Wednesday, June 18 - “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20: 16

Hey, it’s Olivia Smith and Austin Dickson. Today we did a variaty of different projects, from dry-walling to packing bags for the food pantry and we got to hear about the life of migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The first activity that we did in the morning was Sister Sarah, a physician’s assistant, came and talked to us about the conditions that farmworkers have to deal with and about how little they get payed for a lot of work. Sister Sarah told us that for a bucket of twenty pounds of tomatoes, the farmworkers would get payed less than fifty cents. If you were working in the food pantry you got to place cans of food such as pears, dried cherries, raisins, juice concentrate, carrots, vegetable soup, and salmon. After a few minutes of confusion, we figured out that the best way to make sure that every bag got the necessary foods was to create an assembly line and pass the bags down a table. While we were working in the food pantry we got to meet three kids that helped us double bag the grocery bags and lift the full bags onto the carts. After a few hours of placing cans into bags, we finished with the bags and filled the entire room and all the racks with bags full of food that were ready to be handed out at the next food bank. If you helped out with the dry-walling today, you helped finish it! We were able to get up the last boards of dry-wall and plaster the places that needed plastering. Hopefully tomorrow we can paint the rooms. After we got done, we helped out with other necessities that needed to be done. In our free-time in the afternoon, Austin, Dylan, Hank, Jeff, and Luis, a boy that we met in the food pantry, played a three-on-two basketball game that the adults, Hank and Jeff, won. Other people played card games during our free-time. Today we experienced a lot of different types of food. In the morning the cook, Maria, prepared pancakes for us. At lunch we had tostadas that had refried beans, rice, chicken, and lettuce on them. For dinner our cooking team prepared grilled cheese. We wrapped up our day with devotions where we talked about how God’s grace extends to everyone and how He treats everyone equally. After devotions we played a fun game of balderdash. Today is our last night at Beth-El. Tomorrow we will work a half day and then leave here after lunch. We will spend the afternoon at a beach in nearby Clearwater, and then crash on the floor of a local church. Friday we’ll be up early for our drive back to Roanoke!

Tuesday, June 17 - Fearlessly Facing Frightening Firsts

Buenas noches! It’s Ema Simpson and Kirby Evett posting tonight. A lot of things happened today! As usual breakfast crew got up early to make sure we had food and were well-fueled for the long work day ahead. Once breakfast was over, we packed up camp (which is set up in the back of the sanctuary), and slowly began dividing into two groups. Beth-El was beginning to fill up with people waiting for the weekly food pantry to open. Meanwhile, local volunteers along with the youth groups present (there are two other youth groups staying at a local campsite, probably 30 minutes down the road) prepared for the multitude of people eager to receive food bags to help them through the week. Since we also experienced working in the food pantry last year, the youth were excited to be a part of this event, as it is one of the most rewarding parts of this trip. Getting to interact with the local people and bringing a smile to their faces helps us to remember the purpose of trips like this one. Seeing people who are so incredibly grateful for things we take for granted makes us realize how fortunate we are. A couple rooms away, the second half of our group was working to put dry wall in the future office spaces adjoining the sanctuary. These were the rooms that were cleared out yesterday, and it’s been amazing to see the transformation. With the help of the incredible and patient Santos, who is responsible for many of the construction jobs here at Beth-El, we learned the art of drilling properly into studs to hang the dry wall and began plastering it in preparation for painting. This was a day of firsts for many youth and adults (a special thanks to Jeff and Hank, who bravely and enthusiastically led the youth in this project, relying only on Santos and instinct for guidance). Despite our initial nervousness, these “firsts” were very rewarding, particularly at the end of the day when we saw all we had accomplished. Following our busy and productive day, we straightened the sanctuary for the night’s worship service. After that we eagerly visited our beloved Shampoo Salon and then loaded up the bus for a delicious, authentic Mexican dinner at Don Julio’s. By the time we returned from dinner people had started to arrive for worship. We were a little out of our element, as the service was mostly in Spanish, but luckily the pastor translated most of the service for us. It was also incredible how despite the language barrier the members of Beth-El’s congregation managed to make us feel so welcome in their special space. The service was different from the ones we experience back home. It consisted largely of songs, but our only instrumental back-ups were a tambourine and our hands. There was also a time for prayer, when we were able to pray silently and voice concerns aloud to the congregation. Listening to the prayers of the people at Beth-El was a wonderful part of the day. They were very open about everything from their own quick tempers to the health concerns of neighbors, friends, and family. It reminded us that church is a place of fellowship, where worries can be expressed and met with kindness and comfort. We wrapped up the evening by playing Identity Theft and another round of Telephone Pictionary. We also reflected on the day by talking about the things that surprised us the most. As we end the day, we’d just like to express how thankful we are to be here. Even though our purpose here is to help the members of Beth-El’s community, in many ways they help us more than we could ever help them.

