“Help me to be always devoted, confident, obedient, resigned, childlike in my trust of thee, to love thee with soul, body, mind, and strength, to love my fellow-man as I love myself, to be saved from unregenerate temper, hard thoughts, slanderous words, meanness, unkind manners, to master my tongue and keep the door of my lips. Fill me with grace daily, that my life be a fountain of sweet water.”

Valley of Vision, “A Cry for Deliverance”: 169

So, our trip has concluded. I am actually writing this from the comfort of my home. Our 6:15AM wake-up call went fairly smooth. The Whites had an awesome, quick breakfast laid out for us, and then we parted ways with Mrs. White. Mr. White and Juan drove us with a last “hur-guah”. Get it? Not hurrah, but hur-guah… like our last gua-gua ride. These puns are probably getting old. Fast.

We checked in, and this time there were no delays. Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, it is hard to tell everyone’s story on this blog during airport days because, well… we all sit in different seats. My flight neighbor was actually permanently moving from the DR to Phoenix for a mining engineering job. That is pretty nifty. Talk about a leap of faith.

We arrived in Miami and one by one (actually we were split in assorted groups; one by one is just a figure of speech), we trickled off, as our flights were at different times. Rachel was the lone wolf, Hillary and I flew together, Jonathan and Michael were the caboose flight, and the rest of the group traveled together.

Our time as a community on mission together has been much more than a learning experience. It has touched us emotionally and spiritually. It was so amazing to see God at work in the people, in our lives, and in all personal interactions. Furthermore, prayer was so important during this time to allow our hearts to serve to God’s glory. I could write on forever about just how much we were blessed and were able to bless, but I will instead close with fun, miniscule reasons why we know God was at work:

• 13 of us was the perfect number; anymore, and the truck and gua-gua would have been stuffy
• No one got sick—I am pretty sure this is very uncommon on any trip, much less one where kids constantly touch your face
• No lost essentials, i.e. passports, suitcases, humans
• The bonding between all of us with no visible arguments
• No one on our trip was vegetarian…  chicken was a daily staple
• Being blessed in such a house as the Menolds and Whites; both are amazing people
• Having 5 children in the Menold household keep us busy, with never a dull moment
• Finding time here and there to just get in the Word and in a little chat with our Father
• Being at the beach
• Having Jonathan, the jammingest Asian, to lead worship
• Having Hillary, the lighthearted laugher, to cheer us up
• Having Abby, the youngest on the  crew, take care of us as a fantastic nurse
• Having Molly, the jolly that brings folly, encourage our spirits
• Having Michael and Rachel as awesome leaders, always providing affirmation
• Having Elle, the masseuse, to untighten our tightened muscular fibers
• Having Shannon, the otter, provide a jovial atmosphere to all situations
• Having Adrienne, the lioness, bring order and justice once and for all—this is a stretch J
• Having John Michael, the faithful, equip us with organic faith and discernment for our hearts
• Having Erik, the man of few words—albeit important ones, making sure we all had our passports
• Having Nathan, the cool cat, give a very accepting and open approach to our community
• Having Solomon, who holds the fanny pack, act like he was 10—childlike faith, anyone?

In conclusion, the trip has had way too much to process. The list goes on, and the Lord has given us a lot on our plate to chew on in the coming days. We have all taken so much from this trip, but there will always be new things to learn all the time on God’s great earth… onward, ho! Thanks for following all of these random and assorted thoughts. God bless y’all.

“Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”

Nehemiah 4: 19-20

Massage Train for soreness... please look at Jonathan's face

This day was filled with very enjoyable activities, all being performed at the beach of Dominica. We woke up and packed up all of our assorted possessions. Everyone was locating their loose items and articles, along with tossing their used towels and bedding into a pile designated for cleaning. A pleasant surprise: not one, but two gua-guas! What a great way to end the trip. Clean-up was a breeze, and then we made our way over to Cabarete, which is the beach town closest to us. It was very touristy, but it really put into perspective the imbalanced spread of wealth and existence of poverty in this society. Pretty interesting and sad, if you ask me, or anyone else on the trip. Jen gave the girls each a departing letter, and she told them not to read it until the flight. Talk about antsy. Josh reminded us that our time at the beach should not merit feeling bad due to a lack of work because God really blesses us with restfulness.

We had an awesome brunch at Dick’s Bavarian Bakery. At our table of 4 gentlemen, there was some pretty hilarious conversation about Josh’s children and their embarrassing childhood stories. We ate an abundance of baked goods. Hopefully, no one on our trip has diabetes. I mean… we ate A LOT of bread. Also, we ordered a separate meal in addition to our flour and butter based breakfast items. Eggs, bacon, and the like stuffed us for the entire day. The only negative about this is that I do not get to tell y’all about a variation of our awesome chicken and rice lunch.

