Surely the Presence of the Lord is in the Place

Rachel and Abby with Danny Polo and Mildred. (Oh Mildred)

      Tonight, as always on Friday night during teams, we had our closing and time of reflection. During the presentation video I was once again reminded of the work that our great site leaders do and the amount of energy that they need to run the sites at SI especially when there are teams. It is so evident when I watch the videos of them interacting with the teams and people in the communities. When I see them I am reminded of my time at Genesis - the Special Education site where Nina attends and Karen is the director. With all the work involved as a site leader, the rewards are worth twice the work. I remember the kids at Genesis always smiling and seeing them smile made it all worthwhile.

Me working in Maribels classroom during our interview

This sign will forever be a part of our lives.

     I was also reminded tonight of our daughter Rachel and how if it had not been for her coming down here through the Bethel College Semester program in the fall of 2010, then Karen, Abby, and I coming down to visit her, we very likely would not be here now. I remember how the day that Rachel found out she was going to be at Genesis she was so disappointed and emailed us telling us of her  placement. But yet was willing to stay and not complain and see what God had for her there for those three months. Then the very next day we get a Skype call from her and she was so excited because she just loved her first day there and was so excited to be there. So excited in fact that 2-1/2 months later when we visited, her enthusiasm was so contagious that we wanted to also be a part of that and felt God's call for us to go into some form of service overseas. Little did we know at that time that in a little over a year we would be in the very same site and would work with the very same kids. WOW! And yet only a year before visiting her that November, Karen had the worst week of her life in this very same country. God can do amazing things in our lives if we are just patient and wait on His timing.

The famous Rachel/Mildred photo.

      "God; please help me to slow down and enjoy our last 14-16 months here and to just really soak up all that You are doing here through SI and the other organizations here in the DR. Help me to take the time to visit the sites and communities and remember that the emails can always be answered, and that the Thank You's can always be written, and that the spreadsheets can always be filled out and updated, but to take the time to really get to know our staff and the people here in the DR that You have placed in my life. Amen"

     Bear with me as I share some of the photos over the years from Genesis and the DR in general.

Nelito (Presidente)

Vanesa

Abby on that Nov 2010 trip

Picture taken on one of my many road trips with Marcy

Two oxen down a main street in Jarabacoa. (not a typical scene in Shipshewana IN)

A bridge where the two sides never quite matched up like planned

Typical tire shop in Santiago

And isn't this how you would haul a couple chairs?

First time we bought fresh milk at the local colmado, (and yes, we still buy it there a couple times a week).

Running about 50 MPH down the interstate. Oh, and no straps or chains. Of course not.

Students International Santiago

       At one point in time, Students International had wanted to start a new country location every three years. After looking at a few countries to consider, it was decided that at this time it would be best to look into starting another location here in the Dominican Republic. Santiago has a lot of need for services and outreach like we provide so it seemed a good match to pursue that avenue. After a couple of fund raising events to kick off that location, in March of this year we will begin with two of what we hope will be three sites for this year - a medical site and an appropriate technology site. The Medical site will be working in two to three communities and the technology site will be working primarily

Progresso Segundo on the North West side of Santiago DR.

in the community of Progresso Segundo. It is a small "squatters community" to the North side of Santiago.( Google Map of the location  ) It is about 3-4 years old now and currently there is no running water at all and the ground is so contaminated with agriculture chemicals that it is not advisable to put a well in the ground. There are about 300 family dwellings on the west side of the canal and about 1200 families on the east side. All the water that is used there is brought in by tanker trucks and put in Tinako or barrels for each family. They then either drink that water or buy 5 gal bottled water to drink. We are hoping to start making and installing a concrete water filter for individual homes. We have ordered the forms from José Rivas in Dajabon to make the filters and they should be ready to pick up by the middle of March or so.We will also work with José for the media that goes into the filter.

