Orphanage News!

~~~BEFORE~~~

~~~After~~~

Hey Everyone! I have some awesome pictures of the Orphanage that we visited. When we were there in June, the building was not painted or even close to being finished. I just went to the website and have found it to be a beautiful color of sea green(?), and it looks WONDERFUL! The same children are still there, and I am also adding a picture of them. Please keep Israel and Marguerita in your prayers. They are the ones that came from the US with a dream to build this place. God has been blessing them so much, and I am so thankful for them and all they do for these kids!
Thanks again for visiting!
Love to all,
Shawn

Just an update . . .

Hey everyone! As I sit here on this Thanksgiving day, my thoughts have been on the Dominican Republic. As we all sit around with family members watching football eating more than our bodies could possibly digest in a day, I begin to wonder how much we really are thankful for. Don't get me wrong, I offer the Lord thanks continually, not just on this day, but this is one of those days that I am reminded that I take WAY too much for granted. As we all venture out to a loved one's house, we know that it is going to be warm, with electricity, internet, HD big screen TV, and enough food to feed an orphanage. Sounds like paradise, huh? Well, for some reason I cannot enjoy myself at these things, and I feel so out of place. I wish there was something more I could do for the dominicans. I feel as though my hands are tied and there is nothing I can do. I mean sure, I can send some clothes, toys, etc., but that is not enough for me. I feel so helpless as I sit here so far away from the people I love and want to help. Since we were there, it has only been five months, but it feels like an eternity . . .
Thanks for listening, I really just needed a moment to reminisce.
Waiting patiently,
Shawn

The town of the Jews?

A very long time ago when Kelly and I first starting looking into the Dominican Republic, a certain town called Sosua caught our attention. We liked this cute little town because it was a refuge to the Jewish people during Hitler's reign. (www.mjhnyc.org) There are many Jewish people living there still. We had always wanted to witness to them and had hoped that the Lord would open up a door for us to one day visit this place. While on this trip we didnt think that we would be able to go there since we were so short on time. Well, the Lord had other plans for us! He most certainly wanted us to visit Sosua, but not for reasons that we first dreamed of. We found ourselves in this town looking for a place to stay the night. It was getting dark and we had not been able to find a reasonable (in price) place to stay so we kept on traveling. By the time we reached Sosua we were relieved to be in a town to rest for the night. OR SO WE THOUGHT!!! We drove around and around and around . . . we did not like what we were starting to see here. We finally stopped at an ice cream stand (still a little scared to get out of the car), so we ventured out. Well, I can honestly say that I was not prepared for what I was about to see! I started noticing women that were alone and VERY scantily dressed walking around. It was getting dark out and dominican culture calls for EVERYONE to get dressed up (EVERY night of the week), grab some beer and head out to a central location. So I kinda overlooked these half naked girls and got my ice cream and we all headed to a small store across the street. There we bought a few things and headed back out to find a hotel. (so much happened at this store also, but I will leave our haitian worker story for another blog) As we were driving I started noticing more and more (half naked) women standing on street corners - You are probably starting to see where this story is going . . . And yes, you are right! At this time I was TOTALLY freaking out!!! BUT, I didnt want to judge anyone, so we kept driving. There were people partying all over the place at this time where we could hardly even drive the streets for so many people. I was begging Kelly to get us out of this town, I didnt care how late it was and that we didnt have anywhere to sleep yet! As we were leaving the city, there right beside my window stood a drunk elderly white man with a VERY young dominican girl in her early teens. Yes, she was a prostitute. At that point I was very sick. That image stuck in my mind and has not left me yet. The little town that once was of interest to Kelly and I is a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. I was so saddened by what we witnessed. I cannot imagine being a Jew and living in those conditions. I would be scared of God's punishment on that city while I was living there too. We were all affected by this town, and I know that I left a changed person. It was as if I was looking through the Lord's eyes and I felt His holy anger inside me. I will continue to pray for the town of Sosua, and I would ask that you do too.
Prayerfully,
Shawn

Deaf School Slideshow

Here is a slideshow that I put together when we got home. These children touched our hearts, and I hope they touch yours too!

Dalton would rather be in Haiti!