Always dancing we are...

At the beach, we had a hodgepodge of fun conversations, threw the Frisbee and football, and just played in the water. Now that we are in college and do not have parents telling us to apply sunscreen, it is a bit difficult to force ourselves to apply it. In effect, many of us caught too many gnarly rays. It was really cool seeing a lot of kites that were part of the kite surfing culture. There were so many kites, I could have sworn that it was some sort of kite show. We just spent the day basking in community, God, and all of the nature that He has blessed us with. We went into town, shopped, and parted ways with the Menolds, sans Josh. We really did love spending time with these children, but we know that we will see them again, if not on earth, than forever in heaven! To the girls, Jen was a very awesome person to learn from and spend time with.

For those reading this that have previously gone on the DR trips, the traditional last dinner at Casanova is no longer. It was closed! We ate at LAX, which was a sort of beach-side restaurant, and the majority of the group ate pizza. Not chicken and rice, but good nonetheless. After dinner, we were a bit behind schedule at said goodbye to Josh, as Juan and another gua-gua took us and the luggage back to the Whites. About halfway into the trip, we stopped at some weird convenient store for Juan to get a phone card. As it was quite shady, Adrienne and Elle said that Juan was going to sell Jonathan and I for some snacks. Asians are on quite a high platform here, oddly. The organization would be called “Chinos for Cheetos.” Nice to know that some girls on our trip would sell the Orientals for some dairy-based snacks.

We ended up making our way to Whites, and many of us turned out to be extremely burned. After some dancing and wrap-up stuff, we rested in preparation for our unfortunate, early wake-up call. Praise the Lord for such a fun, restful, and burnt day. One more day, y’all.

Just a day at the beach

“First of all, then, I urge that requests,prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people, even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all peopleto be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

1 Timothy 2: 1-4

I just want to pause and say what a blessing all of y’alls’ prayers have been. All of you that have followed the blog diligently have truly graced us with your support. The Lord has truly done a work through us and y’all, as well.

This is what we do to work off lunch: Dance at the lunch joint

Today was Hillary’s date of birth! Along with the jovial mood, I would like to go back and tell y’all about all of the dancing lessons and fun times that we have had in the recent days. Most of our group has learned to salsa, two-step via Michael, and do crazy staring contests while dancing meringue. I am sure that you will see videos of our gyrating antics and follies.

Please observe Hillary's cake... and Michael's shirt

I don’t know if the DR even has pumpkins, but we started the day off with some killer pumpkin bread made by Jen. Group A and the Group B men stayed at the house to lay some dirt. No one ever said God doesn’t know how to get “down and dirty.” Shannon made sure we took nothing for “granite.” OK; enough of the puns. The Group B girls had an awesome time serving at Makarios, and the rest did a number on about 13 full truckloads of dirt. Although we will not see a completed lawn for the Mak-House, there will one day be a beautiful landscape provided by the Lord. The work that we did here will ultimately be utilized for the Kingdom, and that is so rewarding in itself. Equipped with leftover pizza, pineapple, and other snacks galore; prepared with lots of popular 90’s songs; and armed with the power of God, we worked diligently into the lunch hour where we partook in our final meal of…yes, chicken and rice with beans. Avocados and plantains, per usual. I, along with the others, am going to have withdrawals of these Dominican staples. Oh, during the laying of God’s earth, Michael and I almost sang all the way through Don McLean’s “American Pie.”

Look at all that dirt being expertly moved

After lunch, we moseyed over to Makarios to say goodbye to Miranda and Dina; Sarah and Imani came over for dinner, but we will get to that later in the blog. It was sad leaving it and the people, but we know that the staff, who we ask that you earnestly pray for, will build disciples and newborn Christians in the DR. Everyone headed on back to the House, and a few of the team went into the ESL classes that Imani teaches on Thursdays at the House. The rest of the group continued with the “dirty work.” I apologize; I promised no more puns. We started winding down around 4PM, and a group of us accompanied Molly to pick up some tomato cans for soup at the “Coletta” (?). I am saying it wrong, as that seems to sound like a girl’s name, but it is basically a little neighborhood market. Imani and Sarah joined us for supper. For dinner, there was a tub of Minestrone soup that Jen prepared for us, and it was pretty dang awesome. And what better to have with tomato soup than some good ol’ grilled cheese? I was pretty stuffed after dinner, and I am sure most people can say the same, as we also had cake to celebrate Hillary’s 22^nd. I hope she does not mind me putting up the exact anniversary of her entrance into this wonderful world of God.

