Here are the promos for some of the events we will be doing while in the dr
Travel night and day 1 in the dr
Hi everyone, today has been a long and full day. We began our journey at the Seattle Tacoma airport. All flights were smooth, and we arrived safe and sound. We were warmly welcomed by the team here and were invited to share some delicious Chinese food with the Bello’s and the team. After that we settled in our appartments and rested for a little bit before heading to Communidad Vida y Gozo for a great worship and prayer night. As the worship leader It was amazing to sing in Spanish and English with the community here, everyone was engaged, singing, worshiping, and even some dancing. I am so thankful to Jadon, Abby, Todd, Wyatt and Thad who, with little practice, jumped in and praised God in different language with me, I loved it! Now we are back in our rooms ready to sleep. We’re so thankful for prayers, so please continue praying for our team; that we beat the jet lag, and that we have strength as we move on to another amazing day. Also pray for the community here; for open hearts and minds as we engage with them and share our love.
- Cherlyn
- Cherlyn
Day 2 ministry in the DR
The team had a wonderful time serving on Thursday even if there were a few of us who thought that it might still be Wednesday as we continue to deal with jet lag from Tuesday night’s red eye.
Today, the team split off to attack a number of tasks. Some of us went to paint at the home of our missionaries, Jamie and Berly Bello, who just returned from two years in the United States. Others sorted, prepped and packed 80+ backpacks full of school supplies to give away at a kids event we’ll help put on next week. Then there was the cookies! The rest of the team spent the better part of seven hours baking 40+ dozen (480) cookies that will be used as gifts for neighbors of Jamie and Berly in their neighborhood and where their church (Vida y Gozo) is located in Santo Domingo. It was a little tricky to make such a large batch of cookies when you consider the difference in ingredients, ovens, and baking sheets, not to mention that the 5 ovens used are spread across the 2nd and 5th floors of the building we’re staying in. Thankfully we have a great team who pulled together to figure out all the logistics. We’re so confident in our system we’re going to shoot for making the same amount of cookies in half the time tomorrow! 😂😜🤪
To end the day we canvased the Bello’s neighborhood delivering cookies and inviting everyone to a full weekend of events we’ll help facilitate. We’re praying that these events foster connection within their community so that in-roads can be made past the gates and walls, both literal and spiritual, that are present amongst the people being reached here in Santo Domingo.
Pray that tomorrow would be another full day of serving, building relationships, and seeing the love of Christ spread from us to them and that our hearts would be full as well.
- Jadon Haynes
Today, the team split off to attack a number of tasks. Some of us went to paint at the home of our missionaries, Jamie and Berly Bello, who just returned from two years in the United States. Others sorted, prepped and packed 80+ backpacks full of school supplies to give away at a kids event we’ll help put on next week. Then there was the cookies! The rest of the team spent the better part of seven hours baking 40+ dozen (480) cookies that will be used as gifts for neighbors of Jamie and Berly in their neighborhood and where their church (Vida y Gozo) is located in Santo Domingo. It was a little tricky to make such a large batch of cookies when you consider the difference in ingredients, ovens, and baking sheets, not to mention that the 5 ovens used are spread across the 2nd and 5th floors of the building we’re staying in. Thankfully we have a great team who pulled together to figure out all the logistics. We’re so confident in our system we’re going to shoot for making the same amount of cookies in half the time tomorrow! 😂😜🤪
To end the day we canvased the Bello’s neighborhood delivering cookies and inviting everyone to a full weekend of events we’ll help facilitate. We’re praying that these events foster connection within their community so that in-roads can be made past the gates and walls, both literal and spiritual, that are present amongst the people being reached here in Santo Domingo.
Pray that tomorrow would be another full day of serving, building relationships, and seeing the love of Christ spread from us to them and that our hearts would be full as well.
- Jadon Haynes
Day 3 of ministry in the DR
Today was so much fun!
We got to be apart of a family fun fair Jamie & Berly Bello were hosting in their neighborhood. All of us were involved in different activities and games, collaborating to make a great time for all the kids and parents.
Me and Alondra got to be in charge of face painting, and it was a learning experience, but it was very fun. By the end, almost every kid had something on their face, whether a panda mask, heart, butterfly’s, or a unicorn. One thing we prayed not to happen was rain, but God had a plan, and it did rain during the festival, but thankfully, every family that was there stayed, either packed under an umbrella or crammed in the bus, they all chose to stick out the rain and had a blast (in the DR culture this is a miracle).
Over all we had a great time connecting with each and every family there, and we’re very blessed to have all of them come out of their homes and join us, even amongst the rain.
