The Ark

Hello again. It has been a couple of months since the last blog update, and for that I feel very badly. Our camera has been, and still is, broken , a lame excuse but who likes reading a blog entry without pictures? Well your stuck with good ‘ol fashion reading for now, because there isn’t anywhere here we can get our camera fixed. Much has been going on since our move to Jarabacoa. We are living in an apartment at the orphanage outside of town. There are about 45 kids divided up into 6 different houses. Each house is run and managed by a Dominican married couple who have children of their own as well. We have had the privilege of spending time with almost every family unit. The love these kids receive has been very encouraging. The children come from the worst of the worst situations, but to see them interacting within their homes you would never know they had a “past”. There is discipline, structure, organization, spirituality, and fun that flows from every home, and house parent. Although “The Ark” is quite a ways out of town, especially for only having a motorcycle, it has proved to be a very unique culture experience, as well as a refreshing mountain living experience.
What we do
Caitlin immediately started teaching as the school year began when we arrived in August. Jarabacoa is home to a few different Kids Alive sites. “The Ark” is one, and another major project is “Anija” The school we run in town. Anija is where all the “Ark” kids go for school, as well as a majority of other kids in the Jarabacoa community that are sponsored through our program, and also a few kids from wealthier families whom are paying tuition. It is a school that goes from age 4 up to 8th grade. Caitlin is teaching English to the 2nd through 8th grade students. It is proving to be a good test of patients with her, as the cultural norm for classroom behavior is quite opposite from that of the US. She is also working with the sponsorship program at The Ark. That means all those letters you receive, and send go through her first. She gets to spend a good amount of time with the kids doing the different projects and translating the letters. The kids love to brag about their sponsors and show you their pictures. The smiles on their faces are a sure tell that are loved. It has been a very rewarding experience for Caitlin to be involved with this work, as well as the both of us in living at The Ark.
My work is not so easily defined. On any given day I might be at 3 different ministry sites. We have another Kids Alive site further up in the mountains in a town called Constanza. We have come to know the missionaries there that host teams fairly well. I was able to spend some weeks on and off with them during a period when they were hosting teams early this fall. I have also been helping out with various projects at our care center in Palo Blanco. Palo Blanco is a small community outside of Jarabacoa. The care center in Caraballo is much like the one in Palo Blanco. My first project was doing the electrical work for an entire upstairs addition. The only thing I knew about electrical work before I started was what color wires hot, neutral and ground were, which does no good here because they haven’t really figured out the color coding thing yet. It was actually a lot fun, I learned quite a bit. With my “How-to” book and some guidance from a couple a guys who actually know what they’re doing , I finished the project un-electrocuted, and with all the lights and outlets in working order. A regular electrician now, I am. The project I am currently working on is at The Ark. With about ten buildings and about a hundred people, we are basically a small community. No community is complete without lots of broken things and ongoing maintenance projects. I could just jump in and fix everything, but in the long run that doesn’t accomplish much. The solution therefore is training the house dads, whom all work in different capacities at The Ark. My plan is to demonstrate a level of professional work and problem solving that helps in maintaining routine fixes and everyday tasks. We are starting by moving all 5 locations where tools, parts, and junk are stored, into one central organized shop. After that I will develop a work schedule and problem solving organizational solution to accomplish work.

In summary, we are busy but rested, happy but challenged, both learning brand new things but receiving the upmost respect. I would say we are truly happy. God is growing us in our relationship with Him, as well as each other. We are constantly seeing and seeking his grace, and peace and comfort, but also not missing his sovereign nudges of growth through uncomfort.

Big big change

Many of you know of the big big change the island has in-store for Caitlin and I. Our last year was spent on the North coast of the Dominican Republic. An area made up a many Haitians and Dominicans, as well as a fair amount of ex-patriots. The north Coast has been a popular vacation spot for the last 15 years or so. During our time living in Monte llano, and working in the sugar cane batey, (village) of Caraballo, we have seen and been apart of many great advances and changes in the lives of kids, visitors, and the school. With the work teams coming to an end for 2008 in Caraballo, our directors purposed a few openings at a different Kids Alive site in Jarabacoa, about 2 hours away. Since our main job had been hosting work teams it made since for us to consider and take the offer to move. In Jarabacoa we will be surrounded by the majority of the Kids Alive DR staff. Caitlin will assume the English teaching role at the school, Anija, as well as cover some much needed sponsorship responsibilities there. I will working with teams that come to Jarabacoa, as well as provide some much needed help with teams in Constanza, another Kids Alive site. When there are no teams my role will be one of maintaining the buildings and doing small construction and maintenance. This is a very bittersweet move for us, as we will be leaving behind over a year’s worth of friendships, success, trials, progress and change. Even though we will only be 2 hours away it feels as if we were saying goodbye forever. We will greatly miss our Kids Alive staff of Jessi, Candace, and Alberto. We will also be leaving behind other friends that we hope to always stay in touch. Nationals, and fellow North Americans alike, it’s never easy saying goodbye to people you love.

