Beach Time!

Warm and sunny!

Roommates

Kristen and I

A dog even enjoyed sleeping under me!

An Unfortunate Event

Sadly, the house of two sisters (Melissa and Lisa) in our program at Anija burned down this weekend. Apparently a neighboring family was cooking some rice and left the house when a spark (or something?) caught fire and not only burnt their house down but the next couple of neighboring houses as well. Lisa (in sixth grade) was upstairs sleeping when she woke up feeling super hot. She looked up and saw the walls on fire. She yelled for her mother, who ran upstairs and thankfully got all of the kids out safely. Their whole upstairs burned, which contained EVERYTHING- beds, clothes, toothbrush, toiletries, undergarments, school books, backpack, documents, and yes, even her library book. The downstairs is okay, which doesn't have much in it. Their grandmother's house and colmado (a little store) completely burned down. Kids Alive has gathered some donations of clothes, toiletries, food, etc. and took them over today. The family is also borrowing a neighbors' bed (that there whole family is using). They are in good spirits and so grateful to God that they are alive! Please pray for this family as they start the process of getting new documents and starting to rebuild their home. Please also pray that we can fund or find beds for them!

Melissa is on the right.

Lisa is standing in the center of the front row with the light blue gift.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I am so grateful to have Kristen here to celebrate with, along with all the yummy goodies she brought :)

Rainy Days

We have been getting a lot of rain recently and am so grateful for rain gear!

Sports Day Medalists!

We had a bunch of kids win medals at this year's Sports Day in relay and individual running events, high jump, long jump, and soccer. We announced all who won a medal at Anija the next day while the kids were all lined up in the morning before school started.

(This picture is for you mom and dad! My parents sponsor Yeraudy.)

Birthdays!

We celebrated August through December birthdays this week. Apparently all the kids birthday's were within August and December, or at least that's what they kept telling me. :) Here's a couple of pictures.

4th and 5th grades

2nd and 3rd grades

Home Visit

This week we visited a little Haitian girl who is in first grade at Anija. There are about 9 people living in their small house. Please pray with us that her family (specifically her father) would accept Jesus into his heart and have a personal relationship with the Lord.

Awana Pictures

Here's a couple of pictures from Awana this week.

Each person had to take and put on the sombrero and spin around once before passing it on.

Our Green Team cheering for our players!

Some more exciting news! I've started learning Bible verses from the Spark's book (in Spanish) and I learned three this week!

Juan 3:16 "Porque de tal manera amo Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigenito, para que todo aquel que en El cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna."

1 Juan 4:14 "...el Padre ha enviado al Hijo, el Salvador del mundo."

Romanos 1:16 "Porque no me averguenzo del evangelio, porque es poder de Dios para salvacion a todo aquel que cree..."

Changed Lives For Christ

Here is a great video (worth your time and a great overview of what Kids Alive ministries provides) that was taken at our Kids Alive locations in the Dominican Republic. This video shows a lot of the kids that I work with daily including Maria and Walkiris. Maria and Walkiris both graduated from Anija and are now studying in the University. I feel very blessed to be apart of the Kids Alive ministry that has given hundreds of children, like Maria and Walkiris, the opportunity to know Jesus and to have hope for a future. Thank you for your support and allowing me to serve down here in the DR!

http://www.kidsalive.org/openlittleeyes/

Sports Day 2010

If you remember by blog post about Sports Day from last year, it is a crazy and not very organized day. This year though, we were prepared with knowing which students were participating (all 5th-8th graders along with several 3rd & 4th graders), who were in charge of each sport (I was in charge of older volleyball girls), water and food, which day it was (last Monday), etc but unfortunately Sports Day got cancelled due rain and a very muddy field. So Sports Day was rescheduled for today, although we heard that public schools were going on strike either Monday, Tuesday, and/or Wednesday of this week. Needless to say, it all worked out and we had Sports Day today. Here are a few pictures!

The kids started the day by parading through town to El Colegio de los Padres where the competition was at.

This was the speakers system. I wouldn't have expected anything less.

This picture is at the finish of the 80 meter race. You could hardly tell who was racing there were so many people at and around the starting line.

After each race finished all the spectators from the starting line would run down to the finish line and crowd around to see who won. Not a very efficient way to get through a lot of races.

