Following God...

Following God is a tricky business. It means you don't know where you are going at times. It means you may not know why your going where your going. Yet you have supreme confidence in where you are being led. It means that you are going to be completely taken care of when you go. Yet you might not see how you are going to make money to live. It means you are completely secure. Yet still sometimes feel completely lost.

It seems that God led us here to the DR to work and fall in love, test our faith and relationships, grow and learn, and ultimately move on. Our plan was similar in the beginning. To live and work for 5 or more years building a camp and conference center for Eastern Dominican Christian Mission. To build relationships, start a family, grow, live, and learn together with our friends here in the DR. But sadly, our time here in the DR has  come to an end. The mission has decided to release us from our obligation here. They decided that this camp/conference center was a bad idea, for now and the foreseeable future. So we are moving on.

We are now following God back to Costa Rica, where he might have wanted us all along. More than a year ago, while I was in Costa Rica learning Spanish, I spent most of my evenings and some afternoons coaching and playing American Football. I had a blast passing on my knowledge and love of the sport to others. There was also a great opportunity to share the love of Christ with these young men as well. There was growth in both Christ and skill in the sport. It had potential to turn into a great ministry. A ministry only a handful of people are equipped to do. The team I was working with wanted me to stay, but I was already committed to a project in the DR. Now that I have been freed from my commitment to EDCM I can pursue something that God has equipped me for. We are heading back to Costa Rica to start a football ministry!!!

TDTD Ministries will be the name of this new ministry!!! This Day and That Day Ministries!! Working towards creating better football players, and Christian men, in Costa Rica!! I will be working towards creating a chaplaincy in the six team American football league in Costa Rica (Federacion de Futbol Americano de Costa Rica, www.americanfootballcr.com). More details to come!!

We are both full of emotions with this new direction. We are sad to leave the DR so quickly after making such good friends. At the same time we are very excited to be able to return to friends and family back in Costa Rica. Hopefully, with Gods help, this step will be the last big change we will have for awhile. Living, working, serving, and following God in Costa Rica!!

First Year in the DR!!

When I was thinking about what I was going to write this month (I know I'm late), I realised that I never did a year in review in August. There was so much going on with the wedding and moving Jone here that I forgot that August 19th marked one year here in the DR!! So here are some of the things that we accomplished this year in DR.

Probably the biggest news is we finished the multipurpose building in Punta Cana. Through a lot of hard work and support from numerous people and churches stateside, we have completed the construction process. This church will have it's inaugural service on the 11th of November!!!

The Punta Cana church was meeting in tent that had seen better days.

Now they will meet in a sanctuary on the third floor of a new school building!!

Also part of this project is a new school! In this area there are some 3000 children that can't go to school for various reasons. One of those reasons is lack of schools and classrooms. So as part of the community outreach in the Punta Cana area Franklin and Ilonka (the pastor and wife of the Punta Cana church) will be starting a school in the muti-purpose building. To that end we spent some time and money taking the first steps to help them get ready.

We painted murals with a group from New Hope Christian Church in every classroom!

And added some scriptures, also to all of the classrooms!!

And we built a playground!!!

The Punta Cana church is now on the cusp of some big changes and exciting times. God is going to do some great things through Franklin and Ilonka in this ministry!!!

Along with that big project in Punta Cana we hosted 13 teams this past year!! With those teams we:

We hosted dental and medical clinics!

Numerous VBS, women, and mens events!

And a variety of work projects like, fixing/building roofs, painting, decorating and improving buildings and homes!!

And on top of all that somehow I found time to date, fall in love, marry, and move the love of my life to the DR to work and serve God with me!! It has been a fantastic year!!! Thanks you all so much for your love and support throughout this year. I could not have been a part of all of this without your support! Thank You, and God Bless!!!!!

Wedding and Moving!!!!

WE'RE MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all so much for all the kind wishes, prayers, and support. The wedding, and the week leading up to it with my family, and the honeymoon after where all a smashing success!!! From all accounts that I have heard everyone had a great time! And we both feel extremely blessed to be apart of two loving families!!!

