Burrito Anyone?

Okay, I know this is really dumb but, I love this little donkey! He was born this summer and is super cute. Every time we drive by I ask Rich to slow the car so I can look at him. The owner noticed my love for the donkey and offered to sell him to me for a good price. I tried to think of a reason to justify having a donkey. We don't have to haul our own water so really it would just be a friend for our dog. Also, he won't be a cute little donkey for very long and would just eat everything in our yard. I wanted to capture his cuteness for all of you out there that don't have such a variety of animals in your neighborhood.

Well Drilling Update

Now that the summer is over and we have recovered from our bout with a bacterial infection we are ready to start drilling again, almost. In May when we took hiatus from drilling Rich noticed that the rig needed to have some parts replaced to keep the machine running safely. Multiple groups throughout the summer brought in a piece here and there. Thank you to all of you couriers!

For the last week Rich has been fixing and replacing parts. Our plan is to fix a well and possibly drill a new one in Bobita then, return to La Caribe to finish the well there. The goal is to do all this before we go back to the States in December.

Summer Time

Well everyone, the summer has officially come to an end. We had four camp interns, one Rio San Juan intern, one Children's Home intern and eight mission groups come and go. Although we did have a few minor injures and a few bouts of illness all in all, it was a GREAT summer!

Week #1: Park Plaza from Tulsa, OK

Week #2: Men's Work Group from Lake Cities, TX

Week #3: Southside from Milwaukee, WI

Week #4: Northland Missions from Kansas City, MO

Week #5: Northside from Benton, AR

Week #6: Red Bank from Chattanooga, TN

Week #7: Lake Jackson, TX

Week #8: Richfield, MN

Every week we had a similar schedule including the following endeavors: work projects to serve the needy, visiting those that live at the dump and the sick in the hospital, spending a day with a family in the community, VBS, cultural safari, and an afternoon at the beach. (I hope this busy schedule will excuse my lack of blogging, sorry!) Each team brought a different talent with them and all were able to have a big impact here on the north coast. We hope that they were blessed as much as we were to have them here.

The interns were amazing! I can speak from personal experience that the internship is a challenging and rewarding job. As an intern you help lead the group while striving to build relationships with the Dominicans we work with everyday. This year our interns not only survived the summer, they really thrived! We are full of joy when we think of how much they grew and hope they will continue to stay involved with the work here in the DR.

Una Pausa

We have made it to break! After having five summer mission teams come and go we have made it to our five day break. Friday, after a slight scenic detour, we traveled to Jarabacoa for some rest and fun. Upon arrival Rich and Tim took the interns for a hike to some beautiful waterfalls. We had a nice dinner at our hotel and then everyone was in bed by nine o'clock! None of us ever go to sleep that early during the summer, it was wonderful!

Saturday morning we headed off to go white water rafting. The water was freezing but, the mountains and river were beautiful. Thankfully we had amazing guides that got us through the rapids with ease and no one flipped their raft. I'll try to post photos soon.

Today we are going to take it easy. Hopefully I can get some laundry done and get the house back into order before the crazy schedule picks up again. On Tuesday we begin the final strech of the summer with the last three groups from Chattanooga, TN; Lake Jackson, TX; and finally Richfield, MN.

Como se dice "ouch"

Friday afternoon while walking through the children's home I fell on my knee. I'm not sure how it happened but, I landed on a sharp rock. I've had surgery on this knee before and so immediately I was worried that I had messed something up. I can walk and the swelling has gone down so, I think I'm okay. Next time we are stateside I'll probably get it checked out.

On another note, we only have three summer mission teams to come this summer. The time has flown by. The interns are doing a great job and the teams have been a blessing. Please continue to pray for the summer program, that lives would be changed by God's love and the hope we have in Christ.

Gone but, Not Forgotten

Last week, with the help of a team from Northland Missions, we were able to go to La Caribe and serve some people. La Caribe is where we were drilling and were unable to find water after drilling 220 feet. We are hoping to be able to go back after the rig gets fixed and we complete our summer program. It was really important to us to let the people know that we haven't forgotten about them and we want to help in any way we can.

The Northland Missions team put on a VBS in the morning. We are pretty sure this was the first time the kids had ever had an activity like that before. They loved it! In the afternoon we painted two house.

The first house we painted was for an elderly woman. I was able to visit with her a little and she told me "I never thought I could have my house painted on my own. I just had to have faith in God that someone could come help, and God was faithful." She was so happy she was wiping away tears most of the time we were there. She flet so blessed that she wanted us to come paint her neighbors house. She told me "I don't want to have a better house than them. I don't ever want to have something that they don't."

The next house we painted was for a family that had been very generous to Rich and Wilson. They cooked food for them everyday and even taught Rich how to play Dominos. Everyone was thrilled to meet "la esposa de Ricardo," that's me. We had a great time working and visiting together. They wanted us to come back soon and visit. Hopefully we will! We have become very close with this little community and will not forget about them! A special thanks to the Northland Mission group for helping us reach out to La Caribe.

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

This is Dona Paulina. She is an elderly lady in our village that you can always find sitting in her doorway. She has no children and little family at all to take care of her. Paulina needs a cane to walk and can't see more than two feet in front of her. At least once a week I go sit with Dona Paulina. She loves visitors and always wants to know how everyone is doing.

When Rich's parents were here I took them to Paulina's for a visit. We asked what is the most important thing she had learned in her life. Her response "Una vida con Dios," a life with God. Rich and I look for ways to help her out with food or clothes. One of the huge blessings of the youth missionary camp is that we are able to do work projects to help people like Paulina.

Park Plaza was able to help Paulina by painting her house, reinforcing some of her walls, and building a cement walkway to her out-house. She said she had fallen a couple of times when trying to get to the out-house and she was by herself. Paulina was so excited to have these little repairs done and especially about the pink trim on the house!