When we sign up for something do we really know what we are asking for? Well, I sure hope so! But Dalton is another story . . . Although he has been trying really really hard, he was not prepared for what would happen. I know that it has changed him in some mighty ways, but I honestly was VERY worried about him. Of course we have tried to make light of all of it and try to get through the week. I laughed when we took this picture of him today - I really think he wanted to jump - OK just kidding. He wouldnt do that being that it was his last day here. If we would have been on this mountain earlier in the week - well, I think it might have been an option for him. Dont jump Dalton, dont jump! We will be home soon!

A bitter sweet ending . . .

Well it is our last day and I am really really sad. I will be very happy to see Micah and Jonah, but I have found myself to be at a Crossroad in my life. I am depending on the Lord to open and close doors for us. I am not asking for anything in particular other than His will for our lives. I am so thankful that He let us go on this trip after 3+ years of waiting. The Lord has been so good to us and has taken care of us every step of the way. WOW!!!
Well, today is Monday and on our way back towards Santo Domingo we headed up into the mountains again. It is absolutely beautiful there, but I would not want to live there. It is a very dangerous place to be if a storm hits (or heavy rains). Most of the roads were already washed out and it was tough to get there already.

There were lots of small waterfalls coming off the mountains. We didnt find a community there to witness to so we headed out towards Peggy's house. We took her to school to pick up her students and took them to a sister school. There were about 45 deaf kids there along with a church from South Carolina. They did some dramas and worked crafts with the kids. It was GREAT!!!! I am so thankful to see people reaching out to the deaf children too.

Since we have been talking to Peggy for almost 3 years now I already had an idea of what she does at the school, but to see the effects of these children has been amazing!!! Before they knew her they didnt know what their names were, they didnt know how to communicate, and some of them were recluse. Now you see them laughing and cutting up with one another. And most importantly they are being taught about Jesus Christ! All of these lives have been changed by a missionary woman who obeyed the Lord! Wow Peggy, you are our hero!

Thank you for all that you do in Jesus' name!!! It has really made me think about what I am doing in this life and am I making a difference? My answer is most definitely not as much as I could be doing. Thank you Lord for showing me how little I do for your children, and please let me NEVER forget that we all can make a difference in this world.
Prayerfully,
Shawn

la Cucaracha la cucaracha

Well, only in the Dominican Republic can you get this kind of service. We were in the countryside all day long and still did not have a place to stay, so we headed towards the nearest city we could find. We ended up in Rio San Juan, so we started looking for a place to stay. Well, we were just driving around trying to find a hotel - with NO luck. We thought that if we found the beach maybe we could find a hotel. We ended up on a dead end street and saw a small hotel. The owner was standing outside and only charged us $24 US dollars!!! And the best part of all . . . RIGHT ON THE BEACH - Woot Woot! Here is a picture of our view:

Well, he told us it would be ready in about an hour or so so we headed out to find some REAL food for Dalton. We found a cute little outdoorsie place and decided to head on to it. I think it is the only thing that Dalton enjoyed about the whole trip (well that and ice cream). So after we ate some pizza we headed back to the hotel to get our showers and call it a night. At first I counted it a blessing to get to be first - Well, the water was BROWN and not only NASTY, it was VERY VERY VERY cold!!! I HAD TO HAVE A shower so I managed to tough it out. About the time I was getting finished, a HUGE monster size cockroach (cucaracha) was staring me down. He had been in the shower with me the whole time!!!!! That thing took a shower with each and every one of us - we were all too scared to move it. It would have taken a shovel - NO JOKE!!! Well, after I got over the shock I felt honored that the Lord would allow me to shower Dominican style! Oh, I forgot to mention that the room was REALLY nasty, trash still in it from the last person along with their wet used towel. I felt sorry for Dalton and Jorge who had to sleep on a mattress on the floor with the Cockroach on steroids. We couldnt find him when we got up, we think that he has been hitching a ride with us ever since. Maybe I will bring him home as a pet for Micah and Jonah - just a thought.
Still loving the DR,
Shawn

What's for breakfast - did you happen to see a McDonald's anywhere?

