Two Funny Stories (with Alec)

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, here’s something to chew on:

A while ago, Marcus and I were babysitting the “little three.” After the little ones were settled watching TV Marcus and I went into our room to talk (like all normal missionary teens do). Then we heard someone behind us, and we saw that it was Ellah. She giggled a bit, then slammed the door. *Click*. The door was locked (we have our door handle on backwards so the lock is on the outside, not inside). And so after begging the girls (and Isaac) to let us out, we were finally set free. The End

Time for number two (this one is a little shorter than the last):

Yesterday I was at the barber’s getting my Dominican hair on, when the barber stopped cutting, and walked to the door. After opening it he sneezed straight out then closed the door and resumed cutting my hair. The End

Thank you all for your support and prayers, they are helping a lot. I’ll try to blog more often.

God bless,         

Alec

A Short Summary Thing

Ok hey guys, Marcus here. So I was asked by a couple people to blog, and I really didn’t have anything interesting to right about… So I decided to write a summary thing. Alright, here we go.

So when we first got here in April it was extremely hard. We were all homesick and missing the comforts of our own home back in Nebraska. Well we slowly but surely got used to the Dominican Republic. There’s still a lot of things we miss, like friends, family, air-conditioning, carpet, a backyard, and much more. But those are some things that we’ll probably never get over. In May, the teams started coming down, and that was kinda fun. After like two or three teams came down, we met the interns. They were all sort of like family, and if any of you interns are reading this, I’ll never forget you guys. So more teams came down, and I made a lot of friends. Some were from Christ Community Church (Hi Pam!) and others were from Minnesota (Hey Charles and Casey!) So over all the teams were really fun. And then came August. And with August came school. And no more interns, and no more teams. And stuff started to get really boring. Math, Grammar, Science, History, Spelling and chores were always on our daily schedule.

And then we started to get invitations to meet with pastors and their families of the Christian & Missionary Alliance Churches. It was fun and all, but having the language barrier can sometimes make it really hard to make friends with the kids that we meet. Like one Tuesday night a few weeks ago, we were invited to a pastor’s house just to hang out. At first it was kinda hard, and slightly boring. But then some of their neighbors came by and asked if my brother and I wanted to play volleyball. Well, we went with them, and they led us right to the middle of the street, where they drew a line across the street, signifying the net. I honestly didn’t even want to play, but I gave it a try, and it turned out really fun. 

So over all it’s been really hard being down here, but it’s also been extremely fun too. It’s almost like by sending us down here, God has closed a lot of doors, but He’s also opened a bunch more. And until He opens the next door, I guess we’ll just have to praise him in the hallway. Well, that’ll have to be it for this blog.

Thanks so much for reading, and God bless.

DR Update

What’s happening in the DR?

Our schedule is changing compared to the busy summer.  We have taken the last couple weeks to begin homeschooling and see how that will work as we continue the café ministry.  Matt and Teri also began Spanish lessons three days/week for two hours.  Eventually we will add Spanish to the kid’s curriculum as well.  We continue to work with our regular students and a 14 year old boy who started coming in about a month ago at the café, three days a week (see the pictures).  Alec and Marcus have been helping with this young man and they are having a lot of fun.  Recently, we have also added two more guys and our cook from the café to the mix.   We have begun to attend the local church in Santiago on Sundays as well as the older three kids attending the Saturday night youth group.

Our upcoming schedule

·         Homeschooling

·         English three days a week with our “regulars”

·         Spanish lessons three days a week

·         Dinner with the manager of the Café and her husband

·         Church in Los Arroyos and connect with some of the families there

·         Visit an after school program with Compassion

·         Team building day with the café employees

Please pray with us…

Lord, please help us to adjust to the different pace of our new schedule and take time for our family.  Help us to continue to connect with our community both in the church, the cafe as well as the relationships we have already established.   Help the children to meet and connect with friends in youth group and church to help their time here.  Please help us all as we continue to learn and study our Spanish, help it to strengthen and build our relationships with those around us.  And lastly, continue to help us share your Word and do your work here in the Dominican Republic.  In Jesus’ name Amen.

Thank You for your partnership in prayer,

Matt, Teri, Alec, Marcus, Ellah, Madelyn and Isaac

Our Day Off

We usually have one day off each week, and a few weeks ago I decided to make this vlog (video log). Hope you enjoy!

-Alec

 

Adios!

Hey guys. Marcus here. So today I’m to be writing about something that has taken place two days ago (Wednesday). So, here we go!

