...we came together...

The past couple days our American staff came together with the Dominican Construction crew and worked out at Hato del Yaque. It was such a great experience to be working out there, just as a staff for the sole purpose of helping and encouraging our Dominican workers. Without a team here to facilitate, it was a unique experience just being out there together. It was a lot of hard work but just as much fun. Below are SEVERAL pics of our staffers hard at work.

Vehicle Possibility

Here is a vehicle that would meet our needs. It is a 2000 Suzuki Grand Vitara. It has a V6 engine with 4 wheel drive. There is plenty of space for hauling sports equipment and guys to practice and the right size for Amanda to drive as well. I have been looking into several possibilities lately and when I got in to drive this one it was solid and well maintained. We ask that you prayerfully consider donating to this need. All amounts donated are appreciated, whether it be $50 or $5,000. We will keep an update on the blog as the money comes in. Even if you are not able to contribute to this need please be praying for others' hearts to be opened. Here are some pictures of the vehicle. If you are able to donate please write in the memo line of the check Braisted's vehicle. Thank you all again for allowing us to serve in the DR.

Kansas City Baptist Temple

It's hard to believe that it has been a year since KCBT's last trip down, but it has. It was another successful baseball clinic and it was so great to see familiar faces and some new ones too! Enjoy the video of their trip.

Wave of emotions

Well it has been a while since I have posted an entry on here. I will continue to leave the pictures to Amanda but I wanted to share some cool things that have happened to me in the past couple of weeks. I hope I don't get too lengthy here!

This past week we had a team from Kansas City Baptist Temple here to do many activities which included a baseball clinic and softball tournament. The week before they arrived we were finishing up the preparations which included meeting with the boys who would participate in the cinic. Most of them attend the public school around the corner from us so we decided to remind them of a few things about the clinic one morning at school. I showed up and they weren't meeting, so I went to find Pedro, one of the sports ministry staff members who also teaches at the school. He said no we aren't meeting until the day before the clinic starts. I said ok well I will see you later to which he replied come with me and see the class I'm in. So we went over to his classroom where he proceeded to introduce me to the class and tell them I had something to share with them! This caught me completely off guard and I asked what I should share. He said talk to them about faith. I quickly began to share about faith and what it means and about my faith in God. I ended up sharing with a 5th, 7th, and 8th grade class about my faith in a public school! As I walked home I just thanked God for that opportunity to be open with these kids. My emotions at that point were pure joy and excitement.

At the end of the week for KCBT I was exhausted and completely sore. I played on a Dominican softball team for the tournament and didn't remember how many muscles are actually in the body that can be sore. On Saturday we split up and went to the homes of the kids from clinic. I was able to visit three of the homes and shared with the whole family about the week. We then invited them to church the next day before we left the house. The next morning we had a great sermon from Marcos Castro, a member of the team. His message was perfect for me and had me thinking all day about it. One of the comments he made during his sermon was something along the line of "if you haven't grown in your faith and walk with God even in the past two months you aren't doing your part." This hit me hard. I had been going through a bit of a dry spell spiritually and I coudln't stop thinking about that the rest of the day. That evening as we prepared for church here at our local church I started to feel tired and had a bit of a headache. I decided I was just going to stay home from church and relax. All of a sudden I had this intense pressure on my chest, it was very uncomfortable and I didn't know what it could be. It didn't hurt at all but was just uncomfortable. I started to pray and sat down to read a book. Amanda then brought Landon to me to feed him his bottle, well I guess we both ended up falling asleep :). When I woke up my headache was gone and I no longer was tired. We ate dinner and went to church. While in church I was still thinking about the morning sermon. As we were finishing up praise and worship some young guys came in and had me move over so they could sit down. After we got readjusted I looked up to see two of the three boys who's house I was in the day before, I turned around to see three more boys sit down as well. Five boys from camp came to church! Right then God spoke to me and said if you aren't even growing yourself how can you help these boys to grow! That is when the giant wave of emotions hit me. I was so excited to see them in church and so disappointed that I had not been preparing myself better.

You are all a part of these emotions for me. You are all praying and supporting us to be here and serve these awesome people. I know reading this long entry can't really capture the emotion of it all but God is doing great things here, for me personally and for this island. Keep praying and keep listening to how God wants you to serve!

New G.O. Sports Outreach Logo!