Well, this is a picture of our breakfast this morning - Jorge's suggestion. Wow, Whitt's B-B-Q has nothing on these guys - YUM YUM!
Well after our wonderful meal we headed back out to the campo (countryside) to where ever the Lord would lead us. We had a small church service up in the mountains - meet our praise & worship leader today -
It was Sunday afterall, so we stopped in for a few minutes.

We then found a house for sale on the top of the mountain so we stopped to see how much they wanted for it. The man that owns the house is American and lives there with his Dominican wife and kids. He had about 100 acres and it was beautiful. They invited us in and we stayed for a couple of hours witnessing to them.
They were aware of the Lord and Jesus, so we just spoke about things that the Lord has changed in our lives hoping to lead him to a closer walk with the Lord. He was able to fill us in on a lot of Dominican culture which was very helpful. We left him with a couple of bibles (which he gladly accepted) and also a couple of books that we had taken on trip.
So much more happened after that - we visited a church and another deaf school and met some more wonderful people who lead us to an orphanage in Bonao (which is where we are again tonight).

You will have to see the video to get the full effect of the orphanage, but it was very heartbreaking to see these kids and to have them holding and kissing my hands. I wanted to take them all home with me!!!
Well this is the first time we have had internet in a couple of days and Dalton is having Myspace withdrawals, so I am gonna let him have the computer now.
Love to all,
Shawn

The Gringos are here let's eat some chicken!

All I have been able to say on this trip is WOW! We have been in a lot of little towns where you have to stop at someone's house or small store to buy water. We ended up in a small (very small) town that was not even on the map called El Ranchito. The people there were CRAZY (in a funny kinda way)! They treated us like we were locals - they brought out chairs for us to hang out for a while. It was really neat being there with the kids too. We did so much today that I will have to fill you guys in later.
love,
Shawn

All Kelly did was turn left!

The Lord lead us to a wonderful place, and Kelly kept saying all I did was turn left! It became the funny saying for the day since we didnt mean to end up in this cute little town. We asked some locals who to talk to and they sent us to a house of a man named Senor Jose Vasquez who spent his entire day with us showing us around his town called El Pena. He a wonderful man who the Lord put in our path. He showed us land for sale and also his orchard with fruit trees everywhere.

(sorry for the comical picture, but we got a kick out of it). He showed us every fruit he grew and was very proud of the things he had. We spent the entire day today on his farm where he organically grows Cacao. They use it to make Chocolate. We ate LOTS of fresh fruit and some other things that I would rather not remember. Needless to say, I did not get the name of them.
So many things that happened today that there is no way that I can type them up. I will try again later. We just stopped into a cafeteria for breakfast and they happened to have wi-fi here so I wanted to take advantage of it.
I will try to post some more later.
Love,
Shawn

Thursday's Events

Well, where to start? We woke up this morning with plans to head out to Bonao where there is another Deaf school. Peggy gave us the phone number to a pastor there. Well, we kinda got lost - but I did get to see the ocean for about 45 seconds. The water was VERY rough and there was no beach in sight (rock cliffs). Anyways, we ended up in a town called San Cristobal. I was VERY scared and uneasy there. There was a lot of trash there and the people were not like what we have been around. Kinda hard to explain, but we knew we had to get out FAST! So, after we finally got turned around and ended back in Santo Domingo, we stopped and got some lunch at a gas station. The Lord placed a wonderful man in our path who spent lots of time directing us on our map where to go and where not to go. WOW, the Lord has been SO REAL here that it is evident in everything that we do. This man gave us his phone number to call if we needed ANYTHING at all. He wanted to make sure that we made it to Bonao safely. I am so thankful for these Dominicans who seem to have such huge hearts. We headed on out from there towards the mountains, and it is SO beautiful here. Once we arrived in Bonao we called Pastor Roddys (Peggy's friend) and he sent over a man from the church to lead us to a hotel for the night. So far we have seen so many go out of their way to help us that it has been such a relief.
Well it rained all afternoon, so we were stuck in the car for a long scenic drive around. We headed out to a town called La Vega, but we didnt get out there since it was pouring down rain. We headed back to our hotel to get settled in for the night.

