The Blessing of Family

(The gender of our baby is announced in this post!!)

This year Christmas was different. We celebrated in the DR.

AND, we had the awesome blessing of getting to share it with my family. My dad, mom, brother, 2 aunts, uncle, cousin, grandmother, and my aunts mom came down to celebrate with us (there were 11 of us total). Right before we moved here, we threw out the idea that my family come down for Christmas and that we go to the beach for a week....thinking that it was a lofty request....but that it was worth throwing it out there. Everybody immediatly responded...WE ARE IN!! My mom went to work and researched just

 about every hotel on the island. She found us an awesome brand new hotel in Punta Cana (on the east coast).

We had the BEST week together. The beach was one of the most beautiful beaches any of us had ever seen. We took lots of walks...ate too much food...played Apples to Apples, Rummikub, and worked a puzzle...played lots of tennis...had our own Christmas Eve service on our balcony...had a gift exchange...and just enjoyed being together as family. And then, on Christmas morning, we had everyone guess what they thought baby Drake was...8 guessed boy, and my grandmother Hap guessed girl. HAP WON!!! We are having a baby girl!!!

On Saturday we checked out of the hotel, and loaded a bus to Santo Domingo. When we arrived at our home, Rosario and Javier had prepared an enormous Dominican lunch for all of us. We then took them up to Cielo to meet some of our friends and show them around Mission Emanuel's property. We had a great last dinner in the Colonial Zone....and then had to say our goodbyes.

I don't know if Elliott and I were ever able to express to them how much it meant to have them all here with us. We can't imagine what our Christmas would have been like had they not come. It is also so wonderful because now they all have seen where we live and got a glimpse of our lives. I know I am biased...but I think I have the best family in the world.

Metered

After reading our previously written post titled "Darkness," my dad thought that we were deliberately refusing to pay our power bill. Afraid we were serving as a bad example to others and worse, a poor witness to Christ, he called me out. So, just to clarify, we were not refusing to pay for our consumption, but rather, were not given any opportunity or means to pay. In retrospect, I suppose we could have estimated our usage costs, gone to the power company's office and handed them cash. The truth is, for better or worse, that option never crossed my mind until now. Anyway, Tuesday a team of sub-contractors installed a watt meter on our home, so we're now officially within the electric company's grid, and regarding this matter, I think above reproach. That's good. I'll make a comment on this post when we get our first bill…

English Night

There are lots and lots of youth learning English in the communities where we live. So, we thought we would take the opportunity to help them practice...and give us a break from having to speak Spanish :) Last Sunday, we hosted the first of many "English Nights." About 25 people showed up! Some are just starting out in their English studies, and others are pretty muchfluent. We wanted to encourage them in their studies, and give them an environment to practice what they are learning in their classes. The only rule for the night...NO speaking Spanish...3 strikes and you are out. The activity for the night was charades!! None of them had ever played before...but Dominicans love drama, so they caught on really quickly. We tried to introduce them to some new words they may not be learning in class...some more useful than others...popsicle, rainbow, first date, telephone pole (Elliott's idea), garbage truck, etc. Then we ended the night with an American favorite...Bomb Pops!

Our next English night is scheduled for December 7....Christmas theme! Anyone have any ideas for games or activities??

Tales from the Campo Part 1: "La Bestia"

I was absolutely fascinated with life in the Campo.  As I rode the bestia through winding trails and over log bridges, into the lush foothills of Vallejuelo, I honestly thought, "This is a highlight of my life."

 
There's much to write regarding Vallejuelo, our bus rides to and from, harvesting crops, and the gracious hospitality of our hosts, Paco's family.  Nevertheless, I must begin the debriefing somewhere, and the bestia seems like the perfect spot...

When I asked Silvilio, Paco's father and the unmistakable family patriarch, what type of animals they used to subdue the land he answered, "Burros (donkeys), mulas (mules), caballos (horses) y bestias (beasts)."  To which I thought, "Beasts!  What kind of genetic engineering are they doing out here in the campo to produce such a laborer and what does the 'bestia' look like???" 