Concrete water filters (about 18" sq X 36" H)

      Our goal is to get the water for the filters from a canal that runs through the community and pipe it to the house of Alex Jimenez. He is a pastor in the community of Progresso Segundo that will be running the AT site for us there. We will then filter that water into clean drinking water. Alex will then work with short term mission groups in making and distributing the filters to homes. He will be spending a lot of time training the homeowners in how to use the filters and how to sanitize the containers that they use for the clean water. It is likely that the Community Health site will also get involved in the project to teach the value of clean water and how dirty, contaminated water can lead to numerous health problems. Eventually we would like to locate and tap into a main water line that runs by since this is only a solution for their drinking water and not water to bath, wash, cook, and clean with. But at this point the distance is too far to consider the option of the main water line tap. 

The water filters that we will be making in Santiago.

    We are really excited about this project and look forward to seeing where God can take this and use this for His glory. Currently there are two outreaches planned for this location in June and July. We have a couple of young ladies that were interns last year that are planning on helping us at the new location this summer and are actively looking for a location to host those two teams.

     Right now we are all set on the funds to run the sites and host the teams but we are actively searching for additional funds to help pay for the 2 or 3 National Staff that will be working at this location. We have faith that God will provide those funds through individuals like you and so we are moving forward with this project at this time. Pray that God may use you to partner with the National Staff in Progresso Segundo in this venture.

Some interesting facts about the DR

      3 weeks into the new year and we have our first group here, Joshua Wilderness Camp from Hume

Dinner with Maribel, Abigail and Raquel.

Ca, for two weeks and we always look forward to having them join us. We also are enjoying Fritz and Kris Bontrager from Shipshewana, Dana and Caleb Bontrager from Goshen/Middlebury. They are here helping out with a few projects and working in the social work site.
      One thing I thought may interest some of you is how much some things cost here.

•  2-1/2 doz eggs              $3.14
• 1# hamburger                $1.46
• Milky Way candy bar   $0.65
• Gallon of Ice Cream    $11.00
• Big Mac reg meal        $7.45
• One Gallon Reg Gas   $3.97
• One Gallon Diesel        $3.41
• One Gallon of LP         $2.20 
• 1 year CD for $1,000+    5.6%
• Loan for used house       17%
• Loan for a new car         18%
• Loan for a used car        24%

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  Kris and Fritz at Cabarete

  

  Marcy practicing her machete skills

  
  
  
  
  

  

  Meal at the beach before heading back

  
  

  

  Marcy and Dorine Smith from Archibold OH

  
  

  

  First meal with our new intern Justina. Welcome

   

   

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  

  

  Fritz, Dana and Caleb putting metal on at the base

One year ends, another begins

Raul and family get a visit from Jess and Breddy at our home in Indiana

     Over Christmas I had the opportunity to go back to Indiana for a couple of weeks. Marcy, Nina and I traveled back with Raul Diaz (the Boys Sports Site leader here at SI DR for the past 7-8 years). Raul and his family moved into our home in Shipshewana as he wants to get his US residency. This will be a several year long process and they are ready for the challenge I think. Raul is working at Honeyville Metal where I used to work and his wife Mairyn will hopefully be working at the Blue Gate Restaurant in Shipshewana. They have adapted really well and they look forward to learning more about Indiana and the "Amish."

Janae at her Expedition Night at Doulos

           While we were back we also were able to spend time with our four adult children that live in Indiana and Oklahoma. It was fun catching up with them and spending time with them again also. Thanks goes out to my mother-in-law for letting us stay with them while we were there.
    We were able to spend time with some of our supporters also but most of our time there was spend with Raul and his family helping them with whatever they needed.

Marcy with her cousin Morgans children at Aunt Debs house

     The night before we left Janae had "Expedition Night" at Doulos Discovery School. Each year her class does a project on a specific country, region, culture or something. This year it was on Asia. She did a great job translating and telling everyone about the Asian culture.
     I havn't said much about our four adult children for a while so as far as their lives are concerned:
      Greg, our oldest (26) is living in Kendallville, Indiana and working at Hayden Honda as a motorcycle mechanic. He started to work there while in High School and had been there most of the time since then.

Christmas at Rachel and Elliot's home in Jimtown.

