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!!