Monday, June 16 - "There's no Eye in Team!" (shout out to 1 Corinthians 12)

Hola, it’s Ali Sharpe and Meg Evett blogging tonight! Today was a very eventful day, full of various projects that our group worked on. Bright and early we got up, ate breakfast, and got ready for the day. After doing our daily devotionals, we met Javier and the other youth groups from Florida to learn about Beth-El and our tasks for the day. Once we split up in our different groups, our work varied from weeding to cleaning out attics. Many in our group worked on clearing out storage rooms and organizing the attic so these rooms could be better utilized for the Beth-El staff. We helped with the attic organizing and formed an assembly line going down the stairs to clean out the various items quickly. From chairs and desks to clothes and holiday decorations we quickly cleared out the attic which was stifling hot. From there, we cleaned and wiped down most of the items and categorized them to have them ready for locals to pick them up during the food drive tomorrow. Other people in our group cleared out potential office rooms for the staff, which involved unscrewing shelves and heavy lifting. Also, some youth helped prepare the food tomorrow for the food drive for the community. We surprised ourselves with how much we accomplished together in such little time. After a lunch break, we wrapped up our projects and took much-needed showers. We enjoyed showering in the Shampoo Salon Part Two, built by the Beth-El staff to accommodate our stay with them. After showers we piled on the bus and ventured two minutes down the road to La Tienda Mexicana, a local convenience store. Most bought something sweet such as ice cream and Elizabeth even bought a watermelon grown nearby to go with dinner. Yesterday we split into groups to cook dinner this week and so today’s group made pizzas and salad for this evening’s dinner. We all circled around the Spanish TV and watched the US win over Ghana in the World Cup! We then talked about the day and laughed over a round of telephone pictionary, a game Elizabeth introduced to our group. We all look forward to what the rest of the week will bring us, and are excited to get to know one another better too!

Sunday, June 15 - The journey to Florida continues

Hello, this is Caroline Nordt and Dylan Entsminger! Today was our second travel day! We woke up bright and early at 7:30am to prepare for our last day of travel before reaching Beth-El. We sleepily re-packed our belongings into the bus and slowly got ready to participate in Sunday School and the Worship service at First Pres. in Savannah, Georgia. But before the Sunday School class we joined in on, we had time to do some group bonding and play some games. The first game is rather hard to describe, it evolves one person going into the middle of a circle and doing a movement and adding a noise to that movement, both have to be copied by another member of the group and then the new person started the process over again. Then we found a more intense game, Chasing Carrots, as we will call it. It was a high energy and very awakening. The Sunday School class we joined was much different from those that we were used to. Instead of the normal lesson, “Today we will learn about....”, it was more open to the ideas of the group and held much group discussion. The Worship service, while it held many similarities, conducted the order of the service in a much different manner. It was also a lighter feeling service. Rather than a strict serious service, the minister was very friendly in what he had to say, interjecting humorous stories into the very confusing topic of the Trinity. Afterwards, we had some time to explore around Savannah. We got to return to a restaurant we had visited last year, Henry’s, filled with brightly colored teal walls and pretty good food! Then we went to the waterfront and had some time to explore. Some groups ventured into the candy shop while others went into souvenir stores and then coffee shops, I mean, c’mon, there was a game on... Then we continued with the long journey filled with many conversations and laughter. Finally, we have arrived at Beth-El. For many of us, it was like returning home. For others, it’s a new place that will be fun to explore and experience. It is definitely different than Virginia. Stay tuned for more! We begin work in the morning.