We were also able to spend a couple days on the beach for out honeymoon (for free)!!!

Then started the fun of decorating the house with some wedding gifts and money we received!!

We bought and installed three ceiling fans, which are an absolute necessity here!!

We bought a new fridge to replace the mini fridge I was using!!

We hung keepsakes from home and new gifts from friends!!!

And we bought all the little things that help make a house a home!!!

Our first week in the DR has been a great one, but filled with lots of changes. Along with all the things we bought with the gifts from everyone was health insurance for the year for both of us. This marks the first time since college that I have had health insurance, what a blessing!! 

We hope all of you are doing well wherever you are. We pray for you all as often as we are reminded of all the things that God has done for us through the kindnesses that you have shown us through your prayers and financial support! Thank you!!!!!

August Rush!!!

August has been a whirlwind!!! Really I don't know where to start. There were work teams, me traveling to Costa Rica and now wedding planning! The stress levels are at an all time high, but we are making progress!!!


Let me start with the two teams from Broadway Christian Church. They were such a big help!! We had the  privilege of hosting two short term teams from Broadway back to back. One the end of July and the other the beginning of August.

First we had a team of youth led by their youth pastor Sonny Clark.

Then we had a team of adults from two churches in the Matoon/Broadway area. (yes thats me in the background)

The youth of Broadway focused on the youth of the DR. Hosting VBS's and a youth camp in Punta Cana. That week was filled with a bunch of fun activities and events, with the Dominican Youth helping and enjoying the time as well. 

We held VBS's and had fun teaching Karate!

Sometimes the kids get a little crazy during VBS (some of the Americans might have helped them go crazy)!!

We had a work day during the weekend youth camp.

And of course a day of fun during camp as well!!

All in all we had a great time with the Broadway youth!!!

Three days later the group of adults from two churches in Matoon, IL came to help as well! 

They spent some time painting.

Ok, they spent lots of time painting!!

I mean a lot of time painting!!

We also took some time to visit and pray for some important areas in the ministry in Higuey!!

And some of the locals kids tried to ¨help¨ us paint as well!!

All the painting really paid off and helped the Higuey church a bunch!!!!

Thank you all for coming down and helping the way that you did!!! It was a huge help that will be felt by the people here for a long while to come!!

And now I am in Costa Rica with my future bride!!!!! We are hard at work trying to plan a wedding in two languages that all will enjoy and feel a part of. It has been a challenge to do this with a budget of a missionary and an out of work professor, but we are making it work and hopefully will create a wedding for all to remember for a life time!!! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!!! Me and Jone love you all and thank God for the help that you have given us to help make our dreams come true!!!

Time to breathe...

For now anyway! It has been a crazy last 3-4 weeks. Honestly I'm not sure how long its been. We have just come through a span of time with 3 short term teams that all worked hard and kept us BUSY!!! On top of that there have been wedding plans to work out and every day life here as well. The summers here are FUN!

First off I would like to extend a big THANK YOU to all the short term teams that have been here recently!! The team from Nacogdoches worked incredibly hard out in Punta Cana and now the third floor sanctuary is almost complete! A couple days later we had a combined team from Puerto Rico and TN who put some final touches of paint in the sanctuary in Punta Cana and held marital conferences in Punta Cana and La Romana as well as held 4 VBS style afternoons for the children. Finally we had a youth group from Erie, IL come and paint a school, host 2 VBS afternoons and enjoy time with the youth here in the DR. They were all a great help! Here are some pics!

part of the Nacogdoches team at the beach

The team from Puerto Rico and TN

The Erie team with the youth from the La Romana and Higuey churches

I have been able to keep making progress with the house furnishings as well...

I had a bookshelf made...sooner or later I'll have all my books here.

I got a bunk bed...still working on sheets.