- Jaiden Huff
(Additional work today was seasoning a new flat grill for the next few days activities, assembling a basketball hoop and prepping an abandoned court to do a 3 on 3 tournament tomorrow, baking of 60 dozen cookies and making our own brown sugar to accomplish the task. )
We got to be apart of a family fun fair Jamie & Berly Bello were hosting in their neighborhood. All of us were involved in different activities and games, collaborating to make a great time for all the kids and parents.
Me and Alondra got to be in charge of face painting, and it was a learning experience, but it was very fun. By the end, almost every kid had something on their face, whether a panda mask, heart, butterfly’s, or a unicorn. One thing we prayed not to happen was rain, but God had a plan, and it did rain during the festival, but thankfully, every family that was there stayed, either packed under an umbrella or crammed in the bus, they all chose to stick out the rain and had a blast (in the DR culture this is a miracle).
Over all we had a great time connecting with each and every family there, and we’re very blessed to have all of them come out of their homes and join us, even amongst the rain.
- Jaiden Huff
(Additional work today was seasoning a new flat grill for the next few days activities, assembling a basketball hoop and prepping an abandoned court to do a 3 on 3 tournament tomorrow, baking of 60 dozen cookies and making our own brown sugar to accomplish the task. )
In the morning, we went down to the Huff's room and had breakfast. After that, we immediately went to work on cookies and boxes. I was working with Veronica, one of the amazing team members in the DR, making the boxes. Afterwards I went to the Huffs and it was already near the end off making cookies; the day before we made 40 dozen but the next we made over 60 dozen cookies with a couple dozen left over in the end.
- Alondra Alvarez
- Alondra Alvarez
Day 4 of ministry in dr
Today was a fun day of events, with a pancake open house in the morning (where Wyatt & Thad cooked for about 4 hours at the hot grill) and a 3v3 basketball tournament in the evening. The open house went great with multiple unexpected neighbors showing up, and those who didn’t make it expressed their disappointment of missing it and wanting there to be another one soon.
After that, we spent some time asking and answering questions to some locals about what we do at church and our experiences with mission trips. Then we held the 3v3 tourney in their neighborhood at the freshly cleaned basketball court. Many people from the neighborhood and even some from farther away who were friends of church members came out. The best part was when it rained (a lot) no one left the event, which is apparently very unusual. After the final game, which included Angel and Todd going head to head (Angel was champion, MVP!) we provided free dinner for everyone present with a food truck (85 people). Again most people stayed for it so there was even more fun and conversation well into the dark.
All in all, it was a hot, fun, humid, very successful day.
- Nathan French
After that, we spent some time asking and answering questions to some locals about what we do at church and our experiences with mission trips. Then we held the 3v3 tourney in their neighborhood at the freshly cleaned basketball court. Many people from the neighborhood and even some from farther away who were friends of church members came out. The best part was when it rained (a lot) no one left the event, which is apparently very unusual. After the final game, which included Angel and Todd going head to head (Angel was champion, MVP!) we provided free dinner for everyone present with a food truck (85 people). Again most people stayed for it so there was even more fun and conversation well into the dark.
All in all, it was a hot, fun, humid, very successful day.
- Nathan French
day 5 of ministry in the dr
Today was Father’s Day in the Dominican Republic so we helped with the church service and a Father’s Day BBQ. We arrived early at the mall where the Bello’s church, Vida y Gozo, is to help set-up. Cherlyn, Todd, Wyatt, Jaiden, Alondra, and Thad led worship, while Dana, Josie, Kristy, and Preston helped with the kids ministry, and Abby, Angel, Jadon, and Nathan helped prepare the food for the post service BBQ. Eduardo and Jadon shared testimonies about their fathers for the service and Thad preached. It was really cool to be able to bless and encourage the fathers at Vida y Gozo through the service and with the barbecue lunch.
We got to rest in the afternoon, but in the evening we all visited the Colonial Zone, where Christopher Columbus first landed. We all got empanadas and were shown around the area to see the city and historic colonial buildings. It was a cool opportunity to see some of history of the area we’ve been visiting and serving. We ended the day with ice cream and trying to avoid the street cockroaches!
- Abby Miller
We got to rest in the afternoon, but in the evening we all visited the Colonial Zone, where Christopher Columbus first landed. We all got empanadas and were shown around the area to see the city and historic colonial buildings. It was a cool opportunity to see some of history of the area we’ve been visiting and serving. We ended the day with ice cream and trying to avoid the street cockroaches!