At the very beginning of the summer, I cut my finger in our fan. So about a day later, I asked one of the Romano’s this, ‘What is the most painful thing you have ever experienced?’ Their answer I got was ‘Saying goodbye.’ Well, I kinda wanted to say ‘Yeah whatever.’ But I managed to keep it to myself. I guess I never realized how right she was until Wednesday…

So after saying goodbye to most of our beloved interns (James, Sam, Kristen, Anderson, and Brittany), we still had three left. Who? Well, if you really want to know, it was Meagan, Adam and Laura. Meagan was like the older sister I never had. And she sure acted like it, too. Bossy yet kind-hearted, annoying but hilarious. Well she left a day before Adam and Laura did, so they came over for lunch the next day. Well Adam and Laura were a young married couple from New Jersey (meaning they had ridiculously funny accents), maybe in their mid-twenties. The thing is they arrived like a month before the other interns did, and they stayed the longest, too. So Laura was… well… a short, funny, feisty, go-getting Colombian girl. Now Adam, well, he was definitely one to remember. He liked to hear what I had to say. But not only did he listen, he actually talked back. Even though we had like 15 years of age difference, we still were ‘friends.’ We talked about stuff, from the new Xbox to his broken pinky knuckle. And then I had to say goodbye. I never knew how painful it was to say goodbye. I mean, I know I’ll see my family again back in NE, but I may never see these guys again. They were like family to me. 

Here is a picture of Adam, Laura, Alec and me down below. Well, I’m sorry to say, but this is the end of this blog ;) Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you have a blessed fall! 

Final Week

It is hard to believe that today marks the start of our final week of Short term mission teams coming to the DR.  We have been working hard with a new team arriving every Saturday since April 26^th, with one week off near the end of May when our interns arrived.  If you haven’t seen our schedule, it is at the bottom of this blog. 

Although this busy schedule was a huge challenge, we handled it pretty well.  Another thing that was challenging was the poverty that we witnessed every day.  Even though many of the people we worked with had very little, they seemed to be content.  Several times a woman has come to our house and dug through our trash cans out front, looking for food.  That was really hard to see, but imagine how hard it was for her.  Do you feed her and then when more people come, feed them too?  Do you just pretend you don’t see her?  The first time we just said, “hi” and kept on going, because it surprised us.  Then, Teri set some mangos from our tree in the trash to help a little.  Maybe that sounds like not doing much, but we wanted to be subtle, and still help. 

We also see people on the streets asking for help.  We try help when we can, but there is so much need and you don't always know if it is real.  Once we gave money to someone on the street that was walking through traffic on crutches and looked pretty bad.  After traffic started moving, I looked back and saw him holding both crutches in one hand and walking fine.  When you see that, you get upset and think that you got fooled.  But we did not let that keep us from helping others.  A good friend once told us something that stuck.  She said, “I would rather get to heaven and find out that I was more generous than I needed to be, than the other way around.” 

The point is you don’t always know the circumstances that someone is dealing with.  That is true for anywhere, not just the DR.  If your action is motivated by Love, then there is nothing to be ashamed of if things are not what they seemed. 

Please pray for as and we will pray for you that the Holy Spirit lead us to help those who really need it.  Amen 

Our Weekly Schedule

Sunday: Breakfast at 10 then Church on the Beach (~1 hr drive each way). Then back in Santiago with Dinner at 6 and Orientation until 8:00-8:30

Monday – Wed – Friday: Prayer at 7:30; Breakfast at 8; Leave for worksite/ministry at 9 until 4:30ish; Dinner at 6 and after that Devotional until 9pm

Tues – Thurs: Prayer at 7:30; Breakfast at 8; Leave for worksite or ministry at 9 until 4:30ish; Dinner at 6 and after that there is a Church Service on Tuesdays and we have a Staff meeting on Thursdays until 9:30-10pm

Saturday: Turnover Day: Old team leaves and new team arrives.  We have to clean our Work Team Center and get everything ready for the next week.

We have one day off each week.  Some of our team will have Saturday and the others Sunday and it rotates.

Just a note

 

As I sit down to blog I am wondering what all to report.  There have been so many things happening here in the Dominican that it is hard to pick just one.  After some thought the thing that comes to mind is how blessed we truly are.  This isn’t a new revelation but a new perspective for us.  We knew that coming to the Dominican Republic wasn’t something that many have the chance to do.  We knew that getting our church behind us was a huge blessing, not to mention the support from our families.  But this week we have seen so much more.  Last week both Matt and I have had the pleasure of working with our kids.  Again this isn’t something new or that we haven’t been doing all summer but it is something that we love. 

