Yesterday morning we visited Jackie's House Orphanage, which was a completely different experience than the first orphanage we visited. There weren't nearly as many kids, and the facility was not quite as nice either. The kids were, once again, so happy to see us and play with us as they showed us their few jump ropes and cats and dogs, or really whatever they had. We brought play doh and puzzles and finger paint to play with, and everyone seemed to really have a nice time with their kids. Unfortunately, the orphanage was so far away from SCORE that we only had a short amount of time to spend there, so we felt like we were leaving so soon, and I know my new friend Isa especially was so disappointed. Before we left, however, the kids sang and danced 2 songs they had prepared for us (so cute!!!) then gathered in a circle and prayed in Spanish for us. Augusto, our translator, relayed what they were saying to us, and it was so moving. One of the oldest kids there, Israel, led the prayer, and it was really touching to hear him asking God to bless our lives and keep us safe and fulfill our wishes. Israel is one of the children of incest, as I'd mentioned in a previous post, and cannot walk due to his legs being completely defected at birth. He contemplated killing himself and his siblings at one point in his life because he felt like he was such a burden to his parents, but then he found God and came to the orphanage, and is now such a light there. It was incredible to think of how much suffering he must have and how he just put that aside to pray for US, who really have virtually no problems compared to him.
From there we went more into the city to visit the "straw market," where we all sharpened our bartering skills. I think everyone still came out with empty wallets, as the bracelets, machetes, picture frames, rings, walking sticks, hats, shirts, and other Dominican trinkets were just too tempting.
We left from the straw market to go the SCORE facility that is in the same complex as the Giants training center (I haven't mentioned this before, but literally everywhere we go there is a MLB training complex/recruiting center... and yes we did get a picture of the Phillies center!). We had a picnic lunch together, and the sports broke up to go to their respective clinics. It was storming really badly, though, so softball just watched either wrestling or swimming. This time, swimming got to go to the Highlands pool and teach a group of local kids more swimming skills, which was a really interesting experience since we still don't know too much Spanish! Several of the kids there were of Haitian descent, too, and only spoke Creole, so there was a lot of organized chaos going on. Also, there are no such things as lifeguards or pool rules in the Dominican, so swimming in the pouring rain, crashing thunder, and lightning striking nearby is apparently 100% ok! We were literally terrified but everything ended up just fine.
After clinics, we headed back to SCORE and had one last dinner and devotional, where we discussed what really impacted us this trip. I think more than anything, we all just really bonded during our time together and formed valuable friendships that are sure to keep us accountable and on track during the school year. Teammates are now so much more than just teammates, and that experience in of itself is invaluable.
Today we are visiting one last village this morning to distribute more water filters, then it's back to SCORE to pack up and leave around 1:30. Our flight out of Santo Domingo is at 4, so we should arrive in Miami within about 1.5-2 hours from then. I'm sure all of the parents and significant others will be receiving a flood of texts at that time, so be ready!!! We will get back to BWI around midnight tonight, then load the bus for Messiah, so it's going to be a late one. The forecast looks just fine so hopefully traveling will not be any sort of problem at all. See you all soon! :)
Saturday, August 20, 2011
More pictures!
Swimmers in our new Dry-Fit t shirts at the pool on Wednesday
Dominican soda
Cap'n Brunk on the way to Catalina
Girls on the way to Catalina!
The guys were really trying to get tan
Abi and Jacki jumping off the boat
The island!
View from our beach chairs
Isa jumping rope at the orphanage on Friday
Isa
Jean and Mia!
Brad... that's not what you do with play doh...
Group picture with the kids at the orphanage
Coach Brunk and his friend
Coach Dana and her friend
Jess and a baby
Lots of fingerpaint!
The kids praying for us
Zach and his admirers at the Highlands pool after lessons
Friday, August 19, 2011
Pictures!! Catalina and other things
Not actually Catalina.... Brad at the beach with a sea urchin on Day 1
Also at the Juan Dolio beach.... Tim and "the moose"
CATALINA!! Tay jumping off the boat
Snorkeling!