"What is a BESTIA?!" I asked.  Unfortunately I didn't understand the answer, so my vision of a cross between a mule and Sloth from The Goonies continued to pervade my imagination.  Then, on our way to bathe in the river, Paco mentioned that his brother was going to meet us there.  He was going on the bestia.  "Now, I will see the beast!"

As you can imagine, I was quite surprised (and rather disappointed) when Paco's brother, son and cousins arrived at the river on an animal that looked to me like a small horse.
Turns out that "bestia," although it's not listed in my spanish-english dictionary, is the name given to female horses here in the Dominican Republic (and for all I know anywhere spanish is spoken- bloggers feel free to comment).  Basically a "bestia" is a mare.

The story would be quite disappointing if it ended on this note, but, fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, I ended up spending considerable time with the bestia and she and I became fine friends.  After loading her down with water and slop to porter to the pigs in the highlands, I mounted the bestia and headed out of town and into the foothills.
Riding a bestia is waaaay better than driving any type of vehicle.  I would love to be friends with our car, but it's never going to happen.  However the bestia and I connected.  She responded to my encouraging words; she carefully carried me over bridges, through rivers and up muddy ravines.  I cared for her so much that I even felt bad that her hair was dirty and knotted.  Now that's love.

Off to the Campo

We are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning on a 5am guagua (bus) to head to our friends "campo" (farm) for 2 days. Our friend Marlene went to her husband's family's farm a month ago to have her baby...and has been there ever since. We will be traveling with her husband Paco and her grandmother Mercedes to visit Marlene and meet Paco Jr. The farm is about 4 hours away from Santo Domingo outside of San Juan de la Maguana. We are really excited, and a little nervous....its our first trip to the campo and we don't quite know what to expect (will we have to share a bed with 3 people we don't know?). But, we know we are in for an adventure. We will post pictures and stories from our little trip when we get home. 

Darkness

This morning while we were at church our area of town finally received power. We typically only have "street power" for about eight hours each day, which is sufficient to charge our inverter that provides us with electricity for the remaining sixteen hours of the day. But, after losing power early Friday evening our inverter discharged over the ensuing 24 hours and by 7pm last night we were in the dark.

According to the local press, the Dominican energy sector is on the verge of collapse and blackouts have been far more widespread and extensive than the power companies are reporting. The companies report several reasons for going "offline," including insufficient fuel supplies and insufficient payment from customers. The biggest delinquent customer is the Dominican government, which owes the generators at least $US354 million. Other delinquent customers include the vast majority of Dominican residents, including your's truly. However, how can we pay our utility bill when the power company neither meters our consumption nor provides us with any system of payment??? We'd far prefer to pay for what we use and have dependable power!

We remain very grateful for the electricity that arrived this morning and has been recharging our inverter all day without interruption. We are thankful that our water service remained constant through the blackout. It's one thing to sleep in the tropics without a fan. It's another thing to sleep in the tropics with neither a fan nor a cold shower to cool you down through the night. We are thankful for the ridiculous amounts of razor wire, metal arrows, window bars, steel gates and two dogs that protect our home from intruders. Especially when it's dark.
Most of all we are thankful for the promises of God, given through His word, secured through his Son. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. --1 John 1:5-7

Hermanita en la R.D.

My sister Elysia visited us a few weeks ago and we had the best time. After hearing about the DR for many years she was finally able to experience it for herself. We hope she liked being a part of our Dominican life as much as we enjoyed having her.

We picked Leash up at the airport on Thursday afternoon in a rain storm. From the very beginning everything worked in our favor for giving her a full Santo Domingo experience. She was starving so we stopped at "fast food" Pollo Victorina for some chicken strips. Believe it or not, none were actually prepared, so we waited for a good ten minutes while them grilled some up- special order! We then made the trek across the city to our home, which typically takes about 45 minutes, but with all the street flooding took a bit longer. Leash was immediately impressed with the very tiny cars and buses that never make their way to US ports. And also impressed that those very same micro machines could pass through the enormous puddles!