I'm totally excited to have the opportunity to use my education and the gifts God has given me on the mission field. The sports division of G.O. Ministries has been needing a new logo for a while and since I've been here, we have been toying with a few designs. None of them really said what we wanted to say about the Sports Outreach in the DR. So about a week ago, God really put it on my heart to draw up another design and literally within five minutes, I came up with the design below. I showed it to Will Partin, the Director of Sports Ministry, and he loved it! We got it approved and now have a new Sports Logo! It's simple and not complicated and just says it how it is. Praise God for all his provisions.



This is our Main Sports Logo that will go on brochures, sports vehicles, etc.



This is our international Sports Logo that can be used on jerseys, uniforms, etc.



This is our revised Sports Logo that can be placed on hats, left pockets of polos, bags, etc.

Felicidades Samir y Myra!

Yesterday was the wedding of Samir and Myra. Samir is the son of Gabriel, the "head honcho" for G.O. Ministries down here. I had the privilege of taking some photos of them. The wedding and ceremony went off without a hitch and it was so much fun to be able to experience a wedding within another culture. Below are just a couple photos that I took during the night. Enjoy!

Tropical Storm Olga

As many of you know, Tropical Storm Olga ripped through the island of Hispaniola. Flash flooding, wind and rain has made conditions in the Dominican Republic incredibly dangerous. The video above was shot by one of our friends, Isaias, around different spots in the Santiago. Please continue to pray for these people as there is a long road ahead for recovery of their homes and their lives.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and are reminded of all the wonderful blessings God has given you!!!!!

Madre a Madre

I am BEYOND excited about the group of ladies in this photo. Several of them are women I cook with up in the kitchen and several of them are women I have met through other staff members and their relationship with them. God had given me a vision of starting a group just for moms. Since being a mother is such a huge part of the Dominican culture I thought that it might be a huge opportunity to involve more women than just with a women's bible study which is already up and running through our church in Hoya del Caimito.

My vision was to get a core group of women that would meet once a week to talk about mom things (husbands, time management, cooking, cleaning, personal spiritual life, health and beauty, etc.). Not necessarily a bible study, although we base our topics on things that can be supported biblically. I wanted it eventually to be a community outreach. Involve women that don't currently attend church but would like the opportunity to learn from "seasoned" mothers. I wanted to talk to Cherry (another staff member) who is the mother of four and also is fluent in Spanish. God knew what he was doing.

Little did I know, Cherry had a key role in a group called "Mom to Mom" when she lived in the States. She knew how to run a group like this and would be able to support the vision that God gave me. We began planning and had our first mom's meeting on November 2nd. We met again November 9th and Cherry and I's dream came true. Two of the ladies brought a family member who is not a Christian, but a mother, and was really interested in being in the group. We weren't prepared for a group this size, in fact we thought 5 was the magic number, but God had other plans. So here they are, the first Mom to Mom (or Madre a Madre) group. I can't wait to get back in January to get started up again!

Never too old for Sleepovers!

One thing that I did a lot of with the girls I used to coach was have sleepovers. I haven't felt too old to have them yet and until that day, I will always love having girls sleepover at my house.

So I decided to reward the girls in my bible study with a night of girl fun! All of them memorized SEVEN verses from the bible and I was so impressed that I knew just what I needed to do for them. We ordered pizzas, rented movies, played games and did crafts. It was so much fun to connect with these girls on more of a "friend" level.

Below are pics of our night together!



The nice, calm group of well-behaved girls at our sleepover...hehe


Our make-shift basketball hoop made out of a garbage can and duct tape...who needs a rim and a net???


My little athletes excited after a basket made...


The girls working on tissue paper they found laying around...how creative are young minds, I mean really?


The REAL group photo. A better example of the group of girls we really are.

Discovery Church

The last team of the year. Although Mike and I missed the rush of summer teams this year because of Landon being born, it was so great to be able to facilitate a couple teams this fall. Discovery Church is such a fun and energetic group and they were incredibly flexible due to some unforseen issues.

As most of you know, Tropical Storm Noel ripped through the Dominican Republic and Haiti. We had three straight days of rain and lots of flooding. Mike and I have several leaks in our roof which caused quite a bit of water to come into our house, but we couldn't stop thinking about all the people who literally had their homes washed away.

Discovery was supposed to do construction all week but that was obviously post-poned. They were able to help organize the sports room as well as help us get some painting done since they were both inside activities. And eventually we were all able to get out to Hato del Yaque and work on the church. They had great attitudes and were hard workers. It was awesome to see God working even in situations that didn't go as planned.