Females and female staff

Also, we really wanted to bless the Menolds by babysitting their children. Although their children are very well-behaved (they watch over themselves most of the time!), we just wanted to let Josh and Jen get out of the house and just enjoy time together as a married couple. Plus, the children go to bed at like 7:30PM, anyway. Apparently, Belle said a really cute prayer for Molly…and Jonathan… and… the group. We said our goodbyes to Imani and Sarah, but the conversations that we had with them and their experiences in the DR were so impacting on our hearts.

Tonight, Michael wore a deafeningly neon yellow/green v-neck. He could definitely be mistaken as a traffic enforcer on even the darkest streets.

After supper, we hung around a little bit and had some worship, final thoughts, overall processing, and just some good closure. It appears we all really took a lot from this trip, regardless if we came in with high expectations, which the Lord really blew out of the water, or just came in cold turkey. Missions is definitely on our hearts, and just seeing God’s plan at work in so many other lives that He has pursued is so refreshing. Along with that, it was also great to hear that we were about to encourage, refresh, and fill up the staff while we were here. We split off into our stations, and by stations, I mean gender-specific rooms. A long day deserves a nice rest. One more day for you to enjoy our time with us… and then you will ACTUALLY see us. Love y’all.

Bro Love

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

This morning, was all woke up pretty refreshed and ready for what the Lord had in store for us. To the delight of much of the group, Jen whipped up some mean pancakes. These flat carbohydrates are definitely a delicacy in the Dominican Republic. Also, someone did a fantastic job cutting pineapple. A went to the school, and B hung at the house and did some stuff. The girls tidied up closets and the like upstairs like Mary Poppins. Nate and Erik were akin to jungle men, as they really worked those machetes as they were clearing out the brush for a new fence. Josh and Andy were there to guide them. Being engineers, they also built one rowdy slatted guard for the trash shed. Josh was tired of the dog getting into the trash shed at night. If I was a dog trying to break into the trash shed, I could not, for the life of me, get through the fence that they built. I rearranged the woodshed, and there may be a chance of me being poisoned from all that RAID I used in the corner. Not really, though. Those roaches better be dead tomorrow. We wrapped up really late, and Group A swung by and got us for lunch. From what I gathered, Group A had a rough day in the trenches (classrooms), but the Lord really blessed them with the ability to communicate, despite the language barrier. These Dominican kids are rowdy, but so good-natured.

Yes, they love us like trees

For lunch, we had fried chicken and rice. Beans were there, too. But today, we had tater salad. This was almost like a Texas-style picnic. The only thing better would have been Texas toast. After lunch, we headed to Poncho Mateo, a half Dominican, half Haitian batey. The village was not quite as poor as Chichigua, but it was still quite run down. The kids were very touchy, and they loved to play with the girls’ hair and get piggy back rides from the gentlemen. We constructed a dream team of a few of the guys to play basketball, but we sucked. The Dominicans schooled us 3 games in a row. Adrienne got a makeover. She got her nails painted, but apparently, they found the nail polish underneath the bleachers. Maybe this was some sort of ancient animal blood or something. Most likely not. The girls all got their hair played with, and the guys ended up with sore necks.

After our visit and play time at PM, we went to La Tienda, which was a really cool fair-trade village/market. Everything was made in the village, and there was definitely a homemade feel to all of the assorted items available for purchase. Some bought bracelets, others bought metal work, and Michael bought a Longhorn. Hook ‘em! It was really humbling to see these people try to make it in the world that the Lord has provided, but falling flat due to lack of transportation or other means to succeed.

They were frat shades here, too

We got home and had just enough time to catch our breath before dinner time. Tonight was pizza night. I would compare it to Domino’s before they got the “upgraded” crust. The pizza really hit the spit, and the salad Jen whipped up made us feel a little less guilty about stuffing ourselves with pizza and awesome chocolate cookies. Wednesday nights, the Menolds hold a Bible study with some of the Makarios staff, so it was fun having everyone together again.

After dinner, the girls did an awesome “interpretative dance” for the gentlemen, and every guy was really blessed to have been part of the “Seven Girls’” mix. They were spot on with their “interpretations” of each guy. I think they called “Seven Girls” in Spanish, but I have no earthly idea on how to write that out. The girls on this trip are too awesome; they are super creative, to boot. Rachel led a really awesome time of prayer, and again, Jonathan played some amazing Gospel-driven songs for worship. After our devotional time, the guys did the girls’ rap song again, along with a little addition for the rest of the Makarios teachers, as well as Andy and Lauren. Heck, Dina even said that if missions was not our calling, singing could indeed be a fantastic back-up plan, for the “Six Saavy Studs.” After the little performance, we split into our own gender-specific testimonial times, per usual. I cannot speak on behalf of the girls, as I am a male, but the males had an awesome time hearing Josh’ testimony and all the wisdom that he provides. I am certain that the girls also had a great time of community, albeit with less testosterone. Then, we wrapped up yet another successful day in Christ. Night y’all.

