Friends and Beloved BJ's

Ok so this past Sunday night some friends and I went to Seattle to pick up a friend from the airport and enjoy some BJ's.  Well after taking a back highway around traffic because some people don't know how to drive when it rains sometimes, we finally made it to the airport to pick up Jeremy Beye.  Well as we were driving up to the terminal we decided to make a really big scene, so we started by rolling down the windows and blasting some bumpin music out the window.  When we saw Jeremy we started screaming and then we parked the car and I was driving so I was the last one out.  As we got out of the car we started screaming Jeremy and we ran to hug him and I was last one, so I went to jump on him and when I did my feet slipped  out from underneath me and I took out Jeremy and he landed on top of me and I couldn't breathe so I threw him of me.  But I think the best part was there was this old asian man you pointed and laughed at me because I ate it so bad.  But after this big fiasco we finally made it to BJ's and our waitress wasn't so good she was kinda slow and had to ask Pj to give his pizza to a little kid because she forgot to order the little kids pizza.  But I have to tell you if you ever get the chance to go to BJ's get a mini barbeque chicken pizza with there seasoned fries and it will change your life forever.  But all around it was a really fun trip to the airport and BJ's and just a little advice don't run on a terminal sidewalk with vans on or you just might eat it like I did.  But as Pj said these are the moments that friends will never forget.

Finally

Well this blog is way over due so I apologize for the delay. Well leaving the D.R. was one the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. While I was there I had built such good and strong relationships with the people in the church especially the youth of our church. And I think one of the worst thing was having to say goodbye twice, because we had our going away party one night and then Anthem and I went to the resort and then I had to go back and play drums that Sunday and they prayed for me and then I had to say goodbye again, not fun. I know some of are thinking so when are you gonna go back? Well the answer is I am going to start school at SPSCC and start working towards my AA degree and then see where God takes me from there, but I am gonna go back and visit in December but just to visit. I know that I wanna go back for another long period of time but I am not sure when that will happen or if it will. And most important I just wanna thank all the people who supported me in this trip with finances and prayers it really meant a lot and I just wanted to say Thank You So Much!!! It was probably the best year of my life and you had a part in that so Thank You again!!

One God. One Love. One Mission.

Noah

CRAZY STUFF

Ok so the other night me and some friends went to a book fair that had concerts and things like that. It was a lot of fun we walked around and I bought a couple of CD'S while I was there to, we ate some food and had a lot of fun. But the craziest thing happened when we were there we were at this little concert in this small room and I left with one of my friends because it was really hot, we were sitting outside just listening and then all of the people started running out of the room and I was like what the heck this is weird. Then one of my friends came running and said some guy had a gun and I started looking around the people I was with to see where they were at and when I was looking I saw two cops walking with two guys in between them and one of the guys and a knife in his stomach and was being held of by his friend. It was crazy we kinda freaked out so we decided to leave. But none of us were hurt thank God. So I just thought that was crazy and totally blog worthy. And I cant wait to see you all in about a month I am very excited.

Much Love and God Bless

Noah

Glorious Adventures with Logan!!

For about the last week and half Logan was here just chillin in the Domincan Republic with me. While he was here it was really cool we put on a electric guitar workshop for the guys who play guitar. It was really good for them to learn new things about the guitar. It was really funny because he played with us on a Sunday and the people in the church had never heard a guitar being played like that, and there eyes got really big it was really cool and they really loved it! Another thing we got to do was record one of the songs Rich had wrote and that was a lot of fun, we wanted do a drum track for it so a friend of ours who does a lot recording new a guy with a drum studio. What they didn't tell till we got there was the guy with studio is one of the best drummers in the D.R. so at first I was like what the heck man this nuts I am gonna look retarded in front of this guy. But I didn't I just played and it went really well. His Ezequiel Francisco and one of the cool things about him is he plays for guy named Juan Luis Guerra who has been nominated for Latin Gramme's and is a very well known worship artist down here. Another thing that happened while he was down here Logan got corn rows put in his hair, it was so funny a friend next door did it, I laughed so hard if you guys could have seen his hair when he took them out, oh my gosh haha. So that was really fun for Rich Logan and I to do since Kirsten and the kids went to Montana to visit her parents for three weeks so it was just us three while he was here. So that is my Glorious Adventure Story with Logan, it was really good to see a friend from the states w had a lot of fun!!

















One God. One Love. One Mission.

DOBLA EN U!!