A few mornings last week Matt took the boys to work with him in the town of Moca.  The church there is adding a second floor for the Pastor and his family to live in.  While the boys were there they worked on pouring the stairs.   It is fun to hear them all share their stories from the day and how hard the work was.  While they talked you could see how much they enjoyed working together.  They worked with the Pastor and they know how excited his family is about their home.  Even though they were hot and tired they loved being a part of something much bigger than themselves. 

In the afternoon I was able to take the boys a few times and separately the girls another time with me to VBS.  Again, they all worked hard helping out where it was needed.  There was a day the girls decided to stay back with Matt because they remembered the pastor’s daughter from earlier in the summer and they wanted to play with her more.  Not only did they play but together they cleaned out the wheel barrels of cement.  They laughed as they told me the stories of spraying each other with the hose.

Then there was Friday when the only one that wanted to go anywhere was Isaac.  The others wanted to stay home and just relax after all the work they had done last week.  When I went to leave for the café he just cried and said he wanted to go. At first I was hesitant to take him because it is slow and at four he tends to become bored and a little busy.  But when I looked at him I thought why not if I was at home he may not have this chance to go to work with me.  We stayed at the Café for over 3hrs and he really enjoyed it.  It didn’t matter to him what we were doing or that we were practicing English, it just mattered that we got to do it together. 

I know this wasn’t really about all we are doing here in the Dominican Republic but it is something God  is showing us.  Thank you all for your continued prayers.  Please continue to pray for strength and endurance for our last two weeks of teams.  Pray for our team to finish the summer just as strongly as we began.  Lastly pray that God continues to show us how we can help those in our community. 

God Bless!

Crash!!

Hey guys, Marcus here. So today I’m going to be writing about something that takes place about two days ago. Well it started off like this…

It was a nice day, a day that I had actually slept in, Saturday. The sky was a brilliant blue, the sun was shining, and the chore chart was full. Yep, we had chores on the day that most people relax. Sweeping the front porch, living room, bedrooms, and back patio. Also picking up shoes, doing laundry, and the one that Alec and I dread the most: Picking the mangos up off of the roof. Most of you probably know that we have a mango tree that hangs right over our roof. So every week the two of us have to go up there and separate all the good mangos from the bad, and then put them in trash bags. Last Saturday we had seven bags of bad mangos and four bags of good mangos. And doing that probably took around an hour or two. So when we were all done with our fifty-thousand chores, two of our interns, James and Sam, came over to get their hair cut. So while we were finishing up cutting the second intern’s hair, we heard none other than the very common sound in the Perrotto’s house, a big loud CRASH!! And of course it was coming from mine and Alec’s room. We both raced upstairs only to see Isaac standing there crying. Well that’s a relief, he probably just fell off the bed or something. I took him downstairs and everything was fine… or so I thought. I could still hear running water coming from my bathroom. I went back up stairs and into the bathroom and saw our sink laying on the ground and water spraying everywhere. Alec ran downstairs and got my dad and the two interns both upstairs, my mom following. Well while everybody was getting towels, my mom just simply turned off the exposed pipe. So now Alec and I have no sink in our bathroom. Sooner or later we’ll get another one, but for now I guess we will just have to get used to the one downstairs. Isaac cut his foot a little bit on the shattered sink, but nothing too bad thankfully.

Well lesson learned I guess. Isaac should never be allowed to wash his hands on unstable sinks without a stepstool or someone else’s help.

Please keep us in your prayers and thanks for reading!

CCC makes a big impact for God's Kingdom in the DR

When 90 people from one church step out and serve in the name of Jesus, whether it is in Nebraska, the Dominican Republic or anywhere else in the world, big things will happen.  It just goes to show that by ourselves, even though we can work hard, we have little impact compared to when we work together as the Body of Christ.

That is exactly how things played out when 90 High School students and adult leaders landed in the DR on June 8th.  Throughout the week, they ministered to more than 350 children through VBS, moved tons of block and dirt, mixed 1000's of pounds of concrete and mortar, participated in baseball ministry with over 40 youth, prayed with and for in the citizens in their homes in different communities and helped teach English in the Cafe'.

It is our hope that it is not only what they did that had a major impact, but what God is doing in each one of them.  If you know one of these students, please take time to ask them about their trip and how God is working in their lives through their experience in the DR. 