P.S. Mrs. Frye, if you are reading this, please embarrass Molly by writing a very humorous comment on this blog. She requests it. Seriously.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:28

I would first like to take a moment and talk about the humidity level here. We wake up with our legs and arms stuck together. We try to read our Bibles, and the pages are totally stuck together because of the stickiness.

On this glorious morning, the men assumed that the breakfast call was 8AM… but it was actually 7:30AM. That means none of the gentlemen were planning on waking up until just before breakfast. Fortunately, God is awesome, and we all woke up in a timely manner. If you have not seen yogurt in pourable jugs, then you have not lived in the Dominican Republic. We had liquidy Yoplait with some cold cereal and oatmeal today. Oh, and someone did an exquisite job cutting the fruit for a fruit salad.

Time for a little aside on the Dominican children. They love Chinese folk. In fact, when Jonathan walks by, they yell “Chino, Chino.” Though my Spanish is virtually nonexistent, I am almost certain that this means something along the lines of “China man.” Well… I guess they actually yell that at me too. They have such an affinity for us who originate from the Orient. Funny thing is, we are just about as American as the rest of the group.

Group A stayed at the house, and Group B headed to the Makarios school. I have made a little chant for each team:

They are the A group, yeah. They love the Lord, yeah. They’ll never fuss, yeah. They work for Jesus. Yeah

They are the B team, yeah. They’re just as clean, yeah. They serve and holler, yeah. They love their Father. Yeah!

Look at Hill heave that rock!

Group A did some really awesome work at the house by carrying rocks, big and small alike, and lining them up all around the house in order to build some sort of water-gathering apparatus. It also looks pretty cool, I might add. Talk about rock-stars, pun-intended. Afterwards, their muscles were no doubt rock-hard. Ok, I’ll stop now. They worked diligently because Christ was the solid rock on which they stood. Ok, seriously, last one.

At the educational facility, Group B was divided amongst the teachers. I went back to the Haitian batey Chi-Chee-Gua with Imani–think Chiquita, like the banana brand, but with a G. I caught up with some of my Haitian pals and helped Imani with a class over the story in the Bible of “The 3 Kings.” It was awesome seeing those people with a desire to learn English, which is a very lucrative skill in the DR. Furthermore, they were getting some fantastic teaching on the birth of the most important individual in the universe. From what I gathered talking with my peers, I thought everyone had a very rewarding day serving. I do know that Erik was used as a jungle gym, as he is 6’4”. Also, if you get the chance, and you are not anywhere close to 5’10”, please give Erik a very awkward, high “on his shoulders” hug. He would very much enjoy it.

Girls and tools

Lunch was fried chicken… and…. Guess what? Not rice, not beans, but rice with beans mixed in! The Lord surely must have an awesome appetite, as he has really changed up the lunch menu every day. In fact, today he even provided avocados! After lunch, everyone rendezvoused at the school. A few of us eventually went back to the house to help with some closet rearranging. Hillary and Adrienne helped Erik finish the last desk. Way to go girls. Many of the other girls were helping with crafts and the like. Or at least that is what I assume. Whenever girls sit around a children’s desk, I assume crafts are being done. We are all hardworkin’ folks, regardless of what our duties are. On a more difficult task, Jonathan and John-Michael did a number on the grass. They were a mowing machine. If I was looking to landscape my house, I would hire the Double J.

Jonathan Mowing some Mean Grass

Also, in the playground, we built a pile of sticks and dry leaves, and Andy proceeded to burn it. Yes, it is not like Texas where we cannot burn where we choose. He threw so much gasoline that we felt the shockwave. Today was Miranda’s birthday… yeah, it seems like it’s someone’s birthday everyday. She got drenched by some of the staff, and it was awesome. It was cool to see their traditions as a family on mission at Makarios. They bond extremely well.

We had some rest at the house before dinner. There was chicken and rice. This time, it really was chicken and rice. It was fantastic, and it was served with some green beans and red bell peppers. Bread, too. We are fed so well. After dinner, we lowered Nathan’s ears. No joke, team RHAM cut his lengthy hair; RHAM stands for Rachel, Hillary, Adrienne, and Michael. His hair is real nifty now. In fact, can we rename him Nathan “Nifty-Do” Foote? We split off into gender-specific devotion time before our group devotion so that Jen could join the girls. Then, we came together and worshipped our King. The gentlemen dropped some phat lines and sick flows for the girls. Michael led a great discussion on helplessness and reflection into our Gospel-centered life. It seems we are all growing in joy as we keep in mind the promises and blessings of our Father. Night y’all.

