Friday Fun in La Romana

 Good evening friends.  It has been an incredible last full day here in the DR.  This morning we had a great breakfast again then loaded up for Batey 106 for the final time.  The construction team hustled through many tasks including painting, pouring concrete, and making final preparations for the dedication of the house.  The VBS team had a productive morning that included handing out donated items (Threads of Grace dresses and shirts).

After lunch, the team joined the neighborhood party that included a hot meal for everyone, clowns, music, dancing, and more!  Then the party moved down to the house that we completed for the dedication.  It was an incredible time of the mom who was receiving the house telling how she not longer has to worry about her house flooding when it rains.  Our group received plaques in memory of Dennis Brinley and Ray Kirkland since their memorial gifts helped us to fund the house.  After the dedication, the family entered the house and the kids celebrated their new set of bunk beds.  The mom celebrated the new refrigerator and stove that we donated to them.  The dad of the family was out in the sugar cane field at work.

Leaving Batey 106 was emotional for the team as we waved goodbye to many of the kids that we spent the week getting to know.  We got to go to the beach for a short time of relaxing before coming back to dinner and our group time.  Below are the ways that the team shared that they saw God today and this week:

Lincoln: Adeline stepped in a cement, Steve was gracious in helping her clean her shoes. In general, the Haitians were very kind, even when we did stuff wrong 

Liam: liked how all the kids were excited about us

Jo: today, was in her head for not helping much when she didn't feel well and the party was overwhelming. Girl took her had and took her someplace quieter and pointed out mountains

Sami: dedication made us emotional and her friend was wiping her tears and asking why she was crying 

MHK: remembering Ray and Dennis during the dedication 

Meara: this week, from being old now and being more leader, it was really cool to see the "kids" getting along and bonding and reminded her of really enjoying her youth group days back in the day. At end when about to get on bus, couldn't find her buddy. Asked for help telling another kid to tell Christian she said goodbye and other kid said it ahead of her

Kenzi: everyone's gotten along on the trip

Nora: VBS giving out juice, there was a baby and the older kids were giving the baby juice when she ran out

Adeline: the kids on the bed today. The kids wearing the dresses and the shirts. Overstimulated at the party, sat back and watched the joy of the kids. Having clowns and a meal meant so much to them and seeing their joy

Elyse: making a big connection with one of the kids

Daleen: had no idea what a Batey was and how those people are stuck there. Brought to mind the story of Haggar

Gretchen: attitude of working with the interpreters. They have such passion, they give out food after each meal. They saying they will find a use for all the things we left with them. Spirit of wanting all needs to be met

Kenz: everyone taking care of Jo

While the reported God sightings will stop, know that the processing of our experiences will continue. Feel free to ask the group about their experiences as you see them.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in and not have breakfast until 8! :)  Our flights start late afternoon and we hope to get home in a few minutes after midnight tomorrow.  Your prayers and support have been meaningful to this trip.  Thank you!

Thursday in La Romana

 Late evening post here from the D.R.  Thursdays are usually tough days on mission trips as exhaustion levels are high and today started out ominous.  A mug knocked over and broken.  Coffee spilled.  Serving dish fell apart.  All of that before breakfast.

BUT, the rest of the day turned out to be a good one.  The construction team got lots done and that's a great thing with tomorrow's dedication coming.  Most of the side of the duplex that we are dedicating has been painted.  Concrete floors were poured and the foundation was poured for the sidewalk surround for the house.  

The VBS team hosted about 50 kids with lots more games, crafts, and stories about creation and Jesus.  The team had great patience as the construction team was late getting back to pick them up.

After getting back from the work sites, Steve and Brian went to the store with one of our interpreters to purchase some items for the family who will be living in the home that we are dedicating tomorrow.  Afterwards, we went to a villa at Casa de Campo where we had Dominios pizza, a birthday cake for Liam, and spent time in the pool or lounging around it.

Here are the ways that the team reports seeing God today:

Adeline: at lunch had good convo with Londyn and translators. There's a lot

 Tim: got a house call from the medical director of the hospital (he was tired today and stayed back at the compound to rest up for the remainder of the week)

 Daleen: listening to children worship under trees

 Nora: made friendship bracelets with older girls after learning how to make them only 2 days ago

 George: listening to children sing

 Gretchen: teenage girls in back not wanting to participate and asked if they wanted to make bracelets.