Please pray for a lasting impact both for the Dominican Church and for Christ Community Church.  We know that now everyone is back home safe and sound, but the challenges didn't stop once the plane left the DR.  Many had flight issues on the way back to Omaha.  Even though things like that are frustrating, we trust that the amazing events from the week will completely overshadow any of the negative things that happened.

Here are several pictures from the week.

Big week with CCC

Hey everyone.  This week we are blessed to have a group of 90 High school students and adult leaders here from our home Church in Omaha, NE, Christ Community Church.

Please pray for safety on the work sites, for lives to be impacted for Christ and a productive work week.

We will be painting 3 churches, continuing construction on a new church, breaking ground on an addition of an existing church, multiple VBS's, Baseball ministry, Café ministry and prayer walks.

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us, so please be in pray with us this week.

New Church

Yesterday we started digging the foundation for a new church plant in a very poor part of the San Francisco community. We are very excited to be part of this expansion of God's Kingdom. Praise be to God!

Please be in prayer for the ministry here as we have been dealing with vehicle troubles here in the DR. Over the past few days we have had 2 buses break down. Please pray for God's protection and providence of safe and reliable travel, and wisdom for our mechanics to diagnose and fix the issues.

 

Working in Salcedo

Over the past few weeks we have been working with an Alliance Church Plant, in Salcedo, which is about an hour away from Santiago.  Along with Pastor Luis, we have been working in the community on a drainage issue repairing a culvert to remove water from run-off, and also building a path along a small stream so families are able to access their homes.  When Pastor Luis was asked if we should paint his Church or do the community work, he said definitely the work helping the community takes priority.  What a blessing it is to work with this man and his servant attitude.

We have work with a team from Seattle, Washington and Simpson University out of Reading, CA.  Awesome teams to work with.

Posted By Rick Romano yesterday.....Another great work day in Salcedo...because of the work that Pastor Luis is doing, 3 people prayed to receive Jesus.

SPIDER!

Hey guys, Marcus speaking. I apologize for not blogging sooner, but I just haven’t had anything exciting to write about. And I really didn’t want to bore you about my birthday I had back in April. Just last night I FaceTimed my wonderful Grandma, and she told me I needed to blog again. But nothing came to mind…until today.

Every day we eat breakfast lunch and dinner with the Romano’s, who are the other family down here working alongside us. So today when we came back from breakfast I went outside in our backyard, where our dog, Hunter, was barking up a storm. I couldn’t seem to figure out why. Then I realized he was looking right above me. So, I looked upward, and almost had a heart attack. It was a spider, bigger than my hand. It wasn’t a tarantula, you could tell by how skinny it was. But I was still terrified and totally speechless. I slowly walked inside, trying not to alert the massive beast. I went into the living room where I found my mom. “T-t-there’s a s-s-spider.” I squeaked. I’m not normally afraid of spiders, but this was just outrageous. She followed me outside where she saw it, and her eyes widened. Then Alec came outside where he saw it, and then Isaac, and then Ellah. At age nine, you might think she’d be over her spider phase. But instead, she’s much deeper into it.  She sat right under it not knowing what we were looking at. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Ellah,” I snapped. “Go back inside.” Of course, she didn’t listen. She and I pretty much don’t get along, so she doesn’t do anything I tell her too, even if it’s for her own good. Finally she looks up…and screams, and then runs inside leaving the rest of us standing there laughing. Did I mention that my dad wasn’t there? He’s at a construction site. Anyway, I went inside to grab my iPod so I could take a picture of the spider. “Hello?” I hear. I turn around, and there stands the Nutter’s, another family who are working with us. They have three kids all under seven, and their father wasn’t there either. They came over so they could use our Wi-Fi because they don’t have any yet. “Uh, guys, you just happened to come over at the wrong time.” “Why? Mrs. Nutter asked. “Follow me.” I said. Her kids stayed inside with Ellah and Madelyn, while she came out back with me. She suggested we get a broom, so we did. I sat there recording this with my mom’s phone, and she had the broom. She took one whack at it, and missed. It crawled around the house and everyone screamed like never before. My mom took another whack at it, and this time she hit, but it wasn’t dead. One more solid hit, and it fell to the ground, dead. But the spider wasn’t the only thing broken. The head of our broom had fallen clean off when my mom hit it the third time.  Below is a picture of the massive thing.  I will warn you, that it is not for the faint of heart....whatever that means.

