Dominican Trip (Day 4)

     Monday, our first medical day. We had to get up very early and eat so we could head out with our 12 translators to the village and convert a church into a clinic. Nobody knew what this first day would be like, even those of the team who had been last year and done a medical day. So we set up eight stations. There were a few nurses stations, a Pharmacy, a dental area, and an evangelism station. I worked in the dental area with Amanda. I even got to give several fluoride treatments later in the week when Amanda was busy or we had a lot of kids and we wanted to hurry up. This is how medical days usually went: We arrive and set up the church after which two of the team go out with a translator and give their testimonies to the waiting crowd. Now that they have heard the gospel, we can start accepting patients. In triage, the patients are weighed, blood pressure was taken, and any information needed was acquired. There they waited until a nurses station was ready to receive them and they were diagnosed and given the best treatment possible with our limited resources. Before they left, the nurses would often pray with the patients and give them tracts, 2,100 of which where given out in the week. From there they went to the pharmacy to have their prescriptions filled, then over to the evangelism station to hear the gospel again. During this time, 21 souls were saved in the 3 1/2 medical days. If any of the patients had children ages 5-12 they would come to Amanda and I to get fluoride treatments. I was amazed at how bad their teeth where! Some didn't have a single tooth that wasn't rotten! There where only a few who didn't have a cavity. As soon as their prescriptions were ready, they would get them and learn what to do with them, and then leave. By the way, we had the most amazing Pharmacist! She was so busy and yet was so patient with everyone!

Brooke, Audrey, and Jennifer.

This is the church right after we arrived. 

The nurses gathered around Dr. Bob as he tells them what to do for the day.

The stations before any patients had come.

Fast asleep. So cute!

Amanda!

The waiting area.

A very dehydrated patient

Amanda with all the kids looking on.

Kristy and a baby.

This little boy had TWO lolly pops he was sucking on! So funny!

Dr. Bob had to remove this lady's infected toenail. She was in so much pain as he gave her the numbing shots. It was really sad to watch!

There was a group of teenagers, this guy in particular, who were talking to some of us in broken English as we tried to talk to them in very broken Spanish. Ha ha! We had many good laughs with them! They love having their pictures taken!

Even though it's blurry, I love this picture!

Please feel free to comment and ask questions!

Dominican Trip (Day 3)

Sunday morning a group of us went to the beach right down the street to watch the sunrise. Even in the Dominican it gets chilly in the mornings. It was beautiful though!

Soooo beautiful!

After breakfast we walked to church. I would love it if I lived so close to church here in the States that I could walk to it! Anyway, church was really great! Most everything was in Spanish, but it was really cool when I knew a song in English and was able to sing along! After church and lunch, we went over to see the newly built Lily House. The Lily House is a safe home for ex-prostitutes and their children where they are nurtured both physically and spiritually. They had just finished building a new home for them that has more space and will suit their needs a little better. They are also in the process of  teaching the ladies how to bake and all so they can open a bakery that will be conveniently located right across the street! I thought that was really neat! I never did get pictures of either of the houses, though, which is sad:(
That evening we all gathered around these tables and sorted pills for the next day, our first medical day.

On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness

Read carefully and think...

On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness

The tusks that clashed in mighty brawls

Of mastodons are billiard balls.

The sword of Charlemagne the Just

Is ferric oxide, known as rust.

The grizzly bear whose potent hug

Was feared by all is now a rug.

Great Caesar's dead and on the shelf,

And I don't feel so well myself!

~Arthur Guiterman~

Dominican Trip (Day 2)

Nicole and I.