I mean, who doesn't like cutting hair?

“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

Christ desires our love, and regardless of our position in life, God has blessed us with an unconditional and sacrificial love. On that note, some comments on love: Hillary loves everyone when she is on coffee. Shannon commanded of Nathan his love… in Spanish… by accident.

Behold, the 9^th day of the 1^st month of the 12^th year of the 2^nd century; can you believe it? God works many miracles; the girls beat the guys downstairs for breakfast again! If you have never had baked oatmeal in the Dominican Republic, it is akin to eating chicken fried in Texas. It really sits well in your stomach. Jen, having 5 children, definitely has an amazing mother’s touch in the kitchen. Also, Hillary woke up still pretty jazzed up from the coffee fix that she partook in last night. In the men’s story, we awoke to a missing Nathan, not in his bed. Jonathan thought he was doing “sketchy stuff”, but he was really just having a time with the Lord on da’ roof.

After the most important meal of the day, it was off the Makarios school for our first day on the job. A job that does not return finances, but has eternal implications! We would like to have you pray for us that our work would not merely make us feel good, but would delineate into a joy for Jesus. As we serve these children, we would like to just remember that we are serving Makarios as Christ served and loved us. Half of the group (Group A—A as in Awesome workers) did some awesome cleaning, organizing, and other sort of nitty, gritty, technical duties during the day. Group A consists of “Survival”, “Lioness”, “Birthday Boy”, “Crocheting Machine”, “Can’t sleep on flights”, “Cool Joe”, and “Hendrix”. Group B, B as in Best Group, did some manual labor; it consists of “Fleet-footed”, “Stuff girls say”, “First Class”, “Young Grasshopper”, “Passport on your person”, and “Fanny Pack.” I will say that it was pretty awesome getting to wield a machete. Some highlights: Shannon and Jonathan wrecking shop on cleaning some windows; Rachel, Nathan, and I got to prune banana trees… Rambo style—with a machete (Rachel should basically be Racho, get it? Like Rambo+Rachel?); Michael and Hillary having a humbling experience when they went into the local village; spending time with the kids; Abby growing up and using a circle saw and other assorted power tools; turning large tables for 4 children into a half table for 2 children (this is so that the tables were conducive to a positive learning environment); Adrienne killing some spiders with Lysol; and just getting to see the children sing some interactive, Jesus-loving songs. These are by no means all of the tasks performed by our teams, as I certainly do not exhibit omnipresence as Jesus does, but I would like you to know that our team is serving wholeheartedly for the Kingdom. Lunch: rice, with some chicken. This chicken had olives. Told you it would be different. Oh yeah, beans and veggies. After lunch, we went back and finished off our daily tasks for the Lord’s will for Makarios and our team. It was a great day of just sweating and building relationships for the Kingdom; I believe that we were all very encouraged in Christ.

Back at home, it was awesome just spending time in community, finding rest, and playing with the Menold children. Tate, the oldest Menold child, turned 3285 days today—9 years old. He is such a fun-loving, social, responsible kid; he has a blessed future ahead of him. Our group got him a Babe Ruth candy bar, a birthday card, a UT shirt; Hook ‘em! Hopefully, the Lord will bring fruit from our gift and will begin churning the future Horns in his brain. Tate ate just about half of his personalized 10” birthday cake… In fact, as I am writing this, I am almost certain that he is passed out, drooling out frosting. There was way too much sugar in that boy.

Dinner was yet another awesome reminder of home: tortillas; taco beef; salsa—with expertly chopped tomatoes, I might add; guacamole—prepped by Hillary “Martha Stewart” Hood; and chips. After we stuffed ourselves, Jen had also whipped up some awesome cupcakes, as it was Tate’s date of birth.

Our worship time at night once again started with awesome worship led by Jonathan. He may be the best Asian guitar player ever. Our devotional, led by Rachel, really set the tone for the rest of our week going forward: that we would work with encouragement in the Gospel and not simply get discouraged when our train tracks get off. I would like to just uplift our team, as some people may not have yet gotten recognition. We are all here to be a community on mission. Thanks for listening. Love y’all.

“For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.”

2 Corinthians 4:15

As we awoke this morning, we all had that “This-is-going-to-be-a-good-day-feeling.” I could just see it in everyone’s eyes, and the Lord has blessed this trip so tremendously thus far. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, pineapple, muffins, and grapes. Michael has a magic touch with cutting pineapple. It was fantastic. The unbelievable happened this morning; the girls beat the men to breakfast. God works miracles.

