Prayer for CURE Hospital International Dominicana

Today Aunt Lori and I got to go in to CURE hospital to join some of the staff for prayer!  There is a team of Doctors from the US visiting this week so they have a lot of difficult surgeries scheduled.  The hospital has organized continuous prayer during the surgeries all week.  Aunt Lori and I went in for an hour today and we will be doing the same tomorrow and Wednesday.  We would love to have you join us in prayer for this awesome ministry and the children and families they are treating!  Here's what to pray for:

1)  Health for the children.  Important surgeries are often cancelled here because the children catch colds or other common illnesses and cannot be released for surgery.  Please pray against germs and colds so that all the surgeries can go on as scheduled.

2)  The doctors and staff at the hospital.  For clarity of mind and for energy as they are working on many difficult cases this week.  For everything to run smoothly in the surgeries.

3) Also for the spiritual growth of the families of the children being treated.  That they would be ministered to by the work being done.  That the experience with CURE would be the beginning of spiritual renewal in their lives!

Thanks!  

Sight Seeing and Power Outages and Flooding, Oh My!

It's been just over a week since my last post and what a crazy week it has been!  Sight seeing and power outages and flooding, oh my!  The week started out great.  On Monday Aunt Lori and I went to look for a school for the boys for next year.  We got to tour a school that we both really liked...we had a good feeling there.  It looks like Aunt Lori will be sending the boys there.  What a huge weight off her shoulders to have found a good school for them!
On Tuesday we went to the Zona Colonial!  The Zona Colonial is the historic district of Santo Domingo (discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492).  We did a self-guided walking tour of the district starting with Fortaleza Ozama, the oldest fortification in the Americas.  It's construction began in 1502 and it served to protect the young Colony from pirate attacks.  The most infamous pirate to pillage the colony was Francis Drake.  It was also from this fortress that conquistadors set out to conquer nearby islands as well as the American mainland.  We decided to forgo a guide and explore the fortress ourselves.  We climbed up all three floors, went into lookouts and enjoyed a beautiful view of the river. The walls were a few feet thick.  There were tiny windows all around the building, too small for a person to fit through but big enough to shoot arrows or a riffle out of and to let light in.  There were also openings in the ground with grates over them.  When the fort served as a prison the prisoners were lower into their cells through these holes.  We had a lot of fun exploring the fort and nearby cannons.
We also went to the Museo de las Casas Reales (Museum of the Royal House).  The building itself was completed in 1502 and served as the Supreme Court.  Inside they had an exhibit about Columbus' voyages and an exhibit of colonial armor, weapons and furniture.  The court room and judges chambers were still set up the way they were in colonial times.
Next we toured Alcazar de Colon, the home of Diego Columbus (Christopher Columbus' son) and Maria de Toledo (King Ferdinand's niece).  It was fascinating to walk through, very big and impressive.  Fully furnished, it is thought that some of the household items there did actually belong to Columbus.  It was full of artwork, tapestries and a full set of armor for a man and horse.
After exploring Alcazar de Colon we decided to stop for lunch.  It was my worst meal here but a funny experience.  We chose a cafe with English on the menu thinking that way we would know for sure what we were ordering.  I ordered a vegetable quesadilla, Isaiah ordered a chicken quesadilla, Aunt Lori got a sandwich, and Micah just wanted apple pie.  It took forever for our food to come out (but we've learned that's the norm here and we had a nice outdoor table so we didn't mind).  When it finally came Isaiah and I both got veggie quesadillas that were filled with just a vegetable medley that had obviously come from the freezer section.  Aunt Lori's sandwich was fine but Micah's "apple pie" was a steak with cooked apples on it and a side of french fries!  We kept trying to tell the waiter that we had ordered an apple pie but he just pointed to the steak and said "apple pie."  How he got a steak out of "apple pie" I have no idea.  We all laughed so hard about it but Micah enjoyed the steak so it all worked out.
After lunch we headed up toward Parque Colon and the Catedral Primada de America.  The Parque Colon is a town square that has been a Bohemian hub of the city since colonial days.  It is surrounded by cafes and shops and at it's center is a statue of Christopher Columbus.  At one side of the square is The Catedral Primada de America, the first church in the Americas!  It's construction was begun in 1510 by Diego Columbus and it took 30 years to complete the main part.  Small chapels were added over the next two centuries.  It is a gorgeous cathedral with vaulted ceilings, tapestries, stained glass windows and other artwork.  I am amazed at the craftsmanship that went into it less than 20 years after the island was discovered!  They must have had such limited resources.  While the fort and palace are much simpler so much care and art went into constructing their place of worship!  It really puts some of our modern architecture to shame.  I love walking into old cathedrals.  There is such a sense of reverence and awe.  I love knowing that people have worshipped in that very place for hundreds of years.  It makes me feel a part of something very big.  God was present with them and is present with me.  It is such a beautiful feeling!
After spending some time in the cathedral I did a little souvenir shopping then we started to walk down the Calle el Conde, a pedestrian only street with shops and cafes.  We had gotten about a block down the street when Aunt Lori got a call from Uncle Glen.  He was calling because the apartment had flooded!  We hopped in the first cab we could find and rushed back.  Sure enough there was about an inch and a half to two inches of water throughout the entire apartment!  There were already a couple men from CURE helping to clear out the water.  Aunt Lori, the boys and I grabbed brooms, mops and towels and started pushing the water out of the apartment.  Some women from CURE came to help us as well.  They were so sweet and were trying to teach me some Spanish while we cleaned.  A few hour later we finally had cleared out all the water!  A couple of books were ruined but fortunately everything else was okay.  Thankfully the whole apartment has tile floors (I can't imagine what we would have done if it was carpeted).  We found out that it was caused by a pipe bursting.  We sat down to have dinner after the cleanup was done.  Sitting there looking at the clean, dry apartment it was surreal to think that just an hour before I had been sludging through water!  About half way through dinner our power went out.  This is a common occurrence here but the building had a generator which usually kicks in after a couple minutes.  It didn't.  It turned out that it wasn't a power outage...our apartment unit had lost power due to a misunderstanding about our contract with the electric company!  A man from the CURE office went down to the electric company the next and was told that they had to put a work order in and that it would probably take a couple days...we were without power for four days.  That, my friends, is why it has been so long since my last post.  No power meant to internet.  I will write another  post soon about our days without power and our trip to the beach soon.