The next day we drove to the mountains of Jarabacoa to show Leash more of the country and do a riverbed hike called "Los Rapidos," which culminates at a spectacular waterfall. Ridley went too. Saturday was supposed to be a beach day, but was cut very short by more torrential downpours. We headed back to grill out and enjoy a slight break from the heat that the evening rains had brought. Sunday was filled with a church service in Cielo, two birthday celebrations and then dinner and strolling in the Old City. Monday was the worst, cause Leash had to go home, which made us very sad... Thanks, Elysia, for visiting! We love you!!

Waco's Finest

Grocery stores here in Santo Domingo aren't like US stores...in the US you can pretty much guarantee that if you bought something there before, you will be able to find it the next time you go (a certain kind of pasta, salsa, brats (El's fav), sour cream etc). Not here. Because most of the items are imported, you never really know what you are going to find. It makes shopping alot more exciting (or disappointing). Let me give you an example....the other day Elliott and I were out for our weekly shopping trip. I was headed to the checkout line when all of a sudden I see Elliott running/skipping towards me with the BIGGEST grin on his face. It took me a second to figure out why he was so excited....and then I saw it....a can of Dr. Pepper in his hands. Then, I joined in on the celebration...jumping up and down shouting "no way, dr. pepper, no way!!" Needless to say, we made a scene. Elliott showed me where he found them...and we pretty much cleaned out the stock of Dr. Pepper (not  knowing when, if ever, they would have Dr. Pepper again). 

He knows...

The other morning I was having a bad start to the day. I was missing home, we didn't have power so I couldn't do laundry that had been piling up and starting to smell, etc. Then I heard, "Sallllluuuudooosss," "Elllllioooo, Liiiishhhhiii (Lindsay)." I went to the door and saw our neighbors Rafa and Charo...plants and machete in hand. They had come to plant some plants in our yard. Charo is a wonderful gardener and has a beautiful yard full of plants, flowers, and palms. They had dug up some of their very own plants from their yard and brought them down to us. Charo went straight to work...

This blessed me so much. I felt like the Lord was smiling down on me saying, "I see you, I know where you are at, and I'm sending you a little something to brighten your day." Elliott and I had been wanting to plant some things in our yard for weeks, but hadn't had the time to do so. And then, in a matter of a half hour we had 5 new plants! 

This Boy´s Gotta Fly!

I know his ears look as if they could flap him to the Carribbean, but so far he hasn´t lifted off on his own. If you would like to pray for something specific, please pray that this guy, Ridley, would somehow get a flight from Orlando, Florida to Santo Domingo. We´ve been baffled in our efforts to get him off the hands of Lindsay´s parents (who have been oh so, so gracious in caring for him for almost two months) and into our hands before he ends up in the hands of the animal shelter keepers. Please pray, especially for a delivery opportunity this coming Wednesday. The whole thing is burdening others and stressing us out!

Up in Flames

Here are a few happenings from our first month here. The more important updates are in our newsletter that you will receive this week. Thanks so much for your prayers as we have transitioned to our new life here. Please keep praying...so much is new and different...and we have ALOT to learn.

1. I guess we are official Dominican's now...we burn our trash. We are not big fans, as we like to help, not destroy the environment...but when the trash men come about every 3 weeks (at best),and our garage is overflowing with trash (and all the smells and flies that come with it), we are left with no other choice.

2. Shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Our first few weeks were spent driving the crowded, traffic filled streets of Santo Domingo looking for furniture. At this point, we would give anything for a Target or Ikea. But, we have enjoyed all the different kinds of carts....this one was our favorite...

3. In the course of a month we went from owning zero pets, to owning 2 dogs. When we arrived in early July, Ridley was too young to come down. We were told by various Dominicans that we needed to have a dog in our yard at all times...so Vijo gave us one of his dogs from Cielo. So, now Lobo lives with us, and we are awaiting the arrival of Ridley sometime within the next 2 weeks.4. Weddings!!! We had the privilege of attending 2 weddings this month. One Dominican, and one American...one started on time and the other started 2 1/2 hours late, I bet you can't guess which one is which. Jainero and Lisette were married on August 2nd and Sarah and Nick were married on August 9th. Please pray for these 2 couples as they start their new lives together as one.

And we're off....