Teams

With only three teams left on the year and numerous projects to finish, we had our work cut out for us. The first two teams came during the last few weeks of our summer program that Caitlin was heading up. Trinity Fellowship from Texas, and Lisbon Falls from Maine, proved to be some of our best groups ever! Both had work ethics that rivaled even some of our adult groups. We moved about 3 metric tons of rock to make a parking lot, poured about 300ft of side walks, and poured the floor and started laying block for our new cistern. They were two very successful weeks for construction, but even more than that, we were able to see the lives of these teens change right before our eyes. For the first time ever we had a group where every single person made a decision to sponsor a child! There were teens as well as adult leaders who acknowledged the call in their lives to missions. I saw an unwilling selfish attitude on Monday, change to a willing servant heart by Friday. Even more exciting, we witnessed a life changing decision for Christ immediately followed by an ocean baptism!
Our third and final group of the year in Caraballo, was a returning group from Connecticut. Valley Baptist is the most mission minded church I’ve ever known, with trips all over the world, all year long. That’s why it was a great honor to have them back. They could have chosen many places, but we are honored they chose us. There were many that returned from the previous year. Nineteen people in all, we split the group into 3 parts. Ten of the guys did construction, six did medical with Jessi, our nurse, and three did VBS with Caitlin. The medical and education team really ministered to Caitlin and Jessi, they had only good things to say about their week. On the construction end, our national workers told me all week long that this group was the hardest working group we’ve had yet! They played a key role the preparation for the wood shop being built. We also built a wall, and laid quite a few blocks. The guys were a great encouragement to our national workers. In the end, children were sponsored, relationships were built, and even a few people with expressed interest in career missions!

random rant

Ok so today in church we took communion, just like every Sunday, but this week was a bit different. Why you ask? Because this Sunday the cup was juice. Probably normal for most who are reading, but not here. Here they use wine, and they always have in our church, now its really really cheap wine, but that's not the point. The interesting part about it was after we took communion an elder of the church randomly got up and noted the difference and asked the congregation their opinion. It's never really a good idea to ask a group of Dominicans their opinion in a public gathering. They are very passionate and feed off each other and everything gets louder and louder, and the people more emotional and more passionate. Finally Ruben stood up and interrupted and said that it wasn't the appropriate time or place to be having this discussion and they should have a meeting at another time. The whole thing was humorous to me, at one point someone suggested we have half juice and half wine so as to please everyone. Will everyone ever be pleased? If you want to be literal, and choose to agree with me, the last supper consisted of bread and WINE, not juice, and no it wasn't because the wine wasn't fermented, or that the water of the day was dirty. I feel like if Jesus wanted to have juice or water he would have done it. BUT I'm not going to fight to the death over something this silly. What does it matter really if you use wine or juice, sure I prefer wine because I choose to model my life after my Saviour (that was meant to be funny) but its the point of partaking in the covenant meal. We are to remember, and often (as in not just once a month) the obligation that Christ took on for us and our descendants and how it should bring us to reverence before him because when we come into reverence, it brings forth submission. Submission is the only appropriate response that comes out of reverence, and it is submission to God that we should be seeking.
Now, you might be thinking, how immature it is for them to argue over wine or juice, obviously it doesn't matter. But wait a second, are not the things we fight about in worship (church) just as dumb. Take music for example. The day I say I'm leaving a church because I don't like their music being contemporary or not, please slap me in the face. The fact that your music is contemporary or traditional is not the point. The problem is the individuals lack of understanding of what worship (church) is about and is supposed to accomplish, and what their position is in that. And since when does "worship" mean the music part of the service. If I were to explain our church culture in this situation to a Dominican Christian, they would laugh and say "silly Americans". The reality is all of us are silly, myself included, at some point when it comes to our interpretations of the Christian life. I hope I never leave a church because their music is too slow, or not contemporary enough, or too upbeat and loud. That doesn't mean music isn't important. Music is crucial to a worship service, its not the "point", it only brings us to the point. Our music should prepare our hearts for the worship service, which means it should be reverent and lead us to a point of humility and a state of fearfulness, because the ultimate point is submission. My personal opinion is that most, not all, of the modern "contemporary" music that I have heard, is neither reverent, nor fearful resulting not in my submission, but rather in my feelings at the present time. I'm also not pushing for solely traditional music. The point is not what form is better, but rather what will lead the congregation to a state where they are ready for the "rest" of the worship, the point of it all, which is submission.