As soon as we arrived our car was surrounded by kids with umbrellas to escort us to shelter from the rain. Dominicans DO NOT get wet from the rain since there is an old saying that you will get very very sick from it. Too funny! Anyways, we went downstairs to eat at the cafeteria where the kids were standing waiting for someone to escort. We bought them lots of candy, they ate our food, and we gave them lots of pesos. After dinner we headed back down to see the kids again. We took some more candy but this time we also took some spanish bibles (thanks to the Gideons), and Jorge was prayed up to do some preaching. The kids were attentive to the message and one even had his hand in the air praising the Lord during the prayer. They hugged us and loved on us, and what a sweet moment we had with them and the Lord. I am so thankful to be a part of this trip and to be able to see the Lord at work in this place. I am excited to see what will happen on Friday.
Until then . . .
Shawn

Blog from Dalton

Well,we made it to Santo Domingo in one piece,and I have been absolutely blown away with what we have found.On our arrival,I was expecting the horrible poverty.However,I wasn't expecting the way the people around here treat it.
The driving was especially bad.Many of the drivers don't have licenses.They don't pay attention to street signs.They don't use their blinkers.There are normally 5 lines of cars on a three lane street.Motorcyclists normally whiz past traffic like there is no problem.So,it's like driving on the road with more Kelly's.
We visited the school for the Deaf.Where we found many sweet,nice children,all of which seemed very happy to see us.We met many great people doing the work of the Lord.Including the man Shawn mentioned,named Dannis.All of the people prayed with us,and told us to do our best for the Lord.I'm not sure exactly where we are bound to go tomorrow,but,I know the Lord will see us through.
Unfortunately,we haven't had a chance to eat much Dominican food.We did,however,get to eat a stew called San Cocho.Also,Peggy made us a delicious Papaya smoothie.Both were great.
The Lord blessed us greatly today,as we pray He will for the rest of the trip.

Wow, what a day!

What a humbling experience today! We went to "Mi Esperanza" (My Hope) a Christian School where Peggy is a teacher.

We were greeted by some of the nicest people I have ever met. They welcomed us in like they have known us all of our lives. They fed us very well (if you like stew with plantanos (banana) and some other stuff that I have no clue what it was). Knowing how picky Kelly and Dalton are I was quite worried but we all know that Jorge will eat anything. It was VERY good though and did the job well. Oh wow the coffee was DELICIOSO!! And most of you know I haven't had any coffee in 2 weeks.
Anyways I know you want to hear about the kids so here are a few things that happened today.
When we first got there today we were greeted by some cute little kids yelling Hola!

They were so sweet. We were waiting for Peggy's students to get there which are the deaf and/or hard of hearing kids of all ages. While waiting Peggy gave us a tour of the school and church. We then went out onto the roof of the building which was REALLY REALLY hard on all of us. You could see the entire area around us which was an overhead view of some VERY VERY oppressed people.

It was hard to take it all in - no place for the kids to play, and there was trash piled up in a lot of places. After a little while the kids arrived and went to their classes. We split up and went into different rooms to watch the teachers and kids interact. What a blessing Alexi was! He is a 7 year old little boy that is hard of hearing and is on a learning level of a 3 year old. He was awesome!

We learned spanish words (which he taught me with pictures) and I was teaching him to finger spell in sign language. I know the Lord put him with me - he laughed and laughed while I cried and cried! He was so much fun!! I then went up into Peggy's classroom with her kids which are older. Although they may be in their teens, this is their first year in school.