Crestwood Baptist Church

What a great week. It is always a pleasure to have Crestwood Baptist here. The week went so smoothly that many of us were wondering if we were missing or forgetting something. But it was just because this team is so great. We did medical and soccer clinics this week and were able to touch many people in La Mosca. Pastor Jonas was encouraged once again by this great partnership and we know he looks forward to them returning every year.

A high note for me: I went evangelizing for the first time not only since I've moved to the Dominican but for the first time in my entire life! I felt God urging me to give my testimony in the last house we visited and the woman asked Christ into her heart afterwards! HOW AMAZING IS GOD? As nervous as I was to share, God used me as a vessel to bring someone else to him. He never ceases to amaze me.

400 Pesos

Baria and Alina Maria, La Mosca

We arrived in La Mosca ready to start the day. A Medical clinic. I've always loved doing medical clinics. It gives me a chance to see how the community really is doing. You can tell a lot by the things that present themselves at a medical clinic. Are the people getting enough food? Are they drinking good water? But one thing that a medical clinic always brings are babies.

All morning, young mothers brought their newborns in. One baby was only 3 weeks old. Unfortunately, it isn't uncommon for girls to be as young as 13 or 14 when they have their first child. Several of the women there were 20 and already had 3 or 4 children. The babies looked fairly healthy and really the only recurring problem was that the umbilical cords weren't drying out. Pretty common, even in the states. Alcohol swabs were distributed, the nurses there recommended that the mothers nurse for as long as they could for the health of their babies and the mothers went on their way.

I was busy taking pictures, doing my normal thing when I felt a tap on my shoulder. A mother, holding this BEAUTIFUL baby girl. Tiny. I talked to the little baby for a few seconds and she smiled at me. I thought it was odd just because the baby only looked like she was 3 or 4 weeks old and Landon didn't start smiling until he was at least 10 weeks. So I asked the mother how old her baby was. 2 months. What? This baby was 2 months old. I tried not to show my shock but I'm sure the mother noticed. She then proceeded to talk to me. Not frantically, but with a little bit of desperation. "No tengo leche para ella," she says. She doesn't have milk for her? Maybe I misunderstood her. She repeated it again. This time I knew I heard her right. She began to speak very quickly and I got completely lost. I tried to tell her to slow down but she would start out slowly and then speed up again. I got my friend Cherry. She told her what she had told me. She couldn't nurse because her milk didn't come down and she didn't have money for formula. She has four other children but she can't feed her newborn. My heart sank. Not again Lord, don't break me again.

All of a sudden the world rested on my shoulders. Guilt weighed me down. All those times I was irritated because it was "inconvenient" to nurse Landon. Here was a mother who wanted to feed her baby and couldn't, and here I was, able to feed my baby and feeling inconvenienced by it. What kind of a mother am I?

I had to do something. I thought maybe they sell formula in the colmados. I'll buy it right now. We asked, only at the pharmacy. The pharmacy was far away. The baby was crying now, sucking on her fingers. I recognized her hunger, I'd seen Landon act like that whenever I made him wait too long. There wasn't anything I could do for her right now...completely helpless. I can bring it tomorrow, can't I? She'll be ok for a day, right? Oh no, I could feel it coming...and the tears flowed. I felt embarrassed now, I'm trying to talk to her and I can't even understand myself. I had Mike tell her to meet me here tomorrow morning and I'll have milk for her baby. And I walked away.

When I got home from the day, I bawled my eyes out at my friend Yajaira's house, I held Landon tighter than I ever had before and I got Mike to drive me straight to the store to buy the biggest canister of Formula I could find. 400 pesos. 12 dollars.

The next day was probably the most fulfilling since I moved here. There she was, waiting for me, holding her baby. I gave her the formula and explained how much she should mix. She told me that her baby was only drinking 1 oz of milk (Landon was drinking 3 by her age). 2 scoops of powder, 90 ml of water. Her baby wouldn't be hungry. I hugged her, I kissed her, I held her baby and watched her sleep. I asked her name. "Alina Maria," she replied. Alina Maria, so little, but reminded me why God brought me to this little Island. I can't help everyone, but I can help someone.

Because someone in the States decided to sacrifice a little bit of money that God had blessed them with, I was able to provide food for a baby that didn't have any. Because a church in Kentucky decided to put Missions first, a Pastor in La Mosca has a church, a feeding center and a school. Because God so loved the world, he sent his son to die for us so that we may have eternal life with Him.

What are you willing to sacrifice in order to empower others to do God's work?


