I've been hanging out in the Hole a lot lately and I've just really enjoyed my time there. I'm getting to know a lot of the kids and I've even made a friend with one of their moms. There is nothing more rewarding than walking into that desolate place and hearing "Goody" screamed before I can barely see who's screaming it. There is nothing sweeter. I have truly grown to love these kids. I have also grown to love photographing them. Not to mention, they are so used to my camera I believe they are making my photos better because they know how to pose now! :)
Last week, an old friend was here leading a group and is a camera nut too. I always enjoy when there are people here that love photography because I always learn something new. I sat with him for 5 minutes and learned a bunch of great new stuff on my Nikon D-70. I've had this camera for over two years and I am STILL learning.
So anyway, here a few shots from this week that I've been playing around with. Hope you enjoy!
Always gotta have a photo of the brothers, my photo fiends
Graffiti wall
My Maria, she has a special place in my heart because my sister, Abbey, has Down Syndrome too!
Little Minino
Rooster
Simon - Nothing like starting the day out in your undies
Hey fellow supporters! I'm so sorry that the last couple shows haven't gotten up on our blog yet but we are having some major trouble getting them up on YouTube. We will keep trying but in the meantime please be patient with us!!! Thanks!
I really loved this picture as I was sorting through some photos yesterday. This little girl is named Yajaira. She lives in Hoyo de Bartola (The Hole). One of our pastors, Felix Abreu, started working in The Hole a little over 7 years ago during a time when no pastor wanted to. In fact, a friend of his that was also a pastor told him he was crazy for even stepping foot down there. The Hole is an inactive trash dump where close to 600 families live. In this place it is squatters rights so anyone can build a house there and that is his land. In the Hole, drugs, alcohol, prostitution and abuse rule...it seems to be a desperate place.
Although most would definitely use the word desperate to describe the Hole, G.O. Ministries and Pastor Felix began to make a difference there. What began as Felix and his wife, Jenny, just going there and doing children's ministry has turned into a church and a feeding center that feeds 120 children, 6 days a week. The children's bellies are getting fuller as well as their spiritual lives.
I use Yajaira as sort of a representative, if you will, of the Hole. If she even SEES an American she jumps in their arms and gives them a huge hug. Wearing ratty clothes and a huge grin across her face, somehow in this desperate place there is always room for a hug and a smile.
Another group that was here this week was originally going to be a group of ten. A family from Indiana decided they wanted to come on a trip and were going to bring several members to do it together. After some time this group of ten turned into a group of 53 including several doctors from the family's church, the youth group and other members of the congregation. It was amazing how God grew this trip!
They worked on the same two houses that the other team worked on in Hoya del Caimito, as well as a Medical/Dental clinic in Hoya del Caimito, a medical clinic in Los Perez and a couple VBS's! They were working all over Santiago!!! This team was a great first time group and we look forward to their return to the DR.
Hope Springs Community Church is always a joy to have here in the Dominican. They are a great example of a solid partnership. Dave, the pastor at Hope Springs formed a special bond with one of our pastors here, Eduard Gabriel. They both have a heart for recovering addicts. Eduard Gabriel is heavily involved with a program down here called Hogar Crea which is a "safe haven" and a place for addicts to come and recover as well as receive spiritual guidance.
It was also unique that the whole pastor's family was down here. Jana, his oldest daughter, is actually interning with G.O. and his wife and two other daughters came on the trip is as well. It was neat to see the great bond between Dave's family and Eduard's family as they spent much time together in this past week.
This group also did some construction on the two future houses of our 10-year veterans of the construction crew. As well as several days of VBS in places like Los Salados and Mao. Thanks for a great trip, Hope Springs, and we look forward to your return! Enjoy!
I just HAD to post these pictures as there are some awesome construction projects that are being started this summer. This week the teams here are working on the foundation of two new houses. Luis Jimenez and Rene Rodriguez have both worked for G.O. Ministries for 10 years as foremen on the construction crew. Their wives also happen to be two of my best friends! So it was a neat opportunity for me to get both families standing on the land where their future houses will be. I can't wait to someday post the final pictures!