Many of you know of the back problems that have plagued me. 10 years of Doctors, Chiropractors, Therapists, and still the problems continue. I’ve been misdiagnosed, mistreated, and overlooked. At the very height of pain that I have yet experienced, when Cape Bible Chapel was here, I had decided that I had enough. I started doing some internet research on my problems. I also talked to the Chapel team leader, also good friend and supporter Jay Meystedt, who had similar problems. He told me a specialist he went to in CO springs that had completely fixed him with just a few treatments. So I figured it was worth the time and money to give it a shot. Have you ever cried from pain? Not the frustration of the pain, just the pain. Well that’s about where I was, so I said goodbye to Caitlin for a week and boarded a plane back to the states. Upon arrival, I was met by high school friend and also supporter Andy Young. Andy and his wife Kristie visited us in the DR earlier in the year and we were able to show them the lives and work that they are sacrificing for. I stayed with them for several nights as they treated me with home cooked meals, delightful dishes of, grilled pork tenderloin, steak, homemade hamburgers and pizza! Andy also lent me his truck for week as my appointments were in the Springs and they live in Denver. (which literally saved me a couple hundred dollars) After a few nights at the Young’s, I headed south to CO Springs. I spent too short of a time with Chris, Caitlin's brother. We had lunch and walked around downtown and talked of the struggles of missions and solved the universes poverty problems all in a couple of hours. It was good to see him. I also visited and stayed with some of our other favorite friends, the Gaonas. I was greeted at the Gaona’s with welcome notes, drawings and a chocolate from their four children. I was also referred to as ‘Mr. Beller’ by all four of them the entire time I was there. The Gaona’s are also supporters and it was good to be able to share with them the things God has been doing. They are expecting their 5th child and are in the process of selling their house and buying another with an extra room. I went with them one day to look at houses. It was kind of weird. For half a day I was completely taken in to American thought. Oh yeah, buying a house is a mostly normal thing that Caitlin and I might have to do again some day. It was rather enjoyable being back in that mindset. Looking at houses, critiquing the cheap cabinets, carpeted bathrooms, peel and stick linoleum, and seeing peoples houses for sale by the bank because they couldn’t pay their mortgage, but had a big screen in every room, and two new SUV’s in the garage. Ok maybe that last part wasn’t fun, more, sad, but we did see several places like that. I’m not saying that I shall never be exempt from finding myself in circumstances like that, but I do pray that I shall never allow sin into my life so deep that it takes over everything in such a way where responsibility holds no meaning but rather lusts of life come before the well being my family, and my duty of stewardship before the Lord. I consider it a blessing the experience we have had thus far living life closer to the way the rest of the world lives. For this, I hope and pray, will always be a reminder to us of Gods intended purpose for our family and future generations. I have only to think of the barefooted man handling the cart. The lowly peasant with the 100 lbs perfectly balanced on his head running for his life, sweat and desperation in his eyes, Lord, make me like lowly peasant, the cart handler, may I always work with no shoes.

The doctors in CO Springs were very helpful actually. One of them that saw me for 2 of my visits was actually a believer! Dr. Matthews was able to tell me about my problem, and perfectly explain the treatment he was doing and why it would eventually fix the problem. After each visit I could feel and tell a difference. He recommended that I continue with very specific Chiropractic treatment upon return to the DR. I have since been twice more and am hoping and praying that this will soon be brought to a close. Yes I am ready to move on, back problems are a pill.

One of the things we did while the Roarks were here was horseback riding. It was a lot of fun. We rode up to a beautiful waterfall in the mountains.