The swimmers WOULD love snorkeling
More swimmers snorkeling :)
Zach getting some sun on those white legs
Titanic boat!
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL ISLAND :)
Chris looking for tropical fish
The DR team!!
The guys had to be on top too.
Wrestlers practicing their grip, I guess
Gorgeous ride back!
The guys enjoying each other's company on the way back as well
The two competing synchro teams
Jean teaching new friends how to swim
Zach with kids wearing caps from his club
The swimmers we taught today!!
Day 5 Recap
Sorry for not posting yesterday! I had every intent of blogging and posting lots of awesome underwater pictures from all the fun we had at Catalina when we got back yesterday, but God definitely had other plans for my night, as our devotions really just floored us all and lead to part of the group talking until around 2 AM and certainly becoming much closer. Tonight there will be pictures! Promise!
Catalina was AMAZING. It was so beautiful and so much fun. We had about a 1-hour bus ride with a few people from another group here to the boat itself, during which we passed the time (and annoyed the other group) by playing our new "song game" where someone picks one word, and two teams compete back and forth to recall/sing songs including that word. When we play guys vs. girls, we're pretty evenly matched, too, and the game can really go on for the whole bus ride! As a group, we really just get along very well and it's so awesome to see people who would have never known each other otherwise at school become so much closer.
We got off the boat at this gorgeous dock that we had to descend some old and rustic looking stone steps to get to. Our boat was a double decker boat with an open-air top floor, so we all went up there to enjoy the views. We got free Cokes right away and took pictures endlessly, of course. The 40 ish minute boat ride to the island was SO pleasant too! The water is so incredibly blue and the temperature was just perfect; it was so nice to have one more chance to soak up some summer rays. We stopped at a reef a little bit off from the island and got to jump off the top of the boat (so much fun!!) into the most aquamarine blue colored water ever and then snorkeled with some sweet tropical fish! Jean has an underwater camera, so that was a great experience, especially for Brad who I really think almost never surfaced, he loves snorkeling that much!
From there we headed into the island, and a small boat came to pick us up. It was pretty Titanic-esque, all 25 or so people from the main boat loading into this tiny motorboat. It was no problem, though, getting to the island even with all of the people cramped in one small boat, and once we got there, it was literally paradise. I'm talking pure white sands, chairs already laid out, tiki huts scattered around, and palm trees everywhere. NOT TO MENTION that amazing water!!! I will probably never want to go back to a Maryland beach again :( We could actually see our legs and toes while standing in the water! We were so glad that we had brought all of our goggles from swim practice, that way we could dive and look at the fish without a snorkel mask.
We laid out for a little bit and all got really burnt, then went to the tiki pavilion for a buffet lunch of various pasta salads, rice, potatoes (all Dominican style), an array of Dominican fruit (the best mangoes EVER, watermelon, papaya, pineapple), a date and coconut mixture, bread, and barbecued chicken and some other sort of meat. So incredibly good.
We did have some issues when the guys went for a walk and Chris decided to "kick a rock" and get sea urchin barbs lodged deep in the top skin of his toe. Fortunately enough, some people from the other group had brought a large knife (??) (much better than the earring tactic Jacki was using before the appearance of the knife) and Chris was able to try to cut his skin enough for me to be able to attempt at prying out the barbs with my nails. He's much better now!!
The boat ride back was every bit as amazing, as a few of us rode at the front of the boat and sunbathed with some sea spray hitting us every now and then. It was such a good day!!