Baria, Alina Maria and I

Birthday Bash

For the past four weeks, I have been holding a bible study for two young girls in our neighborhood. Two weeks ago, Rachel and Beka (two of our missionary kids) joined as well. We go over a story from the bible and then have a question and discussion time and then we color. Yes, I still love to color at 26! Every week they are required to finish their coloring pages for the next week and memorize one of the bible verses from the story. If at the end of 7 weeks they all get their "stars" for their homework and verses, we are going to have a sleepover with pizza and movies. So far so good and only three weeks to go!
This past Tuesday we had our regular bible study with the younger girls, but Indira (Themis' older sister) also had her birthday. So I made a cake and we sang (very loud and obnoxiously) and had a great time. Below are a couple pictures from our night!



The bible study gang (Rachel, Me, Themis, Yesania, Indira and Beka)



Indira and her cake



Themis and Yesania playing "concho" with a box. It's amazing what kids will do with their imaginations without Xbox and Gameboy!

Banta Basketball

Here is the video from the basketball group that was here two weeks ago.

True Worship

Well I have been trying all week to put this post up. I have some video clips to go along with it but I can't seem to get them to work yet. This past Sunday I went to church a couple of minutes down the road. It is the church that Romano started for the Haitians in the area. As we were leaving for church we noticed a Haitian man just standing on the corner by our house so we invited him to church with us. Just as we asked another Haitian man walked around the corner. His name is Ousma. He heard us ask about church and jumped right into the truck with us. The first guy decided he didn't want to go this time. We found out later that Ousma had gone to the church on our street and the doors were closed because church service was in the evening this week. He did not know so he assumed there wasn't a service. When he heard there was an opportunity to visit another church he was very excited!! After church we brought him back and went and to get some lunch to share with him. He was so grateful! Two days later I saw him in the corner store, I had Landon in my arms and he asked if Landon was my son. I told him yes and then he pulled out his wallet and showed me some pictures of his kids. A man that we happened to run into one day was now sharing about his whole family. Such a small event has made for such an exciting week and a new friend!

Something else that happened on Sunday was the worship service. As I sat and listened to everyone singing I was broken. I could not understand the words, there were no instruments, the leader just had to sing the first line of the song for everyone to join in singing. None of those things mattered. It was time to worship God so that's what everone did. I was broken because I looked around and everyone was praising God, and then I thought about how many times during worship I couldn't stand the singing, or I wished there were more instruments than a piano and organ. I completely lost sight of what was supposed to be going on. Something so simple I had made complicated. I saw the simple act of worship right in front of me and I was broken. I wanted back all of the times I lost the opportunity to just worship Him. The beautiful singing in that service opened my eyes and I thank God for that moment and I pray I don't ever lose an opportunity to praise Him again!

Elian Updated

I went to see Esther and Elian on Wednesday and they are doing great. Mom is still recovering but looks much better than she did a few days before. She is getting up and down out of chairs well and is doing pretty good with feeding Elian. He already seems so different than he did in the hospital and before we know it he will be driving a car! Below are just a couple pics, he's so stinkin' cute and check out that hair!

Facelift for the soccer field

Well we have been able to jump right into work since we have returned to the DR. It has been awesome catching up with everyone and showing off our little guy. Our first week back saw us helping with a team from Illinois and also an exploratory group that was here to see the ministry. Amanda spent time in the kitchen with the cooks preparing meals for the team and I was able to help be tour guide and translator. It was great jumping back into Spanish again after a four month break.

This past Friday I spent several hours with Romano building some new goals for the soccer field. The old goals were made of bamboo poles stuck in the ground with a "Y" carved in the top to lay another pole across for the crossbar. Each goal was a slightly different size but it worked! The new goals are now made of three inch PVC pipe glued at the joints with elbows. The look great and they are both the same size!! It is exciting to play with the new goals and the guys love them. Right now the team is getting ready for a game against a Dominican team from La Vega which is about 30 minutes away. They are very excited for the opportunity and I can't wait to use this chance to share God's love! Here are a few pictures of the new goals and some of the guys working on them:

Edmon, Elysee, and Romano working on a new hole for the post.

Elysee watching Edmon put a bamboo pole in to anchor the pvc pipe.

Elysee compacting the dirt around the new post while Romano holds it in place. Edmon is cutting the grass in the back with a machete.

A view of the whole field from behind the first completed goal.

Introducing Elian David Alberto!