 Meara: buddy from last trip finally remembered her

 Sami: had a little girl take care of her. Everyone rocked it on their jobs

Kenz: she and Lily had convo in Spanish with a girl and understood what was being said

Meara: rocked it on shoveling

 Steve: thrilled to relieve the mixer to Stephanie 

 Adeline: kids at VBS didn't want to talk to them in the morning, she was only girl playing outside, then at end they were talking and singing. 

Tomorrow we get to have more fun with VBS, host a community party, and dedicate the house we have been building.  Check back tomorrow night for updates on how day goes.

Work Day #3 in La Romana

 Good evening family, friends, and followers.  We have had another great day here in the Dominican.  It has been hot but God has provided ways to escape it.  The VBS team today had a large tree to cover the area where they were working with the children.  The construction team had cloud cover and a breeze that helped to break the heat.  Here's more of what has happened since our last post:

This morning we had a good breakfast of French toast, meats, and fruit.  We then hit the road toward our worksites but with a slight detour on the way.  We were given a tour of the Rodney Henrickson School in one of the suburb areas of La Romana.  This is a school that SMBC has had 2 different teams work at in 2016 and 2018.  (My first time in the D.R., my previous youth group also worked on the school).  We were met but a small group of students who offered a greeting and gave us pamphlets about the school.  The administrator of the school told us more about the school and gave us a tour of the facility.  The school has over 500 students in it including a new class for special needs students.  We were able to see flowers that were painted by some of our team back in 2018 and took pictures with Mike next to the one Marti did and Tim and McKenzie next to the one that Abby painted.  

After the tour we headed back to our regular routine.  As we pulled up to the VBS site, kids came running.  There were about 40 kids that participated in the activities that our team and translators led.  The construction team spent more time sifting sand and digging for the porch foundation and leveling the floors inside the home.  The team was able to meet two ladies who are receiving the houses.  Each house built is a duplex that serves two families.  The house that we are working on happen to be going to two brothers and their families.

Since returning to the Casa Pastorale, the team has showered, had another amazing meal, and enjoyed a special time of worship and devotion.

Tomorrow we will be working again at different sites.  It is a special day as it is Liam's birthday!  We will have special ways to celebrate him.  

Here are the ways that the team shared that they have seen God at work today:

Stephanie: Kid making sure Zachary had a chance to try pushing the wheelbarrow again after dropping it and a village girl trying to take it away, then helping Zachary keep it balanced.  Also, working without words with the two ladies that will be receiving the houses we are working on. We worked really well together and never spoke.

 Zachary: Tim asked for a pen and one was sitting three feet from him

 Meara: got into the little school building, too small for all kids, preparing to be in all the sun all day, we went out and there was awesome tree to provide shade. It was beautiful and had cool seeds, but we got pooped on

 Nora: girl that started fanning her when she said she was hot

Adeline: after she fell and was forced to take a break, some girls saw her knee and started to try to clean it for her and braided her hair (Adeline's knee is fine.  It just has a tiny cut.)

 Megan: whole VBS crew cooperated, had to do a lot on the fly, trusted each other and God, everything went smooth 

 Kenz: Took a nap at lunch time

 Sami: painting nails and everyone was enjoying it, even the boys wanted blue nail polish...leadership of VBS had good communication within all the craziness on the fly. Everyone working together to keep it all cohesive

 George: had 4/5 older kids in back of VBS. Had the opportunity to coax them into being a part of the group. Got them involved and thought it would be a lot harder

Brooks: there's a little girl and older girl. Older girl was making sure the younger girl was taken care of

 Gretchen: Christiana taught her how to sift sand. Christiana's dedication and taking few breaks. The three Watson's working together 

 Mike: trip to school

 Steve: past couple days reminding him of Dennis Brinley

That's all for tonight.  Keep looking for God at work in your life as we look for God at work here in the D.R.