Last night's devotions, however, were I think what really kicked a lot of us in the pants. Craig McClure, one of the long-term missionaries here, was the speaker, and he was the type of speaker that does not compromise on one bit of the Gospel. That's a really good quality, but I just realized how much I am NOT used to hearing such bold messages! The focus was on aiming for the right target, using the example of Matt Enns, the Olympic rifleman in 2004 who was doing so well that in the final round all he needed to do was clip the target to win gold, and was confused when the judge told him that his bullseye was no good- only to find out that he had aimed for his OPPONENT'S bullseye and was disqualified from the competition. Craig made this into an athletic parallel, telling us that in everything we do, the glory needs to go to God (the right target), rather than ourselves. When things go well and we win, we give the glory to God, but how often do we praise Him in our sufferings? Apparently the literal translation for the passage in Scripture that talks about how if our focus is off, all we have to offer God is "dirty rags" is actually "menstrual rags," and Craig really made us think about living a life thinking we've done everything right, then meeting God and seeing that all we have to offer Him, all of the fruits of our ill-gotten labors are just dirty tampons in His sight. Pretty humbling I'd say. There was so much more to the message, but as athletes, I think many of us just finally got the message about how everything needs to revolve around God- ESPECIALLY as athletes at Messiah!! Not only do we need to praise Him in our winning, but also praise Him in our losing and really just all the time. We all talked about how when you have a bad day (as Chris really did after the whole sea urchin incident, as well as going swimming with his camera in his pocket, and getting burnt), we need to thank God for suffering- which seems unreal. Craig even said "if the Lord wants to take my life, that's okay; praise the Lord! She's not mine anyways." I can't tell you how many jaws dropped. We have a hard enough time thanking God and understanding God when we lose a competition- but when we lose a family member or a spouse? Craig just kept saying that we should feel HONORED that God has chosen us to suffer. The gates of heaven are narrow gates, he said, and not all those who say they believe are definitely going to get in. There was just so much to think about, which was why we all felt it ok to lose some sleep last night in order to get thoughts about the message off of our chest.
A side note from last night: the wrestling men finally had their big synchro showdown with 4 guys from another group here, and won. The video should be up soon; it was very impressive.
Today we are going to a different orphanage, then the straw market, then straight to clinics (where the swimmers are doing something different today). There won't be any break in the middle so please pray for energy and strength as we go throughout the day- we're all pretty drained with our sun exposure yesterday AND the lack of sleep last night, so not having any down time might be pretty hard, especially with what we're bound to see at the orphanage. The softball girls visited this orphanage in January when they came down, and they said it was the saddest place. There are several children here who are children of incest and are very deformed because of it, but their testimonies are great. In January, at least, there just was not enough staff at the orphanage to properly care for all of the children, and when the softball girls arrived there was just a line of strollers sitting out in the sun with babies 3-9 months just sitting there. Again, I'm not sure if we're all really mentally prepared for what we could see, so if you could, please pray for that.
Tomorrow we come home! We won't get back into BWI until midnight, so prayers in advance for traveling mercies would be so great too. See most of you in a few days!!
Catalina was AMAZING. It was so beautiful and so much fun. We had about a 1-hour bus ride with a few people from another group here to the boat itself, during which we passed the time (and annoyed the other group) by playing our new "song game" where someone picks one word, and two teams compete back and forth to recall/sing songs including that word. When we play guys vs. girls, we're pretty evenly matched, too, and the game can really go on for the whole bus ride! As a group, we really just get along very well and it's so awesome to see people who would have never known each other otherwise at school become so much closer.
We got off the boat at this gorgeous dock that we had to descend some old and rustic looking stone steps to get to. Our boat was a double decker boat with an open-air top floor, so we all went up there to enjoy the views. We got free Cokes right away and took pictures endlessly, of course. The 40 ish minute boat ride to the island was SO pleasant too! The water is so incredibly blue and the temperature was just perfect; it was so nice to have one more chance to soak up some summer rays. We stopped at a reef a little bit off from the island and got to jump off the top of the boat (so much fun!!) into the most aquamarine blue colored water ever and then snorkeled with some sweet tropical fish! Jean has an underwater camera, so that was a great experience, especially for Brad who I really think almost never surfaced, he loves snorkeling that much!
From there we headed into the island, and a small boat came to pick us up. It was pretty Titanic-esque, all 25 or so people from the main boat loading into this tiny motorboat. It was no problem, though, getting to the island even with all of the people cramped in one small boat, and once we got there, it was literally paradise. I'm talking pure white sands, chairs already laid out, tiki huts scattered around, and palm trees everywhere. NOT TO MENTION that amazing water!!! I will probably never want to go back to a Maryland beach again :( We could actually see our legs and toes while standing in the water! We were so glad that we had brought all of our goggles from swim practice, that way we could dive and look at the fish without a snorkel mask.
