look forward to getting to know him. He formerly taught English at a Catholic school. So he was an excellent interpreter for us!

We ate supper at The Pizza House in Santo Domingo. The pizza sauce is a little sweeter than what we find in the US, and almost all of the pizzas came with kernel corn as one of the toppings. It really hit the spot!
As we drove into Los Botados later, the evening service was just getting out. We stopped a little while, and hugged Pastor Miguel and his wife, Josie, and visited for a few minutes. Then we drove on to the camp to get settled in.

2007 Dominican Republic Short-Term Mission Trip

Team 2007: (not in order shown) Leaders Vonda and Carol, members Rick, Jenny, Vicki and her daughter, Kati, Phil and his wife and daughter Sarah and Courtney, Donna, and me.

Devion took his Auntie Melanie's picture 

Devion took this picture of his Grandpa Rehbein 

A Devion's eye view of his Daddy, Mike 

Devion took my picture, so I got to take his picture. 

A Devion's eye view of Grandma Rehbein 

September 23, 2006

We met for lunch at Walker's in Beaver Dam. As we were saying our goodbyes afterwards, Devion asked if he could use our camera. So the preceding pics are mostly from his viewpoint.

Brandon had a severe case of traveller's flu, and we had a long wait at the airport. We persuaded him to rest in a wheelchair while we got checked in at the Santo Domingo airport (Photo courtesy of Vicki) 

This photo is out of order here, but this gentleman told us he was over 90, and wanted his picture taken on his horse, so his son would have something to remember him by when he dies. (Photo courtesy of Vicki) 

Sunday, June 25

We were up at 3:00 a.m, as our flight was to leave at 6:40 and we needed to be there early to check luggage and get through security. Brandon was sick again, and Jenny, Casey, Carol and Karyn were also feeling a little sick. Rick had taken Cipro, as he brushed his teeth with the water at the resort before we learned that it was not safe to do so.

At the airport, Arianne nudged me and pointed at the arrivals and departures board – our flight had been cancelled! We all looked at each other, thinking: “We could have slept in!” By this time, it was apparent that Brandon was quite ill, as were Casey and Karyn.

Vonda and Martires went to the ticket counter to try to get us on another flight. At first, American tried to put us on a flight for the next day. Vonda told them that was unacceptable, so they scrambled, and got a flight for us that day. We flew out of Santo Domingo to San Juan, Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, we went through US Customs. Puerto Rico is a US Territory, so we were technically on US soil! We had a six hour layover, and Brandon was getting worse. So Vonda had paramedics who were on staff at the airport come over and check him out. They gave him an injection of Fennegren, an anti-nausea medication, and said he needed Gatorade or water with lemon or lime to rehydrate. Everyone had packed their Gatorade in their checked luggage. I had a package of Spark, which is what I use to stay hydrated, and gave that to him. Fred had just come back with a bottle of water for me, and we used that to mix the Spark for Brandon. There wasn’t any Gatorade in any of the stores in the airport, so I suggested checking the sports bar for lemon or lime. I think Karyn did that; I’m not sure. They had a lime, and gave us some for Brandon. He started getting better.

From San Juan, we flew to Tampa, where we were scheduled for a one hour layover. It was raining heavily. Our plane was delayed, and it was a two hour layover. Brandon was running a fever, and shivering. None of us had brought long sleeves, so Vonda bought a sweatshirt for him from one of the gift shops. We’d also borrowed some blankets from the airlines, and he lay on the floor wrapped in blankets. Carol was also running a fever. She wanted to take an aspirin, and I offered to get a bottle of water for her. She said, “I have an empty bottle – would you find a bubbler and refill it.” Oh yeah, we can drink the water! It’s good to be back in the continental United States!

We were able to use our cell phones in Tampa, so Vonda, Carol, and Vicki coordinated people to pick us up in Chicago and drive us to Madison. Several of us also called our families to let them know of the changes in plans.

From Tampa, we finally flew to Chicago, arriving at about 10 p.m. Noranne Heifner and Jonathan Hart (driving Rick’s van), both team members in prior years; and Wes Pike (Brandon’s dad) picked us up at the airport. We drove to the park and ride at 51 and The Beltline, arriving at about 1:00 a.m., where some of us were met by family, and others rode with Noranne, Jon, or Wes to their homes. Melanie met us with the van, and we took Arianne to her parents’ home to get her vehicle. She drove to her home in Fort Atkinson after that!

We got home and to bed about 2:00 a.m., so I was very surprised when I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep!

All in all, it was a good trip. Although many people were sick during the trip (I’m the only person who got by without taking any Cipro or having any nausea), we were loved and cared for. God provided what we needed – from Juanita’s loving care to English speaking doctors, to paramedics at the airport, to the love and prayers of our teammates and the community.

The community of Los Botados is making progress, and that was very encouraging! God’s work continues, and it was great fun to be a part of it! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all who contributed to our mission, and to all who helped us get there and back again!

God bless!

Rick has really nice hair. Vicki took this photo as this young girl decided he needed some "stylin". 

Saturday, June 24

After showers, we had a light breakfast at the camp. We were on the road by 9:10 a.m., which was only ten minutes past when we were supposed to be on the road! That’s something of a record, I think.