Work Day #2

 Good evening everyone.  It has been another fun day here in La Romana.  After another great breakfast, the teams boarded bus #807 to head to the work sites.  #807 has done great since it left us stranded on Sunday and then saved us from being stranded when the second bus broke down.  The two teams were on different sites today that were about 5 minutes apart. 

The VBS team worked in a batey in which previous teams from our church have worshipped.  The batey was much smaller than yesterday and they only had about 20 kids.  The team, translators, and kids had a great time learning about Jesus, playing games, doing crafts, and simply being together.

The construction crew returned to batey 106 to get back to work on the house we are helping to build.  We got an early morning workout as we started the day by moving a few hundred cinder blocks in an assembly line.  We then returned to sifting sand and moving dirt into the house to level the floor.  The construction workers from the batey and surrounding areas are doing a great job of moving the progress of the house.  

The teams came back together for lunch and enjoyed another great meal.  Lincoln shared a devotion with the team during lunch today.  

Since being back at Casa Pastorale, we have showered, enjoyed a great dinner, had a great team meeting, and are now playing games and reviewing snacks.

Here are the ways that our team saw God today:

Adeline: just like everything. Us all working together went smoothly and quickly and not bumpy, talking to Londyn (a new friend of ours) about her wanting to become a missionary 

Liam: a bunch of kids helping out with Mary Helen

Meara: kid that was helping run wheelbarrows. She remembered him and he told us he lives in the house we worked on four years ago

Z: two German shepherd puppies and kid got the puppies over for us to play with

Annalise: seeing butterflies everywhere, talking to translator on the way back

George: seeing all the young group pitching in, working hard. Nobody slacking

Silly Sami: but able to connect with all the kids at VBS because they figured out she was able to wiggle her ears

Tim: saw Chad and Megan have a Pentecostal experience and got it on video...Chad input, it got rockin and rolling (this was during a time of singing and playing instruments with the VBS kids)

Gretchen: talking to translators and hearing their faith stories

Chad: having the opportunity...Gretchen shared gospel story with the VBS kids...Tim input it was good

So many things going on and so many ways that God is being seen.  Thanks for following our journey.  Tomorrow our teams will be far apart to work so we will not be back together for lunch.  Continue to pray for us as we get more tired and sore from the work.  Until tomorrow friends, enjoy having clean water whenever you want it.

Day 1 of Work

 Good evening to those following our journey.  Today was filled with lots of work and many connections.  The VBS and construction teams both worked in Batey 106 today.  The VBS team had approximately 60 children with them for the day.  The construction team did lots of sifting sand that was used in a stucco coating for the house and loading wheelbarrows to build up the floor in one of the rooms of the house.  Adeline led our lunchtime devotion.

Our translators did a great job of helping us to communicate with those we met while other communication was done with our own language skills and "doing our best" approach.  After getting back from work we cleaned up quickly and went to the Jumbo, which is a large store that sells just about anything you could want.  

Dinner was another amazing meal and our team had a great team meeting.  Everyone is now playing games or catching up on showering.  We know that we will be working on two different sites tomorrow but will be able to have lunch together.  

Here are our God sightings for today:

Liam: group of kids playing basketball with them, saw batey kids being patient with us

Zachary: bus didn't break down

Elyse: kids being patient

Lincoln: batey kids helping with construction projects

 Adeline: kids sharing about their lives with us 

Annalise: kids fighting over tools in order to help out, able to communicate through Lincoln, got to meet the cat

Meara: George was good with the kids and awesome at Spanish. His communication skills and he is awesome and we are blessed 

Chad: the translators, talented and committed 

Daleen: Lincoln and Luke being kind and firm through interactions with difficult kids, the eagerness of kids to come into the church

Sami: connecting with teenagers and Frendy

Mckenzie: the baby chicken and the 4 y.o. girl, cloudiness in the morning 

Megan: everyone on the VBS team

Gretchen: VBS

That's all for tonight.  Pictures continue to be posted on the SMBC Youth Ministry Facebook page.  I haven't had time yet to jump them to the Flickr page but will at some point.  

Pray for rest and recovery each night.  

Sunday, Fun Day

 Good evening from Casa Pastorale.  We have had quite the adventurous day today. Everyone is doing well.  Here's what we have been up to today.

