DRX: Monte Plata, Dominican Republic, ORB trip 2010.

I think it will be best just to describe the following pictures. I picked out a few... ok, maybe MORE than just a few, but I want you to see what I saw. And hopefully, feel a little of what I felt. 

This is the 3rd year that our church (Outreach Red Bank) has gone down for a week at a time. We work with a school (175 kids) and orphanage (23 kids) that is run by Kids Alive International. These children are provided for physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Especially the children who live at the orphanage because the house parents are constantly caring for them, whereas the other children are forced to return home after the 4 hour school day

These 2 pictures below were taken 2 years apart. The first one is from 2008 when our group worked putting down sand around the playground. 2 years later, there is not one remnant of sand and a new playground. Yay for a new playground! On the slide are Wandi, Chi Chí (José Alberto) and Yunior. (Wandi and Yunior are brothers.) These boys have the biggest smiles! Seriously. Crest Commercial smiles :)  And personalities that are as big as their smiles! Love 'em!!!

 

The Sunday we were there, we went to church and after the service, we got to go to waterfalls about an hour away. The older kids got to come with us. What a fun adventure to have with them below are Ysabel and Selena. Two of the oldest girls. I have fond memories of reading with them and playing hand rhyming games. We just laugh together. Next year, Ysabel heads off to high school. I pray that she will stay safe, physically and emotionally. These girls were so cute. They kept claiming that the water was cold. I didn't take that as an excuse! haha :)  On the way home, our driver of our van (Frank... the man!!) stopped and bought us all a bag of maní, or peanuts! Delicioso. He bought them from this stand on the side of the road. A perfect treat!

Above are both pictures of Gabriel. 2 years ago, we had competitions seeing who could jump off the swing further. He won back then and he schooled Tom this year, too! :)
This is Sami. He worked at the hardware store where we bought all the paint. He grew up going to the school and remembered a bunch of people from previous years. It's amazing how he just remembered so many random people. Well, random to me. 

 
These are the girls in this house with the mother, Albania (center, striped shirt). She's an amazing woman who not only cares for 8 girls and a 2 year old boy, but she also catches spiders the size of Montana with her  bare hands. She's pretty much my hero. 

This below is Kaína. She's one of the girl and always looking for hugs. I love her! OK, there's not one child that I met that I did not love. The other is of Kaína and Loli. They were keeping us company as we painted the inside of their house! Loli has the same laugh as Boo from Monster's Inc. I'm not kiding. I recorded it this year so I can listen to it when i feel sad. Creeper? yeah, i know.

We also worked a little at the school, Escuela Hogar Eva M. Russell. On those days, we got to spend the children's recess with them. I loved playing this little game where you make a big circle around someone in the middle who has to "dance La Conga." And you sing "La conga la conga, que bueno está la congo..." We also challenged the Dominicans to a serious game of Volibol, aka Volleyball. We lost 2 matches to 1. It got intense and involved teachers yelling, fat lips, and singing patriotic songs!

 

I love this picture below. It's Pablito and Tom. Note the huge smiles of laughter coming from these two guys. Now, I'm sure Pablito can speak a decent amount of English. Maybe a little more than Tom speaks Spanish. Despite the language barriers, these two are clearly enjoying each other's company.  It's just what happens a lot on the trip. God is bigger than these language barriers. And you learn to make do with what you can. We were all eating dinner together- Juana and some of the mothers had prepared the meal for us. OK, there are 3 houses that have children in them- 2 with a pair of "parents" and 1 with a single woman who is the mother role. They are hoping to finish this 4th house asap, especially because they are going to take some orphans from Haiti in.

The last night, we cooked dinner for everyone. Highlights of the night: deep frying fries (it's not as easy as you think when you're cooking for  50), finally getting to do a Bible lesson, giving out clothes and goodie bags, and the dance circles! The kids crafted and played. It was another beautiful night.

The earthquake: We didn't feel anything and we alerted right away that Tuesday night.  Right away the town was having meetings about how to help. The orphanages are going to take in children. The people are going to send down medicine and other items to peopel in Haiti. I looked at this community' 3rd poorest in the D.R.''' and I saw all this need. Yet they look at Haiti and saw how much they could give. And they acted on it. I was quite humbled.   Please visit Kids Alive Haiti relief if you would like to give to supporting the children coming to an orphanage. I saw the response right away. And i've seen the orphanage in actiona. your money goes directly to feeding, clothing, suppporting these children. 

It's really hard to sum up a trip like this. I think it boils down to the fact that I am thankful that God has provided me with things and the life I live right now.  But even more, I am thankful that God has blessed us with his love and grace. That he is a God who REDEEMS lost lives and hurt and pain. Next: How can I continue to help the community in Monte Plata? How can I better be involved and help the people right around me here in MoCo?