Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."

So, I've been home for a few days now and am starting to get back into the swing of things. I haven't started babysitting yet and so this week has been filled with miscellaneous appointments, organizing pictures, seeing friends, family and Jake, and trying to make sense of what happened in these past eight weeks and how that applies to my life back here at home. I'm still processing that a little but have enjoyed sharing stories and pictures with everyone I come in contact with (I even told my dentist about my trip this morning before getting two fillings done! haha)

Anyways, I wanted to just post a final blog thanking you all for praying and supporting me over these past eight weeks. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see most of you in these upcoming weeks so I can thank you personally and show you LOTS of pictures and all the stories that go with them. For those of you who I won't get to see, thanks for your prayers and support. Know that God is doing some amazing things down in the Dominican Republic and that I feel so blessed to have been a small part of His work down there. If enough of you are interested I'll try to put some more pictures up now that I have a more stable internet connection.

One final thought that I was reminded of again down in the DR is how important missions are and how we are all called by God to be missionaries of his love. This doesn't necessarily mean long term missions overseas, but simply living life as a servant to those around you and in that way showing Christ's love. In this way, maybe without even knowing it, we can be a small part of showing someone the loving, faithful, and forgiving God that we serve. Thanks for your support of my trip and I hope that all of you will continue to support others who are considering overseas mission trips but that you will also realize we each have our own mission field in our backyard where God calls us to serve and love His people. May God continue to bless each of you in your own lives. What an awesome God we serve!

Alissa

Wow, one week left. I'll admit, it seems absolutely crazy that my time here is so close to ending. Time has gone by so fast, and although I'm excited to see everyone back home, I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to leave yet. I've established so many new friendships with people here and have fallen in love with the program, kids and country. This summer has been amazing and once again, I can't thank you all enough for helping to make this trip possible for me.

This past week was another fairly large week. We had a youth group from Arizona with about 30 people, some individual volunteers, and then another small group from His House. This gave us a total about about 50-60 volunteers here for the week so we were able to do 4 camps, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We also ended up splitting up even more so by then end of the week we had been in 4 different bateys doing camps, reading to kids, and playing baseball with some older teenagers, as well as having a camp at the baseball stadium down the street and a camp here at the orphanage for neighborhood kids! It was quite the week!

My job was this week was camp leader for the high school group and then two other interns. We had a rough start on Monday as the kids were put into leadership positions without a lot of guidance and started to get into the swing of things (also, not very many of them knew spanish!). And so Monday was a rough day for me, trying to organize everything, keep camp running smoothly, and allow the kids and volunteers to enjoy their time. Thankfully, God once again showed his faithfulness on Tuesday and camp went really well. It was amazing to see the change that took place and realize that God was with us, leading us and guiding us. It definitely reminded me once again how much we need God for even the smallest things that we often think we can do on our own. From Tuesday camp continued to go well both in the morning and the afternoon. We had around 60 kids in the morning and closer to 80 or 90 kids in the afternoon making for two fun camps that were fairly easy to maintain but still had a lot of energy :).

I also had a lot of fun this week getting to know some of the high schoolers and sharing a little bit of my life with them. We had a few non-Christians with their group and it was neat to see God begin to change their hearts a little bit and get them thinking about a lot of new things.

Today, we are just kind of hanging out. It's nice to be able to spend a lot of time with the kids here today and our time with them is starting to become really short. Today will also be a nice day to regroup and get ready for camp this week. We have 20 new volunteers coming in so we'll be doing two camps that should be a lot of fun since we will get to be all together for them.

Some specific prayer requests for this week would be: prayer once again for our camps at a batey called Manzanio and a nearby church; energy, organization, and teamwork amongst the new volunteers and interns; prayer specifically for the interns that we don't "check out" or become to involved in what we want to do in our last week here that we fail to provide a great experience for the one-week volunteers; and prayer for safe traveling and a smooth adjustment as most all of us head home on Saturday.

I guess that's all for now. Enjoy your week and I'm very much looking forward to seeing many of you when I get home next weekend! I'll be leaving here 2:30 AM Saturday morning and if all goes well, landing in Grand Rapids around 9:30 Saturday night. God Bless!

Alissa

Wow! I feel like I've been saying this a lot but here I am with only two weeks left of my summer here.