Well, that’s about it for today. Thanks for reading!

-Marcus J

 

 

 

 

Problems or Blessings?

We had a very eventful weekend this past Saturday and Sunday.  So much so, it is worth the blog…

On Saturday, we decided to take our first Road Trip in the DR to the capital city, Santo Domingo (a city of about 3.5 Million).  We got there no problem and found our first destination almost like we had been there many times before.  We then decided to go to another historic part of the city and thanks to Google Maps, we plotted our course.  It took us to our second destination, but the way we went was probably not the best.  We drove through the down town area and it was wall to wall people, cars and everything else.  As we meandered through the streets, I was a little concerned about hitting another car or being hit, but I was more concerned about hitting someone.  There were people everywhere in the streets, in the middle of traffic.  Thank the Lord we made it through there.  I will have to mark that street on Google Maps as “DO NOT GO HERE EVER AGAIN BOULEVARD”.

After a little time in the Historic part of the city, we started to head back to Santiago.  As we were taking the on-ramp of the “Interstate”, our new (used) van stalled and we puttered to a stop.  I could not get it to start again and we were blocking a very busy section of the road.  The boys and I tried to push the van out of the way, but we were on a slight slope and we couldn’t get far.  We received many honks of the horn, but no gestures, just a lot of words we couldn’t quite understand.  All we could do is pray, and that we did….a lot.  We also called our friends the Romano’s and they contacted our friend, the Church president, who lives in the capital.  He would be coming to help as soon as he could.

Not long after, a man stopped to help and then another man.  One had a tow strap and towed us out of the way into a gas station about a half mile down the road.  The second guy was a mechanic and determined the problem was with the electronics.  Our Spanish is still a little rough, so getting what they were saying took a lot of time.  They would have to repeat themselves, point at things and use a lot of gestures.  I felt like we were playing charades on the side of the highway.  Those two talked a bit and then one of them left.  It was the mechanic.  I thought, “Ok now what?”  The other guy told me his brother is a mechanic and he was going to come and help.  In the meantime, our friends from Church, Enrique and Violetta, showed up and brought us a little snack and water. 

After about 4 hours, the roadside mechanic figured out a work around to the problem and it was indeed electrical, but it was only temporarily fixed.  In order to get back for our Sunday activities, we jumped on a bus and rolled into Santiago about 10:30 that night.  The Van would sit at our friends in Santo Domingo until Monday, when we will go back and get it.

We were very thankful for the Good Samaritan that stopped and called his brother the mechanic to come and help out.  We were also thankful we didn’t stall in a not so nice part of town.  As we look back on it and think about how it sure is not fun being stranded in a foreign country, in a city that is a few hours from home, where you don’t speak the language very well, we have to also realize that God took care of us.  He did not leave us or forsake us, but he sent others to help and care for us.  Oh how amazing and faithful God is!!  Thank you for all your continued prayer for protection and safety.  They are being answered.

Well, on Sunday, we had a great Church service with the new mission team that came in from Seattle, and later that day we got to know them a little more during our orientation.  Sunday afternoon a pretty heavy storm blew through and the power went on and off several times, but then finally it came back on just before we went with the team for dinner.  When we came back home, the power was out again, but all our neighbors had power.  At that point we realized it was not a general problem, but just with our house.  As we sat in the dark, by candle light, Alec asked what can we learn from this and he had our family devotional in his hand.  He read it and it talked about what you do when a problem arises.  Kind of fitting wouldn’t you say.  He continued on and here is the verse that it had.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I thank God for His word and how the light in a dark place.  I am also thankful for our children, who many times teach me more than I teach them.  Our power is back on and our van is getting repaired.

Please continue to pray for us as we will pray for you.  We love you all!!

Yesterday...

Hello, Marcus here. If you haven’t already heard from my last blog, I’m 11…well, going to be 12 on the 30^th. So we’ve been here for eight tough and emotional days. So yesterday was a pretty eventful day I guess, well, except for school.

So we went to the Connection Café (part of the Mission), and ate dinner, which was a ham sandwich. We met the Romano family there (the Romano’s are a family of six who are running the mission).  It was Merary’s 20^th birthday, and we all went to celebrate. Merary is Jon’s girlfriend, and Jon is the oldest of the Romano kids. So the cake was designed to look like a gift, and when I saw it, I almost thought it really WAS a present. After we devoured it, our teeth turned black because of the dark spots on the cake (Mom said it was fondant or something like that). So then we talked for a while with the Romano kids, and then we headed home. It was eight o’ clock here, which is seven back in Omaha.