Today is the big day....we are finally moving!!! We are busy packing and running last minute errands and then will head to the airport for out 8 pm flight. We will try to post as soon as we can from the DR, but will have limited access to internet for the first few weeks.

Thanks so much for keeping us in your prayers...we need them!

Home Sweet Home

Here she is...our new home for the next 2 1/2 years!

(Still needing a second coat of paint and some trim work)

Last week we went down with the Orlando family group to paint our house. There was lots and lots and lots of work to be done. We are so grateful for all the help we received from our brothers and sisters from Orlando.

The highlight of our trip: One night Elliott and I were eating dinner with the group in Cielo when we got the call that Lalo, Zeneida and some other Dominicans were at our house working and wanted us to come help. When we showed up water was flying out every door and window...one guy had a hose and was spraying down all the walls, and 5 people with push brooms followed him pushing all of the water out the door. About 20 minutes into creating this "water park" the lights went out. So we all scurried out of the house to fetch our flashlights. We continued spraying down the inside of our house by flashlight. Oh the things you get to do when you live in the Dominican Republic!!!! Nothing like taking a hose to the inside of your brand new home.

Sanding down the walls for the first 2 1/2 days...not the most fun job in the world, but it is a
very good arm workout.

Missionaries on Wheels

When Lindsay and I calculated our 2008 budget we included $15,000 for a used SUV to serve our transportation needs in the DR.  We need an SUV for a few reasons, the most significant being higher ground clearance to traverse flooded roads when it rains (which happens just about every time it rains).  After consulting Consumer Reports for reliability and robustness reports and considering the most serviceable vehicles in the DR we narrowed our search to three options: Nissan X-terra, Nissan Pathfinder, and Toyota 4-Runner.  Fortunately we found a great vehicle to fit our needs and our budget, and it was our first choice of the three.  Here's our 2002 Toyota 4-Runner.  We hope she'll serve us well for many years.  Sale price- US$15,000.02, proving this "line item" to be our most accurate budgeting yet!

Apartment on Wheels

Good thing we invested in some quality suitcases before all of our traveling began! We have certainly gotten good use out of them. 

In some ways it is hard to believe that we will be moving to the DR in a month....but on the other hand it seems like it has taken us FOREVER to get to this point. We just spent 2 weeks in Winston-Salem with Elliott's family and friends. It was a sweet time of hellos and goodbyes. (Hellos from our 3 months away in Guatemala, and goodbyes for our 2 years in the DR)- lots of differing emotions competing. On our way down to FL from NC we stopped in Atlanta to visit my Aunt Annie. My grandmother Hap was also in town visiting. We had an awesome time with them! Now we are in Orlando with my family. We are so glad to get to spend time with our families before we make the big move...but are really ready to settle into our new place in the DR. It has been over a year since we had a place to call "home." I have started calling my suitcase my Apartment On Wheels. Even our dog has caught on to our lifestyle.....

Meet Ridley

Call us crazy...but we are officially dog owners. When we got home on Saturday from our trip to the DR I made the mistake of looking in the paper to see if there were any puppies listed. Then, we made the even bigger mistake of going to "look" at the puppies. The next day, Ridley went home with us. We were planning on getting a dog before we moved to the DR to be our guard dog....we just weren't planning on getting him so soon. But, we are loving every minute with him. He is a really good puppy!

Bad Bloggers

We are bad at blogging...sorry! Here are a few brief updates:

1. Last weekend we went on a trip to Lake Atitlan. It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place. The lake is an old volcano crater filled with water, and is surrounded by three volcanoes. It was a much needed time to relax, read, and soak up some rays.

2. Tomorrow is our last day of school. It is hard to believe that are finished with our nine weeks of class. We loved our school, and grew really close to our teachers Merle and Elena.

3. We are leaving after school tomorrow to go on a road trip with the Breuls. We will be going to Tikal (the big Mayan ruins in Northern Guatemala), and then spending a few days hanging out on the Rio Dulce....check out our hotel. We will be celebrating Elliott's big 30th birthday (it's on May 8th...make sure you wish him a happy birthday!!).

4. We leave Guatemala on May 10th to go to the DR to look for a car and get things set up for our arrival in July. Please pray for this time...that God would guide and direct us in all of our decisions.