I know every single one of you is probably thinking that it’s about time I posted some more. I mean I know that I have kept you waiting day after day as you have often wondered of the well being of your favorite missionaries. But, much has gone on. Although the past year has seemed to pass fairly slowly, the last 2 months have flown by rather quickly, for many reasons I intend to update you right now!
I want to first continue on where I left off when Caitlin’s parents were here. We had many adventures. One adventure even took us to Haiti. For the first time Caitlin and I stepped foot into the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the whole world. It was night and day difference. The Dominican border town of Dajabon, was lush and green, with rich farming, and prospering people. Literally 100 yards away was the most black from white difference I have ever seen. Mud, dirt, grim, stinch, a sight we know all too familiar on the north coast in the cane fields. Only, Caraballo represents only a small percentage of hopelessness in the DR, while in Haiti there is no “right side of the tracks”. The day we went happened to be market day. Twice a week the DR opens it’s borders to allow for commerce. Chaos, is about the only word fit to describe market day. Thousands of Haitians run back and forth carrying precious supplies. Men handling huge carts with 100 pound bags stacked so high you can’t count, handling it barefoot through crowds yelling for people to make way, doing everything they can to make sure it doesn’t tip over or get going so fast that it crushes its handler. You see old men as old as what looks like 70 or 80 pushing wheel barrels with 4 or 5, hundred pound bags. There are women carrying goods on their head that easily exceed their height and weight. Men run for their lives, or so it seems with a hundred pound bag of flower or rice on their head, only so they can drop it with some friends and run back for more. It’s a sight I don’t think you see in too many places in the world. I’ve never seen people work so hard. And not for an early retirement do they do this, or to make sure and have a ‘sufficient’ amount in savings, or to save up for something they have been wanting, or even something as noble as paying off built up credit card debt. No, these people have something else in mind. They work like madmen, so their families can eat. I saw and met some of the most respectable people in the world that day. Not once did I feel threatened, scared, or fearful for even my wife, except for the danger of getting in the way of an overloaded cart handler. We spent well over half the day in Haiti walking around visiting people and trying not to look like tourists. No grass, no green, no trees. The main road used for heavy traffic on market day with 18 wheelers, and huge box trucks, looked like something we might build for an off-road course for fourwheelers. An entire country in conditions not suitable for a dog. There’s no way to describe it, its something you can’t understand unless you’ve been there, or you’ve visited the Haitian Bateys in the DR.
We did get to visit a school and orphanage in the border town in Haiti. We were quite impressed and encouraged. They serve 535 children, 80 of whom live at the orphanage. All of the children learn, Creole, French, Spanish, and English! And a good number of them know a great deal of all 4. We talked to kids as young as 10 who spoke English to us.
The rest of the trip that day continued back in the DR, where Mike, Caitlin’s Dad, noted that he never thought returning to the DR (which is a third world country) would feel like returning to advanced civilization. We continued to a town called Monti Cristi, where we saw the salt flats where it’s said that the US gets most of its table salt. We also so a beautiful natural beach, and walked along another shoreline where there was no shortage of beautiful shells.

Welcome Parents

Caitlin's Parents came to visit! They arrived while Cape Bible, also their home church, was in town. They helped out with a VBS we did in the village and were able to see us "in action" as we lead our team. When the team left they invited us to stay at the bed and breakfast in near by Sosua with them for the week. 24hrs of power, hot water, we were in! The neat thing about the Roark's is they are explorers, with Mike being a Geogropher the adventures were a blast and unforgettable.

Our first adventure wasn't too far from home. We took a nice Sunday drive up to the mountain 'campo' or country. It was beautiful. We were able to show Caitlin's parents a little bit of the mountian culture, as well as our favorite little mountain cottage.


We also stopped by Ruben and Juvi's house to introduce them to the Roarks. The Roarks bought a very nice pueter baking plater and presented it to them as a house warming gift. We hung out and talked and were entertained with Mike's carefree unafraid attempt at spanish conversation. He actually did quite well!

On a different day Caitlin took them out to the 'campo' (country) to meet one of our teachers, Dorka, who was wanting to meet them. Dorka is into gardening and flowers and Caitlin told her all about her dad's passion for his flowers. She told her how he hybridizes his own flowers and how beautiful his extensive collection is in the MO spring time. Mike brought pictures of his garden, upon Dorkas request, and he presented them to her. It was neat to show the Roarks the "true" Dominican Republic.