And then there is the ever growing Bo. He got his Rabies shot this morning:(

Next on the list, are more short term teams heading this way. We have two teams from Broadway Christian Church heading down July 23rd and August 4th. And a ministry out of Louisville, KY called "Starfish" which provides school supplies and uniforms for some of the children in our churches here in the DR coming August 3rd. And then I'm off to Costa Rica to help with the final preparations for Jone and I's wedding in September!!!! Wish us luck on all that is on the way!!!!

A Whirlwind.....

I have been in the middle of a whirlwind since my last post. And I feel all discombobulated (must be spelled right spell check didn't say anything). Going from Costa Rica to the DR to Cincinnati, to engaged and together to living in separate countries to both staying in my parents house, and work teams and a wedding sandwiched in between, it's been a whirlwind!!!!!

Since my last post we (EDCM) have had 3 work teams come through. One from New Hope Christian Church in Roanoke, VA, one from Community Christian Church (can't remember where they were from, sorry), and one from Arundel Christian Church in Baltimore, MD. We have been blessed as a mission with a bunch of great teams that work really hard and have helped us a bunch with the projects we have going on at the moment (for some new pics check out the EDCM facebook page). With these groups we worked on a new house for a family that is related to one of the members in our church in Villa Hermosa, where we put a roof and a poured concrete floor in. We are continuing the work on the Multi-purpose building in Punta Cana where we are going to be able to hold church services for the church there as well as start an elementary school. We also held youth activities, dental clinics, and medical clinics with these groups which helped the communities and spread the word of our churches here in the DR.  Thanks for all the work you all did and all the prayer support!!!!

Me and Jone also got to spend some time together this month as well. My little sister got married on May 26th and we were both able to make it back for the wedding. Of course we were able to do some sightseeing...

This is us on top of the Carew Tower

And again at a Reds Game courtesy of my parents!!

We were able to spend a bunch of time with family....

Meet my new niece Audrey.....

Had a chance for the Jone to meet the entire family even the new brother!!

And yes we went to my sisters wedding as well!!!

 It was great to be able to be home and have Jone there with me to enjoy it all. Thank you soo much for supporting me and the EDCM ministry here in the DR. Without your help I wouldn't be able to make a living doing what I am doing. At the same time with me and Jone's plans to get married in September I am starting to stress out about my ability to cover those new expenses. So please pray for new supporters with me as I have already started the search. Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!

Venue and date are set!!!!!!!

We have settled on a venue and a date for our wedding!!!!!!!! Yes we work fast ( ;) we've been planning it for a while now)! The wedding and party to follow will be held in Costa Rica at the Barceló San Jose Palacio on the 15th of September. Start planning today invitations will be sent as soon as possible!!

Barceló San Jose Palacio!!!

and a pic at night just because I thought it was cool!!

SHE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First, sorry for the relative silence of late from my Facebook page and blog. I have been trying really hard to keep a REALLY big secret.

On April 16th I flew to Costa Rica to purpose to my girlfriend Jonesí. I had bought the plane ticket and ring about a month before, and every time I sat down to write an update I was so afraid of saying something that would tip her off, that I decided to keep silent all together. It was hard enough not saying anything to her when we talked via Skype every night. Somehow I was able to keep the secret to myself (apart from a few key people). Heres how it went down:

For fear of Jone finding out through the grape vine I held off telling any of her family or friends until a week before I was gong to pop the question. I told her brother Carlos and asked for his help planning a few details. The day before (15th) I called her father to see if we could go out to lunch on the 16th so that I could ask his permission face to face. He agreed to pick me up from the airport at 5 in the morning and then go to breakfast with me, where we had a great conversation and I received his blessing. After breakfast he took me to Danilo's house (Jone's other brother) to hide out until Jone went to work. Finally after a long night of traveling and stressing out I got to relax for a bit and even managed to get some sleep in spite of all my excitement. I also was able to talk to her mother and ask her permission as well. Then in the afternoon Danilo helped me run all the errands necessary so that I could prepare the surprise of a lifetime.