A God of Miracles

Em....claiming victory over her "halo"

You may recall that while we were in training in Colorado, 6 of our classmates were in a horrific car accident. Out of the three that survived the crash Andrea and Em suffered the worst injuries. They have both undergone numerous surgeries and have had countless medical procedures preformed, but considering the type of injuries they suffered they are both making INCREDIBLE progress . Both, Andrea and Em are now in their hometowns are are receiving therapy there. Last week Andrea's doctor told her that from his perspective she may be able to live in the developing world someday if that is where God would lead. He also said that although her accident was "catastrophic" her progress has been "incredible." Yesterday, Andrea took her first steps since the accident!!! The neurosurgeon told Em that she is extremely blessed because the injury she received was so severe that people usually don't survive it, and if they do, they are likely paraplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. He said it is not common at all to see someone with the neck injury she had to still be alive, let alone walking and talking. And if that isn't awesome enough....her "halo" was removed last week!!

It has been such a faith builder to receive news about Em and Andrea. God saved their lives, and continues to heal them more and more each day. Please join with us as we continue to lift them to the Father, that he might continue to work miracles in their body, emotions, and families.

Some specific prayer requests off of Andrea's update site:

1. Please continue to pray for Andrea’s vocal chords.There has been a definite improvement in volume. Andrea says that it is because she works hard to force more air through her throat. Nonetheless, she is not where she needs to be so thanks for continuing to pray with us for that.

2. This is a new request: The index and middle fingers on both hands are numb and her left foot is not fully “sensitive” either. There are several ideas about the cause but whatever the reason; would you please join us in praying that the Lord would restore her feeling in those places?

Pacaya- Oh My-ah!

As Linds mentioned in our last post, we recently trekked up to an active volcano named Pacaya to, well, play with the lava. We had no idea just how much playing with the lava we would actually attempt. I hope the following "pictograph" tells our story well.

After a one-and-a-half hour drive and a 45-minute hike we reached the edge of Pacaya's lava field. She's a real monster, as you can see from the photo.
Aaron, Elliott, Lindsay, Kent, Michelle and John about to contend with fuming Pacaya...

Once down on the lava field Momma Michelle decided she would feel more confident traversing the glass-like lava and steaming vents with the expert assistance of our Guatemalan guide, Erwin. Hand in hand, they carefully led our whole group across the treacherous terrain.
Erwin y Momma

Upon reaching our first flowing lava stream, I decided to incinerate the end of my walking stick. In this highly courageous move I singed my leg hairs and burned my right eye. It felt swollen 'til later that day. Aaron had a more favorable outcome with the same river, successfully lighting a cigarette in the molten lava.






























After surveying some active vents, Erwin led our group to an erupting vent that gave us all an extraordinary thrill. A huge mass of molten lava began bubbling up right in front of us and soon covered an area about 100 feet wide. Erwin told us that we had "muy buena suerte" (very good luck) to see such an event. The photos speak for themselves...



John seems quite glad to be so close to orange, liquid rock.

Feeling celebratory on the morn of his 23rd birthday, and confident after his successful exploitation of the small lava stream, Aaron decided to get closer to this relatively huge eruption. It was really hot.
¡Feliz cumpleaños hermano loco!

As the lava crept closer I heard, "Señor Drake! Get up here. You’re going to be the father of my grandchildren!" It was a good point, so we retreated from the orange madness. Linds, Momma & Pops were very happy to have there three young men back up on the higher rocks safe and sound. After taking one last, respectful glimpse toward her crater, we started climbing our way out of Pacaya's crystalline landscape.

You do NOT want to fall on this stuff.

Mission Accomplished! It was AWESOME!!

We Have Visitors!

On Saturday my parents and John arrived in Antigua. Then on Tuesday, Elliott's brother Aaron came to visit too! Elliott and I decided having them in town was a good enough excuse to take a week off from school. We have had a great week of exploring and learning. I don't have much time to write because we are about to go to dinner to celebrate Aaron's 23rd birthday, but I thought I would at least share some pictures from the week....

