Volleyball Outreach

Last Friday I got to spend the day with our Anija volleyball team at a tournament put on by my friend and fellow missionary Jessica. Jessica has been doing a great job reaching out and ministering to girls through volleyball over the past year. During the month of August, Jessica put together a volleyball tournament for two of the teams she's been coaching in Barrio Blanco and Pinar Quemado and invited Anija to also be apart of the tournament. I was so impressed with the whole event and it was awesome to see how excited the girls were. The first game started with all the girls coming together to pray. Throughout the game the girls were singing and dancing to Christian worship music, and in between games a short Biblical based message was given to the girls and any family or friends that came to watch. Friday's message was about saving money and each girl received their own little piggy bank. After the games, all the girls went to Jessica's house to hang out and eat homemade pizza. Then we went to the river to cool off. It was so neat to see all these girls sharing together and I'm so glad and blessed that I got to bond with the Anija girls and the girls from the other barrios. I'm looking forward to seeing them at games during the fall!

Jessica has been practicing with each team once a week and wow! has she been doing a great job. The Anija girls even stretched before their game!

Anija won their game and will be playing in the finals next Friday.

At Jessica's house enjoying homemade pizza with all the girls!

River with Some of the Ark Kids

A cool part about living at the Ark is that the kids get to go on vacation two or three times a year. The kids usually stay with a relative, friend, or even a missionary family for about 2 weeks (kids are never sent back to their old living situations). This gives the kids a little break from being at the Ark and relieves the house parents from their duties for a little bit. For various reasons about 8 kids stayed in town for this vacation. They are staying at our Team House right down the road from me with Walkiris and her sister, two girls who both grew up in the Ark. Anyways, a few days ago, all of us went with the Breul family to a river for a couple of hours. We swam, jumped off rocks, and ate lunch. It was a blast!

Group photo

Yeraudy is one of the boys who stayed in town for vacation. My parents sponsor him so it is always extra cool to spend time with him!

Please pray for all the Ark kids for safety during their vacations and that they will be refreshed and ready to start school when they return.

Saying Good-byes

I had a great time getting to know the summer interns and I'm very sad they are gone. I have a feeling (and am praying) that some (if not all) of them will return in the near future!

A Good-bye party for Joe at Walkiris and Yovanny's house.

Celebrating one of the last nights the interns spent in Jarabacoa with Yovanny and Roberto, playing Jungle Speed, Nerds, Spoons, and Bananagrams. :)

ANIJA Sleepover!

What a special night the sleepover was for the 5th, 6th and 7th graders who came to the summer program at Anija. The fact that hot dogs, chips, smores, popcorn, and even more food was provided made it a great night for these kids, and man can they eat! The kids really enjoyed watching movies, taking pictures, straightening hair (one of the interns brought her straightener), and having pillow fights. Here's a few pictures from the night!

Arriving at Anija for the sleepover!

We even had a bonfire!

I was teaching the girls how to make silly faces...

...and was successful!

All the kids LOVE taking pictures!

I fell asleep within the first 10 minutes of the (first) movie. Can you find me squished between all the girls? They ended up watching movies until 5:30am!

Girls Night and Sleepover!

Last weekend Jenilea and I hosted a Girls night/Sleepover at our house with the summer interns and the KAI missionary kids. Here's a little recap of our night.

We started the evening by relaxing a little bit.

We ate homemade pizza while watching a movie.

Katie, our roommate, gave haircuts (notice Jenilea's nice haircut).

The night continued with painting nails.

We even painted nails when the power went out! Thank goodness Jillian had her head lamp, I should really invest in one :)

The girls finally fell asleep after watching 3 movies!

The girls even had fun cleaning up in the morning.

What beautiful girls!

Pictures from Gran Circulo

Here are some pictures from last week's Gran Circulo.

I have no clue what this skit was about.

Or this one either.

The girls were suppose to be doing an Irish dance but they ended up wanting to do 'ballet,' aka- twirl a lot.

The Ark mom's Irish dancing.

Check out the previous post for a video of Irish dancing and a video of the Ark dad's Irish dancing on my facebook.

These pictures are from the "Gringos" skit about peer pressure.

We were rappers here :)

She didn't give in to us rappers, body builders, or the popular group. She chose to be who God created her to be!

Jenilea, Joe, Jillian, and Alicia performed a hymn.

Jillian's Dance with the Girls

One of our summer interns taught Irish dancing to the girls at Anija and this week at the Ark. Here's a video of some of the little Ark girls performing at Gran Circulo with Jillian. :)

"Los Gringos" at Gran Circulo

Here's a play by play of the drama we did at Gran Circulo last week.

God created man.

Adam lived in the Garden of Eden where the tree of knowledge of good and evil was. Adam became lonely...

So God created Eve.

The serpent appeared to Eve and tempted her and she took from the tree of knowledge.

Eve shared with Adam and sin passed down from one generation to the next...

Until Jesus came to earth and paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross and freed us from sin so that we may have eternal life with God in heaven if we believe in Him!

4th of July Weekend!

This weekend was filled with many friends, festivities, and fireworks! Here's a little overview...

Thursday evening was 8th grade graduation at Anija

Micah graduated from 8th grade this year and Michel (in the middle) was her teacher (as well as one of my closest friends in the DR).

I sat with Loida :)

The interns got to come to graduation as well.

Friday evening was Gran Circulo at the Ark

There were two new groups who performed at the Gran Circulo this week. The Haitian boys were one of the groups.

And the Gringos were the other! (look for more pictures later)

Saturday involved hiking Mogote and going to a ballet recital

Hiking up Mogote was beautiful!

The whole gang at the top of Mogote.

Taking a rest and splashing around in a little river for a little bit.

We went to a ballet recital for Chase and Natalie, two missionaries kids.

Sunday we went tubing down a river here in Jarabacoa (pictures to be posted later) and celebrating the 4th of July

We spent Sunday evening at the VanderMolen's celebrating 4th of July. There were a lot of people (missionaries, a work team, and visiting friends) along with great food, and a big fireworks show!

Videos From Gran Circulo

This is a video of the littlest kids performing. They were so cute and it's so cool that they got to participate!

This is a video of the Haitian boys trying to sing along. It's awesome how long they've come!

Upper Jimenoa Waterfall Hike

Jarabacoa summer interns with Jenilea and I.

From left to right: Jenilea, Rebeca, Jillian, me, Emily, and Alicia

A view while hiking to the waterfall.

It was a beautiful day at Upper Jimenoa! Apparently, part of Jurassic Park was filmed at this waterfall.

Loving on Sally.

Having fun (although the water was really cold).

I think this is my best waterfall handstand yet. Thanks for taking the picture Alicia!

Thought I'd take a picture of the pretty flowers, taken specifically for my sister and Megan :)

A random horse.