For those of you who don't know Dobla En U means U-turn. This was a youth event we did at our church a couple of weekends ago. The event turned out really well we had games, dramas, dances, and a performance by a reggae tone group called The Elion Family, and really good worship during the event as well. We had about 10 new first time visitors and three of them gave there life to the Lord and have starting coming to our youth group on Saturdays and church on Sunday mornings! It was really cool with the dances because we did the dances that I had choreographed for our Christmas play we did in December. It was a little different this time we took one person out and added some one different so she had three weeks to learn it and she did a really good job. So over all it was a really good event and our youth group is growing even though our youth pastors, who are missionaries from Columbia, went back to Columbia to raise money for another two years and there gone for three months, but Juan Carlos and Licelot who have taken over while there gone are doing a really good job. So just please pray that our youth group would continue to grow and that God would really just be with John and Diana while they are in Columbia raising money and that He would provide way beyond what they need.

One God. One Love. One Mission.

Its Been a Long Time

Well first of all I just wanna say sorry for not blogging for a really long time. Now thats out of the way here is what has been going on lately. For about a month Rich and I go out with one of the youth guys from the youth group to a small church in a place called Las Palmas. We go out every other Wednesday to work with the people that lead worship there and are trying to raise up a group of people who have the right heart to be up leading. I say that because here when people are in church they wanna be up on the stage so they can feel that there important and look important to other people in the church who don't sing or play an instrument or preach in the church. Its really hard sometimes because we just run out people to use and things like that. The other crazy thing is this neighborhood is one the most known neighborhood's for drug dealing and having a lot of drug lord type of people, so the some of the people have had problems with that and certain things so that is another problem out there is some of the people are very talented musicians but they can't sing or play because of having problems with drugs and things like that, so were always finding out that certain people cant play which makes out job even harder at certain times. This last Wednesday when we went out there we were gonna hav one the guys we have been working with who plays the guitar play with us but he showed up an hour late to practice and so Rich told he wasn't gonna play with us this time, so he stayed in the service and at the end of the service the pastor asked us to sing a song we didn't know and the only person who knew it was Jonathan who showed up an hour late to practice to play with is. When he first got up there he was really nervous and then he started the song and did a really good job and after the song was over everyone in the church gave him a big round of applause and it was really cool for him to do that because he wasn't able to play with us because he had been struggling through some things and God's presence really just showed up that night so that has been really cool. But the coolest thing for me out of this whole deal is that every time we go i get reminded why were here and that up on that stage playing my cahon drum (the box drum I play on) for the Glory of God and to make a difference in these peoples lives and that is something that I have really had to learn since I have been here because when I first started playing the drums here everyone was in shock because they really had never heard anyone play like I do because there rhythm here is so different than in the states. So I was like ok cool lets show off a little bit and make myself look good, no joke during practice i tried and lost a stick, and as I thought about it, it was like God went and smacked me up side the head and said what are doing kid? So I am trying to start a habit of starting every practice and service with "I am here for the Glory of God nothing else" ever since then I just feel like I am free to worship and go for it during worship and hold nothing back except for hitting the drums really hard because I might make the people go deaf because were in a small building with cement walls so everything echoes a lot. And this weekend were having a big event for the youth called U-turn and were some dances again some dramas and worship and things like that so we are really excited for that it's going to be really good we have heard that a lot of people are coming to that, so please be praying for that and stay tuned for pictures and to see what God is doing in our youth.

Much Love

One God. One Love. One Mission

Noah

P.S. Hey dad and pj happy now? hahaha!!

MCDONALDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok since I have been down here I have not had McDonalds and all for three and half months!! Well Darla is one my leaders here and I were talking about fast food and all that. And I said I have not had McDonalds in so long and we made a deal that she drove I would pay so said HECK YES!!!! We talked about it for about two weeks and then we finally had the time to go and so we went. And let me tell you that that was the best Big Mac I have ever eaten in my entire life. But not to mention with a large fry and large coke, and then I decided I was still hungry so I went back for a double cheeseburger and a medium fry and a medium mcflurry. I know its a lot of food and definitely a ton of calories to consume in one visit to McDonalds but I must say it was totally worth it. And the only reason I am doing this is because I Love McDonalds so much, the only down side is they don't have a dollar menu which sucks hardcore ha ha just kidding. Well hope all is well with everyone back home!!

One God. One Love. One Mission.

Noah

Barahona!!