My buddy Winifer and I while waiting for her race. :)

The saddest high jump "pit" I've ever seen... yes, that is sawdust.

Hanging out with the boys, Yeraudy (who my parents sponsor) and Nataneal (one of the Ark house parent's kids).

The fabulous soccer field. Notice that there are no lines, boundaries, nor referees.

I think some of the girls played with my hair more than they played sports!

We even visited with and played against some Anija alumni (these girls graduated from Anija last year).

Overall, Sports Day was a success with many Anija students receiving medals!

Awana Conference

Saturday we had a conference (in Spanish) for all Awana staff across the island. We had people come from all of our Kids Alive sites along with leaders from several churches.

The Anija crew.

Wonderful Christmas Ornaments

We have officially finished Christmas projects to send to the kids' sponsors! (unless you want to become a new sponsor, I will gladly have students make a Christmas project for you) :-)

A Good, yet Trying Week

My first week back in the Dominican Republic has gone well, at least as far as work goes. I've really enjoyed having more time to focus on my jobs as the librarian and Sponsorship Coordinator. For the first two months of the school year I was dividing each grade into two groups and only having one group come to the library per week, to help me adjust while learning how to run the library. Since I've been back from my trip, I've started taking both groups for each grade into the library and the kids are so excited! Yes, I have a lot more books to re-shelf but it's fun to see them excited about reading.

I've also started working on this years Christmas project (refer to post "Christmas Projects for Sponsors" to see pictures) to send to our sponsors. It's been fun explaining to the younger kids that they have "padrinos" (translates as godfathers) in the United States that are helping pay for them to go to school at Anija. It's also been great listening to the older kids talk about their sponsors, letters they've received from them, and if they've met them before. We are constantly looking for sponsors for our kids, please let me know if you or anyone you know are interested in sponsoring a child with Kids Alive and I will get right back to you! I can tell you from first hand experience that sponsors change kids lives.

On another note, adjusting to daily life here has been a different story, specifically in three different areas- bugs, power, and Spanish. First, I hate to say this but we've caught four mice in the kitchen last week (after never having them before!) among other friends (a frog, lizards, huge moths, spiders, cockroaches, little centipedes, and of course mosquitoes). Second, the power seems like it has been out more than usual. That means taking showers in the dark, cooking in the dark, working out in the dark, and simply being bored at times. And last, I went to the medical clinic for the first time as I had been sick for a couple of weeks. Let's just say I haven't invested in studying medical terms in Spanish enough. I wasn't able to explain all of my symptoms nor did I understand what the nurse was saying. All I know is that they didn't have me fill out one form, not my name or for any medications I was taking (I was on three including antibiotics) and before I knew it I had two prescriptions that I didn't know what they were for. Anyways, that is life in the DR and I know that God has kept me safe so far (somehow with minimal shrieking or screaming) and will continue to look after me. God is good! ALL THE TIME!

Welcoming New Child Sponsors

Every time a child at Anija (or at any of our sites) receives a new sponsor, we like to send a personal note from the child telling the sponsor a little something about themselves. Usually things like what their favorite color is, what their favorite food is, what they like to do in their free time, and what their favorite subject is in school and then we have the kids draw or write something on the back of the card.

Christmas Projects for Sponsors

Here are a few pictures of our upcoming Christmas project (an ornament) to send to each of our child sponsors. It's been really neat working with and getting to know the younger kids as they don't have English class or library. The little kids (4, 5, 6 years old) are just learning what having a sponsor means and so they like to ask what their sponsors names are, where they live, etc.

Megan's Wedding

Megan and I ran cross country and track together at Point Loma and have become great friends. Although all of my closest friends from Pt Loma couldn't make it to the wedding, here are some pictures of a lot of them.

Line dancing with the girls :)

Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Parker

Point Loma friends!

Friends Forever :)

Kristen and I during the wedding.

My parents are always so loving towards my friends :)

Visiting with Captain Hirst.

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from my time in the States.

I ran a half marathon in Arizona with one of my very good friends, Amanda.

I spoke with the 4th and 5th graders at Chandler Christian School in Arizona. They have been a great support for myself and the kids at Anija.

I had a wonderful time visiting the Kids Alive home office in Indiana. I enjoyed meeting the staff that I often email with and catching up with Cambria.