     Abby, (25) is married to Jeff Mishler and they live in Edmond Oklahoma which is a north suburb of Oklahoma City. They have been there since they got married in May of 2011. Abby is an account for Sandridge Energy there in town and Jeff is a mechanic at a Kia dealership close to there home there in Edmond.
       Rachel (25) is married to Elliot Rowe since July of 2012. They live in Jimtown, Indiana  and she teaches high school Spanish at Northwood High school in Nappanee In. Elliot works for Specialized Wood Products in Elkhart as a CNC operator.

Joyce Newhall and Marcy in Granger

     Fred (24) is married to Lauren (Smith) of Lagrange since June of 2011 and they live in Ligonier, Indiana. He works at Honeyville Metal in  maintenance and Lauren works at a shop in Shipshewana called Head over Heels.
     It has been a great joy to watch each of our children grow up and start lives of their own. We enjoy spending time with them whenever we can.
   We look forward to another year here in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic and to see what God has in store for us this year of 2015. He has Blessed us so much in the last few years we we have faith that he will continue to work in our lives and to use us here for His purpose. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support.

A Short Update

      Since my last post, it seems like not much has really happened but yet again. A lot has happened. I made my first trip to Haiti. Well technically yes, realistically no. I went with the Semester students to the town of Dajabon on the 29th, which is right on the Haitian border. Friday is the market day when the Haitians come across and sell their goods. Which mostly consists of clothes and other donated items that teams have brought down to them when short term teams go to Haiti. They in turn bring them to the DR side of the island and sell them for whatever they can get out of them.

Standing on the Border Bridge the divides Haiti and Republica Dominica

Not a beach but rather a fairly unprotected Border crossing

    On Saturday night (yes, night) Janae and I along with several other SI Staff went to the Capitol, Santo Domingo to run a 10K race. It was a benefit run for the Special Needs here in the country. It went well and was fun to do with Janae. Afterward, on our way to Wendy's for a late dinner, we were stopped by the police for turning right from the right lane where there were no signs that said anything different. He proceeded to tell us that we were just supposed to know that we could not turn right there and he was going to give us a ticket (he was really just wanting a bribe). Vanessa helped to talk our way out of a ticket. It is still hard to get used to having things like that happen. Often when they stop you, they come right and and tell you that they need money to buy lunch. Just another difference between here and what we were used to in Indiana.

Despedita for Raul (going away party)

     Raul, our site leader for the Men's Sports Site will be moving to Indiana the 12th of December this year and so we always have a small staff party for people when they leave the ministry. Blessings to Raul, Mairyn and the family as they open this new chapter in their lives.

Genesis Staff at our place for the annual Christmas dinner.

     
            This past week we also had the teachers and staff from Genesis (where Karen is the director) to our home like we do every Christmas for a dinner. There was a lot of laughter and visiting as we all had a great evening together.

            Friday Brian and I went to Santiago to look at a few more things to get the new country location up and running. We met with a Baptist Seminary just to let them know what we were doing in town and see what they had to offer us or what we had to offer them. We also met with a potential lady to work in our medical site there. Both meetings went really well. As we continue to look at opening that location, there are a lot of decisions to be made and people to be contacted. I had mentioned before that we have four teams scheduled to come down to that location in May, June and July. To get ready for those teams we want to have all four sites by the end of February then spend March training them. In January we should have a lot more to report on that.
      Here are a few random photos of sites here on the island that I have taken over time.

Milking a cow along the road on the way to Marcy's tutor.

At the Mechanics one day and noticed this car had been retrofitted for a person to drive with no legs. A handle pivots and either presses on the gas or the brake. They have a way of making anything work here!

Wrapping up the summer teams 2014

Eating Breakfast in a "local" restaurant. Great experience for all

     On Tuesday morning we said good by to the LIFT Leadership training outreach and have finished out another great year of teams here in the DR. With 12 different outreaches and a total of over 500 participants, it was a great summer here in Jarabacoa. We currently are now hosting the 5 Semester Abroad students from Bethel College as well as 4 Bethel Staff members that are here to see what we do, how we do it and why we do what we do. The Semester program maybe has a little more meaning to me than others since that is ultimately one of the main reasons our family is here. Our daughter Rachel was part of that program in 2010 and we came down to visit her and, well, here we are.