Well about two weekends ago we took about 15 people to a small Haitian village in a city called Barahona and we built 16 benches for a church that ran out of chairs because there were so many people were coming. It was so much fun, for all the youth that went it was there first missions trip that they had ever been on. The first day when we got there we made about over half of the benches and we were way ahead of schedule so we decided to stop and just hang out with the people that were there and Pastor Jack shared something that really meant a lot for the youth that went. As he was sharing he began to tell us how long the church had been praying for new chairs to be donated or some type seating to donated, and the cool thing he said was that we were and answer to our prayers. For our youth they were so blessed and felt so good because of what they were doing even though it was only an over night mission trip. For those of you have been on mission trips you know exactly what I'm talking about, you know when you go on a mission trip you just feel like God really speaks to you and its easier for us to hear him speak to us and you feel just this mountain top experience with God and for us, and we go for a week an half or more and the coolest thing was these kids got that same thing even though we there for two days. As I thought about this and why we can hear God so much easier or we think that it is, and it occurred to me that it is so easy when we are in these situations is because we are open because we are on a missions trip or at a camp, and we are out of our normal church area and its different and we go expecting to hear at the same time. Instead of going to church every Saturday or Sunday just going to go, but expecting for God to speak to us about something that had gone through that week or something we have been going through. And as I have been trying to use this mentality of being open on a regular basis it has become easier to hear and understand clearly what He is trying to say. I think that was the thing that I got out of the mission trip along with being able to minister and love on these small community of people. So here are some pictures of what was going on. Oh the sunset was really just to brag about how beautiful this country is that I love in yay me.

One God. One Love. One Mission

Noah

Spanish Overload

Well I have made it through my second week of language school. It's a little hard seeing everyone in my class came from level 1 and I tested into level 2 is the class I am in right now. In my class there are people from all over the world, there is a married couple from France, two people from Canada, one other person from the US, five people from Haiti, one person from Indonesia, one person from China, and one person from Taiwan. These people are really cool, but it's a little weird because everyone in the class all above the age of 25 except for me I am the young one. My Professor is really cool his name is Francisco Sanchez, and one of the first things he asked me was "Do you have a girlfriend?" I said "No," and this was really funny he said "You need a Dominican girlfriend so you can practice your Spanish," and I just started laughing. But other than that nothing really new has been going down here except for a lot of Spanish learning and speaking. But I do have a prayer request, some of the other missionaries down including us in the Root home have just been either getting sick or just feeling attacked by the enemy and just feeling like we weren't making a difference and certain things like that and it's been a struggle for all of us and so I just ask that you would keep us in your prayers, it really means a lot to us!!


One God. One Love. One Mission

Noah

Children's Hospital

Well this last Sunday we went to the Children's Hospital to hand out presents to the kids in the that were there and to minister to the families that were there. This was with out a doubt probably one of the hardest things I have ever done, for one I went as Santa Clause, and I was supposed to have all this cheer and be excited but it was so hard because there was all these very sick kids and there was about a hundred or so in there and were mostly terminally ill and were not going to leave this Hospital. While were there we would go to the rooms and there was about twelve beds to a room it really wasn't a good situation and the building was not in very good shape at all and it is a free hospital so its not very good for the people who are in it. But what is good about it is the First Lady is trying to get it remodeled and is putting a lot of work into it so that is good. Well here are some just some of pictures of what we did and the people who were in it.





























































The hard thing about going to the Hospital was pretty much everyone in there wanted something for themselves. They would try and tell us that there was a kid in the next bed but he was in the bathroom but really they just wanted us to put it there so they could take it home for some of there kids in there family. One of the nurses there had asked me to give them a gift for her daughter and I told her that we could only give gifts to the kids that were in the beds and she got mad at me and hit me and I was Santa Clause. To tell you the truth I really just wanted to pull my beard down and say hey look I am not the real Santa Clause and I hit back, it really frustrated me but that is the culture here because that was they were raised and they all want something for them self. The two little twin girls you see were abandoned in a box by there mother, and the only reason they were in the Hospital was because they were malnourished and then being transferred to a government orphanage that doesn't really mean anything. But Rich and Kirsten have been thinking about having the twin girls come stay with us so they can take care of them or at least get them into a Christian orphanage so that Kirsten can go and see them when ever she wants. While we were there we went to every bed and talked to them about God and some things we had in these little books we took with us and then we would ask if they wanted to except Christ into there lives and we had 35 salvations in the Hospital, so that was really good. In the end being Santa Clause was a lot of fun, and while I was there I probably lost about ten pounds in sweat because the Santa suit was felt and there was no air conditioning, but it was a lot of fun and were hoping to go there when Anthem comes down here in June. Hope you enjoyed the tour the Hospital.


One God, One Love, One Mission
Peace Much Love