This past week, it was only us interns here at the orphanage so we didn't have any camps. Instead we were able to paint and clean up the kitchen and also spend two mornings painting the church that we did a camp at the week before. The church looks really nice now and it's probable that a number of years of life were added to the church because the wood was already beginning to rot. Our reading program in the afternoon went a lot well than I had origingally expected. The kids loved spending some one-on-one time with us reading and it was cool to see them get excited about something. We even got to have a little party at the end of the week to celebrate all the reading that took place. Then Friday, we took another day trip to Caberete. It is another town on the coast a little over 3 hours away. It is more of a touristy town but it was fun to walk around and spend part of the day at the beach. There were also some good restaurants that we got to try :). So, this week was definitely a welcomed changed and now I'm really excited to start camps up again! That is a good thing too because we have about 50 volunteers coming in and we are doing 4 camps again.

Two of the camps will be in bateys that we haven't been to yet this summer and both communities are really excited to have us come. That's kind of a cool thing for us to know and any prayers for the two communities (Carbonera and Maguaca) would be appreciated - for planning, energy for the volunteers, organization, teamwork, and for the hearts and minds of the kids (and adults) that come to our camps. We will also being doing two camps for some of the neighborhood kids and prayers for that would also be greatly appreciated. Those will probably be a little bigger camps and most of the kids have come to previous camps we put on so it's exciting to be a continual influence in their summer.

That's about it for now. A bunch of us are waiting for the rest of the volunteers to arrive tonight and are just hanging out. It's been really fun worshipping, serving, and growing in faith and friendship with them all this summer. And I'm starting to realize it's going to be hard to leave everyone here - the volunteers, neighbors, and kids. I've also been starting to think about what it means to go home, yes I'm excited but it also means another period of time adjusting to a different culture. So, that's my final prayer request for today. I know that there still is a while before I head home, but prayers for safety returning home, finding a way to take home what I've learned to share with friends and family, and learning to adjust back to the American way of life without losing what what I've learned here.

Thanks for all your prayers and comments. It's great to hear from you all - even those of you that I don't really know :)

Love, Alissa

So, 5 weeks have passed and I'm starting to get to a countdown point which seems really weird. Part of me is really excited to come home and see everyone again, but part of me is also starting to get really attached to the people and kids here which is going to make it hard to leave in three weeks.

This past week we had a group from His House Christian Fellowship at Central (the church I go to) come down. That was fun to get to know some of the faces that I've seen here and there but have never really talked to. We also had two individual volunteers plus our interns making it a fairly small week. It was a welcomed break from the chaos of last week.

We did two camps again. In the morning we were at Batey Madre and in the afternoon we stayed in Monte Cristi and did a camp at a small church that is actually pastored by one of the ladies that has been helping with the cooking and cleaning over the past few weeks, Adelina. They were fun camps but also hard to do because they were two of the poorest communities that we had seen yet this summer. The morning camp was fairly small with only about 40 kids, which made for a nicer more intimate feeling. I was in charge of story and had fun coming up with different ways to present the story: we acted out Daniel and the Lions Den, did puppets to the story of Joseph, acted out Joshua and the battle of Jerico, and then read the resurrection story from a children's story book. Overall I felt that the camp went really well here. I also got the chance to get to know some of the older adults there too which is fun. We played a little bit of Jenga and talked a little bit.

In the afternoon, we had closer to 80 kids in a very small church/chapel. I made friends with one girl, Jennifer, after singing with her the first day and it was fun to see her wait for me to get off the bus every day after that. It's crazy how these kids remember a specific person or name. I also fully realized that a lot of kids here like me simply because I have blonde hair that I let them play with. I even got a few comments this week of "Is this really your hair???" haha. There were also a few deaf boys at La Capilla which really struck me. It was hard to see these boys and know that it was very likely that they would never receive schooling or be able to communicate with others very well. Yet at the same time, they had managed through their life so far and will continue to do so. It was cool though to see once again the community that was there, as all the other kids would look out for them.

Then yesterday for the fourth of July we went to the beach with the orphanage kids. That was a lot of fun and I got to swim with them for a long time and get to know some of the kids that I hadn't really interacted with. It amazed me there too how they all know my name, even ones who I didn't even know lived at the orphanage!

Today we are just hanging out and doing some projects around the orphanaged. Then this week it's just us interns so we'll be doing a few more service projects in the morning and then doing a reading program with the kids in the afternoon. I'm excited to spend some more one on one time with them during this.

That's all for now I guess. Once again, I can't thank you all enough for all your prayers and support. It is so great to know that back home myself and the work being done here has so much support in prayer. God truly is working down here in my life and in so many other lives. What an awesome God we serve!

P.S. If you would like to look at some more pictures. The team leader here, Eric Woods and his family have a blog where Eric puts up a lot of pictures at. Feel free to check it out at southwoodsfamily.blogspot.com. The pictures are of anything and everything that goes on here and at camps, so they are kind of fun to look at.