My parents put my three younger siblings to bed, and then left Alec and I in charge while they went to a meeting with the Romano’s about an oncoming team who are coming down this weekend. About an hour after they left, we heard our two younger sisters and brother who are sharing a room scream. We went to see what had happened, and sure enough, it was one of the many, many critters of the Dominican Republic…a lizard. About five inches long, and totally white, up on the ceiling. I shot my mom a text asking what to do, and this was her reply: “Get a broom, and try to carefully brush him out. And make sure Hunter (our dog) is outside.” Doing exactly what she said, poking and pushing him out. Then, suddenly, the lizard fell strait from the ceiling and onto the floor. He sat there for a moment, and all five of us kids were frozen is shock. And then he scampered into the guest room, until my dad and mom got home.  They found it and set it free. 

Well, that’s about it for today, so, thanks for reading…I guess.                                                                                                                                                                            

-Marcus J+++++

Easter

Well we have now been here for five days.  All of which have been a whirl wind both emotionally and physically.  It is the night before Easter, out first holiday without our family.  I would be lying if I if I said we didn't miss them all very much.  Before we left Matt and I asked our parents to record a message for the kids, little did I know that I would be the one listening to it the most. It has been so comforting to here my mom and dad's voices.  We really aren't sure how to handle our fist holiday alone.  Thankfully the Romano family won't let us be alone but with them and another family.  So we will watch Christ Community online at the kids request and then celebrate Easter with friends. 

Tonight we talked about our week and what have been the major changes for each of us.  There were the obvious answers of not flushing the toilet paper, the heat and humidity, sharing a room with my little brother (Ellah said that has been the worst) and Isaac cried for 30 min because he couldn't take a bath (ever try taking a bath in cold water).  Then there were some new experiences like doing laundry then having to redo it because birds pooped on half of it while it was hanging to dry, or trying to get the phone hooked up and not speaking Spanish so it all had to be done with the computer translating or my favorite the power going out while Matt and the boys were at a movie and I was using the restroom, needless to say the screams that came from the little three could be heard by all our neighbors.  Then Marcus surprised us with his thoughts.  He said we came here to get closer to God but so many doors have been opened for Satan to tear us apart.  Think about it.  All the things that are frustrating or causing us to fight and argue are allowing us to be torn apart.  Marcus is an amazing kid and sometimes the things he says are so much wiser than his age.  After his comment we all just started to talk and look at things more positively and were able to laugh at some of our weeks misfortunes.  We know things are going to be tough but we will get through it we just need to give ourselves time and believe God's got it (my favorite saying).

As you pray for us please pray for us to find the right vehicle in great working condition.  Pray that we continue to learn Spanish (quickly).  And also pray that we give our selves time to adjust and aren't too hard on ourselves when things are not going how we expect. 

God Bless you all especially on Easter!  We pray you enjoy the holiday and remember what it all is really about. 

Teri (and family)

We're Here! (By Alec)

Hey everyone, it’s Alec, and you know you’re in the Dominican Republic when the power goes out and doesn’t come back on for 3-4 hours. Well, we landed in Santiago at 12:00 last night and drove twenty minutes to the Romano household. When we were unloading our luggage, my mom was getting Hunter out of his kennel and a tiny bulldog came running up and made Hunter mad. The owners came and got the bulldog, but we were still pretty shaken up. Tebow (the Romano’s dog) and Hunter get along just fine. After that incident, we went to see the house we would be living in. We left most of our luggage there. Finally we decided to go to bed at 1:00 A.M. It was very hard falling asleep, because of the humidity, but eventually I did. This morning we ate pancakes and cereal. After breakfast, Marcus, Jon and I went to a basketball court that was 50 yards from the Romano’s house. Now we are waiting for Isaac to get up so we can go and unpack at our house. I still can’t believe we’re here.

I will try to keep you posted! God bless you all!

STOP!

Right now as we fly over the Atlantic Ocean, on our way from JFK to the Santiago, Dominican Republic, I am finally still.  I can’t prepare anymore for this trip because it is happening right now.  As we soar at 40,000 feet, I look over at my kids and see them catching a nap or reading or playing a game on an electronic device, or at my wife and I see her finally relaxing with a good book, and I can’t help but let out a big sighhhhhhhhhh. 

