Just One More: Mixin' it up

Being only 11 weeks out from our first Dominican camp of the summer, we are planning and working to get everything organized, on spreadsheets, communicated, etc. Things are going very well from here and we are way ahead of where we were last year! Praise the Lord! This year J and I are working on the VBS material (for the young kids who are not old enough to participate in the sport/artistic side of camp). Although I am not often very "crafty", I have had a blast organizing this information. I finally joined pinterest (I know, a billion years later) to help with the craft portion, but I am limiting myself to a certain time everyday as I see how easily one can get addicted to it. :) Because we have 2 different cities in the Dominican having camp at the same time, we are figuring out which Dominicans to send where and when to host which sites here (June versus July). Again, nerd moment, I rather enjoy this as I see it as one big puzzle and I am merely trying to get the best, smoothest flowing puzzle possible.

We are still meeting with our staff every Monday evening and these continue to go great. Luis Chingping joins us from the Christian Sports Association so we all stay on top of what's going on in Sosua with the coaches and leagues. And our individual staff meetings continue to allow us one on one time with each of our guys to disciple, pray with and pour into.

We had 2 birthdays in our family this past week. So we celebrated on Monday with come cookies and candles! Feliz Cumpleanos Checo and Victor.

We had Checo and Felicia (his wife) over for dinner last week (actually on his birthday- and I must give credit to facebook for letting me know about his birthday because he failed to mention his before). It was a great time sharing and growing.

Every Monday our guys spend time praying before their meeting. It is one of my favorite times of the week to hear the prayers and feel God's presence.

J attended an Association meeting last Friday and several PE coaches, youth and assistants came! God continues to move through this organization aligning coaches and leaders of the community to reach the youth. For our camps this summer, we are hoping to include these new coaches and youth as a way to continue increasing the outreach and continue giving them a chance to be the "missionaries" across the island. We are praying fervently for all of our missionaries, American and Dominican, and for the strongest team God is going to put together.

While J was at the Association meeting, the girls and I and our friends had a picnic in the back. (Ultimately this picnic consisted of crackers, chips, cookies and soda, but it was a lot of fun.)

This past Saturday, Checo's league (the word they use for team) finished off their tournament from the Fall. J was able to share the Word, pray and umpire during the games. It was a beautiful day for baseball and being outside.

J is preaching with Alfre's and Checo's teams in Cangrejo before the games start.

On Sunday, we visited Pastor Johnny's church in La Cienega for a special children's presentation. It was precious as they had several young groups sing and lead worship (and by young I mean the kids were 7-8 years old). They also gave out some small toys donated to them from some missionaries. (I must say Ryann grabbed her own toy from the bag and picked the best one- a Canadian hacky sack. And she was not letting go of that- death grip on that hacky sack for about an hour.)

Pastor Johnny's church has tile now! It is absolutely beautiful.

The little kids leading worship.

One of the orphans in La Cienega (Vladimir) loves working with wood. He built this for Pastor Johnny and the church. Absolutely stunning work.

Last Friday we helped with a cleaning project of "La Boca" (which means "the mouth" as this is where the river joins up with the ocean.) It was a government organized event, and they asked the Christian Sports Association and the coaches to help with this. This is very exciting for us as this marks the first time that the Christian Sports Association has been recognized for one of its functions- to serve the community. Before, we have asked the government to facilitate our service to the community (i.e. donating trash bags to teams to help with a community cleanup), but they have never come to us asking us to serve alongside them.

I just want to point out this was a maroon AIM shirt at one time. I think it has seen some sun. :)

These guys were helping on the shore to carry bags from the boat to the truck. But you know as soon as lunch was served, they were off on the boat faster than I saw them move all morning!

And just some pictures because they are fun...

Genesis is taking piano lessons and she was borrowing the keyboard from her teacher. After dancing to all types of music, J took over and discovered his skills at mixin' (on a keyboard...). :)