We laid out for a little bit and all got really burnt, then went to the tiki pavilion for a buffet lunch of various pasta salads, rice, potatoes (all Dominican style), an array of Dominican fruit (the best mangoes EVER, watermelon, papaya, pineapple), a date and coconut mixture, bread, and barbecued chicken and some other sort of meat. So incredibly good.
We did have some issues when the guys went for a walk and Chris decided to "kick a rock" and get sea urchin barbs lodged deep in the top skin of his toe. Fortunately enough, some people from the other group had brought a large knife (??) (much better than the earring tactic Jacki was using before the appearance of the knife) and Chris was able to try to cut his skin enough for me to be able to attempt at prying out the barbs with my nails. He's much better now!!
The boat ride back was every bit as amazing, as a few of us rode at the front of the boat and sunbathed with some sea spray hitting us every now and then. It was such a good day!!
Last night's devotions, however, were I think what really kicked a lot of us in the pants. Craig McClure, one of the long-term missionaries here, was the speaker, and he was the type of speaker that does not compromise on one bit of the Gospel. That's a really good quality, but I just realized how much I am NOT used to hearing such bold messages! The focus was on aiming for the right target, using the example of Matt Enns, the Olympic rifleman in 2004 who was doing so well that in the final round all he needed to do was clip the target to win gold, and was confused when the judge told him that his bullseye was no good- only to find out that he had aimed for his OPPONENT'S bullseye and was disqualified from the competition. Craig made this into an athletic parallel, telling us that in everything we do, the glory needs to go to God (the right target), rather than ourselves. When things go well and we win, we give the glory to God, but how often do we praise Him in our sufferings? Apparently the literal translation for the passage in Scripture that talks about how if our focus is off, all we have to offer God is "dirty rags" is actually "menstrual rags," and Craig really made us think about living a life thinking we've done everything right, then meeting God and seeing that all we have to offer Him, all of the fruits of our ill-gotten labors are just dirty tampons in His sight. Pretty humbling I'd say. There was so much more to the message, but as athletes, I think many of us just finally got the message about how everything needs to revolve around God- ESPECIALLY as athletes at Messiah!! Not only do we need to praise Him in our winning, but also praise Him in our losing and really just all the time. We all talked about how when you have a bad day (as Chris really did after the whole sea urchin incident, as well as going swimming with his camera in his pocket, and getting burnt), we need to thank God for suffering- which seems unreal. Craig even said "if the Lord wants to take my life, that's okay; praise the Lord! She's not mine anyways." I can't tell you how many jaws dropped. We have a hard enough time thanking God and understanding God when we lose a competition- but when we lose a family member or a spouse? Craig just kept saying that we should feel HONORED that God has chosen us to suffer. The gates of heaven are narrow gates, he said, and not all those who say they believe are definitely going to get in. There was just so much to think about, which was why we all felt it ok to lose some sleep last night in order to get thoughts about the message off of our chest.
A side note from last night: the wrestling men finally had their big synchro showdown with 4 guys from another group here, and won. The video should be up soon; it was very impressive.
Today we are going to a different orphanage, then the straw market, then straight to clinics (where the swimmers are doing something different today). There won't be any break in the middle so please pray for energy and strength as we go throughout the day- we're all pretty drained with our sun exposure yesterday AND the lack of sleep last night, so not having any down time might be pretty hard, especially with what we're bound to see at the orphanage. The softball girls visited this orphanage in January when they came down, and they said it was the saddest place. There are several children here who are children of incest and are very deformed because of it, but their testimonies are great. In January, at least, there just was not enough staff at the orphanage to properly care for all of the children, and when the softball girls arrived there was just a line of strollers sitting out in the sun with babies 3-9 months just sitting there. Again, I'm not sure if we're all really mentally prepared for what we could see, so if you could, please pray for that.
