Feelings on Coming Home?

Well when I first got here all I would talk about was I can't wait for anthem to come down, and how excited I was that they were coming. Rich and Kirsten were like oh no he doesn't like here he just wants to go home. Well now I really don't want to go home I love it here so much. And I don't say that in meaning that I don't miss you all back home, but when you have experienced what I have in the last two months you really wouldn't want to go home either. I know when anthem comes I have to go home but for sure I am coming back. I don't think I could happy any where else and again its not because I love the people here more than you back home it's just I have a feeling that this is where God wants me and I am very happy with that because the people I have become very good friends with have really excepted me for me and have become like family just like it was back home. But I am going to have to find a happy medium on living because what I would like to do is have a house in both places so I can go to either one when ever I want to so who knows but I just felt like I should tell you what I am feeling while I'm down here. So I hope you like reading about whats going down here in the beautiful Republica Dominicana. And by the HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!


Peace Much Love

Christmas

Well this Christmas was a little different, it was pretty warm instead of snowing like it was back home for you guys. Why does it snow when im gone and i have always wanted a white Christmas, not really seeing why that happens. But while you were huddled in side your houses I was here. Outside at a very nice warm tropical beach which felt amazing and we went snorkeling and found some really cool fish that would hide in the rocks and come out and then go back in which was awesome. I don't think any of you are jealous right now because you had snow. But during this Holiday season I got a little discouraged and homesick because I saw everyone here with there families and I wasn't, but this last Sunday some friends and I went to this concert and it was so much fun and it really made me realize that yeah I'm not with my family but I am with the people that I have come to care a lot about and are my really good friends here and that made me feel so much better. And actually we are going to another concert for New Years Eve so I am really excited about that and all the fun that night is going to entail. In the Dominican Republic they have another Holiday called Kings Day, and its about when the three Kings gave presents to everyone and so thats when most of the kids here get there presents from there family. So as a church outreach we are going to a children's hospital and going to give out presents to kids and minister to there families that are there so we are very excited about that, and the cool thing is I get to dress up as Santa Clause. So I hope the next time you read my blog, which I hope you do, that you bring a kleenex with you because i think you might need it at least I know my dad will when he reads it. So I hope you all had a very good Christmas and have a wonderful New Year Dios de Bendiga, which means God Bless in Spanish.

First Production

Well this Saturday we performed our first of two performances for our Christmas play. It was awesome we had a packed out building. It was really cool because most of the kids in the youth group parents are not Christians and don't go to church at all, and most of the family members you don't come to church were there and it was really good. I'm pretty sure your wondering if I had any lines in the play, I did, I had the most lines in my scene it was really cool. I was the lead shepherd in the play and when angel Gabriel comes and surprises the shepherds I have to scream like a girl and hide behind the other two and everyone thought that was hilarious. But after Gabriel says something my line is "Hay mi madre" in english it means like oh my gosh, and I had to say it like I was very scared, it was great me and another kid in the play stole the show is what I was told by the amount of laughter by the crowd which makes me feel good because it makes me feel like I'm apart of something rather than the new kid or the big gringo kid in the church. When we had to get ready for the play we all had to wear make up and everyone thought it was so funny when I had to put it on because the blush I had on stood out more than everyone else's cause I'm the white kid so that was weird but funny at the same time. Rich was also in the play, he played Joseph, he did great. Everyone thought he was hilarious because they recorded our voices and we had to mouth our lines and when he mouthed his he expressed very well and opened his mouth very wide when he would say his lines and everyone thought it was so funny. Well after the play Charlie who is the Pastor at the church gave a little message and then gave an alter call and we had about 15 salvations which was awesome and we still have one more performance and still more souls to be won for His Kingdom so I am very excited about that. Its really cool to see how God uses our talents to win people for him and its cool because He is using me through dancing and being able to move with some style which is really fun for me, which if you don't know I really like dancing and I have just learned a Latino way to dance which also really fun so thats cool. But please be praying that this next performance we would have the even more people come to Christ and that they would start coming to church and not just come on Holidays. Thanks.

Peace Much Love

Making Friends

Well since I have been down here I have made a lot of friends.  It was a little rough at first because only like four out of the twenty kids in the youth group speak english and my spanish is a little rough, but it is coming a long very nicely.  I have really made a lot of friends especially because of the Christmas play we are doing, and me choreographing dances and teaching then dances and them teaching me spanish, one of the girls that has helped me choreograph the dances speaks a little english but always makes me practice my spanish all the time.  Which gets a little frustrating because its hard to explain things for me but it has helped me a lot.  But it feels really good to make friends it makes me not miss home so much and all that.  Its crazy because the friends I have made here are exactly like the friends at home so its like nothing really changed which makes me feel really good.  Well stay in touch and keep checking out my blog so you can see how our Christmas play went.

What's been Happening

Well the last four weeks the youth group has been practicing for our Christmas production, La Historia de Navidad, which The History of Christmas.  Well it has been going really well since we started, the director Diana has done really well.  When we started planning she herd that I had been in hip hop dances before and asked me to choreograph three dances for our production.  Let just tell it has been hard for me because, people here really don't dance like I do so that has been hard but it has gone really well.  I am so thankful for Mabel who is in the youth group and thank God she can dance and has really helped me with choreographing the last two dances.  Along with doing all the dances I am also the lead shepherd in play so I have the most lines in my scene, and they did that because they thought it would be funny to have a shepherd who speaks spanish with an american accent.  But it has been really good I learned my lines.  These last couple week we have danced for about four to five hours a day learning these dances, we have been very tired but have pushed through and have finally finished.  Are first performance is this coming Saturday, we are very excited and know God is going to great things through this play so we are really excited.  Well you all are surly missed by me, and I hope your doing good and all is well.

