Sunday, May 31, 2009

Welcome Interns!!!

On Thursday our summer interns arrived here in the Dominican. We are so excited they are here and are having a great time getting to know them. From the left there is: Hunter Main, Haley Lehman, Richard Parsons, and Audrey Parker. 

They have jumped right into the action. Friday Rich and I had breakfast for them at our house, a time of devotion, and orientation. In the afternoon they met the people in the neighborhood and then we took the kids from the Children's Home to Rio San Juan for ice cream as a "end of school" celebration.

Yesterday we went to Puerto Plata to show them where we visit people in the hospital and dump. Today we had church, Richard offered a prayer and Hunter led our thoughts for the Lord's Supper. Audrey and Haley had kids surrounding them within seconds of arriving.

The interns are essential to our summer program. Besides being a HUGE help to the MannaDR staff, they also get to have a ministry of their own. This program is designed to help grow up missionaries whether they become missionaries abroad or in their home town in the US. We are so excited for the summer and so thankful that God sent us these amazing individuals to work alongside of us. 

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Things We Find



The other night Rich and I were eating dinner like every other night. And like every other night we got up to do the dishes. Not like every other night we had this visitor! Of course, I was freaking out. Not screaming just general shock. Rich was right next to it and hadn't even noticed it. This little creature did not get a cute name like some of our other housemates, I do have a limit of tolerance. 

Rich tried to get it to move outside by poking at it with a broom. The snake started biting the broom so, it was on to plan B. I got Rich a giant pot and pan. He put the pot over the snake and pulled it along the counter until he could slip the pan underneath of it. Rich threw it out in the yard. 

The snake obviously felt threatened and so it put of this rank odor. We had to bleach down the kitchen to get rid of the smell. This is the third snake we've seen but, the first one actually in the house. I guess we will have to keep our windows closed in the evenings from now on. 

Monday, May 25, 2009

Look Out World, Here Comes Cristo Daniel!

He is walking! Just wanted to share with all of you that Cristo is walking. He walked for the first time by himself this week. The video is for your enjoyment! Sorry I can't figure out how to turn it.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Please, have a seat...

We finally have our couch cushions! We had these made at a place in Puerto Plata and they did an excellent job. We have enjoyed having a comfortable place to sit and relax during siesta. It is nice to have our couch functional, it feels a little more cozy in our home now. 

Friday, May 22, 2009

Small Victories

Today we had a few small victories that were very nice after our rough day yesterday of having to leave La Caribe. To any other, they may seem meaningless but, we take what we can get!

1. I've been trying to outwit a rat that has been sneaking into our house. First there was "evidence" all over our kitchen and living area which, was gross. I had to clean up little pelts every morning. So, I put out some rat poison. The rat countered by chewing holes in our screens. That was frustrating because we had just fixed them. I then put traps in the windows but, only caught lizards in them. Today we had sweet victory! Our dog, Uluru, caught the rat in the garden! Since Rich was gone I had to dispose of the body but, I'm happy to be rat free. I hope that if he had any rat friends or family that they will take care and go away.

2. Fridays I having a mentoring program with four of the girls from the Children's Home. Two girls come in the morning and two in the afternoon. Every time we are together I like to talk with them about school and how things are going. I also like to talk a little about different values. Today, I wanted to talk about sharing with the younger girls. It is nothing scripted or serious I just try to get them thinking a little. We started working on gifts for there mothers. El dia de la madre is next weekend. The girls made bracelets for their moms, the house moms, aunts, grandmas and sisters. Although they really liked some of the beads they were only allowed to make something for someone else. They were so excited to plan a special way to share with these important women. They giggled among themselves and then made me a bracelet. I'm not a mom and they know that but, they wanted to share with me too. They said I would be a mom someday. And when I'm a mom they want the baby to be fat like me, not skinny like Rich. It was very sweet! Note: Being "fat" here is a good thing. 

3. Rich had an opportunity to serve today. On his way back from Rio San Juan this morning he saw a cement truck and a cement pump truck badly stuck. It is very unusual to have this kind of machinery around here so he stopped to chat. The people he talked with are trying to build a house but, the truck got stuck. He rushed back to camp to get some shovels, wheelbarrows, and able bodied men. Thankfully he was able to get there in time to save the concrete load before it dried and got it to the correct place.

These may seem silly but, we are learning that though some days you may fell like a failure God blesses you with simple victories to encourage you and to keep on keeping on.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Dios Sabe

Usually no news is good news. Unfortunately, we have news about the second well. There have been a series of unfortunate events. Tuesday the bailer, the thing that gets the mud out of the hole, got stuck down in the well. When trying to get the bailer free, the cable broke. After many prayers and multiple attempts, Rich was finally able to fish the bailer out. 

Yesterday, while Rich was checking over the rig he noticed one of the main drive gears was worn out and about to break. For safety reasons we can't drill until the part is fixed so now we are looking at options on how to repair it.