Cheers!

Church, IKEA, and local food

Everything continues to go well here in sunny Santo Domingo!  Yesterday we all went to church at Iglesia Bueno Nueva (Good News Church).  The church service was all in Spanish but we had a translator.  Worship was lively and they had dancers up front.  It was a long service (we didn't get home until around 1:30).  The people were all very welcoming even though we couldn't communicate very well with most of them.
After church I went to IKEA with Aunt Lori and Uncle Glen to help them get some things they needed for their apartment.  I helped them pick out some pillows for their living room and some things they still needed for their kitchen.  We also found our way to a mall near them (my navigation skills have been coming in very handy...I had no idea until this year that I love maps).  Most of the stores were closed because it was Sunday but they now know how to get there (it's walking distance from their apartment) and we checked out the movie theatre there.
Today Aunt Lori is doing school work with the boys.  I have been journalling and enjoying some fresh air out on their balcony.
I thought I would take some time in this post to talk about the local food (anyone who know me knows that I love food).  We got to eat at a little local restaurant with missionary friends Diane and Fran Sabado.  The food was delicious!  We got roasted chicken with amazing seasoning on it, yucca (which is similar to potato), rice and beans, plantain, and the best avocado I've ever had!  The avocado here is amazing -- they are huge!  I've been enjoying trying some of the fruit that's indigenous to the area too. So far I have had mamey sapote and mango.  Mamey sapote is brown on the outside and a bright coral color on the inside.  It has a strange texture (pumpkin is the most similar thing I can compare it to).  The taste is not bad, similar to sweet potato, but most of us had a hard time getting passed the texture.  So it was okay but not our favorite.  The mango was delicious and gone very quickly!  Today Aunt Lori and I went to the grocery store and picked up some Guava (local name: guayabaont).  We have also made empanadas a couple times for lunch...they are so good!
Tomorrow we are going to spend the day at Zona Colonial (the historic section of town).  I think Aunt Lori and I will also walk to the Plaza de la Cultura to see some museums one day.  I will also go with Aunt Lori to help her find a school for the boys.  
Hope you are all doing well!  Cheers!