Just Writing

Well thank you all for your comments i really appreciate them, and yes Pastor Terry I can teach how to merenge its really easy all you really have to do is move your hips with the beat and then twirl the girl or you can spin your self if you want to during the song. Well I'm pretty sure you are all wondering how I'm doing since I am not at home for the Holidays this year. To start its pretty weird to not be at home with family and friends, but this thanksgiving was really fun we all got together and ate, I ate til I was uncomfortable, one of the pastors there was so amazed at how much food i was eating. Everyone else's plate was in sections and not very big, mine on the other hand was the Wimberly Thanksgiving style plate mounded and lots of everything, it was so good I had to go back twice. Then we came home and I went over to the neighbors house cause she has cable and I watched some football that made me feel like I was at home. After that my family and I, and along with some other friends that were there, we had ourselves a little video chat so it was almost like I was at home except on a computer screen. But all around it was a pretty normal Thanksgiving day. The next Holiday might be a little bit harder who knows, I know for a fact its going to be hard not being with my family on Christmas but I know God has called me down here for a reason and its gonna be alright cause its in his hands not mine. But on the other hand this will probably one of the only times in my life where I will get to go to a tropical beach on Christmas which is going to be awesome. The beaches here are amazing nice and clear and warm. I will be sure to post pictures when the time comes for that just to make you all a little jealous, oh I'm just kidding. Well thats enough about all the Holidays lets to get to the good stuff, like whats going on down here in the D.R. Well the church youth group is putting on a Christmas production that I just happen to be involved in. I am choreographing three dances that will be performed during the play, also I am the lead Shepard so I have the most lines in my scene. To me I thought i was the one with out any lines since the American, nope not at all they thought it would be funny to have a Shepard who speaks Spanish with an American accent, well i guess I'm gonna have to show them whats up ha ha, not really everybody in the play has given me advice on how to say my lines and all that so they are really helping. And this year were putting together Christmas baskets for different churches in the area for them to give out so thats cool. Other than the dances and the play and the Christmas baskets that is pretty much it that is going on down here besides me doing worship stuff with Rich for now thats all. Well I miss all of you a lot and I wish you all very Happy Holidays.

P.S. For those of you who have tried txt messaging me I am very sorry we have been having problems with that but I think we have almost got it figured hopefully but I promise as soon it gets fixed I will txt you all back. So please pray that will work out for me.

Well this weekend has been very long but also very fun. This weekend Kirsten and I went to a culture class to learn about the Dominican Culture. We both learned a lot, and the cool thing is we met a lot of really cool people from different places around the D.R. and a couple them invited me to go stay with them when ever i want and we said the same to them. One of the coolest things about this was almost everybody there were Christians and God was really involved in the entire class. Well Saturday night we had what they call a formal cena which is basically a formal dinner, which was a lot of fun. After the dinner they taught us how to Bachate and Merenge which are two types of dances down here, they are a lot of fun. Well Patti, the lady who ran the class, would not let do anything or leave until I danced and she made me dance with her the entire night. It was a little weird considering that she was in her 50's it was just a little weird for me but i had a lot of fun. Well Kirsten wouldn't let me hog the dance floor so she jumped in and danced with on of the four guys the Patti had come to help us learn how to dance and trust me they were really good. Well the party had to stop at 11:30 because the people who owned the place wanted the music off by that time, we were a little bummed that we didn't get to keep dancing. But the funny thing is the music didn't stop the four guys who came to teach us have been singing in a four part harmony together for the past six months. I'm not even kidding you they guys were so good it was unreal. They are all Christians and they lead worship at there local church. Here are some videos for your pleasure. Oh and the next morning they sang a song they wrote that is about a little girl who couldn't find her dad, and they came up with it on the fly it was awesome. Oh sorry the video is in Spanish.

Outreaches!!

This last Tuesday and Wednesday myself and a team from Florida went to two very small villages. Tuesday we went to a village that was underwater for three days because of all the flooding that came from Hurricane Noel. I did have tons of pictures to post but they got deleted off my camera by accident, which really made angry because there was some really good pictures i had. While we were there we cleaned out the church that was completely caked in mud. And we also cleaned a house for a single mother with two kids. We also cooked food for the community it was really neat. Then on Wednesday we went to this little Haitian village that was crazy! The people there were second or third generation immigrants so they spoke Spanish instead of creole. While we were there we gathered all the kids into the school and sang bible songs and told them a bible story and then set up tables for them to color on we made bracelets for them, that was hard cause they rushed us and we couldn't make the bracelets fast enough it was pretty fun. After that we painted this house with a bright salmon color and the doors a bright peach color. The Haitians love bright and vibrant colors and on Sundays were gonna try and go out and finish painting the other houses that are out there. Here are some picture of the villages we went to this past week!! And those two girls love pictures they asked me to take about five or six because they loved seeing themselves on camera its so cute!! Stay tuned for the great action down here in the DR!! Love you all

My first week in the DR

My first week has been good rich and kirsten have just let me have time to get acclimated to the time zone, culture, and all that good stuff. Its really hot and really humid down here but im getting used to it. When i first arrived it was during hurricane noel and the locals had never seen so much rain since the 90's i believe. As for the language part its pretty challenging but im working on it and getting better with my spanish so that part is really good. I will have pictures posted as soon as the internet on my laptop get all figured out, sorry about the delay on blogging. Since I have been here it has made me realize what i left behind with family and friends drumming with really close friends and a very good band. Not saying the band is bad at all its just way different from home but God has place me here for a reason and I have a feeling that it involves drumming alot. And this Thursday I have my first lesson with boy by the name of Miguelito who has a natural talent in drumming so Rich has asked me to teach him and help there other drummer Carlos who is good as well.

Well stay tuned for what God is doing down here in the DR miss all of you!!