Last day of VBS and construction

Today was another great day for the Vacation Bible School and Construction teams. VBS was blessed with even more kids than yesterday which we estimated to be about 200, all with smiling faces. The children were able to work in the theme of "For where your treasure is, your heart will be also" Luke 12:34 by making treasure maps. Also, they learned new spainsh music that they all enjoyed and sang with great enthusiasm. In the recreational group, we were able to entertain the kids with the always popular baseball and smaller games such as cat and rat and musical chairs. With every different activity each child showed immense joy and never stopped smiling. However, saying goodbye to all these kids was very tough. With many hugs given and pictures taken, a feeling of accompishment washed over us but at the same time a feeling of sadness that we might not see some of these wonderful children ever again. This experience was life changing and seeing these wonderful children in VBS really opened our eyes to the kindness and joy that can be found all over the world in the children of God. - Tricia The construction team had another long and hot day out on the sight shoveling dirt and sand, tearing down a shed and salvaging the materials to be used again. Switching to construction for the last day I sholved and worked harder than I believe I ever have, luckily the hour drive back to the guest house gave me a great oppurtunity to take a long needed nap. However all the hard work has been so rewarding knowing that we are doing Gods work here. -Meghan

Wonderful Wednesday

Up at the El Cercado School, the work crew logged in another hard day on the construction site. The regular crew of Jerry, Dan, and Matt were joined today by Tricia, Derek, and Elizabeth Kline. We continued applying stucco to the outside walls of the Kitchen building; made rebar "cages" to go into the concrete forms above the windows and doors; and prepared the floor for concrete tomorrow. We also moved a big pile of fill dirt into the low spots in the Dining Room area to level out the base of that room.

The pastor's wife prepared another fabulous meal for us at lunch. Today was the obiligatory rice and beans, plus a beef cannoloni dish, fresh tomatoes, cucumber, cabbage, and fried breaded yucca. It was delicioso! Jerrry brought up some frisbees today for our little boy helpers, who have been keeping us company this whole week. They loved those almost as much as the baseballs, gloves and bat that Jerry gave to them yesterday. We asked one of the boys- Angel- what he did with his baseball glove, and he said it was back at his casa. Tomorrow they'll get some clothes and shoes! Not as much fun, but badly needed.

The VBS crew faced the monumental task of organizing and trying to manage the nearly two hundred kids who showed up today. Despite the large number of kids, we were able to pull a very successful and fun day of singing, crafts, sports and puppet shows. It was amazing to watch each member of our VBS crew fulfilling their role and contributing in different ways. It was another very exhausting, yet rewarding day at VBS.

A few more photos from the week

(First day in the Zona Colonial in Santo Domingo)

(VBS prep early Monday morning at the guesthouse)

(The construction crew heading off for a day of work)

(Kate and Anne at the top of the local cathedral)

(Second Pres youth Eli and Jon Marco Sanchez joined our group today! They'll be with us until we leave on Friday and then we'll all spend the night at their parents' condo in Juan Dolio)

(Ready for the puppet show of the day)

(Playing ninja)

(Tonight the group ate at the restaurant Bienvenida. We all left stuffed full of delicious Dominican food!)

190 kids today at VBS! Here are just a few of the faces....

Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo en mi corazon...

Hola amigos, it's Kate Rivenbark and Anne Johnson. Today was the second day of both VBS and construction. Neither one of us were on the construction crew today however VBS was much busier than yesterday. We started the day off with the songs Alleluia and Tengo Paz como un Rio along with learning the memory verse for the day, which was Mateo (Matthew) 14:16. Afterwards the kids split into groups based on their age then began the rotation. In arts and crafts the kids made woven baskets out of construction paper and then used a bar of soap and washcloth to make pescado (fish). The kids were then able to decorate the fish and put it into the basket along with a slice of bread. In music, the children learned a new song called "Yo Tengo Gozo en mi Corazón" or "I have Joy in my Heart" in which we will play tomorrow morning before rotation. Then in Rec they played dodgeball, soccer, and steal the bacon. We ended the day at VBS with a puppet show for the lesson of the day. After the kids left, we ate our lunch at the school and began preparing for tomorrow. Back at the guesthouse, people used the free time to catch up on some sleep, shower, or bond with other team members over a game of cards. During free time, the two of us printed out individual photos of all the kids at VBS today that the kids will use tomorrow to decorate a picture frame. Most of the kids probably do not have many photos of themselves and we are hoping that we will be able to provide them with a unique memory of this week at VBS. After dinner our group took a trip up the road to a small ice cream shop. Everyone tried a variety of interesting flavors and treats. Our group is eager to discover what tomorrow will bring, and we wish for both a fun and safe day for VBS and construction. Adios amigos! (Elizabeth has posted an album of photos on Facebook. If you're a member of the Second Presbyterian Church group, you will access to them! We hope you will take a peak at what VBS looks like in the community of El Rosario!)