Well, I think that I've managed to get at least a few pictures up for now. They are kind of a scattering of where I'm staying (notice the mosquito nets :) haha!) and some of the kids at the camps and orphanage, some from Santo Domingo, and some with other volunteers (both American and Dominican ones). Anyways, they are up in a group on MSN, the webaddress is http://www.msnusers.com/DRSummer08. Hopefully you can find them and check them out and see some of the fun I've been having!

Wow! It's true, I'm half-way done with my time here in the Dominican Republic... unbelievable.

This week was really crazy but still a lot of fun. We had three church groups here for the week, from Georgia, Michigan, and Florida, plus a few individuals. We did four different camps for over 750 kids total. It was insane. Two camps happened at the Orphanage with about 250 kids there each from Monte Cristi and then one camp was done out at La Recta and the other was at Copey, two smaller communities. I spent my mornings here at the orphanage and then went out to Copey in the afternoon. The mornings were definitely trying and tiring. I was a guide with another adult volunteer and a younger girl volunteer in middle school, and together we had 60+ kids who were ages 6 and under. Even with some help from Dominican volunteers, we were run ragged. Overall though, I still really enjoyed the camp at the orphanage and the high energy level.

I absolutely loved the afternoon though. The camp was much smaller with about 150 kids who were all incredibly well behaved and who loved to sing "Yo Tengo Gozo" (I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy...). There my group consisted of 6 and 7 year olds but I also had a few older girls help me because their age group was very large. That was a really neat experience. I got to talk with them a bit actually and show them pictures of my family, friends, Jake, and me. A couple of them even gave me their pictures! I really enjoyed getting to know them and was also encouraged, and humbled to see that God was already working in the community without my help, as these girls knew a lot of the Bible stories already and told me that they did have Jesus in their hearts. We serve an amazing God and I feel so blessed to be here fulfilling his work in the world.

Yesterday was sad but fun in two different ways. About half of the interns that I had gotten to know well left for home because they only stayed for four weeks, which was definitely sad to see them leave. The exciting part was that we got to go to Santo Domingo, the capital, for the day! It was so cool to see some of the historic parts and see the more commercialized side of the Dominican Republic. We also got to eat Pizza Hut for lunch and McDonald's for dinner... it was quite the treat!

That's about all for now, I'm running out of internet time! We have a group coming in soon this afternoon from Central so I'm excited to see them and this week we are doing two camps out in the community at La Capilla and La Madre. Some prayer requests would be for the communities that God opens their hearts to us and his word and also that we as interns can maintain a high energy level and some of us have been here for a while and are starting to wear out a bit.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up soon of my trip and where I'm staying and some of the people here. Thanks again for reading this and praying for me. I've seen God work in so many ways in both my life and the lives of the other volunteers and even the kids. Praise God!

Wow, it's hard to believe that 3 weeks have already gone by!! During the first week I was realizing how long 8 weeks can be and that definitely made me really nervous, yet here I am already with 3 weeks under my belt and only 5 left.

This past week was my favorite so far. I've gotten to know the other interns quite well by now which makes the evenings fun as we get to just hang out and play cards or sit and talk. We've been able to do a lot of informal worship and prayer together too which is something I realized that I'll really miss when I come back to the states. We had a smaller group this week with the interns and just one family group and so we did two camps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the morning we stayed here at the orphanage and did a VBS for the orphanage kids (there are about 35 of them ranging in age from 2-13ish). That went okay but was definitely a challenge as we had to find activities, crafts, etc... that were more engaging because the kids here are already used to seeing us every day. We felt like the camp went really well though and it was a fun opportunity to see the kids more.

Then in the afternoon we went to a small desert community called Jaiqui (hi-key). This was different than any camp before because over half of the participants were adults. That was a little weird at first, telling them what to do, but they enjoyed having us there so it was cool to interact with them and share God's love with them in that way. The group there was so eager to do whatever and just sit and talk with us and I love interacting with everyone. Another cool thing was that we were able to bring a generator along on the last day of camp and show part of the "Jesus film". They were able to see from the Last Supper to the Resurrection all in spanish. That was definitely an answer to prayer after the generator stopped working but it was cool to see God answer us :) We also got to hand out bags with sheets, a t-shirt, and a toothbrush and toothpaste, along with a baseball or jump rope for the kids. I enjoyed this aspect because so often in the states we give to charities but don't actually see it put into the hands of people who need it.

Friday once again was beach day. We went to a new beach that was farther away but definitley worth the drive. The ocean was warm as usual and absolutely gorgeous! A few of us also did some exploring and saw some really cool fish although I managed to get stung by a sea anemone in the process! Thankfully it wasn't a huge deal and now I just have a little burn mark on my leg that's in a pretty cool shape! haha.