Boca Chica Beach!

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day.  I was sick for a lot of the day.  Aunt Lori says I haven't developed my missionary stomach yet.  I took it easy and by dinner was feeling much better.  We got to have dinner with a Dr and his wife who have been here working for Cure Hospital to celebrate their last night in town.
Today we went to the beach!!  The beach we went to is called Boca Chica and it is beautiful!  The sand is white, the water is clear and there are palm trees everywhere!  The boys rented snorkels and went to check out the marine life.  I got to lay out in the sun for a while and spend some time in the beautiful water.  We ate lunch on a patio out behind one of the hotels there and then headed back out to the beach for more fun in the sun!  Vendors walk up and down the beach all day selling trinkets, fruit and massages.  I think I said the phrase "No gracias" about 100 times today.
I started the day out as probably the lightest person on the beach and by the end of the day, despite multiple sunscreen applications, was the reddest person on the beach...haha oh well.  All in all it was a great day to relax, enjoy the beautiful Dominican Republic and spend time with family!
Tomorrow we are going to church.  Later this week I'll be helping Aunt Lori look for a school for the boys as well as doing some sight-seeing.
Thanks for reading!  Cheers!

Valentine's Day at the Refugee Camp

Today is Valentine's Day.  The day we associate with love.  My Valentine's Day this year did not include chocolates, a fancy dinner out...or really anything romantic at all.  Instead I had the opportunity to share the love of God with the precious children of a Dominican refugee camp.

When we left the apartment at 9am I had no idea what my day had in store.  We met up with the group from Corazon del Siervo, an amazing ministry here in Santo Domingo.  The group going today consisted of Diane and Fran (a husband and wife team who run the ministry), Marcella (a Peruvian woman who recently moved to Santo Domingo), Jimmy and Cynthia (a couple from Kansas city who also had their three adorable children with them), and then myself, Aunt Lori and her two boys.  We piled into the their van and drove about a half hour outside of the city to the camp.  

The camp is centered around a former TB infirmary.  After the TB outbreak had died out the infirmary stood abandoned for decades.  Several years ago (I was never quite able to get details on exactly how long) a storm came through that displaced many people from their homes.  The homeless broke into the infirmary and began living there.  It has now developed into something of a small city with hundreds of people living inside.  The infirmary is full (often 12 or 13 people live in one small room) and there are also many shanties built up around it, lining the dirty road.  The poverty here is extreme.  There is no underground sewage system and food is precious.  Diane gave us a tour of the camp, showed us the church they had built for the people there and explained the living conditions to us.  We met and prayed with the pastor.  Then we got to work making sandwiches for all the kids.  We got an assembly line going and made a ton of sandwiches...then I went to help pass them out to the kids.  There were so many hungry children that we had to tear the sandwiches in half to have enough to go around.  We tried to get the kids to all sit and wait as we passed them out....but by the end I was just surrounded by children all reaching out for food.   Diane told us later that we had fed 300 people today!

After I finished passing out food some of the little girls pulled me outside to play.  They taught me a patty-cake game.  Before I knew it I was surrounded by a crowd of children (probably around 30)...they all wanted to jump in and take turns playing.  Then we played a game where we all stood in a circle and had to count (in Spanish) around the circle but skip any number that had an eight in it (my ability to count in Spanish was really tested).  I had such a great time with these amazing kids!  They were so loving, joyful and welcoming even in the midst of such harsh circumstances!  They really blessed my heart.  I got to laugh with them and hug them (there was one little girl who just wanted to hug me and hold my hand the whole time).  What a humbling experience.  I have so much to be thankful for...may I never take any of it for granted!

Corazon Del Siervo also does a lot of ministering to widows.  So after the we left the refugee camp we headed back into the city and had a ministry time with a group of widows.  Jimmy shared his testimony then we prayed with some of the widows and passed out fruit for them.  We also gave a white rose to each of the widows as a way to bless them on Valentine's Day.  I could tell it meant a lot to them.  Jimmy and Cynthia's youngest daughter fell asleep on my lap during this ministry time -- what a cutie!