Regretfully, we had to cover the well yesterday and leave it until after the summer. There is a small chance the government may employ someone to finish it but, the odds of that are very small. The well is 220 feet deep and still no sign of water. We hate to have to make such a depressing blog entry but, that is real life here. 

Somethings go better than you could have imagined and some just don't go at all. God knows the purpose in all things and we will continue to pray for answers. Many of our neighbors often say "Dios sabe" when we don't have a human explanation for things, which means "God knows." 

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Let's Get This Party Started


MannaDR hosts a youth missionary camp here in the Dominican Republic every summer. We have college students that give up their summer to serve here as interns. Every week we have a different team from all over the United States. Each group helps the people in the local villages by putting on tin roofs, pouring cement floors and painting houses. They also hold a couple of VBS', spend a day in the community, visit the sick in the hospital and those that live in the city dump. 

We picked out some groovy new paint colors and have been working diligently to get camp ready. A special thanks to our fellow team members Kyle and Vicki Graham that came out to help us paint. Rich has been fixing things around camp when he gets rained out of drilling. We are excited that our interns will arrive May 28! They will have a few days to get oriented to the DR, meet our team and the people in Bobita and help finish getting camp ready. Our first group arrives June 2. We have a full summer ahead of us and are so excited to get going!

If you are interested in bringing a group here to the DR to work with us check out our website for more information or e-mail Tom Martin at tom@mannadr.org. We would love to have you down here!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Update on Well #2

Yesterday Rich reached a depth of 195 feet and still no water. We are frustrated but, we can only keep working and praying that there will be a sign of water soon. The government had a professional come out to the site and mark where the best place to drill was and Rich also checked himself. It seems that we are drilling in the correct place but, who knows how deep the water actually is under ground. 

Rich has really made some great relationships with the people out in La Caribe and can't imagine leaving them without having water in the well. We won't be able to drill during the summer because we have a youth mission camp here in Bobita. Our interns come into the country in eleven days so, that means we have a week to work with at most. We are asking everyone to please pray that we hit water soon! We want to help give these people the blessing of clean water but, we can't do it alone!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Where there is no bridge...


Actually, there usually is a bridge here. We have had incredible amounts of rain over the past week. Last night and this morning it rained especially hard. I was kind of glad because today is Rich and my second third anniversary and there is no way Rich can drill with this kind of rain. We got to have breakfast together and then we decided to go to town to run a few errands. The only problem with that was that we got to the bridge and this is what we saw. I won't lie I was pretty nervous. We said a prayer and Rich put the truck into four wheel drive. Thankfully we made it across just fine. Rich said it wasn't that big of a deal but, I thought it was! Just goes to show that if you have ever been here and helped clean out the tunnels in the bridge it makes a huge difference!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Update on Well #2

Rich and Wilson hit 100 feet yesterday but, still no water. He is hopeful that today they will start to see signs of water. This well has had a grueling drilling schedule, not to mention the travel time to get to the village. Thankfully no parts on the rig have broken and the bit hasn't gotten stuck. I'll keep you updated! Thanks for your prayers!

The Things We Find

We have been so blessed to be living in the Wallace's home here in the DR. Brian had a beautiful garden around the house and many potted plants in the courtyard. Neither Rich nor I have a green thumb so, our goal has been not to kill anything. I honestly thought I had killed one of our plants in the courtyard. Frankly, I kept watering it because I didn't know what else to do. To may great amazement, the other day I noticed that not only was it alive but, had beautiful flowers. What a nice surprise!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Here we go again... Well #2



Saturday Rich took the drill rig out to our next drilling site in Caribe and set it up so he would be ready to go first thing Monday morning. Caribe is on the other side of Rio San Juan and is about an hour's drive from our house. 

This community is in the mountains and has an unbelievable ocean view but, they have no way to get water. I was out there yesterday and met a view of the people that lived there. I asked where they usually get their water from and it was basically a cesspool. The water was green. 

The community has been so gracious to Rich and his crew already. Many were sitting on the hill watching him drill and they are feeding him lunch everyday! Yesterday was the first day of drilling and they reached 52 feet! The goal is to have this well finished before the summer groups arrive. Hopefully today will go as smooth as yesterday and these people will have clean water very soon. 

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Happy Birthday Audrey

Today is Audrey's 25th Birthday. I wanted to start her day off right with not one but, three cakes! Pancakes are in the cake family, right? We went to church this morning and then the afternoon was spent at the beach in the sun and waves. After the beach Norm had everyone over to his apartment for birthday dump cake, thanks Norm it was delicious.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Where there is no telephone...

As you may expect, we don't have a telephone at our house here in the DR. We do have the next best thing, Skype! It is basically a telephone in our computer. We have a telephone number that anyone can call and if you have Skype on your computer we can talk for free! We also have a answering machine service with it so, if we can't answer the computer you can leave a message. Somedays it works better than others. If we have a really good internet connection we can even use the video camera and see who ever we are talking to. It is pretty amazing and makes it a little easier to be so far away when we can see our family and friends every once and awhile.