So I prepared everything, flowers, dinner, wine, and a ring. And waited...It seemed like an eternity sitting there with dinner in the oven waiting for Jone to come home from work. Then finally I heard the door of the taxi shut and looked out the window to see Jone collecting some of the flowers awaiting her at the front gate (she still hadn't a clue who they were from). She entered the gate and turned to lock it behind her thinking about why her brother or mother left her flowers and why the front door to the house was open. As her back was turned to the door I stepped out and waited for her to turn back around. Upon turning around this look of absolute shock met my smile, she started to cry (still not understanding the entirety of what was about to happen). We hugged for awhile as I waited for the crying and shaking to subside. She said in that moment, ¨This is the greatest surprise ever.¨ I said, ¨It gets better, there's more.¨ ¨How could it possibly get better.¨ she said. Then I got down on one knee as she started hopping up and down and crying some more.

And then she said ¨YES!¨

THANK YOU!!!!

Here are a couple of things that your house warming gifts were able to buy.

a water dispenser with hot and cold water taps, and a little fridge at the bottom!

and an LG washer that was crazy expensive and still not as big as I wanted!

Thanks for your generosity there will be more pics to come about the things that I have been able to purchase with your gifts. Next up a stove and a fridge!!!

March Madness...

It is absolutely wild to me how time is just flying by!!! I have now been living here for almost 8 months!!! Absolutely crazy!!! In that 8 months a lot has happened and there is still many changes coming my way! Here is what happened in March.

I have finally started feeling confident enough in my Spanish to start helping teach classes in Sunday school. These have been a lot of fun (as soon as got over the crazy nervousness of the first time). It is great to be able to start using all the knowledge that I gained at CCU. The hard part of course is translating it all so that all the Dominicans can understand. I am slowly improving and look forward to taking more of the responsibility in this area.

I also have started teaching conversational English classes to a few guys from the church here in La Romana. This has been an eye opening experience. It has been a challenge to figure out how to teach a class when the education system here is so lacking. I'm pretty sure that one of the guys I'm teaching is illiterate. But the desire is there and hopefully will be able to offset the inability.

We had a group from Central Christian Church in St Petersburg, FL here as well. We had fun hosting VBS's and sports camps in and around the church in Higuey. It was a blast getting translating and playing with all the children that came out to these events. In all we had over 800 kids come to all of our events. As a mission we were blessed to be able to host this group, they were a huge success and blessing to us all.

Along with all of this the youth of La Romana, Ryan and I went to camp for a long weekend during Holy Week in Salcedo. It was great finally being involved in a camp again and getting a chance to see how camps work here in the DR. It was a fantastic time of games and Biblical teaching. Everyone involved from La Romana returned home exhausted and enriched!!

You Got to Fight for Whats Yours...

If you are at all like me you've heard this phrase uttered haphazardly by any number of people from a number of different backgrounds. And every time you have heard it you cringed a little bit. Not because it's necessarily wrong, but that usually the context that you encounter it in is a bit wrong. People use this phrase to mean they need to "fight" for more money, or a new car, house, toy, etc. Whatever it is it's usually bigger and better and less of a need than the one that came before it. And often times this phrase is used in the same context as "I deserve it." Another phrase just as annoying to me. But I digress before I stand on this soap box for a few sentences too long.

I found myself feeling and even saying these things in the last month as I struggled with the system here in the DR. I discovered some latent US citizen "I deserve better" philosophies in me, and I didn't like it! Now I might have a decent argument, from a US point of view, but when your living in a different country that attitude doesn't impress anyone. And that point of view doesn't count for anything.

So as some of you know I spent a little under a month without power while I waited, and fought with the power company. In my opinion it came down to this. They wanted extra money, and I am a gringo who has extra money, so they did what they always do to gringos and made me wait until I payed the "debt" that the last owners/renters left on the account. Most gringos have the money, and are not patient, so they pay the bill and get their power connected within the week. I am not you ordinary gringo. I don't have much extra money, and what extra I do have is going towards seeing my girlfriend that lives in a different country. I'm not going to pay someone elses debt. So I waited. In spite of my daily visits to the power company so did they. After I had waited long enough for them to realize that I wasn't going to pay the process was surprisingly quick and efficient. But no amount of "fighting" would have changed what they know to be true. This experience fed into the next.

