The Hole

Also, when I went with Greenville in 2008, we visited the Hole. It is a town built on a landfill. When we went, the feeding center/church were not yet complete. Here are some more then and now photos/videos...
Then:
This is the Nutrition Center area (however, we were doing VBS crafts in the picture.)


This is the kitchen in which they cooked for about 100 kids everyday; as you can see it is very small.



The kitchen was actually next door, so the food was passed through the window slats to be fed to the kids.

Now:

In these videos, I don't talk because it was a little loud. One is of the feeding center - the new kitchen is along the back wall. The other is of the upstairs sanctuary. It's beautiful! I was quite impressed. Amazing how much change and progress God's blessed this church/nutrition center with!

Update from Greenville's work in 2008

To give a little info of what the church looked like when we were there in 2008, I've added these pictures. (The third picture is of the main level.)





This is a video of the church that Greenville Christian worked on; it is still not completed, however, a lot of progress has been made. I thought people would be interested in seeing it.



And the beautiful front entrance view:

Just a little bit out of my comfort zone...

Earlier today, Amanda and I spent a bit of time cleaning house. I went to find the cleaner under the sink, couldn't see, got a headlamp, discovered water, looked closer, found that bacteria had also discovered the water, and proceeded to clean out the 1/2inch of water below the sink...This grossed me out mostly because the bacteria was large enough to be seen swimming around in the stagnant pool. It was not too difficult to clean up and bleach though. Now we just have to find the leak. It seems to be seeping through the base of the wall from rain water.
When we got back from dinner this evening, Amanda and Katie, my housemates and fellow interns, saw a mouse. Unfortunately we have little idea where it went...but I did discover that it likes my soap - as evident from the pictures below. Mice are my favorite. Any of the guards from camp would agree! not. haha...it's ok though. It won't eat me. :) I'm bigger than the mouse. Positive self-talk helps, right?

Park Visiting, Warehouse Cleaning, and MORE! :)

Yesterday, we had the privilege of walking to the park. It's about a 1/2 mile or so from where we are staying. It's beautiful! Looks just like any US park. It has a walkway, ping pong tables, basketball courts, picnic areas, and a dance studio. Quite impressive. Below you see the playground equipment:
This is a view of the ping-pong tables:

And here is a shot of the walkway with some of the picnic areas. The walkway actually has golden numbers stating the distance traveled. The whole track is like 500Meters.

Something else that happened yesterday...I made my first purchase at the colmado (little store).

I went to the colmado to get some butter. I explain to him that I want a little. So he goes to get a butter container from the fridge or something. He then grabs a little baggie, scoops the butter from the container with a spoon, into the baggie, then hands it to me. Without weighing it or anything, he just charged me a certain amount. It was a funny experience. Yes, it is safe to eat! We double-checked before we tried it out.

Also yesterday, I killed my first flying cock-roach. I feel that this is important to mention because it is the first - probably of many. The bugs haven't been to bad yet for me...Though I have been bitten a few times by bugs we refer to as no-see-ums (because you never see them, but they bite you...and Jimmie, this is different than the ones I don't see but get bit by in the states. ;))

Today, Amanda and I worked on cleaning and organizing the GO Ministries warehouse. Walking into this project was definitely overwhelming. So many donations have come in over the last months and have not been able to get properly put away. Below are some shots taken 2 hours into the re-organizing process...

Tuesday we will hopefully be able to finish organizing in there - or at least get the shelving back up and stuff over there picked up. I'd like to point out, that the bins in the middle picture are all shoes. We sorted through all of them dividing them into bins labeled for women's shoes, women's sneakers, men's shoes, men's sneakers, kids shoes, etc...It's awesome how many pairs of shoes people have been able to send to GO.

A few of my thoughts...
It's been so so nice to get here before teams arrive. Amanda and I both are taking in so much information. We are asking all kinds of questions that at some point this summer, we will probably be asked by team members. I'd like to ask that you pray that we (and the other interns soon arriving - there are 11 total summer staff/interns this year) will be able to remember all/most of the things we are learning...specifically the people and names of Dominican/Haitian ministry partners. I have met so many new people. One of them asked me today if I remembered him...I felt terrible that I couldn't (though I did remember his name once he reminded me of where we met).

Few pictures...

Above you see the passion fruit...Below you see an oh-so-becoming picture of me with the humongous carrot...

The above picture is of the kitchen in the house I'm staying at; below is the living room; bottom picture is of my bed with the mosquito net - no the bugs are not too bad here, but I'm using it just as a precaution.

I'm Here!

Yay! I made it to the DR last night. Flights were not bad...
I got in to my temporary room in Hoya del Caimito; it's in a GO Ministries house. Currently, I have the room to myself, though tomorrow, I think another intern will move in to share it with me. The house is very nice. We have running water and electricity! Praise God! The weather has been very humid. Last night, in my bedroom, my thermometer read 85 degrees. Thankfully I now have a borrowed fan! The neighborhood here is much louder than I'm used to. Last night the Dominicans were out on the street until after midnight playing music, visiting, and shouting. Also, I got to eat a passion fruit last night...think I'd eaten one before, but can't remember. It's very sour and slimy...very interesting.
Today, we went shopping at the main stores in town and picked up another intern from the airport. I saw the biggest carrot I've ever seen...I will be posting pictures!
I am pretty tired now and trying to process all the things I'm learning about this culture...so I'm running short on words. I will try to post as much as I can.
Again, thanks for your prayers! It's amazing how much I can feel God's peace in my decision to be here.

My Itinerary...

For anyone who would like to know, here is my itinerary...

May 18th:

Departure :02:10 PM - Louisville, USA - Louisville International

Arrival :04:45 PM - Miami, USA - Miami International

Departure :06:30 PM - Miami, USA - Miami International

Arrival :08:35 PM - Santiago, Dominican Republic - Santiago Municipal

July 27th:

Departure :08:50 AM - Santiago, Dominican Republic - Santiago Municipal

Arrival :10:55 AM - Miami, USA - Miami International

Departure :02:25 PM - Miami, USA - Miami International

Arrival :04:35 PM - Chicago, USA - O'Hare International, terminal 3

Departure :05:25 PM - Chicago, USA - O'Hare International, terminal 3

Arrival :07:35 PM - Louisville, USA - Louisville International