This morning we went to Batey 106 for worship.  A batey is a sugar cane village.  We joined one of the churches in the batey for their morning service.  Much of the service was in Creole with some in Spanish and some in English.  The pastor did a great job managing all of the many distractions of the service.  We enjoyed being part of her congregation for the day.  Our team offered greetings and sang Goodness of God as part of the service.  After worship they gave us a tour of the community including walking by the house that we helped to lay the foundation for in 2022.  It was special to see the completed work and also see the site our construction team will be working on the rest of the week.

After lunch, we went to the beach to relax for a bit before the work starts.  One of our leaders told us that he felt the beach we usually go to is too crowded on Sunday so we were taken to a different beach at Casa de Campo.  It was gorgeous and a fun place to experience.  We got back on the bus to head home and the bus wouldn't start.  Another bus was sent and we loaded onto that bus to head home.  About a mile down the road, that bus broke down.  It was quite helpful that the first bus was a quick fix and was able to pick us up to get us back to the compound for dinner, organizing for tomorrow, and our team meeting.

At our team meeting I passed out notes from some of our church deacons and other leaders to encourage the team members.  We are thankful for those who took the time to encourage us along the way.

Here are the ways our team members reported seeing God through the day:

Liam/Zachary: kids giving us tour of the village 

 Adeline: kids being excited as soon as we showed up, singing happy birthday 

 Mike: the focus the leader had during preaching with all the distractions going on

 Jo: going to the church and seeing everyone connect with God even with language barriers

 George/Zachary: the busses broke down, but no one panicked or got upset

 Lincoln: seeing how happy people in the village were to go to church

 Annalise: saw a cat in the village

 Tim: kids sitting in front of him were playing with his leg and he was riling them up, mom shushed kids

 George: beauty of the beach and God's creation 

We start work tomorrow.  Pray for our team as we begin construction and VBS.  Please feel free to leave us comments on the blog.  We will share them with the team during our team meetings.  One thing we have learned is that comments show as anonymous so please leave your name so we know who you are!

Travel Done, Settling in

 Good evening everyone.  The opening day for the 2026 Dominican Republic Mission Trip has been great.  There have been some bumps along the way but we are settling in to Casa Pastorale and getting ready for a great week.

Travel was a challenge with a delay out of Louisville but we got to Charlotte with enough time to get lunch and be ready to board our next flight.  Getting through airports went smoothly with everyone working together.  We met our Dominican partners and had nice breeze from the windows on the way to La Romana.

We have had a great dinner of chicken and rice and of course cake.  Tonight's cakes were passion fruit cheese cake and dolce de leche.  The group is now playing cards, taking showers, and preparing for some good rest.

Tonight's team devotion centered on Luke 18:35-43.  Our prayer for today and as we begin the week is that God will show us what God wants us to see.  

Each night the team will share about how they are seeing God.  Here are the responses from tonight.

Adeline saw God in the TSA worker who was upbeat and positive even early in the morning

Annalise saw God at work as she was able to sleep on the bus to recharge when that is not usually the case for her.

Lincoln saw God in being able to navigate travel challenges to end up where we wanted to be.

Tim saw God in Charlotte as he was able to have a conversation with a couple about our trip.

McKenzie saw God in that we made it safely and ended up here with all of our luggage. 

Mear saw God in getting a window seat to be able to see and appreciate the sites of the DR countryside as we flew across.

I saw God at work as we encountered Dennis Brinley's sister-in-law in the Louisville airport as part of our trip was funded by memorial gifts for him.

We invite you to share comments and offer encouragement to the team here.  Each night we will share the comments with the team. Photos will be shared on the youth facebook page and as time permits they will be moved to our flickr account as well.  

Thank you for following along and for supporting our team.  May God open your eyes to see God at work wherever you are this week.

The Countdown is on

 We are only a few days away from our 2026 trip back to La Romana, Dominican Republic!  The team will be 27 strong and we are all excited to go!  Please begin praying for us and for those we will interact with during our trip.  Check back each night (beginning Saturday) for updates from the team.  We will share comments that are left with the team each night at our team debrief and devotion time.  In just a few short days, La Romana, here we come!