The last several months and especially the last few weeks have been well, let me think, busy, no that doesn’t seem to cover it.  How about chaotic, no that seems too negative.  Since every day for the last forever, it seems, we have been on the go from morning to night trying to get ready, I think a good word is constant.  From getting simple home repairs completed, to selling many of our possessions, to storing some things we chose to keep for our return, to taking loads to the Open Door Mission, to the kids finishing school, to wrapping up my career and helping train the new guy, to closing accounts and opening new ones, to on and on and on….

We finally have a chance to take a breath and look back at this time and rejoice because all the preparation and rushing around came to a screeching halt at 11:10am this morning (Monday April 14, 2014) when the wheels of our Regional Jet left the ground.  I think our family and friends felt much of the busyness as they have been at our house off and on (probably more on than off) helping us do everything.  We can’t say thank you enough to them.  They have supported us in prayer and in assistance so much through this stage of our Mission.  Without their help, we would still need a few more months to prepare.  I don’t know how you help someone you love leave the country, when deep down you don’t want them to go.  But they did it, over and over again, selfless and giving and supportive.  We love you all and will miss you dearly!!  I know it is not enough, but THANK YOU!

We will keep you posted as we get settled into our new home and way of life. 

Sell, Sell, Sell

After our 2nd day of the Estate Sale, we put our feet up and look back at the last couple of days....and we are glad that we only have one more day.  It is a lot of work preparing, and running one of these, but with our family and friends help, we have been able to pull it off. 

We want to thank our parents for helping run this and taking care of the little ones.

We want to thank our friends and family.  Many showed up and helped just by sitting in a room, most of the day, with not much else to do. 

We also want to thank our customers.  Many have come through the house and asked about our trip to the DR and wished us well.  We have been blessed to meet a lot of new people and tell them how amazing God is and some of the things He has done to make all this possible.

We are happy that we sold our kitchen table and chairs......and thankful that we had another place to eat......until tomorrow.  Thank you for your prayers.  Please pray that day 3 will clear the house!

Another Big Day - Praise and Prayers

We give thanks to God for an amazing time today at our own Christ Community Church, where we were able to tell everyone more about the Mission Trip and the work the we will be doing in the Dominican Republic.  After church and at the reception this afternoon we had so many people come up to us offer to pray for us and encourage us.  We are thankful to be part of such a supportive church and are truly blessed by all the prayers.

Please continue to pray for the following:
1. Pray for our family as we close in on our departure date, that we can get the work done that needs to get done and that our estate sale on the 28th-30th is successful.

2. Please pray for our family as we adjust to a new culture and new way of life in the Dominican Republic, that we lean on God and His sustenance.

3. Pray also for our family that we are leaving here.  Everyone has supported us and helped us along the way and they have been such a blessing to us.  Please pray that they to will experience God's love and peace as we temporarily move away.

This week is Global Summit where we focus on Missions and issues around the world.  We have several events planned at church this week and you can see more at   http://cccomaha.org/globalsummit.php

Bon Voyage Party

We are just 4 weeks out from our departure.  Our families got together on Saturday and we had a great time together as we started the process of saying good bye (for now).  We are sure we will still see many of our family members before we go, but with a family of our size you have to start early.  We are so thankful to all who made the trip in to Waverly, NE where Matt's brother Chris hosted a smashing good time.  We also understand that those who couldn't make it wished they could be there and we missed you all.  You will just have to come see us in the DRJ

At one point during the evening everyone gathered around us and circled us in prayer.  Prayers were offered for our safety and protection; that we would be effective in our work; for our transition into a new culture to be smooth; and many others.  Everyone extended their hands to offer their prayers for our family.  We are so appreciative of all the prayers.  We know that God hears them and will be faithful to guide and protects us. 

Below is a beautiful picture that was taken during the prayer from Chris’s upper floor.  You can see everyone extending their hands and if you look close you can see Isaac (our 3 yr old) holding his hands out too.  I guess he was receiving all the prayers on behalf of our family.  Thank You all for your Prayers!!

Departure and House

On April 14, 2014, we will be leaving for Santiago, Dominican Republic.  Praise the Lord!!  Please pray for us as we prepare for this BIG day. 

We have close to 40% of our finances raised, but we are going on faith that the rest will come in these next few months.  We only need about 83 more commitments at $40/month. 