We stopped at one home so Karyn could deliver a gift to her sponsored child, and we stopped for bottles of water. We also stopped so Martires and Vonda could go to the construction site and look for the memory card from Vonda’s camera. They did not find it, and there were a LOT of pictures on that card! In Santo Domingo, we stopped to get gas in the truck and so several of us could use the facilities. Then we went shopping in the “Miguel” Gift Shop, which we visit every year. While there, we visited with a team of Nazarenes from Washington, DC, and there was another team from Ohio working with FH! Andres, who was with our team in 2005, was with that team. They’d been in Constanza, and were heading back to the US later on Sunday than we were. We also learned they’d be staying at the same place we were for the night.

Then we drove to the chicken place for lunch. The chicken was very good, and we also had yucca, and rice. The mustard bottle on the tables holds yucca oil & lime, not mustard. It’s a little salty for me, but some on the team like it.

We then headed to the resort where it rained all afternoon. Some of the team went for a walk, while some of us chose to just rest up. I wrote some in my journal (I got through Tuesday), hoping to capture the memories before they fade.

At supper, we learned that Carol and Karyn were sick, and Casey was resting because she wasn’t feeling quite up to par, either. She came for the meeting after supper, though. Vonda presented Martires and Victor with their models of the church (given to last year’s team), and we took pictures and exchanged hugs. Kristy (Martires’ wife) and their children were there, as well as Victor’s wife, Lucy. We enjoyed a nice visit. We also took a few pictures with both teams (Ohio & WI) together. Then off to bed – we had an early flight to catch!

Karyn has sponsored Ramona (the girl in front wearing light blue) for several years. Rick took this picture of Karen with Ramona, her mother, and her sister. 

Casey was terrific with the kids in VBS! (Photo courtesy of Rick) 

Ariane took this photo of the "ringers" Jose recruited for the baseball game. 

Ariane after the farewell ceremony, with a couple of her friends. (Photo courtesy of Ariane) 

After the annual baseball game, Pastor Miguel at the farewell ceremony, with Martires translating. (Photo courtesy of Vicki) 

Victor's wife and niece joined us later in the week. (Photo courtesy of Vicki) 

Friday, June 23.

“Revenge is a dish that is best served cold”, says the Klingon adage. Apparently, it’s at least second best in the heat. And Brandon (allegedly) found a way to exact revenge. He put notes and copies of his picture on many colors of duct tape, and made a veritable web of tape across Vonda’s door (and, consequently, Carol and Ariane’s door, as they were all in the same room). We all shared a good laugh, and then it was off to breakfast and another busy, busy day.

Brandon wasn’t feeling well, so this was his day for Juanita’s ministrations!

We had VBS in the morning, because the annual Dominican/American baseball challenge was scheduled for the afternoon!

Today’s project was on the theme of giving your heart to Jesus, so each of the children had a felt heart to decorate, and then return to us so it could be glued to banners to hang in the church. They also colored and decorated a banner to send to High Point Church. Most were willing to give the felt hearts back, but some wanted to take them home or glue them to their clothing as decoration!

Lunch was spaghetti! I don’t know just how she does it, but Millie’s spaghetti is the best! She had two kinds this year – one traditional, and one made with corn and Gouda cheese that is sort of like macaroni and cheese, only better.

It rained a bit, and we thought the baseball game might be rained out. It cleared up enough that we could play, but about an hour later than originally planned (but exactly on time, as we were in the DR). While the others sorted out who would play what position for which team, Casey handed out jump ropes for the children to use during the game. She and I “turned” so children could jump. It was fun, and the children wanted to count in English, so we counted their jumps.

Later, I sat on the cooler in the truck, visited with some of the children, and watched a little bit of the game. The truck was parked far enough away to keep from being damaged. Since some of the team were “ringers” from the minor league training camp nearby, that was quite a ways away, so I didn’t see much detail. The American team lost this year’s game! But they convinced the DR team to play a second 2 inning game, to have a chance to get even. Our team won by a score of 1-0, and celebrated extensively!

After the game, we drove to the school for the farewell ceremony. Francisco, the president of the neighborhood association, said that this is not goodby, but more of a “so long, we’ll see you again later”. There were many tears, and thank yous. Fred stood up and said thank you to all the people who’d helped him while he was sick. I have to say, I felt we were very much loved and cared for in the Dominican Republic. It was almost as though our own families were there!

We got back to the camp quite late, so we had supper quickly, said a prayer together, and went to packing and to bed.

One of the tarantula's found on the campgrounds. 

The children loved having their pictures taken! (Photo courtesy of Ariane) 

One of Fred's young friends thought his hat was pretty cool! (Photo courtesy of Ariane) 

Alejandrina's "Eggplant" (Photo courtesy of Ariane) 

Karyn was on the first team, and this is her first trip back in six years. I think she was happy to be back, don't you? (Photo courtesy of Rick and Casey) 

Brandon, aka "Quiqui" aka "Rojo" with a few admirers. All of the children wanted pictures of "Quiqui". 

The VBS lessons were about being created by God, who loves each of us. These two are showing off the mirror frames they decorated. Jenny and Casey came up with some terrific projects to emphasize the lessons!