Jimenez Family (Yajaira, Luis, Yesica, Hanani, Nehemiah)
Rodriguez Family (Carmen Dilia, Rene, Daniel, Samantha, Samuel, Paul)
Franklin Christian Church continued our work in Hoyo de Bartola (The Hole) on the new church and feeding center there. It is so awesome to see the progress on this church. All of the walls are smooth and ready to be painted. All the sand has been hauled and ready to be used. Pretty soon tile is going to go on the floor! No more concrete floors for kids to sit on and eat. I seriously can't wait for the day to see those kids eating on a tile floor and then sometime after that on tables and in chairs! Enjoy the show!
One of the teams that were here this week was River Valley Christian Fellowship from Illinois. Their trip started out with a little hitch as Satan tried to bring them down from the very beginning. With just a few days before this team was leaving for their trip, their team leader found out he needed to have emergency surgery the day they were going to leave for the DR. But God swooped in, lifted up other people to lead the team and this team prevailed over Satan's schemes.
They held a medical clinic at Los Guandules and at Hoyo de Bartola (The Hole) and in the first two days saw over 950 people! It was incredible. River Valley was so incredibly efficient and I have never seen two medical clinics go SO smoothly. God is so good and this team was so awesome as they truly embodied trusting God through ALL situations!
We had a great group from Louisville come down last week. They are a "home-schooling" program that meets three days a week and they also LOVE sports. It is so much fun to have this group down as they convey SUPER energy and really bonded with the kids so well. They did some construction, kids ministry and held a two day basketball clinic in Los Salados and just really had incredible hearts of service. Enjoy their show!
Today I was in Hoyo de Bartola with a group doing construction on the church there and was just inspired by these three photos when I got home...and had to post them. Man, can you not see the beauty of this country through the little children Jesus loves?
I should have posted these in the Fall...but, better late than never! Lisa is one of our fellow missionaries and Wilby works with G.O. as well. Lisa and Wilby will be getting married in August of this year and I'm TOTALLY excited to be shooting their wedding. Enjoy the pictures! Sorry this is so late, Lis!
Mike, Landon and I are safe and sound back in the DR. We went straight to work as we flew in with a team. Just wanted to let everyone know and thanks for the great visits while we were home in May, even though they were short.
The picture below is a shot of a boy from the Hole. He kept asking me to take his picture but he would always make this tough face so finally I told him I wouldn't take a picture unless he smiled...so he did. And what a beautiful smile it is.
My friend, Fior, had her baby yesterday! Jansel is a healthy baby boy at 7 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long. I had the great opportunity of being able to see her at her house (yes, just a day after the birth and she's home) and doing a mini photo shoot. It was raining really hard and has been for several days so no nakey baby pics! boo....but when i come back in a month i'll take some of him just in his diaper. I love those! Enjoy!
One of my good "mom" friends here, Carmen Dilia, asked me to take pictures of her son's first birthday. I also had the privilege a year ago today to photograph Daniel in the hospital. It's been so much fun to watch him grow up as he is about two months older than Landon and I get to see ahead of time what to look forward to next with Lando. It was also fun to be pregnant along with Carmen Dilia as she really helped me through those last few months of being really uncomfortable. She always was hopeful and gave me lots of advice for the last stretch of pregnancy. We had a great time at McDonalds and I was honored to be able to photograph the event. Here are just some quick pictures so you could see a little of what went on!
Daniel, just hours old
Daniel, one year old
Landon with his face painted, with Yajaira (pretty much my best friend here)
Landon and Daniel, so not interested in each other
He loved this balloon...
Tim and Zoey....Zoey with her Pirate hat :)
Daniel and his cake!
The moms with their babies (the baby on the right is only 3 months old!)
I had the unique opportunity to participate in another one of my passions with photography...portraiture. The first of our "international weddings" is coming up in May with Catherine and Polon getting married. It was so much fun to take their engagement photos this week and wish them all of God's blessings in their future together. Enjoy!
St. John United Methodist Church was here this week doing construction and children's ministry. They were scheduled to do construction three days in Hato del Yaque but had to adjust their schedule a little bit and ended up working on one of our missionaries' new house being built. They did a couple months worth of work in just one day. It was amazing!