- Abby Miller
Day 6 Ministry in the dr
Hey everyone, day six already, wow! Today, like all the others so far, was amazing. But in many ways it was also our hardest so far. More than half the team wasn’t feeling well and we’re all the most tired we’ve been. But even so, we still had a great day. It started off with the usual breakfast (today it was one of our friend’s family recipes for arepas!) and devotions.
After this, we went to the mall where the Bello’s church, Vida y Gozo meets on Sunday’s. Here we passed out cookies to the businesses in the mall and shared about the church and an event we had later that evening. It was so great to see the business’s that are located in the same building as the church and to be able to talk with the owners. We then returned to the church and had lunch. The bistec, which was stewed beef and onions with rice and lentils, was very good.
Once lunch was over, we flipped the church into a room for a Family Fun Fair, with multiple games, face painting, cotton candy, popcorn, and lots and lots of candy prizes! This was such a cool opportunity to get to meet different people, especially all the kids. The fun fair definitely lived up to its name, you could tell everyone was having a great time.
At the end, we sent each kid off with a new backpack for the school year, which our team had already pre-packed earlier in the week.
All in all, today was awesome, even if it was tiring and chaotic at times! Tonight we’re all going to try to get some good sleep!
- Wyatt Miller
After this, we went to the mall where the Bello’s church, Vida y Gozo meets on Sunday’s. Here we passed out cookies to the businesses in the mall and shared about the church and an event we had later that evening. It was so great to see the business’s that are located in the same building as the church and to be able to talk with the owners. We then returned to the church and had lunch. The bistec, which was stewed beef and onions with rice and lentils, was very good.
Once lunch was over, we flipped the church into a room for a Family Fun Fair, with multiple games, face painting, cotton candy, popcorn, and lots and lots of candy prizes! This was such a cool opportunity to get to meet different people, especially all the kids. The fun fair definitely lived up to its name, you could tell everyone was having a great time.
At the end, we sent each kid off with a new backpack for the school year, which our team had already pre-packed earlier in the week.
All in all, today was awesome, even if it was tiring and chaotic at times! Tonight we’re all going to try to get some good sleep!
- Wyatt Miller
Day 7, our final day of ministry in the dr
Hola a todos, today was our 7th day basically our last day of work. Although that does not mean it was any less fruitful. Half of our team was still kinda sick, but everyone persevered.
For the morning of the 7th day we did some souvenir shopping, which was lots fun, a lot of the purchasing depended on us haggling, which I found very fun and interesting, It was also nice to have a Dominican resident with us to help us out (Victor). We also had someone tag along with the group (Ethan Bello) which also made things more fun.
On top of that later in the day, in the afternoon, we did the first VG high school meeting. We also had a small group go to the university for some yard work which was Jadon, Nathan, and Todd instead of me and Wyatt (thanks). Which went extremely well, in the high school event many kids came and had lots of fun. The group and I also met tons of new people and connected with them, hopefully bringing them to more events. Thad and Jaiden both shared some powerful messages on unplugging (from digital devices and into Jesus and each other) which were well received. So overall, everything was great, I will say the hardest part of today was saying goodbye to all the people we met over the short time we’ve been there, but after saying goodbye it does make me excited to potentially connect with them later.
After everything, I think this was a great day to really close our trip in terms of work and stuff. I pray we get to meet everyone again.
- Eduardo Alvarez
(Some of the team also assembled teacher baskets for a school the church serves)
For the morning of the 7th day we did some souvenir shopping, which was lots fun, a lot of the purchasing depended on us haggling, which I found very fun and interesting, It was also nice to have a Dominican resident with us to help us out (Victor). We also had someone tag along with the group (Ethan Bello) which also made things more fun.
On top of that later in the day, in the afternoon, we did the first VG high school meeting. We also had a small group go to the university for some yard work which was Jadon, Nathan, and Todd instead of me and Wyatt (thanks). Which went extremely well, in the high school event many kids came and had lots of fun. The group and I also met tons of new people and connected with them, hopefully bringing them to more events. Thad and Jaiden both shared some powerful messages on unplugging (from digital devices and into Jesus and each other) which were well received. So overall, everything was great, I will say the hardest part of today was saying goodbye to all the people we met over the short time we’ve been there, but after saying goodbye it does make me excited to potentially connect with them later.
After everything, I think this was a great day to really close our trip in terms of work and stuff. I pray we get to meet everyone again.