     After breakfast on Saturday, we all piled onto two buses and went to a village where they had a warehouse full of stuff, including food, some of which we packed into bags and loaded onto the buses. This is the same village where there was a nursing home started by a Christian that I will tell about later. As we were packing the bags there were a few little kids that came around. They were so cute and loved just hugging us and getting their picture taken and then looking at the pictures. It was hard to leave them when we had to pile back into the bus and go to another village. At this village we had a little service in the church there and afterwards handed out the food to certain of the neediest families. The Pastor at this church was only 23. I had three or four children sitting on or around me during the service. It was so fun! This is how we distributed the food: The team lined up with bags of food and the Pastor called out names one at a time. When that person came up, one team member handed them a bag of food and then went outside and prayed for them. It was a very neat experience since I'm not used to praying aloud for someone and definitely not someone who only knows Spanish! After I finished praying I was just standing around when this pretty Dominican girl came up and started talking to me in very broken English. She was so sweet and I loved getting to know her. She was 19 and her favorite color was yellow;) She had two friends with her, 20 and 14, who where very sweet as well, but didn't know any English. I wish I could remember their names but some Dominican names are really hard to remember! Haha! I got a picture with them though! After this we went back to the compound and ate a delicious lunch. All the meals there, by the way, are so good! After lunch we went to the Nursing Home that I mentioned earlier. Last year when the team went, they cleaned this home and prayed for new beds. The beds were in horrible conditions and the Pastor had no way to get new ones. Well, in the past year our church helped another church get new beds for the nursing home, so we just had to go over there and see them and the Pastor and all the people. It was really neat, too! The Pastor was so thankful! Here I met a little girl, Nicole. All the children want to talk to you and it is a little sad that we can't understand each other.

     Now for the pics!

Loading a car full of food bags.

 Audrey and her sweet new friend...

 The kids at the warehouse...

 Below is the group that I was talking to at the church...

Me, the 19-year-old, 21-year-old, 14-year-old, and Hannah.

 This is at the nursing home. Brooke and Hannah and their friends;)

Brooke (the one on the left) is holding Nicole.

Dominican Missions Trip (Day 1)

     Friday, February 8th, 2013 I boarded a plane for the first time and headed out of the United States on my first missions trip to the Dominican Republic. The D.R. is so poor it is hard to imagine what it's close, and still poorer, neighbor, Haiti, is like. As we passed over, I could see all the tin roofed huts, dirt streets, and trash that I would get a closer look at in the days to follow. But what I couldn't see yet were the people. They are the ones who really touch you! Both physically and at the heart. When the children run up to you as you leave the bus, it warms you, and this warmth is not from the hot sun. And then the adults. They are so thankful for the little we did for them. We had four medical days that week, and each day there was not a soul who complained to the team! They put America to shame! They put me to shame! Yet they need the gospel just like every one else, and that is what we went to give them. 2,100 tracts where handed out and 21 came to Christ. Thank you Lord!
     Since I am not a very gifted writer, there will be mostly pictures, but I hope you all get a feeling of what it was like, though you'd have to have been there to really know. I think what I will do is write a post of each day. Hannah seemed to think it would be a little overwhelming to do everything at once;) I might agree with her.
     So, the first day. I have found out that I love flying! It is truly amazing to be so high off the ground and to see everything at such a different angle!

 A boat...

 Seeing the bottoms of clouds is an everyday experience. But then to see what they look like on top... so cool!

 This is winter in the Dominican!

 All the shacks with an occasional pool;)

 This was the first of many bus rides. It's hard to believe we all fit!

 The beach, which is about half a mile from the Score compound, where we stayed. It was pretty, yet very dirty!

Thus ends the first day.

Update

So, I just emptied  my camera and realized that I needed to make a new post! Here is what has been happening around lately.

I do not know when this was taken nor do I know if it is the sun rising or setting, but I do know it is beautiful!:) 

I love hanging out with friends, and these are some of the best!

We had to set the camera on our car for lack of a better place;)
It worked great!

My sisters love the out doors and so they decided to eat at the creek one day! I came down for the dessert;)

See? ; )

It was good... : )

Our creek...

Lydia and the creek...

Isn't she so cute?!

Lydia "inherited" Gabe's old camera and so we were all outside taking pictures one day. This one is at the trampoline.

The lighting could use some enhancing...

Two of my brothers came home for a surprise visit in the beginning of January. It was so wonderful to see them! One day we went to the mountains to go hiking with them and my other brother. It was such a perfect day to hike!

Gabriel...

Mom...

Josiah, Jesse, Gabriel...

It looks like if they stepped one foot back they'd fall off the mountain!

Dad and Mom...

I like how the juice container says "Home Maker" and that is what Lydia is doing.

Her expressions are THE best!

Then we got snow and ice! That was fun!

The sun shining on the ice is so beautiful!

Well, on Friday I will, Lord willing, be in the Dominican Republic for a missions trip. Now I have to go to bed so I will be rested up! ; ) I will probably have a very long post after I get back! I could use your prayers.