DR Team 2015 - Day 6

Meeting Baby Emma

This year marks St. Anne's 15th mission trip to the Dominican Republic. In 2000, we had teams in Jarabacoa and San Francisco de Macoris. Our first trip to Santiago was in 2001 when we were at  San Lucas with Father Hipólito. Our first trip to Cristo Salvador, following Father Hipólito from San Lucas, was in 2004.  During that these years, more than 100 members of St. Anne's, and several people from other congregations, have traveled here with DR Mission Teams. 

Learning a new game

One of Father Jim's lessons in mission work is that we are building more than a construction site, we're building a relationship. As I looked around on Thursday, I saw evidence of that relationship. Lazarus (owner of the Santiago hotel where we stay) and his staff know us well; they ask about our families with genuine interest. We miss Victor this year, Lazarus' father is visiting grandchildren. But we do get to see Lazarus' son who is a teenager now. The St. Anne's teens who are part of our team this year are working with teens from Cristo Salvador who were in elementary school when the first of them attended VBS with us. Ercilia, who stopped by to see us on Monday, was not even in seminary when we first met her in 2001. She is now the priest in Haina, in charge of two congregations and a big school. Our percussionists at VBS this afternoon included Bob's godchildren and Esmeralda's 3-year-old son Elian, big brother of 10-day-old Emma. 

The Percussion Section

Butterflies

More butterflies!

Our day ended with a trip to the Monument. With us were Pamela and Laura, Ana's daughters who we met as children, now confident young women who were delighted to be our tour guides.

The buildings stand: San Lucas, the school at Cristo Salvador, the houses we helped rebuild and probably the footing on the fence that we installed in 2000 at the Campamento in Jarabacoa. The relationships are strengthened year by year.

We miss Poly and Lilian and Lilian Maria and Rosanna and Gabriel. With their teaching over the years, VBS carries on and we know our Dominican family stays with us, thanks to the Holy Spirit.

View from the Monumento

DR 2015 - Day 5

There were many successes yesterday. The tables have all received their first sanding. The painting is almost finished - just a final coat and some touch up is needed. The bracelets were made by the VBS kids with minimum difficulty. Transportation was smooth. Food was great. People are happy.

So, what I'd like to do in this post is introduce you to a new friend: Padre German.

Padre German and Rev. Laura

First, know that his name is pronounced Hair MAWN.

When Poly, Lilian and the kids went to Florida I knew the big hole in our VBS program would be the music. Padre Hipólito came up with a solution, a delightful solution. He introduced us to Padre German, the current vicar at Iglesia San Lucas, the very same church that St. Anne's missioners helped construct in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Padre German was born in Washington, DC, and lived both there and Boston. Since then he's lived in more places that I can remember, become a doctor with specialties in OB/Gyn and radiology. He has practiced medicine and taught medicine. Even today he works in the mornings at a radiology clinic and continues his day as priest in the afternoon. On top of all that, he has a beautiful singing voice, plays the guitar and loves Barry Manilow.

On Monday our singing was led and supported by Charlie, Ercilia and Padre German. Tuesday and Wednesday we have been singing with Padre German and we are very grateful!

Our new team member.

While we love his help with the music, Padre German is fascinated by our vacation Bible school. He loves all its chaos, all the energy and he sees with fresh eyes the love that flows between the mission team and the kids. He colors with the kids. He plays background music during craft time. He tapes vegetables into the garden. And he's even taken to driving some of us "home" in the afternoon.

So, today, we sincerely thank Padre German. He has the mind of a scholar doctor priest and the heart of child. Gracias a Dios!

Busy coloring mangoes and bananas.

DR Mission 2015 - Day 4

 Tuesday - Martes - the day in which we sense our routine.

Bob and Juan, Katrina and Lexie

Breakfast in the hotel dining room - gather between 8 and 8:15.
The van and Padre Hipólito arrive to take us to Cristo Salvador - 9:15.
Review the day's plan and get busy - 9:30.

The best lunch ever - 12:30.
Cross the street from school to sanctuary for VBS set-up - 1:30.
Kids arrive, sing, story, craft, tape more stuff on the walls, sing, say see you tomorrow - 3:15 ish.
Load vehicles for trip back to hotel - 3:30.
Walk to La Sirena ("Target") or Ochoa (Home Depot), hang out, card game, dinner, evening meeting, prepare for tomorrow.