Tomorrow we come home! We won't get back into BWI until midnight, so prayers in advance for traveling mercies would be so great too. See most of you in a few days!!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A few additional updates
Thought #1: Swim practice went really well!! We had a lot of fun in the workout itself (it was more short distance and kick work this time, whereas last practice was more endurance, heart rate control, and pulling-- not my favorite parts of swimming), and before practice itself, both the guys and the girls had somewhat of a chance to put ourselves out there with the local swimmers. The guys were able to talk with their newly made friends while they lifted before practice, and Jean and myself were able to talk to our new friend about what we were doing in the Dominican itself. We learned a lot about the culture from her and how much of a stark contrast there is between the city life in Santo Domingo (where the country club at which we swim is located) and the village life nearer to Juan Dolio (where we are staying at SCORE). Who knows, some seeds could have been planted. Softball, however, didn't have such a great practice, as apparently a bunch of drunk men decided to take over their softball field and chaos ensued. The Dominican coach was somewhat concerned for our girls safety and thought it would be best that they leave for the day, just in case, as, obviously, this was not a part of the plans. The girls are totally okay, though, as they just got back on the bus and met the wrestlers at their facility to watch them wrestle. The wrestlers themselves seemed to have really enjoyed their practice too, although they say the facility feels like 130 degrees!
Thought #2: Tonight consisted of a torrential downpour (and I mean TORRENTIAL!), and, ironically enough, now our plumbing is not working. So we have no running water and can't flush the toilets or shower, a pretty large problem with all of the athletes having tried to stay hydrated at practice. Prayers on that whole situation would be amazing! We're not too concerned about it, but tomorrow is our free day during which we get to visit Catalina Island and sight-see [I told you all that the itinerary would probably change :) ], so it would be kind of more enjoyable to be able to do that in a clean, un-chlorinated, un-sweaty, and un-wrestling-mat-ed condition.
Everyone says hi and THANK YOU for reading and keeping up with us!! We get about 100+ views every day, and that is just SO encouraging to be able to physically see how people care about what and how we are doing. Also, another big shout out to our 3 new followers- Linda Sagaser, Terri Hatt, and Gina Mosley (whose son is actually on the PANAMA trip!!!)! Thank you so much guys :)
Thought #2: Tonight consisted of a torrential downpour (and I mean TORRENTIAL!), and, ironically enough, now our plumbing is not working. So we have no running water and can't flush the toilets or shower, a pretty large problem with all of the athletes having tried to stay hydrated at practice. Prayers on that whole situation would be amazing! We're not too concerned about it, but tomorrow is our free day during which we get to visit Catalina Island and sight-see [I told you all that the itinerary would probably change :) ], so it would be kind of more enjoyable to be able to do that in a clean, un-chlorinated, un-sweaty, and un-wrestling-mat-ed condition.
Everyone says hi and THANK YOU for reading and keeping up with us!! We get about 100+ views every day, and that is just SO encouraging to be able to physically see how people care about what and how we are doing. Also, another big shout out to our 3 new followers- Linda Sagaser, Terri Hatt, and Gina Mosley (whose son is actually on the PANAMA trip!!!)! Thank you so much guys :)
Pictures from Day 4
Jean coloring with Angie
Ty finally got to get his hair done too!
Mi amiga Nicole!!!
A special shout out ;) My new friend Ricky!!
The guys were really exhausted after getting their hair done today
Enjoying some REALLY sweet Dominican grape and strawberry soda after wrestling practice
We enjoyed that Matt decided to use this after practice!