This week, the Romano family also found a house for us.  It has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms that are very interesting.  One has a bidet so no wiping necessary and another has the toilet inside the shower.  I am looking forward to trying that out.  If you never have seen a bidet, Teri tells me there are You-tube videos about it (but isn't that the case for just about anything).  Don't worry, Teri assured me she did not watch the videos.  There is a huge Mango tree in the back yard.  There are no appliances and no furniture, so we will be purchasing all the necessities when we get there.  Our rent is 16000/month....pesos that is.  That converts to about $400/month.  This is a good deal for the house and the location.  We will be only a few blocks from the Romano's, a block from the Police station and a couple of blocks from the connection café.  There are no screens or glass on the windows.  They are just basically shutters, so we will have to install screens to keep the pests out. 

We are very excited to have a place to live.  No we just have to get ready to go.  Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Here is a picture of the outside of the house.

Our First Trip to the DR - Day 2....overdue

Well, time got away from us and we never got back to telling everyone about our 1st trip to the Dominican Republic.  Now, Matt is planning a second trip in Feb to do some prep work and we haven't even finished posting about our first trip.  So we just decided to make this video as a summary.  Please click the link below and enjoy!!

 

First DR Trip

A little breathing room

This weekend we had the chance to go to Missouri to see Matt's sister and her family.  We were at first hesitant to leave, after all we have a few things to take care of.  We started listing what we needed to do to go and how it would take some time to get everyone packed and what would we do with our puppy?  Oh, and we decided this on Wednesday and we were leaving Thursday.  But we were going, thanks to some great friends who agreed to watch our puppy and everything will be fine. 

We decided to go and just relax and give ourselves a break.  We have been going nonstop as does everyone with kids, but now we added our mission trip to the mix.  We needed a break and a chance to allow ourselves time to just step back and breathe.  We needed to look at all God has done for us up to this point.  It seems when we pray we always ask for help or for God to provide.  Well, this time we want our prayers to be that of thanksgiving. 

We have so much to thank God for as He has provided for all our needs....

Our thanksgiving prayer....  We are thankful for God meeting our everyday needs, good health, a wonderful job, beautiful home, a great working furnace.  But we are also thankful that we will get a break from winters and wearing big heavy coats  to stay warm.  We are thankful that our kids will see another place and truly be able to feel what it is like to help someone in need.  We are grateful  for our families who are so supportive and willing to help us in every way possible.  We are thankful for our new missionary friends who are so willing to find us a home and check on it frequently.  We are so blessed to have friends we can trust to rent our house while we are gone.  We are grateful for our church, who is behind us and encourages us along our journey.  We also appreciate that there are so many who are faithfully praying and giving to us financially, some that we have yet to meet.  This is not a complete list, but just the things I can think of right now.

Lastly thank you all for continuing to believe with us and support us.

Santiago Experience 2013 in Review Video

Check out this Video summarizing 2013.  It is amazing to see how God is moving in the DR.  We are so blessed to be going to work in the field there.

 http://vimeo.com/83608553

If you want to see more about the Mission in the DR that we will be joining in a few short months, please visit the website http://thesantiagoexperience.com/

Happy New Year!

A heartfelt New Year's greeting from our family to yours!!

We hope that you had a wonderful time with your family celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that you will have a Blessed 2014!!

As we near the departure date for our mission trip, which will be sometime in the middle of April, the reality of picking up and moving is hitting us pretty hard.  Christmas was a great time for our family as usual, but there was also a little sadness in knowing that we are moving away from friends and family for a couple years.  The lesson that I have learned over and over again rings so true, especially now....the focus of the season is Jesus and not us.  In the commercialized world we live in, that can be easy to forget. 

A few positive notes.....
Next year, we will be celebrating Christmas with new friends. 
We will be in a much warmer climate (very exciting)
Most importantly, we will be in the Mission field doing some amazing things, helping our neighbors, and making a difference in people's lives.

Update on our plans
At this point we have about 1/3 of the money we need.  Our focus these first few months of 2014 is to get the rest of the funds through individuals or families who can make a commitment to give faithfully each month.  $100,000.00 sounds like a lot of money, but it will only take 105 of these monthly commitments at an amount of $40.00/month.  At this point we need about 85 more commitments at that level, or less if people commit at a higher level. 

If after reading this, you feel a little nudge in your spirit to join us on this Mission through a financial contribution, please don't ignore it.  We just ask that you pray about it and do what you feel is right for you....and if you feel you want to help out, please email us at mtap5@yahoo.com and we will get you the information you need to get started.

Thanks for all the prayer support that you have been giving.  We know God hears our prayers and we have seen Him working through all of this.  Please keep the prayers coming.  We will create another post with specific prayer request.  God Bless You!!