Today we hung out a lot and got ready for this week - we have 70ish new volunteers in which makes for 90 of us total. It should be a really cool week with 4 camps going on! I'm excited to see what God has in store and am more convinced each day of the reasons that God brought me here!

Thanks again for all your prayers and support. It was great to read some of your comments. I might try to get some pictures up next week but I'm not sure yet how to do that so we'll see!

Miss you all! Enjoy your week! God Bless,

Alissa

this week went far better than i could have ever imagined! we did two camps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both camps were smaller than last week and we also had a smaller group of volunteers. The camp in the morning was at a nearby school and the kids were absolutely adorable and the camp in the afternoon was at a different plantation that was a little smaller. Our camp focused on Jesus' life and love for us and it was great to share that not only with the kids but with all the parents and older teens who would watch as well. It is so cool to see how everyone here looks out for one another, whether or not you are related. A small group also got a chance to witness to an older lady who was in a lot of pain and didn't seem to have any family members. They got to pray for her and visit her which not only affected her but also touched the volunteers hearts.

This past week I also took a lot of time by myself to spend in prayer and worship with God. That has been really nice and I'm starting to figure out why God brought me here and what he hopes to accomplish. If you could pray that God would use me and the other volunteers to act as vessels of his love this week that would much appreciated! God has already been working and I can't wait to see where he shows up next :)

I've gotten to know a lot of volunteers here too and have had fun bonding with them and just hanging out in our spare time. It is such a cool feeling to be surrounded by people who share the same passion for missions and God. I couldn't have asked for a better experience this summer and I still have 6 weeks left!

The weather has continued to be fairly nice. It has been pretty warm in the mornings/afternoons but generally cools down in the evenings which is nice. The bugs are out in full force though which occasionally drives us all nuts!! :)

Miss you all, I'll post again in a week! thanks for your prayers!

So, I've finished my first week here in the DR. It's weird looking back on it because at the time the week seemed to be going slow yet the week is already done! We did a lot of camps this week with kids from around the area. I went to a batey (a banana plantation) about 45 minutes away called La Isabella. About 100 kids or so would show up every afternoon for a mini-VBS. It was so fun to get to know them and see how excited they were to have us there. I got to play a lot of jump rope and sing quite a few songs. I've also been using what little spanish I know quite a bit!
The weather has been fairly nice albeit a lot of uncommon rain. The rain has helped to keep the temperature down although has brought out a lot of bugs and mosquitos! Friday was our fun day and we went to Dajabon which is a town on the border of the DR and Haiti. It's a huge trading town that's open 2 days a week for trade and is incredibly chaotic and crazy but it was cool to see that part of Dominican culture. We also got to spend some time at El Morro which is a nearby beach and is very beautiful. The ocean is incredibly warm and it was a really fun afternoon.

Other than that I've enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the orphanage and the DR. I've been sleeping and eating well and have managed to avoid getting majorly sunburned!

Thanks for your continued prayers and support, I missed home quite a bit this week but am still having a great time and am slowly adjusting more to being here. Miss you all, Have a great week!

Today I was supposed to head down to the DR to start my summer there. I was really excited, although quite nervous and a little sad this morning. Jake and my mom dropped me off at the GR airport and my first flight into Chicago went without a hitch. Unfortunately, my luck stopped there. I got on my plane (which was huge!) to head to Miami only to find out a half hour later that the plane had mechanical problems and they were going to try to find another plane for us. 10 minutes later our whole flight was cancelled. Thankfully in that time, I found another girl headed to the DR (thank goodness for our Orphanage Outreach shirts!) and we made a mad dash to the re-booking center where we ended up getting flights for tomorrow and the airline put us up in a hotel for the night. So most of today has actually been spent in Chicago and ended up being quite fun because a friend of hers lived nearby so she picked us up and we went out for dinner. Now I'm back at the hotel and getting ready to sleep because my flight out leaves at 6:15 AM for Miami and then I get into Santiago around 1:20 tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully I'll make it there this time! Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. Miss you all!
Alissa

Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm hoping to be able to use this periodically over the summer while I am in the Dominican Republic working with Orphanage Outreach. Thanks also for all of your support and prayers for me while I am down there. I'm down to less than 4 weeks before I leave for the DR which seems incredibly crazy. I'm beginning to pick up the stuff that I need for my trip and trying to see everyone one last time before I head off for the summer. I'm starting to get a little nervous to be gone for so long but I'm also getting really excited to see what God has in store for me!