We went to the local church, which, for our sake, was named “Iglesias” something. Sarah and Imani were also there. We took communion with real wine! The drinking age is 18 here, for those reading who have children under the age of 21. It was refreshing to see that the symbolism of breaking bread in community crosses over cultures. The sermon covered 2 Corinthians 4:6-18, and the topic was, in my non-Spanish words, “Being a Gospel-centered Light.” Briefly, I just thought it was awesome how this strong Christ-centered church was able to communicate how essential Jesus and the Gospel are to our daily plans. Even in struggles, we can solely rely on God’s blessings and mercy. We are called to stay the course and strive to carry out His purpose for our lives and His kingdom. On a team-building note, Abby got to apply a bandage to a team member today! Way to go, team nurse. Similarly, Michael and Rachel have been doing a fantastic job leading us. Oh, and Elle and Erik have been snapping pictures like mad. Molly, has been encouraging quite well. We pray she does not come across a squirrel; she appears to fear them. Also, without Adrienne, the funds coordinator, we would not be here. And how about Hillary with those donations? Also, the concert team did a fantastic job.

After lunch, we walked around at “The Point.” “The Point” had a donkey, a guy selling coconuts, and a girl celebrating her 15^th birthday… I know there is some Spanish term for this, but I cannot for the life of me spell it. Queen-cen-year-ah? Her dress was so poofy, she could have hidden a dog under it! Oh… this place also had a fantastic view of the ocean. We, in Texas, do not seem to have much in the way of ocean-centric scenery. The girls took pictures, and the men did manly things… like tackling each other… and building human pyramids. We had lunch at a place with a rather stimulating playground, see-saw and swings, galore. Lunch consisted of rice and chicken—not chicken and rice! The fried chicken was more KFC-like, and the roasted chicken had some ham with it. Was that a good enough description to keep things interesting? Oh, and beans and root vegetables were part of the meal, as well.

After lunch, we had some ice cream and hung out at the town center. There were birds. They flew around us. We went to the Dominican Wal-Mart, and some picked up coffee to bring back to the states. While everyone was getting ready for naptime, Jonathan was deathly in fear of this enormous spider looming over Nathan’s bunk. The males proceeded to poke it with a 2X4, smack it with a flip flop, and crush it with some napkins. Talk about resilience.

Jen prepared some mean spaghetti for dinner, with Rachel expertly buttering some garlic bread. After dinner, we had some devotional time. We were able to encourage one another through a reflection period about how we can live out the Gospel in our social interactions here. Apparently, I brewed the afternoon coffee really strong because Hillary is shaking like a salt shaker as I am writing this… Lastly, I asked very nicely if Rachel would fancy smelling my armpits, as Asian underarms do not smell quite as strong as other underarms. She declined. Unfortunately.

Geaux Tigers!

“But He lifts the needy out of their suffering and makes their families multiply like flocks. The upright see it and rejoice, and all injustice shuts its mouth. Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.”

Psalm 107: 41-43

Fun fact: We learned that our ~12 person jazzy van is, in fact, called a “gua gua.” Funny name? We thought so, too…Moving on.

Our Team

This morning, we were grateful for our 7:50AM wake-up call. Praise the Lord for an extra hour of sleep. Even better? A huge breakfast spread prepared by the Whites: peanut butter, butter… pancakes, grapes, bananas (probably from some nearby tree), juice, and a delicious caffeinated beverage called coffee. The gentlemen got to the breakfast table before the ladies, and as all chivalrous men do… they gave the girls a courtesy warning that breakfast was ready. Then, they proceeded to eat without the girls. Oh, before I leave this leg, I would like to comment on Nathan’s forgetfulness. I picked up his sweater at the White’s before we left. He also almost left his sweater in Dallas. We said our goodbyes and headed to the Menold’s humble abode in Los Ciruelos, about an hour and a half away.

Waiting at the Airport!

The Makarios place was awesome, somewhat like a Spanish villa, with the gates and all. The Menolds have been blessed with 5 energetic, fun-loving children: Tate, Oliver, Aribella, Finley, and Parlyn. We caught our breath and did somewhat of an “orientation” of the house. On our pre-made beds, they had these welcome cards that the Makarios children made for us. That was once of the best welcoming presents ever… sort of like when you come into a hotel room and find your towels folded into animals. They also have an amazing helper at the house, Lucy. And a cat, Theo.

We went out to lunch to eat what will be everyday’s lunch: chicken and rice! Get used to reading about this Dominican staple, but I will do my best to describe it in a different way, every day. The meal was enjoyed at a little open-air restaurant close to the house. It consisted of some stewed beans, stewed chicken, fried chicken (not that KFC breaded stuff, mind you), and plantains. Oh, and who could forget Jonathan’s favorite item, rice? It was pretty awesome.

