jrwefamilyconnections
God has been good to me and my team even though we couldn’t see it. Between my great grandmother passing away and another girl’s grandmother dying, it was a smooth trip. I mean we had a few quarrels but if we didn’t that would be kinda strange. But we all felt like God put our team together and blessed us, we saw & did a lot while we were there. We ate a lot of chicken, rice & beans. We also met some pretty amazing people there the missionaries we visited; Doug, Kim, Brandon, Regina, Ryan and Jonathan Hoffman. We also worked with David and Marilynn Middleton. We did painting and lots of it, children evangelism, singing, and visitation.
my team
joycinda matta from papa new guinea, mitchie (Melissa) voss from Michigan, Gretel grant (team leader) from Florida, Ruth and Evan Jackson ( Evan is Ruth's son) also from Florida, Melvin aikey from Pennsylvania, Whitney Collins from Florida also, Corey Armstrong from Kentucky (and proud of it), Bethany Powell from west Virginia, Ryan green from Florida also.
the Hoffman's
Douglas, Kimberly, Brandon, Regina, Ryan, and Jonathan.
Thank you for praying for me and my team’s trip. It was much appreciated, and our trip went rather smoothly since it was a few peoples first time going by their selves. We all had fun some of us more than others, we had a few bumps along the way but, we all got through them as a team.
Monday-
We woke up at 2:30 a.m. to see my friend’s team off. Then we went back to bed till about 7 a.m. then we got ready and went over to the cafeteria to get the coach all loaded. The teams going to the Miami international airport with us was Guatemala, Haiti, Romania, and us the Dominican Republic team. We said our good-byes to everyone as we entered through the airport doors. As we stepped through the doors we could sense we were on an adventure!
We got to the luggage check-in and all of our suit cases were 50 pounds and under we thank God for that right there. Some teams would have to either send back some luggage or rearrange everyone’s suitcases and maybe take some stuff out. We finally got all of our boarding passes and went though security, and headed to our gate. We all got our exercise when we walked to our gate it was almost on the other side of the airport! Once we got there we saw a pizza hut, and starbucks, and naturally we all became hungry so we all got pizza. Then we got out Uno and played till we loaded the plane. Then we flew for about 2 or 3 hours then we finally arrived in Santa Domingo.
We came out and we were then told we had to pay and fill out some information about our trip. So after going through all that we got the visas and went around the counter just to have them taken away to get shredded! That was so counterproductive. When we finally got through customs we went outside to find the missionary family, I thought it would be easy, ya right there people lining the sidewalks and we had a little bit of trouble finding the missionary family but we finally found them. We all walked out to the taxi (15 passenger van) with a tiny trailer I didn’t think we could fit all of our luggage in there but we did.
We got to the place we were staying and had pizza and introduced ourselves then we tried to go to sleep. It was hard there was so much street noise I couldn’t fall asleep.
Tuesday-
We were supposed to start painting at 10:30 but we got a phone call that the Hoffman’s (missionaries) house had been broken into and several things were stolen, so the painting and shopping would have to be postponed. So we just kept playing Dutch blitz, I finally learned how to play!
Then a few hours later they came over and they went shopping while some of us stayed and scraped and painted. We worked for like 6 or 7 hours but they still weren’t here so we packed up our stuff and went to find something which ended up being a paint fight. A lot of fun but very, very messy when they came home they started laughing about how dirty we got.
Wednesday-
We went souvenir shopping and went to look at the Christopher Columbus light house and home. It was so cool there is so much history in that area. We got to go around and barter in the souvenir market that experience was totally awesome I loved going around and bartering with people who don’t speak English that well. We met several nice people though.
Thursday-
Our very first service and come to find out that no one could understand it. But later on the missionary wife translated for us.
Friday-
We painted some more then we found out a girl on our team, her grandmother passed away while we were there.
Saturday-
We went visiting and she left for the states. We also had youth activities, we played soccer and kickball with them.
Sunday-
We went to Sunday school and evening church. Played Dutch blitz in between services.
Monday-
We painted, and scraped and repainted. All most all of us ended up getting paint in our eye.
Tuesday-
We painted the roof! That was a lot of fun!
Wednesday-
We held children services in the mountains with the Middleton’s and went to the trace ojos caves which in English means the three eyes caves. They are really pretty and there another one that you can only get to by boat and it was the most beautiful one.
Thursday-
Our team mate came back from the states and we had service and talked with the missionary family and played tag like we always did after service.
Friday-
The Middleton’s came and Mitchie (the girl I was talking about earlier) left with them. Then we finished up painting then set up for a party. Then we had the youth service.
Saturday-
We had another youth activity this time we played name games with them and it was a lot of fun. Then we went to the missionary’s home and had an American meal and it was amazing!!
Sunday-
We did the same as last Sunday.
Monday-
We left for the botanical gardens and I left to go to Haiti from there. The family who picked me up was taking me to visit my dad. We had several problems (you could call them) along the way. The spark plugs blew in the van we were in, and then at the border some lady wouldn’t let us pass. Then some guys with really big guns came by my window which we had just rolled down and I was like what are they doing? They started to like peel the tent off the window, and then they wouldn’t give back the family’s passport (they didn’t ask for mine). Later on their dad said he had looked back and I was a praying away, truth be told I was scared and freaked out that those guys had such big guns with them.
We finally made it to Haiti, we dropped of the kids and their luggage, and then we headed to where my family was. Before we left they grabbed a few mre’s I got the spaghetti one it was pretty good. We stopped and let one of their friends out to go and get us some cokes, then when he didn’t come back in 5 minutes we began to worry. He finally came back with our cokes, and then we hit the road again. We finally made it to ob’s headquarters and I met up with my family!