Dinner in an old convent

Enjoying the beautiful views of Volcan Agua

Visiting a coffee farm...Elliott is hard at work turning the drying beans

A hike up to the top of the city, Cerro de la Cruz

Playing soccer with the Breul boys

Today we hiked an active Volcano...what an experience...we will post pics and stories soon!

10 razones para mudarnos

Well, we´re moving across town. We arrived in Antigua with the intention of living the whole time with a Guatemalan family to maximize our immersion experience. We have really enjoyed our time with Familia Roma in the northeast corner of Antigua, however for the reasons listed below we have decided to move on... Apartamento 2 de Callejon del Espiritu Santo here we come!

Razon 1:
I can handle two twin beds smushed together for a week or so, but after that my feet miss Lindsay´s feet too much. It´s time for a cama para dos (bed for two).

Razon 2:
We expected to be part of our Guatemalan host family, but they see our presence in their guest room more like a source of income than an opportunity to welcome us into the family. We totally understand their position considering they have three new random guests about every three weeks. They´ve been hosting students for twelve years, so inevitably they have had to establish some healthy boundaries. They prepare separate meals for us and either the husband or wife joins us to chat, however they don´t eat with us. It´s a little awkward and we´ve decided we would actually talk a lot more spanish at meal time if we were alone.

Razon 3:
You may recall that we met an awesome family when we were in training in Colorado who are studying spanish at the same time, in the same school as us. You may also recall that they too will be serving in the DR beginning this summer. Over the past two weeks we have grown even closer to John, Sally, Jake, Riley and Lucas Bruel. Last week an apartment opened up right next to their´s so as of next Tuesday we will be their new neighbors! We are so excited to continue building our friendship, practicing our spanish and having tons of fun with them. We feel incredibly blessed to be given this opportunity.

Razon 4:
The apartment has an extra room with two twin beds (don´t worry, our´s has a queeen), an ideal location for family to stay when they come visit! In fact, over the next month Lindsay´s parents and brother, and my parents and brother will all be visiting us in Antigua! The beds will be put to great use! We can´t wait to see them all!!!

Razon 5:
Our new living situation will provide Linds with much more control over her diet, which is very important to controlling her hypoglycemia.

Razon 6:
Señora Roma is an excellent cook, but Linds is waaaay better. Time to put back on some pounds that I´ve lost. Estoy muy flaco.

Razon 7:
We eagerly await the opportunity to establish a home and "nest". While this desire won´t be fully fulfilled until we arrive in the DR, our new apartment will provide a much better interim nest than our little room in a strange house.

Razon 8:
Washer & Dryer

Razon 9:
Did I mention the queen bed?

Razon 10:
Jacuzzi (just kidding)

We´ll post photos soon!

Antigua

Sorry we have neglected our blog lately...and thus have neglected you. We are still alive, and are enjoying our time in Guatemala. We arrived here last Wednesday and hit the ground running. We spent the first few days exploring the city, and then started our classes on Monday. We go to class each day from 8-12, and then have a few hours of homework each afternoon. I have only been in class 2 days but I can already tell I am learning a ton! We each have our own teachers. My teacher's name is Merli and Elliott's is Marcos. We are living with the Roma family. They live about 6 blocks from the school. We have our own private room (with 2 twin beds- pushed together of course) in the upstairs of the house. We have a great view of the mountains and see the sunrise each morning (yes, we have to get up very early). We eat all of our meals at the Roma's home. Our "madre" is a very good cook; her dad used to be a chef. We will write more detailed posts soon and include some pictures- we are just trying to get used to life here and our days fill up quickly because of our Spanish classes.

Thank you for your continued prayers as we adjust to yet another place (We calculated that we have slept in a total of 10 beds in the last 2 1/2 weeks!). God is faithful and helps us along.

A Tribute

It is hard to believe that we leave MTI in the morning. We are completely drained emotionally and are ready to get some rest, but are very sad to leave our friends and community. Yesterday we had a memorial service for Karin, Jessica, Isaac. It was a beautiful tribute to their lives that were lived so well. All three of them lived with passion. They are an inspiration to us.Please continue to pray for Scott, Andrea, and Em. You can read about their progress on the following sites:
Andrea and Scott
Em