The work continues out at the church in Hato del Yaque. It has been such an incredible blessing to see the rapid progress the last couple months. There is tile on the floors and in the bathrooms, the entire outside of the building is almost painted and almost all the concrete work is done. It's so crazy. It is looking like a real church/feeding center. Plus the dorms are coming to completion as well. There are ceiling fans and running water as well as bunk beds going up. So fun!
The team also did work in Santa Lucia (La Mosca), Hoyo de Bartola (the Hole) and Los Perez. The kids were so excited to see them and to do some fun crafts and sing songs.
This group is especially fun because the parents of Will Partin (one of our staffers) were on this trip, as well as Will's sister, Lucy. It is so great to see family as it helps with missing your own family members by kind of living vicariously through others!!! This team is special too because they are really coming behind one of our National workers, Bienvo. They built a relationship with Bienvo on their trip last year and have really cultivated it again. Will, Audrey and several team members will be presenting information about Bienvo and the work he does here, to their church in Kentucky. Be praying that hearts will be opened and support starts flowing!
They had a wonderful trip and are an incredibly flexible group. Enjoy the show!
The second team that was here this week was a team from Eastview Christian Church. Their main focus was doing a medical clinic in Pontezuela. The pastor there, Indriss, is supported by Eastview's youth group and it was an awesome opportunity to bring some much needed medical attention to the people in his congregation and the surrounding community.
Indriss is a Haitian pastor who's congregation is also made up of all Haitian men, women and children. This church is growing at incredible rates and you can really see how God is using this church to touch the Haitian culture. In the Dominican, there is a significant amount of racism against Haitians. There isn't a lot of opportunities for the people and this church has become a light and a hope to this community.
Another leader in this church, Romano (who Mike works alongside of), started a soccer ministry as a way for men in their congregation to reach out to other Haitian men in Pontezuela. Most of the soccer players have joined the church and have become Christians!!!
It was awesome to see Eastview working alongside of Indriss and being God's hands and feet to this community.
We had two teams here this week and one of them was a group from Discovery Church. They were made up of mostly youth from the church and several returning adults from past trips. It's always fun to have Discovery here as they have great energy and are always hard workers.
Discovery is yet another GREAT example of a church that believes in G.O.'s philosophy. This is the church that has mainly funded the project out in Hato del Yaque. They also support the pastor there, Aristides. They ALSO support one of our staff members, as he was a part of their church body and felt called to work with G.O. Ministries. It was so hard to choose with this group what photos and video to put in. They did SO many different activities that it was difficult to decide what represented their trip the best! Hope you enjoy!
The second church that was here this week was Cross Point Community Church. This church is an excellent example of supporting missions full-on. They not only support two of our staff members but they also partner with one of our national pastors, moise, and are building a church and feeding center in Brisas de Ocampo. They are what we would call "Global Church Planters." They planted their church in the States and are now planting a church in the Dominican Republic.
This team is extra special to me because I was here two years ago when they broke ground out in Brisas. I got to see them dig the trenches and pour the foundation and now, this trip, they were building the walls of the church. It's so awesome to be a part of something from start to finish. To be able to witness a church that, with the only hope of being faithful to God's calling, continues to bless Moise and his congregation. I can't wait to be there when they have their first kids being fed in the feeding center and the first people sitting in the pews at church. What a glorious day that will be for God's kingdom!
This week one of the teams that was here was Lincoln Christian College. This was a young group of college-age kids along with their Leader, Drew, who has led several teams before with Eastview Christian Church. They continued the work out at Hato del Yaque and helped tremendously with the progress of this church/feeding center/dormitory. It's amazing how this church is coming along. Hard work from MANY teams over the past couple years have molded those walls into a place where people will find food for their stomachs and food for their souls.
Also, here is a short video on the progress of the church/feeding center at Hato del Yaque.
Just wanted to write a quick note about some exciting news. Now, thanks to the help of one of our talented staff members, you are able to donate to our ministry online via Credit Card or Paypal account. Just look for the Paypal box on the right-hand sidebar of our blog and donate!
I was INCREDIBLY inspired today when I read a story about a girl and her struggles and the man who decided to show her God's love instead of praying that someone else would. Here's a little blip from the story that I found incredibly refreshing.
...Love is something better. I have been challenged and changed, reminded that love is that simple answer to so many of our hardest questions. Don Miller says we're called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding. I agree so greatly.