They were SO funny teasing each other and calling each other names. They loved giving us new names so that we didnt have to fingerspell our names every time. I cant wait to show you our new names!!! I think Dalton's is the most creative!
After school we were able to walk through the barrio (the very poor area around the school). We met some AWESOME people who welcomed us in their homes and prayed over us before we left their house. Then we went in deeper into the neighborhood and met a wonderful man named Dennis who knew a little English and told us how much he loved the Lord. He showed us a photo album of years past where he served the Lord with a children's ministry. He has been doing it for many many years. He was wonderful and they all told us we were welcome to come back any time and that their homes were open to us. They have NOTHING but was willing to share it all with us - WOW!!! What a humbling day today. It was a bitter-sweet rash of emotions that was on us all day long. I might be smiling one moment, but completely broken the next.
I can't wait to show you all the video that we have shot of the trip. Especially some of Kelly's driving here! I think that some of his Spanish traits are coming out. He is CRAZY on these streets - which you have to be, but I didn't know he had it in him. People are wild on the roads here!!! Now I know why the put horns on the cars - if you do not honk at everyone - every 5 seconds they will know you are a tourist. It is quite comical though (gotta see the video).
Well, since we stayed at the school so long today we decided to stay with Peggy again. So yes, we are still in the city, but I am not freaking out so bad tonight. We did get pulled over by an unmarked police man on a dark road. It was pretty scary and Peggy told us that he was trying to bribe people for money. She told him that we were tourists, and she told us that they cannot mess with tourists. Praise the Lord for that!!! We have seen so many things that there is no way I could possibly tell it all.
I am looking forward to a new day tomorrow. We will be heading out to the county so I doubt that I will have any more internet time (that is the reason for this long blog). If I can get online in the morning before we leave out I will try to post some more pictures.
Love you guys!
Shawn
(I am hoping Kelly, Jorge, and Dalton will write some on here too)

Heading to the school ...

Hey guys, we are getting ready to head to the school. I doubt that I will have internet connection for a while, so I wanted to give everyone an update. I don't want to relive our trip yesterday, so I will pass on that!!! It was AWFUL!!! But, all is well now. We are still in the city at Peggy's house. We are in a VERY nice residential area. Sammy Sosa's mom lives in this neighborhood. We ventured out today for a walk to the store. It was an upscale store like our Kroger. It was playing Christian worship music (loudly), and on the receipt it has a bible verse printed on it - John 5:4. I was VERY impressed with it! It was a very nice walk around the city (still quite scary), but if Peggy can do it by herself, then surely we can do it as a group. We all slept well last night, probably out of pure exhaustion!
I will post more later . . .

Hola Republica Dominica!

We finally made it here! We are at Peggy's house right now, we made it in at 12:30am this morning. I will give more details later on our "experiences". Wow, I sure hope we get out of the city soon!
Love to all!
Shawn

Almost there!

Hey everyone, we are waiting at the airport for our last flight to the DR. We are currently in Ft Lauderdale waiting for our delayed flight. Not too sure how long it will take for us to finally get there. Our flights have had LOTS of turbulence, and it has been quite unnerving. We started out in Atlanta, flew to Orlando, & now waiting to head to the DR. If we make it through this trip, I doubt that Kelly will ever fly again!!! I hope they have boats that will take us there . . .
Thanks again for keeping us in prayer. We have already met lots of wonderful people at the airports. There is a mission team of 55 youth going to the DR also, and they have been on our flights - pretty amazing seeing what the Lord is already planning on doing there!
Love you all,
Shawn

Are We There Yet???

Too bad the kids aren't going with us so that I can hear that statement "Are we there yet?"
As I sit here and try to write something, probably for the first time in my life, I am SPEECHLESS!!! I have no idea what the Lord has in store for us on this trip, but I know that we are already to go in (as Jorge preached) "with eyes wide open". We dont want to miss ANYTHING!!! I seriously doubt that we will get any sleep tonight, but we are gonna try. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support for this trip.
We love you all!
Shawn

Peggy's Pictures

Here are some more pictures that I wanted to share with you all. Words cannot express our emotions at this point, and we are not even there yet! Jorge asked me Wednesday night if I was gonna cry ... I told him that it has already started!
 
 
 
 

Deaf School Video

Hey everyone, I wanted to share this video with you all. Our first day in the DR we will be visiting a Deaf School where our friend Peggy is a teacher. Thanks for tuning in!

Almost There!

Hey everyone, welcome to our blog!
We are getting ready to go on our first International Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic.
We have set up this blog to keep everyone posted on what is going on while we are down there.
We will be leaving on Tuesday, June 3rd and will be back home Tuesday, June 10th. We will be taking Jorge, our associate pastor; Dalton, a 17yr old from our church; and of course, Kelly and I. As most of you already know, this trip is a gift from the Lord. This is something that Kelly and I have been praying to happen for almost 3 years now. We are so excited to share this trip with Jorge and Dalton, and to all of you. Thank you all for lifting us up in prayer.
Love you all!
Shawn