After lunch, Imani and Miranda, two girls that are part of the Makarios staff, met up with us and we headed to a Haitian “batey”, a community of individuals who come over from Haiti and sort of build their own little culture. They all spoke creole, but it was not as understandable as creole words such as “gumbo” or “etouffee.”  We got a quick tour through the 100 person village and got to build some relationships. The men played soccer with some of the locals, and the girls held babies, save Shannon. It had been raining prior to the game; afterward, everyone looked like they were extras in a documentary called “The Swamp Thing.” Michael got schooled on the soccer field by some of the locals, but Shannon was, hands down, the MVP of the soccer game. Aside from all the fun and games, it was a humbling experience to be among these lost and broken people. I got to ride a horse, one of my favorite things ever. Hindsight bias, I should have worn cowboy boots, but when in the Dominican…

We got back, and Sarah and Deena, two more girls on the staff, joined us for a bit of community before dinner. The afternoon consisted of showers, lots of board games, and quiet time. For dinner, Jen reminded us a lot of Texas by preparing chili and cornbread. Talk about nostalgia. After dinner, we went to the roof for some introductions and fellowship. It was awesome hearing from many of the staff at Makarios. We also had some pretty intense games of the “Staring Contest.” We wrapped up for the evening and called it an early night.

Adrienne

Hillary

Abby & Molly

Rachel

Soccer Group

By: Solomon Wang

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject to all things Himself.”
Philippians 3:20-21

13 Students; 9 days; 1 mission

Today began the journey of 13 college students, with the destination of the Dominican Republic; let us call it the “DR” for convenience sake and for the sake of my wrists. The ultimate goal is to glorify the Kingdom, so please keep that in mind as you read through our inconvenient, albeit fun, follies. The team includes: Rachel “Stuff girls say” Short, Abby “Young grasshopper” Walton, Molly “First-Class” Frye, Elle “Can’t sleep on flight…” Roensch, Adrienne “Lioness” Bowyer, Hillary “Survival” Hood, Shannon “Crocheting machine” Schulze, Michael “Birthday boy” Lewis, Erik “Passport on your person” Schorken, Jonathan “Hendrix” Lai, Nathan “Fleet-footed” Foot, John-Michael “Cool Joe” Hodgins , and Solomon “Fanny Pack” Wang—the dream team if you will. The Father gathered us together for a reason, and we have bonded extremely well together
Let us begin with yesterday.

We gathered at Rachel’s at 10AM for some fantastic muffins and prayed for our upcoming trip. Praying as a community on mission together is essential, as it really gets you in the right mind and prepares your heart. It was a good time to have fellowship and to catch up with one another from the restful holidays. We started packing up our donations, weighing our bags, and distributing random goods that we were supposed to bring to the DR. After some masterful packing, we headed out to P.Terry’s to prepare for the coming 10-day Sabbath from burgers… and we partook in an American staple. Then, it was off to Wal-Mart to pick up some last minute donations and items that may come in handy, i.e. Erik’s $4 headphones. Then, the guys split off to Michael’s to watch a movie (most of us actually slept), while the girls proceeded to do girly stuff. What does that mean? Don’t ask me. Before we knew it, it was time to stuff ourselves with some more Texas grub.

What happens in Austin on Thursday at 6PM? Not happy hour… but rush hour. We picked Rudy’s on 360 and Mopac for dinner, and we were up to our neck in traffic. The patience in the traffic was worth it; this was going to be our last taste of Texas brisket for 9 days! The Lord has truly blessed this state with some delicious smoked cattle. We stuffed ourselves like turkeys and headed on back to our respective gender-homes. Turning in for the night, we were not looking forward to the imminent alarm clocks that would throw us off of our internal schedules.
This morning merited a ridiculously early wake-up call, something along the lines of 3:50AM for most of us. The gentlemen loaded up in Michael’s white truck and took the world’s longest 2 minute drive to Rachel’s house. It was refreshing because we were pumped to get on the road. It was sort of surreal… mostly because we were still pretty drowsy from the limited amount of sleep.

4 individuals from the Austin Stone picked us up: Rex Hamilton, Michael and Anneke Swanson, Jill Foster, and Jacob Martin.. Too awesome.The Lord really blessed us with these rides. They prayed over us and filled us up with the Lord’s grace. It took us a bit of time to get through the check-in, but we eventually made it to our gate. A quick hour plane ride put us in Dallas, where we proceeded to ride the SkyTrain—the thing that takes you to a different terminal. Jonathan was super excited; just ask him.