We grew corn and watermelon in our garden.

"Lather, rinse, repeat."

It all sounds routine, doesn't it? And some of it is. But the work plan changes. And the kids are more attentive during the lesson and it needs to go longer... or the opposite happens. Sometimes a visitor shows up and we spend time with Charlie. Sometimes we sit and enjoy the breeze while we listen to Padre Hipólito share stories of days gone by. If we stick so closely to our routine, we might miss those moments when the Holy Spirit fills spaces in between us with love and hope and friendship and joy.


Peace to you today. We will be sanding tables and making bracelets and finding for the joy.

Dominican Republic - Day 3

Decorating bags for Friday

Day 1 is spent traveling. Day 2 is spent in worship and preparation. Day 3 is always a blur!

Lexie

Sometime on Sunday afternoon, Father Hipólito told me that the stairs we had planned to help construct would NOT be our project for the mornings this week. Instead, we would be refinishing tables and benches in the school dining room and repainting walls in the classrooms and passageway. What's a missioner to do? Roll with the flow.



The masking tape we had brought to hang the VBS artwork was quickly put to use in preparation for painting. Scraping and Spackle occupied the rest of us. Juan is our job foreman. Clifton and Bob encouraged the rest of us with paint brushes in their own hands. The children will return to fresh classrooms when school begins again in August.
 

Lunch!

Lunch. Maybe we should call it "the noon meal." Maria Perez is running the kitchen this year. Amazing food comes from that kitchen. We were joined by Charlie, Ercilia and Father German. Soon enough, it was time to head across the street for VBS.

















We surely miss Poly, Lilian, Lilian Maria, Rosanna and Gabriel who were our music leaders for so many years. They are in Florida now. In their honor, we began the afternoon singing Hello! - ¡Hola! Charlie, Ercilia and Father German led us in several songs before we launched into a quick version of the creation story as an introduction to our garden theme. Watering cans and shovels were colored and taped to the walls. The final song was sung, the children left. We'll do it again on Tuesday!

Showers and La Sirena, dinner with Lazaro, an evening meeting (with amazing sunset) and rest.

It was night, it will be morning, a new day.

 

¡Llegamos! We're here!

Welcome! Yes, indeed.

"You have arrived at your destination." How many times have you heard that, or some similar phrase, from your GPS? If the DR 2015 team had been using a maps program, we'd have cheered. As it was, some of us applauded when our plane touched down in Santiago. The applause was not because the flight had been turbulent, or that we had been delayed; in fact, our flights had been on time and smooth. The applause was for the sense of homecoming.
We are HERE.

Ten of the St. Anne's family will spend about 10 days with our extended family at Cristo Salvador. On the agenda: building a stairway at the shelter, vacation Bible school with the neighborhood children, worshiping with and enjoying the company of the people of Cristo Salvador.

Clifton and Bob with Padre Hipólito

Today, following the service, we were treated to performances by the children of the preschool and then given the honor of passing out the portfolios of accumulated classwork and projects that the students have made through the year. This preschool receives funds from our Outreach Committee which pay for about 3 months of breakfast and lunch for the children. Mission teams in past years helped remodel the house which formed the base of the current school. It was certainly a joyful morning!

We spent the afternoon at Padre Hipólito's home. A delicious meal was prepared by Dulcina, Natty, Yanibel and several others. We were treated to the company of Padre German, the current vicar of San Lucas Church, Glennys, Antonio and Julita. Music and laughter made us all feel right at home.

This evening we will gather in one of our rooms at the Colonial to watch the Women's World Cup final. We will prepare for tomorrow. And we will give profound thanks for today.

One of the preschool classes sings following the service on July 5.

Final Day in Philly (Brodie Edgerton)

Today we finished up our work at Stenton Family Manor. Several of our team members worked with the kids for the day while others continued to paint the mural we had been working on the entire week. After saying heartfelt goodbyes to all of the kids, we all collectively finished up the murals in the front of the building. We left Stenton Family Manor and travelled through the rain to find cheesesteaks. After a delicious meal at Pats, we went to Rita's Water Ice for dessert to top off the night. We had a terrific time this week and were sad to see our time at the shelter end but we feel we did good work for the kids and and all the people at Stenton Family Manor.