I went to see Esther in the hospital today (I went yesterday with Catherine but we weren't able to see her because we came while she was still in recovery). She seemed to be doing ok but in a good amount of pain after her C-section. Oh, I remember those days!!! I assured her that after a couple days she would be feeling MUCH better. Baby Elian was 9 pounds (but still looks tiny to me) and extremely adorable. He is a healthy boy and both he and mom are doing great. Keep them both in your prayers as Esther has a good 6 weeks of recovery as well as adjusting to life as a new mom. Below are a couple pictures and I'll be getting a few more when she's feeling better so I can get some of them together. I also have a special tie to the little guy as we now share a birthday!!!!

God Still Speaks

As I awoke suddenly at 4:30 am, I heard a whisper. Not a loud, majestic voice...a whisper. It was so clear in my ears that I looked over at Mike to see if he had said something. Sound asleep. It whispered again. Something about the kids. I'm tired, can't I do it when I wake up? I answered back. Get up, it kept saying. You're their voice. Get up and let them know. I knew just what this voice wanted me to do and I knew just who the voice was that was talking to me. I got up, compiled my list and just typed.

You see, Friday morning, I went back to the Hole for the first time since April. I assumed it would be like every other trip. I've gone at least a hundred times. I had my trusty little Nikon camera in my hand, just as I had every trip before. But somehow it felt different. I began taking pictures. Pictures of the landscapes, the trash, men and women....children. There was something about the kids. My spanish is far from perfect, but hugs are all they ask for. They all keep asking me about my baby. Where's my baby? They remember me. They remember me. In four months of being away they haven't forgotten me! But had I forgotten them? How many times in four months had I thought about them? Remembering their smiles and their laughs and their ever-so-tight hugs. Not enough, I hadn't thought of them enough, I said to myself. As we began to leave a little boy kept holding my hand. They always follow the groups up, they always hold our hands. But this time for me, was different. I began to think if when he returned home, would his mom give him a hug? Would she embrace him because he had been away so long? As our van drove away the little boy would turn around and wave at me every 5 or 10 steps. He kept waving until we were out of sight. And then...something happened that hadn't happened in a very long time. In TOO long of a time. I began to cry. I was thankful for my sunglasses. Up until that last little wave I had been cold...almost numb to what I see everyday. Just one more dirty, malnourished kid. I see them all the time. But it finally pierced me. I'm their voice.

And not just me but the people that work here, the people that visit here. The kids can't speak for themselves. We're their voices. So as I sat that morning and began to type at my computer, I put every name on that e-mail that I had been afraid to ask before. Telling them of this opportunity they have to seize and they can do something that has an eternal reward. These kids don't need much but they need something. Something that everyone I knew and everyone I've come in contact with can provide. The whisper in the dark of the morning knew I wanted to sleep but it also knew that I had been changed and just didn't know what to do with it. It's funny, all along I thought he would have spoken louder.

(below are just a couple of images I've taken over the past year that I've been with G.O.-I worked on them today and had my passions renewed to try and capture this ministry and to try and be the voice so many of them don't have)

Hello Home

We made it to the DR safely and with no flight delays or cancellations...(the first time since we moved to the Dominican). Although, we did have one of our bags lost for a day. Of course it was the one with Landon's crib in it and with all my shorts and t-shirts. So Landon slept in his carseat for a night and wore some of Mike's shorts. Flexibility has become one of our best assets! But praise God that our luggage arrived safe and sound with the Eastview team that came the next day.

Landon is adjusting very well to being here and two nights this week has even slept for 10+ hours! Last night he went to bed at 7pm and didn't wake up until 5:30 this morning. It was the best night's sleep I've gotten since he was born, even though he's always been a great sleeper. He's pretty sensitive to the heat right now, but we assume that he will adjust like the rest of us do. We have a fan that attaches to his crib and he does pretty well just sleeping in his diaper. Mike and I knew he would like nights here as he as always loved being naked!

We snapped right back into things as a team arrived the day after we got here, as well as an exploratory trip. Mike has been busy translating everyday and I even got a baby sitter Friday morning so I could go with the team to the Hole and take pictures. I missed my little Nikon! We are still looking for a part-time sitter to watch Landon in the mornings when teams are here so you could be praying that we find just the right person!

I start my little girls bible study tomorrow with two of the neighborhood girls, Themis and Yessenia. Normally there would be three but apparently Deborah moved away. I am also hoping to start a Mom's bible study for some of the young mothers in our neighborhood and church, so be praying as I search for a co-leader and a cirriculum for us to study.

Hope you all are doing well in your endeavors and we'll update all of you soon!


Landon doing his favorite thing...sleeping!

The crib that Great-Grandma Basham gave us! Thanks Grandma!!!


Landon and Mommy at his first Dominican softball Game!


Landon asleep in his hotsling that he got from Aunt Vickie!