Day 4 Morning recap
Today, thank the Lord, we got to sleep in a little longer and left the SCORE facility at 9AM to visit the La Romana orphanage. The experience was heartbreaking and incredible at the same time, as we were immediately swarmed by flocks of kids who, for the first time in the trip, weren't just interested in what we had to give them but instead with our attention and affection. The orphanage itself was really nice, with beautiful classrooms and a large playground on which the kids could run, play jump rope and hopscotch, climb in a treehouse, and play on other features. The older kids wore uniforms and clearly were coming from their classes, and the younger kids wore other unmatched clothing. It was more encouraging to see them being well taken care of, as all of their clothing was well kept instead of full of holes like that of the kids in the villages- plus they were all wearing pants, which was different from the village kids too. I really can't convey properly just how happy the kids were to see us- they were escaping out of the orphanage gates to greet the bus and immediately took hold of whatever hands we had available, leading us to whatever their favorite feature of their home was. I was greeted by two girls, Nicole, age 8, and Paola, age 9. They spoke a little bit of English (thank you, please, nice to meet you, my name is, and basic colors) which they said they had learned from their escuela (school). I thought that was a really great feature of the orphanage, as it made communicating in Spanglish just a little bit easier, as we could both communicate on and off in either language. It's also a bit humbling to realize that an eight year old knows as much English as I do Spanish (even after 2 semesters of college Spanish..... sorry mom)! Nicole, Paola, and I had a great time getting to know each other while I painted their nails ("pink, blue, pink, blue" by request) and then coloring together. We drew pictures for each other and Nicole even made me a bracelet that I'm sure I won't take off for awhile. Angie, Jean's new friend at the orphanage, colored a picture for Jean, folded it and slipped it into her backpack to keep :) They were so precious. The hardest part was not evenly distributing donations, but rather evenly distributing our attention. I tended to just want to stay with Nicole and Paola and really get to know them personally, maybe getting a chance to make some sort of lasting memory for them, but there were so many kids there who needed so much love. I heard a young child screaming and crying and after a little bit of looking, found a young boy (maybe 2 or 3 years old) abandoned in the dirt behind a pavilion. I figured he was upset that the kids in the pavilion were coloring and he was not, so I handed him a crayon and some paper, but the crying persisted. Thinking that maybe he was hungry or even hurt, I picked him up to find someone in charge, and immediately the crying stopped as he put his dirty thumb in his mouth and nestled into my neck. I literally almost started crying myself. I've read about all of the psychology experiments where monkeys are given wire "mothers" to compare behaviors with those who have cloth "mothers," and how the monkeys with the wire moms soon die, and about the old experiments where babies who aren't spoken to for a short number of months will die, and I couldn't help but think of that. The kids there just need so much love, and my heart was breaking that we only had so much time to spend with them, and so many bodies to cradle them and hold them. I definitely am not ready for kids any time soon myself, but I couldn't help but want to take that young boy home and just make sure he was loved forever. I know that Coach Dana was dying to take a baby she had taken an attachment to home as well! I think all of our eyes were really opened today at the orphanage. We can only hope and pray that behind closed doors these kids are treated as nicely as they seemed to be today, although they certainly seemed eager for more love and attention.
We leave for clinics in about an hour, and I know that I am particularly nervous for the swimming portion. Again, we were really under the impression that we were coming down here to actually RUN clinics and teach young kids the sport, but swimming has been placed with the major swim team in the nation and we're just a part of the practice, which doesn't really allow much time for testimony ("bubble bubble.. do you.. bubble bubble.. know Jesus?!") Everyone in the practice in Santo Domingo is around our age (most are 15-21) from the wealthy area of the city, speaks English, and most go to school in the States, so it's a much different outreach than we'd been expecting and I think it's making most of us nervous since it's not what we were mentally prepared for (or really physically when it comes to the practice!!). We just have to keep perspective that we came down here to spread the word with athletes, and that's what we are going to do, no matter if it seems awkward or not what we'd planned on. Prayers would still be appreciated though!
We leave for clinics in about an hour, and I know that I am particularly nervous for the swimming portion. Again, we were really under the impression that we were coming down here to actually RUN clinics and teach young kids the sport, but swimming has been placed with the major swim team in the nation and we're just a part of the practice, which doesn't really allow much time for testimony ("bubble bubble.. do you.. bubble bubble.. know Jesus?!") Everyone in the practice in Santo Domingo is around our age (most are 15-21) from the wealthy area of the city, speaks English, and most go to school in the States, so it's a much different outreach than we'd been expecting and I think it's making most of us nervous since it's not what we were mentally prepared for (or really physically when it comes to the practice!!). We just have to keep perspective that we came down here to spread the word with athletes, and that's what we are going to do, no matter if it seems awkward or not what we'd planned on. Prayers would still be appreciated though!
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