Day 1

What a day, amazing from start to finish. The Team started with a hearty breakfast prepared by our guesthouse friend Dan and our day began. The construction Team Matt Prescott, Jerry Lusk and Dan Frankl headed for the El Cercado for a full day of applied stucco to the walls and ceiling of the new kitchen building. A great lunch prepared by Pastor and his brother. Our team made a few new friends in El Cercado and look forward to another full day with some additional members of the Bibles and Brick Team.

Our friends at the Jim Smith School in El Rosario greeted us with big smiles and open hearts. Our Team was so blessed today by the love and happiness of God's blessings on the children in our care. Our Team has come together in the true spirit of God's love. We've been given a real gift of team work and camaraderie that will help us do great things for our Dominican friends. The day was hot and dusty but the games, songs and crafts made for special day. Tomorrow will be another blessed day for our Second Presbyterian Team!

(Matt Prescott at the construction site)

(Herman the tailor came tonight to measure us for new clothes)

Bienvenidos a la Republica Dominicana!

Today we woke up in a very nice hotel with an even nicer breakfast buffet. It had omelets, toast, fruit, and anything else you could imagine. And then some. We left propmtly at nine and rode for a short time on a suped-up retro van straight out of the 70's. We then arrived in the gorgeous colonial sector of Santo Domingo. Walking around the town, we were pursued by a persistent dog named Roberto. We took a tour through an old riverside fort and then browsed old antiques being sold on the street. We shopped in a store that spanned a few football fields in length before settling down to eat in a lovely outdoor cafe. Well, EVENTUALLY we got around to eating while the chef took his time making sure our food was absolutely perfect (and it was). We enjoyed each other's company while waiting, even if it made us a few minutes late.

(Group photo in front of the cathedral, "the oldest in the New World") Not that we were especially eager to get back on the bus. The next ride took over three hours and included an unplanned stop (*breakdown) on the side of the road. A bottle of what purported to be normal non-drowsy motion medicine acted to incapacitate half the bus for much of the ride. We still got to see some amazing sights, though. Locals hung out in big groups on the side of the road, and many came right through the street to knock on our windows and sell us peanuts, fruit, and lollipops. Passing by the seaside and along the mountains was awe-inspiring. We arrived in San Juan around four and we immediately swept up in a whirlwind of activity getting settled in, used to the compound, and prepared for the week ahead. After a lovely dinner we enjoyed a 1.5 hour church service conducted entirely in spanish, which was a very unusual experience for most members of our group.

(Photo: VBS prep at the guest house) After a sketchy back-of-the-truck ride back to the compund, we all "speed-dated" to get to know each other and share our hopes and fears for the coming week. It looks promising. -Tyler Anderson and Brad Prescott

(A shot of the guest house courtyard)

Reflections from Olivia

In the weeks leading up to our Beth-El mission trip, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I had never had the opportunity to participate in any of the trips previous to this one due to other conflicts. I can now say that the day I chose to sign up for this adventure was one of the best decisions of my life. During the trip I become closer than I could have imagined to the most incredible, caring, and inspirational people I have ever had the fortune of knowing. During our stay, my eyes were opened to a whole new community that I previously never knew existed. I now have a whole new appreciation for the work that goes into the orange that I like to eat for breakfast or the big, red tomato on my dinner salad. In addition, I cannot even begin to describe the awe I felt toward the people I met in Wimauma. I will treasure the conversations I had with these people about everything, from their everyday lives to their faith in God, until I die. Their openness about their hardships and their faith that God would help them was unbelievable. I want to thank 2nd Presbyterian, Beth-El, and the people of Wimauma for giving me the most enriching experience I have ever been a part of.