We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love...
We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home...
We wanted to give everyone an update on the finances that have been coming in. Our first two years with the ministry we have been opporating on a base budget of about $36,400. With a new baby and increased ministry costs it is time for us to step up and raise the bar to a new level. This year we need to increase to a "B" budget of $45,601. To keep everyone up to date on what comes in we will post monthly updates on the right hand side of the blog (underneath the list of links). If anyone has questions about what is included in the budget feel free to contact us at anytime so we can go over it. We appreciate all of your giving over the past two years and we now ask for you to pray with us as we raise the bar!
From time to time I will have a little free time to work on some of the images I have taken. Of course, most of the ones I choose are of children just because that is where my heart and passion are. Enjoy, I will try and post more often with images.
It was great to have Hanover College here this week. They are a D3 school from Indiana and were down here to do Construction and run a Medical Clinic.
We continued construction out at Hato del Yaque and are making amazing progress. The hole has been dug for the septic system, a first coat of paint has gone up on the walls, all the panete is done, all the floors are poured, the ground is level and walls have begun to go up on the top level of the church/feeding center. This group of young people worked extremely hard and accomplished an incredible task out at HDY.
The medical clinic was in Hoyo de Bartola (the Hole). We had a doctor, a neo-natal nurse and several med students that helped in the clinic. The doctor being Landon's pediatrician! Funny, I slept a little better and felt a little less concerned just knowing she was in the building next to our apartment. Dr. Debbie Wallace is a long time supporter and partner with G.O. Ministries. She has been a part of our "family" for nearly 8 years and has been down on several trips. It was really cool for me to see her in her element and taking care of kids in the Hole, just as she takes care of mine. In the medical clinic we saw close to 600 people including adults, children and babies. Yes! Lots of babies.
Another small outreach that they did was they had a "field day" with the kids from the feeding center in the Hole. They played games and chatted and did relays...it was a blast to see them all intermingled on the land in Los Perez. Spanish or English, Dominican, Haitian or American...it was just a day of fun and I know the Lord looked down and "saw that it was good."
This week, several of Northeast Christian Church's leadership were here. They were checking out several of our ministry sites and visiting their partner church.
Northeast is an amazing example of what G.O. Ministries is all about. They have partnered with one of our Dominican Pastors, Rafelito, from the beginning. They started supporting him personally and then wanted to do more. So they built a church and feeding center in Rafelito's area of ministry, Los Guandules. (You'll see at the end of the presentation some before and after pictures of the completed church) They basically planted a church internationally. Now, as their partnership continues with Rafelito and funding the feeding center, they are wanting to find another pastor to begin supporting as well. It has been awesome to see how much God has blessed their church as a result of their faithfulness in supporting missions.
It was so fun to have GLCC down here especially since several of our staff members got their degrees from there. It was a special trip especially for Isaias and Lisa as they had several friends in the group.
We worked on the church in Hato del Yaque again. It is really coming along! The church floor is completely finished and the pañete is going up all around the the outside of the church. The inside pañete is completely done. Teams will be able to stay in the dormitories out there by summer. Woo hoo!
This week we had Southeast Christian Church and their Senior Pastor Dave Stone with us. Southeast has been a HUGE supporter of G.O. for the last 8 years and have had several trips come down as well. They also support several of our American Staff and support several of our Dominican Staff as well. It was good to have them back down in the DR.
This group worked extra hard and were able to almost finish the whole church floor at Hato del Yaque. Pouring a floor here is not as "easy" as it is in the states. We don't have a mixing truck so all the concrete is either mixed by hand or mixed in a small machine. That is a lot of sand, stone and concrete AND a lot of manual labor.
They also worked on the church in the Hoyo de Bartola (the Hole). This was especially exciting for me because I have never been around for construction in the Hole. Because of where the church is located, trucks can't reach it to drop of the sand, stone and concrete. Therefore, all of the materials have to be carried down a long flight of stairs and then down a sidewalk to get to the church. Not an easy job. Needless to say, they did an amazing job. The church in the Hole and Hato del Yaque are really coming together and I see first hand what God is doing and how the short-term teams over the past several years have made these projects happen.