Day 3 and 4 in Philadelphia (Tim Bellman)

Day 3: It was our third day in Philly and we had a great time at the Family Manor. However, our afternoon plans were ruined when a big storm hit us. The storm ended up taking down a couple of trees here and at the Manor. The storm stopped us from getting our Evensong on but nothing stops us from getting some Philly pizza.

Day 4: Today we made some progress on the mural at the Stenton Family Manor. We also had a great time playing with the kids. we had a great time buying more supplies and items that the shelter truly needed from target. After we got back the guys made some stellar tacos.

Day 1 and 2 in Philadelphia (Kathryn Allen)

Hello!

Today was out first day at the shelter, Stenton Family Manor. We began our day with a morning prayer given by our special guest Facetimer Rev. Laura. We then met all of the children at the shelter and had a wonderful day making bracelets and relationships. The children's director Mr. Mike Sanford and Elder Harrison asked us to help finish a mural in the front hallway. So, we headed out to Home Depot and picked some paint to create this new mural. Then we had a fabulous dinner made by yours truly, the ladies. We are looking forward to the rest of our great week in Philadelphia.

- Kathryn Allen

Day 7 at Dungannon 2014

Click for Day 7 Podcast
Interviewer:  Clifton H. Poole
Featuring: Laura Cochran
Recorded:  August 1, 2014
Topics:  Wakeup, Front Porch Breakfast, Worksite, Management of job site, Devil Fork Trail  and Tool Pack-up

The end of day 7 is bittersweet.  The sweetest part of the day came at the completion of the work on the Kern home.  My team built two 8’’x6’ decks, hung and trimmed an exterior door and patched a hole in a sheetrock ceiling.

(Wesley, Elliot, Brad, Paul, Katrina, Joe, Michelle, Laura and Clifton)

The teens and adults on the site R - O - C - K!!  Without a doubt, we pulled off a monumental project this week.  Many of the team members had never built a deck before and our primary sheetrock person was learning OTJ (On The Job.)  I want to thank them all for their hardwork and hope to see them all out next year during the 2015 mission trip.

We also took a hike along the Devil Fork Trail to the Devil’s Bathtub, one of Scott County’s many, outdoor attractions.  A small group of us, about 17, took a 1 hour walk to the swim in the natural rock formation called the Devil’s Bathtub. We had a great time at the swimming hole and all of the teens braved the cold, cold water.

(Katrina and Michelle on the trail)

The bitter part of the day comes with the realization that we are leaving tomorrow.  I enjoy completing the work, but I would like to spend more time with the teenagers from my crew and just hangout.

The teens are out at the bonfire, singing, talking and just having a good time.  In about 20 minutes the lights will go out and end the 2014 mission.  All that remains is the ride home to NOVA.

Please listen to the audioblog and hear Laura's recounting of our last working day in Dungannon, VA.

Day 6 at Dungannon 2014

Click for Day 6 Audio Podcast
Featuring: Clifton H. Poole
Recorded:  July 31, 2014
Topics:  Reflection

Clifton's Blog:

Day 6 of the mission trip and we continued to make solid progress on all the projects.   Three projects were completed today and the teams working out in the community will likely complete their week performing maintenance on the development center.  There is a crew arriving on next week to tear down the main storage shed on at the Phoenix center and in its place a 40 'x 50' storage shed will be constructed.

(Michelle, Laura and Carol)

After the long day, the missioners relaxed by creating tie-dye t-shirts (sock, bandanas, or other things that started white. There was even one article that was black with small white dots but I am thinking that person does not understand the effect of dying lightly colored fabrics :-).  It is a frantic time where some very creative types design and execute intrigue patterns with 8 colors of dye.  The rest of us just pour dye on our shirts and hope for the best.

Warning:  your missioner is coming home with a wet article in a plastic ziplock bag.  The shirts were not rinsed and dried at the DDC as in previous years.  Please separate and rinse in cold water before washing with other articles of clothing.

Laura completed the lessons on the Great Thanksgiving and called us to live the holy sacrament by taking, blessing, breaking, and giving.  During the lesson when breaking was the topic the team members shared how they have been “tested” over the last 5 days.   More than 30 stories were shared of the challenges and struggles experienced after being ‘broken open”.

During the last part of the lesson, we were asked to recite a word or phase that exemplified the joy we received after “giving” our gifts to the community.  Some of the responses were: knowing when a blessing is inbound, talking with the homeowner, hugs from one another, getting to know the homeowner, supporting other missioner, seeing your job completed, meeting new people and being supported by one another.