So, that was Valentine's Day 2013 for me.  I'm still processing everything I experienced today...today I felt such a mixing of sadness, joy and compassion.  One thing I know...I am so blessed (myself and everyone I now).  I truly believe that we have been blessed to be a blessing.  I am praying that God will impress upon my heart (and yours too) the most effective ways to bring blessing and healing to this broken world.

Happy Valentine's Day (show some love)!  :-)

For info on Corazon Del Siervo visit:  http://www.corazondelsiervo.org/home

Hola Santo Doming!

I made it!  My plane landed in Santo Domingo at 1:15 yesterday afternoon!  I had left my apartment at around 2:30am...and was feeling exhausted but so excited to be here.  Here's a recap of the trip down:

My parents were sweet enough to drive me to the airport at that ridiculous hour (yeah, they must really love me).  Everything at the airport went so smoothly!  I had ample time to check in, go through security and chill with a latte, my journal and a pastry while waiting to board.  I sat next to the sweetest lady on my first flight!  She was so kind and interested in what I am doing and genuinely wished me well!  She performs for a Gilbert and Sullivan Society and is in charge of their make-up.  So we talked all about theatre and theatre make-up.  She also told me all about her daughter...who is, as this small world we live in would have it, a dancer!  She works for an organization called Soldier Who Salsa.  Soldiers Who Salsa is an organization that bring therapeutic social dance to active and retired members of the US Military!  So cool!  Their tag line is:  Healing our heros, one dance step at a time.  

When our flight landed I had just over an hour to get to the gate for my connecting flight.  The gate was close by so it was a piece of cake!  My second flight was pretty uneventful...I slept...the entire time.  Went through Immigration, baggage claim and Customs with no problems.  Thank you Lord for such easy travels!  Aunt Lori and the boys were there waiting for me after I got through customs (they were the cutest ones there)!  We walked out of the airport and the instant I was hit with the sunshine and 85 degree weather the previous ten hours of travel were completely worth it!  How wonderful to be outside and not be shivering! 

First Observances of Santo Domingo:

1)  The weather is gorgeous, this is my kind of climate!

2)  People drive like maniacs here

3)  The water, the palm trees and the colorful buildings make it a very pretty city.

4)  It is hard to communicate with the people here:  very few seem interested in trying to understand our broken Spanish....here's hoping what I learned in High School Spanish comes back to me quickly!  

We drove back to their apartment and I got the tour and got settled in.  It is such a nice apartment...big and spacious with a little balcony (which I intend to spend a lot of time on).  Next Aunt Lori and I walked down to the street to the grocery store.  Okay...I thought I had pretty good knowledge of different kinds of produce (after all, I did grow up in a vegetarian household)...but there are so many fruits and vegetables here that I have never seen or even heard of.  I looked some of them up when I got back to the apartment to figure out which ones I want to try and will definitely be doing some culinary experimenting while I'm here! 

Today is a pretty chill day.  Uncle Glen is at work.  Aunt Lori and the boys are doing school work.  I am acclimating myself to the area and just enjoying being warm!  Tomorrow we are going to volunteer at a refugee camp...so more on that later.  Love to you all and thank you for the prayers for safe travels!

For info on Soldier Who Salsa visit:

http://www.soldierswhosalsa.org/

Cheers!

Passport Drama!

This trip has already been eventful and I haven't even set foot outside of my apartment yet!  I woke up suddenly around 4am with the thought that I should make sure I knew where my passport was.  There was no going back to sleep until I went to look...so I went to the place that I keep it and...no passport!  With less than 24 hours until my much anticipated departure I was instantly filled with anxiety.  I spent a couple hours tearing my room apart searching for the mislaid passport and praying that it would turn up...all the while pushing back thoughts of how disappointing it would be if I had to miss my trip...and how embarrassing it would be to have to tell everyone that I didn't go because I lost my passport!  I looked under furniture and sifted through paperwork waiting to be filed...nothing.  Finally, in a last ditch effort I checked my drawers again...and yup, there it was, underneath a piece of paper in drawer I had already searched.  Nice one, Syd.  Yeeesh!  Here's hoping the rest of my travels go off without a hitch...maybe I just got all the turbulence out of the way already??