- Eduardo Alvarez
(Some of the team also assembled teacher baskets for a school the church serves)
Day 8, our final full day in the dr
Today was our last full day in the Dominican Republic and we went to a resort called Emotions in Juan Dolio. First we had to say goodbye to our dear breakfast cook Maria who has blessed us this past week, then we were off. While spending the majority of the day at Emotions, we ate a filling lunch (Buffet style). Also at Emotions we tanned, swam in a pool, played games in the ocean, and tried to catch fish with our hands. After we finished, we went to dinner at a local Dominican Restaurant that served all of us some monfongo, which had mashed up plantains and fried pork in it. After the teenagers finished dinner, some of us went outside of the restaurant and looked at turtles and fish that they had in water close to the restaurant. After everybody finished eating we headed out and said our goodbyes to some of the amazing people (Victor and Veronica) that have helped us here in the Dominican Republic. To finish tonight we made our way back to the hotel to pack up our bags and hopefully have a great nights sleep.
- Preston Huff
- Preston Huff
Day 9, the return home
Our final day is a long journey home. We began the day like any other, with a great breakfast. But we quickly switched into packing mode to be ready for a debrief with the Jamie Bello and some of her team.
During the debrief we shared our highs and lows from the trip, as well as what we believe would change or shape us for our own future. Highs centered around the relationships we formed, the different events we helped lead, the people who were impacted by those events and even the discoveries of the history and beauty in Santo Domingo. The lows revolved around so many getting sick, sunburn or infected mosquito bites.
When it came to what would shape or change us it was the faith for reaching our neighbors, the courage to do events that would bring in the community or our families and friends. To be as good at connecting with people and even dream of what would be possible for us to do if we ever brought a team in to serve our city (where would we pray, what would we do to impact the community on a more consistent basis).
We finished our debrief and quickly said some goodbyes before we loaded the bus to get to the airport. On the way there was a horrible rain and traffic that left us a bit on the tight side for timing, but we prayed all would be speedy and the airport was a breeze. They were super prepared for us and we checked in in record time.
The biggest concern for our return trip was a quick connection in Miami. Our team in 2019 took nearly 4 hours to make it through customs, but we would only have 2 hours. When we landed we made our way to a crazy long line for customs, but thanks to the new app MPC which we had downloaded and completed when we landed, we made it through customs with 20 minutes to spare at the gate. So, we even had time to grab a quick bite to eat.
We were off to Seattle and even made it nearly 35 minutes early. That is when things got a bit tiring. Our terminal had a mechanical issue and gave us the joy of getting a few false promises of other gates until an hour later we finally were granted a new terminal and crew. Thinking the delays were over we made our way to the highly congested baggage claim where we were sent from one luggage area to another until finally bags began to arrive. All that to say...most of us didn't make it home until 1:30 am or so.
What an impactful trip this was and we are so grateful for all who supported the trip through prayer and giving. We can't wait to share all about on our recap service coming August 17th.
- Thad Huff
During the debrief we shared our highs and lows from the trip, as well as what we believe would change or shape us for our own future. Highs centered around the relationships we formed, the different events we helped lead, the people who were impacted by those events and even the discoveries of the history and beauty in Santo Domingo. The lows revolved around so many getting sick, sunburn or infected mosquito bites.
When it came to what would shape or change us it was the faith for reaching our neighbors, the courage to do events that would bring in the community or our families and friends. To be as good at connecting with people and even dream of what would be possible for us to do if we ever brought a team in to serve our city (where would we pray, what would we do to impact the community on a more consistent basis).
We finished our debrief and quickly said some goodbyes before we loaded the bus to get to the airport. On the way there was a horrible rain and traffic that left us a bit on the tight side for timing, but we prayed all would be speedy and the airport was a breeze. They were super prepared for us and we checked in in record time.
The biggest concern for our return trip was a quick connection in Miami. Our team in 2019 took nearly 4 hours to make it through customs, but we would only have 2 hours. When we landed we made our way to a crazy long line for customs, but thanks to the new app MPC which we had downloaded and completed when we landed, we made it through customs with 20 minutes to spare at the gate. So, we even had time to grab a quick bite to eat.
We were off to Seattle and even made it nearly 35 minutes early. That is when things got a bit tiring. Our terminal had a mechanical issue and gave us the joy of getting a few false promises of other gates until an hour later we finally were granted a new terminal and crew. Thinking the delays were over we made our way to the highly congested baggage claim where we were sent from one luggage area to another until finally bags began to arrive. All that to say...most of us didn't make it home until 1:30 am or so.
What an impactful trip this was and we are so grateful for all who supported the trip through prayer and giving. We can't wait to share all about on our recap service coming August 17th.
- Thad Huff