A 30-minute changeover put us on the flight to Miami. In Miami, we had a fun birthday celebration for Michael at Friday’s. He had an “Oreo Madness.” For those of you who know Michael, please look up his actual birthday. This would be our last time to eat some California clubs and Chicken fingers. We hung around at the terminal for our 4 hour layover, which would soon double-up. Games, eating, and reading (and a little bit of crocheting) filled the afternoon. We were even able to get some Canadians to eat some of our deer summer sausage!Then, the madness started, not Oreo “madness”, but just madness. The 5:50PM flight turned into 7PM, the 7PM turned into 7:55PM, the 7:55PM turned into 8:29PM. 8:29PM then led to a 9:10PM departure. Gate D26 turned into E5, E5 turned into D again, and D back to E7. God, give us endurance! By the time we touched down in a new country, the time was about 12:30AM. We had been up for right about 20 hours. We really had to pray for patience during this time, and the Lord undoubtedly gave us a peace of mind at this point.

Josh Menold and Juan graciously picked us up with a heart of generosity and patience. I am sure that it was not fun waiting for a midnight flight to arrive. Our luggage got stacked 2-fold in the back of Josh’s truck, and Juan took 11 of us in a pretty snazzy van. The rest of our evening felt like a blur, attributed to my extreme exhaustion. We arrived at the White’s house, and they were amazing hosts: 13 beds prepared, restrooms supplied, and just a very hospitable personality! The best part of the night? Getting to sleep on egg cartons.

Please be praying for us as we go forward, and if you have contact with someone from the team, encourage them to drink water. Lastly, I pray that you see that our work here will be first and foremost for His Kingdom. Thanks y’all.

By Jared Pelley

The clock on my iHome said 4:30 pm when the phone rang. I leaned back in my chair and pushed the finance textbook away. I slid the roller chair across the old wood floor in my north campus room, grabbed the phone, and said, “hello.”

Someone from my missional community wasn’t going to be able to make it to our 7 o’clock meeting. Over the next hour, I received three other emails and texts from other members saying the same thing. Looks like it was going to be another low attendance week.

Many of you know what I’m talking about. I am starting a missional community in the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. Many of you starting similar communities. If you’re wrestling through the difficulties of a new missional community, here are some thoughts from the trenches. While the vision for community seems simple early on, reality will teach you that community is hard and success requires calling, commitment and adaptation.

Starting a Missional Community takes Calling

I felt God calling me to start a community for my fellow business students while studying abroad in Hong Kong, China. While abroad, I spent every waking moment with the same group of 25 McCombs students. We lived together, studied together, explored together, and played together. I went on the trip knowing only 1 person. I came back to the United States with 25 friends.

Friendship is accelerated when you’re abroad and God allowed me many opportunities to share the gospel with my new friends. When I came home, I started praying for them and felt a tug to start a community where nonbelievers are comfortable talking about the gospel.

It turns out starting a missional community is not as easy as I expected. Now that we’re half way through the fall semester, the missional community is still in the very beginning stages. Reflecting on the original calling I felt reminds me of God’s grace and helps me trust that He will come through.

Starting a Missional Community takes Commitment

What made Hong Kong such an effective catalyst for community was the time I constantly spent with the same people. We were stuck on an island in a foreign country for 5 weeks. Community takes time and we had plenty of it in China.

Starting a missional community in college also takes time. But time is complicated. Participants have busy schedules and so do leaders. As a leader, when I don’t prioritize spending time with the members of my missional community, especially in it’s founding stages, they are not likely to show up to the meeting.

If a non-believing friend does not want to come to a missional community meeting, commitment means you or your community should take the time to go to them. For example, when I go to Gregory Gym, I go with one of my friends from Hong Kong. When I’m looking for something to do on a Saturday, I call up that same friend. Relational evangelism requires relationships. And relationships require you to commit some time.

Starting a Missional Community takes Adaptation

The first two weeks my McCombs Missional Community met, we met at my house. The four friends I knew prior to starting the missional community were the only people who showed up both times.

So we’re meeting at Juicytart this week instead and three more people have said they are going to come for the first time.

If you’re having a hard time getting your missional community off the ground, it may be a great time to try something new. It may be awkward for a member of a missional community to go to a stranger’s house for the first time. Be flexible and adapt your missional community style and location to the needs of my members. Style and location are always flexible. Doctrine is not.

Remember that Jesus is the Point

Starting a missional community in college is hard. It takes a calling, it takes commitment, and it takes adaptation when things don’t seem to fall into place. But Jesus is faithful. In the end the power behind your missional community is Jesus, not you. So ask Him to help you, trust him, and then act in faith. After all the striving, victories, and failures, you will be able to look back and celebrate all that Jesus did in and through you while you were on campus. God gets glory and you get joy.