I will write more about Haiti sometime.
Monday-
We woke up at 2:30 a.m. to see my friend’s team off. Then we went back to bed till about 7 a.m. then we got ready and went over to the cafeteria to get the coach all loaded. The teams going to the Miami international airport with us was Guatemala, Haiti, Romania, and us the Dominican Republic team. We said our good-byes to everyone as we entered through the airport doors. As we stepped through the doors we could sense we were on an adventure!
We got to the luggage check-in and all of our suit cases were 50 pounds and under we thank God for that right there. Some teams would have to either send back some luggage or rearrange everyone’s suitcases and maybe take some stuff out. We finally got all of our boarding passes and went though security, and headed to our gate. We all got our exercise when we walked to our gate it was almost on the other side of the airport! Once we got there we saw a pizza hut, and starbucks, and naturally we all became hungry so we all got pizza. Then we got out Uno and played till we loaded the plane. Then we flew for about 2 or 3 hours then we finally arrived in Santa Domingo.
We came out and we were then told we had to pay and fill out some information about our trip. So after going through all that we got the visas and went around the counter just to have them taken away to get shredded! That was so counterproductive. When we finally got through customs we went outside to find the missionary family, I thought it would be easy, ya right there people lining the sidewalks and we had a little bit of trouble finding the missionary family but we finally found them. We all walked out to the taxi (15 passenger van) with a tiny trailer I didn’t think we could fit all of our luggage in there but we did.
We got to the place we were staying and had pizza and introduced ourselves then we tried to go to sleep. It was hard there was so much street noise I couldn’t fall asleep.
Tuesday-
We were supposed to start painting at 10:30 but we got a phone call that the Hoffman’s (missionaries) house had been broken into and several things were stolen, so the painting and shopping would have to be postponed. So we just kept playing Dutch blitz, I finally learned how to play!
Then a few hours later they came over and they went shopping while some of us stayed and scraped and painted. We worked for like 6 or 7 hours but they still weren’t here so we packed up our stuff and went to find something which ended up being a paint fight. A lot of fun but very, very messy when they came home they started laughing about how dirty we got.
Wednesday-
We went souvenir shopping and went to look at the Christopher Columbus light house and home. It was so cool there is so much history in that area. We got to go around and barter in the souvenir market that experience was totally awesome I loved going around and bartering with people who don’t speak English that well. We met several nice people though.
Thursday-
Our very first service and come to find out that no one could understand it. But later on the missionary wife translated for us.
Friday-
We painted some more then we found out a girl on our team, her grandmother passed away while we were there.
Saturday-
We went visiting and she left for the states. We also had youth activities, we played soccer and kickball with them.
Sunday-
We went to Sunday school and evening church. Played Dutch blitz in between services.
Monday-
We painted, and scraped and repainted. All most all of us ended up getting paint in our eye.
Tuesday-
We painted the roof! That was a lot of fun!
Wednesday-
We held children services in the mountains with the Middleton’s and went to the trace ojos caves which in English means the three eyes caves. They are really pretty and there another one that you can only get to by boat and it was the most beautiful one.
Thursday-
Our team mate came back from the states and we had service and talked with the missionary family and played tag like we always did after service.
Friday-
The Middleton’s came and Mitchie (the girl I was talking about earlier) left with them. Then we finished up painting then set up for a party. Then we had the youth service.
Saturday-
We had another youth activity this time we played name games with them and it was a lot of fun. Then we went to the missionary’s home and had an American meal and it was amazing!!
Sunday-
We did the same as last Sunday.
Monday-
We left for the botanical gardens and I left to go to Haiti from there. The family who picked me up was taking me to visit my dad. We had several problems (you could call them) along the way. The spark plugs blew in the van we were in, and then at the border some lady wouldn’t let us pass. Then some guys with really big guns came by my window which we had just rolled down and I was like what are they doing? They started to like peel the tent off the window, and then they wouldn’t give back the family’s passport (they didn’t ask for mine). Later on their dad said he had looked back and I was a praying away, truth be told I was scared and freaked out that those guys had such big guns with them.
We finally made it to Haiti, we dropped of the kids and their luggage, and then we headed to where my family was. Before we left they grabbed a few mre’s I got the spaghetti one it was pretty good. We stopped and let one of their friends out to go and get us some cokes, then when he didn’t come back in 5 minutes we began to worry. He finally came back with our cokes, and then we hit the road again. We finally made it to ob’s headquarters and I met up with my family!
I will write more about Haiti sometime.
waiting in the airport
waiting in the airport is a drag. but with a simple game it is turned into fun! uno was one of our favorite games to play. it was Bethany's turn to deal the cards.
more games!
this time we were playing a game called set and it is a complicated but very fun game to play.
Dutch blitz!!!!!!!
this was our probably the favorite game for everyone, we played all most every time we had free-time.
remember when i said we did lots of painting? well here's the proof. although some of the paint on our clothes was intentional!
down below are some Dominican's performing for money. we saw them in the souvenir market, where we did all our souvenir shopping and bartering (which is soooo much fun to do =))
and below that is us singing in church which we frequently did.
down below are some Dominican's performing for money. we saw them in the souvenir market, where we did all our souvenir shopping and bartering (which is soooo much fun to do =))
and below that is us singing in church which we frequently did.
another fave!
our favorite store in Dominican was the hardware store! as you can see from this picture they had reallllyyyyyyy comfy leather couches.
our favorite store in Dominican was the hardware store! as you can see from this picture they had reallllyyyyyyy comfy leather couches.