Since I had electricity finally I went to setup my internet account. From what I heard this was an americanized business. They worked quickly and efficiently because they wanted your money. So I was expecting that, which was part pf my downfall. (note to self...never expect what you would expect from the states) When I ran into the first problem my frustration that had built up over the struggle with the power company overflowed. I fought for what was not yet mine and I think that is why I had such a problem. It took every bit of 3 weeks to get my internet hooked up. And in my opinion it was because of my attitude in the beginning. Once I calmed down and explained myself and didn't place blame but instead said that I could have misunderstood and this all could be my fault the internet was installed in one day with great customer service. If I was nice and understanding when the first hiccup was experienced maybe there wouldn't have been hiccups 2, 3, and 4. Something that I am continually learning about this culture is that it is more about relationships and respect than I am used to. Saying, "Hello!" and "How are you?" and then waiting for an answer goes a long way. Actually taking the time to be sincere about small talk (which is definitely not my strong suit)  is priceless.

So I guess my point is that I live in a different culture and I am still (after 6 months) just getting to know it. There are big differences between this culture and the culture that I am from. Most of what I notice in myself that stands in contrast to this culture I don't like. Hopefully God can help me become more of who I need to be to minister to this culture and less of what hinders that ministry.

NEW DIGS!!!!!

So I got a new house!!!! And by "got" I mean I'm renting, and by "new" I mean well used but new to me!!! As I said in my last post me and Jone had a short amount of time to search and we feel really blessed to have found such a nice house in such a nice neighbor hood here are some pics.

It is in a really cool are of La Romana called Meliza

Pretty cool huh!!! Even a place for my truck all nice and secure

A nice little front porch!

with a garden full of trees in the front

view from through the front door

view from the dinning room to the living room and front door

it has 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths

a nice size kitchen (with a crazy yellow wall!?!)

the dinning room and back door to the backyard

a concrete backyard with some fruit trees!!

and a well!!!

 All that for just 11,000 pesos a month, which is about $290 dollars!! I feel like I'm taking advantage of someone when I think about all the space I have!!! I know it's a lot of space for just me but there is nothing wrong with planning for the future. Also we will be able to help with housing people from the work teams when they come!!

But one of the problems is that there is no power and only water when I turn on the generator (and then it's not that strong). And the only furniture that I have to put in the house is what was given to me from another missionary couple (which I love), but it isn't sufficient if I'm going to be able to help host teams and keep people in my house. And believe it or not things are expensive here! So this is what I want to do...

I don't have any fancy name or gimmick here to help sell this idea, just a good description, hopefully. What I would like to do is give you all a list of things that I need in order to give you a nice place to stay when you and/or your group come to visit. With this list I will include the prices of these items here in the DR. Hopefully this will give you a picture to what you are giving toward. which will help me give you all a good experience when you come. Think of it as a virtual house warming party if you will. Everyone is invited all it takes is a small donation and you are free to come visit anytime you would like!!! Just kidding...sort of!!

If you would like a home cooked meal while you are here a stove here costs $210-$315
Or a ice cold beverage a fridge here costs $526-$657
If you would like a hot shower after your day of work a water heater costs about $105
If you would like a bed to sleep in during your stay bunk beds run about $200
If you would like a chance to wash your clothes washers run about $500

As you can see this list adds up quick. And all of these items are not top of the line items. Most are much smaller than there state side counterparts, and a brand name that might not be that common state side either. So as always whatever you can give will help and if you want to give more than the price listed feel free it will still go to that item. Just send your checks to:

Eastern Dominican Christian Mission
379 Venus DR
Prescott AZ 86301

Or to the address listed on the page titled How You Can Help!!! Thanks for all your help and prayers they are always welcome and needed!!!!