Dave Wenger in the kitchen in Los Higos

       Some things that have happened here are: my folks and Dave Wenger were here for a week and Dad and Dave helped me with a project in Los Higos that I have been working on for a while. We poured some concrete floors, did some plumbing, laid some block and did a little site seeing also. It was good to have them back again for the second and third time.

Dad patching in the sink drain

Dave in the park getting a much needed shoe shine

Filling blocks at the ball park for the Men's Sports Site

      

































Another item that we had here at SI DR was that Megan Adams (Marcy's tutor) had her baby the first part of November so that was exciting. Janae and Karen have been helping her to keep up with her homework as much as possible for a couple weeks until Megan is ready to have her come back so that has been different.

Marcy Dave and baby Joshua.

Marcy the surgeon.

Ground Breaking for the new clinic in San Juan de la Maguana

   Jerry Yoder from LaGrange also came down for a visit for a couple days. There was a ground breaking ceremony in San Juan de la Maguana and we both wanted to attend that so he flew in and we were able to spend a half a day celebrating with the Solid Rock International staff, board members and supporters as they began construction on a new clinic. It was an exciting day.

Back Home.......Finally!

Alberto "Miller" de los Santos

     On Oct 15th Karen took Marcy and me to the airport in Santiago for a trip back to the states that was multi-purposeful. We begin in California for 2 days visiting a few supporters, a school, a prospective new agency to partner with that deals in used playgrounds, and then to LAX to pick up Alberto (a national on our staff that was joining me for two weeks of our trip). After picking up Alberto we spent another 4 days in the Fresno/Visalia area for the annual SI fall banquet and then off to Indiana for two weeks visiting more churches, National staff supporters, some of this last year's summer short term staff, some of our personal supporters and several days at Bethel College in Mishawaka promoting our Semester Program. We were even able to get a photo of Alberto in Amish clothes and a buggy ride. We spent one day in Chicago visiting past SI staff members and having a great afternoon/evening reminiscing about the times in Jarabacoa.

Alberto trying to unload corn and text at the same time.

       It was great to spend time with Alberto showing him our home town area and church. He had never been out of the Dominican Republic so this was a whole new experience for him. One that I am sure he will remember for a long time. After spending time visiting SI supporters and taking Alberto to different places, we put him on a plane back to the DR on October 2nd. After a couple more days of meetings with donors and potential "special project" donors, I was able to spend 3-4 days with family and  help my dad harvest his corn crop from the summer.While I was doing that Marcy got to spend time with both Grandparents and other family members also. Sleeping over night with Rachel and Fred both one night each. She really misses her brothers and sisters. We were able to also see the homes of all three of our children in Indiana. They all three had moved into different homes since we left so that was an added bonus to see that.

Marcy helping Grams U make cinnamon rolls

    

 Then on Oct 10th Marcy and I headed to St Louis to meet up with our 4 "Bigs" and their spouses for a weekend together meeting Jeff and Abby (from Oklahoma). The males of the group participated in a 10 mile run with 15 different obstacles (Tough Mudder). I won't say much about that but if you want to know more ask me or one of the boys. I will just say it was for sure a bonding experience for all 5 of us. Marcy and the other 3 girls went shopping or something while we were gone.
       

Bruce and Barb Draggoo. Great friends of our family.

    From St Louis, Marcy and I headed to Miami for another 3 days of visiting current supporters of National Staff and Sites in the Jarabacoa area. We had been gone for 4 weeks+ and it was plenty long to be gone from home. We arrived back home on October 16th. It was great to be back in the heat, humidity and crazy driving. It was good to be back with Karen and the girls and then back to work at SI. Thanks to all of you for your support and prayers. I hope to get back to posting every two weeks. Thanks for the patience.

Nice and clean before the Tough Mudder started

Not so much clean or warmth at this point in the event :(