A taste of home

Our home church 'Cape Bible Chapel', returned for a 2nd year of work at the Park Care Center. We had a really great week. Last year when they came they were our first full week work team. The site has changed dramatically in just one year, and it was neat seeing their faces light up as we drove to the school that first day. We mixed concrete by hand, tied rebar, and poured A LOT of concrete. We poured close to 300ft of sidewalks, bleecher seats and goals for our basket ball court. The other really cool thing we did was organize, stuff, and hand out almost 250 gift bags that all our kids recieved at the mothers day party we had. It's always nice when your job includes your friends.

America

Ok so this blog is really really late from the actual time it occured. We are behind at bit. At the end of April we went home to the states for a Kids Alive global 'Soul Care Conference'. Missionaries from around the world came for 3 days of relaxing, learning, and fellowship. And just where do you host a Global conference? Well Wisconsin of course. Home of the in-door water parks. It was really neat to share time with people serving everywhere from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and South America. Every country did a presentation where they shared about their site and the children they are rescueing. We left feeling loved and cared for by our organization.

We also spent an extra week with some friends in Seattle. My best friend Jeremy and his wife Mehgan, and soon to be little Jeremy jr. I have known Jeremy for about 10 years. We were in our first band together (even though we couldn't initially play intruments). Jeremy has been a good friend over the years and has always been there to talk to. We sometimes spend hours talking on the phone, or now 'Skype', about the trials we face, or talking through thick theological issues. Our time with them was great but also way too short.

The last part of our trip included a stop in NYC. Originally when I bought the plane ticketts we had an 11 hr lay over and planned to go out and see the city. The flights changed and we only had 5hrs of lay over making it a little harder. Especially because we had to switch airports inbetween as well. By the time we got to JFK and put our bags in storage we had only 3hrs left. Caitlin had never been so we decided to try. We took the subway downtown at around 3am. We literally got off the subway and started running like crazy people in the almost empty Times Square so we could see as much of the downtown as possible. 30min later we hopped in a cab, as the subway was too slow, and paid a rediculous amount of money to get back to the airport in time to check in. It was an adventure. Really stupid, really crazy, really expensive, but fun! After being up for around over 50 hrs strait our bed was the best welcoming home present you could ask for.

A place to put dishes

The perfect house can't be complete without a place to store your pots and pans. Thats why I decided to make my 'first ever' cabinets to complete Rubens house. I have been blessed with some pretty nice tools that make things a lot easier. There are always frustrations of doing things for the first time. Especially when you want them to be perfect. Well I would say all those issues of " Fine Wood Working" paid off. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. The most important thing is Juvi has a complete kitchen now. Well almost, I still have a few more doors to make. But I am well equipped now to take on the next cabinet project (which is a little bigger) with our school kitchen. Wood working is kind of fun!

A Dedication

Our church, Templo Biblico, and the Park Care Center teamed up to do a dedication of Ruben and Juvi's house. All the school teachers were invited and the whole church was invited. We had a packed house. They even brought over the band! The night was a celebration of what God had done in Ruben and Juvi's life. Several people prepared solo's, they even made me get up and sing "Trading my Sorrows". After, a few men from the church spoke, and then Alberto, our school director (and Rubens boss) spoke very emotionally about the family. He retold, with tears in his eyes, the story of how it all came about. It was the first time for many people to hear the extent of the story. After he was done several men insisted I get up and say something. Alot of people didn't really know me very well or know that Caitlin and I were apart the story at all. They wanted to hear from me personally. I had never spoke publically to a large group of people in spanish before, and I was really really scared. But I made it through and just talked about how much of a blessing it was to be apart of the way God was working, and how I was blessed to be apart of such a specail family here. It was a good night

Vicinos

We live in a Dominican nieghborhood. If your door is open that means anyone is free to come inside your house. If someone comes to your house around dinner time that means they are hungry and you should share your dinner with them. They don't exactly treat us the same as the other Dominicans. I think they know Americans are a little more independent and we like our space sometimes. But we do like to take part in the very relational, unselfish parts of this culture. We do have people over for dinner from time to time, of course its a very planned-in-advance "American" thing. Our friends, Leandro, and Joel (pronounced, Ho-el), came over one night and made Donplinas, (which is how they pronounce dumplings), fried salami, and sweet plantane, or platano maduro. It was a wonderful meal, that we shared with about 10 other nieghbors. Afterwards, I brought my laptop outside under the carport next to our house, where everyone hangs out, and we all pulled up a chair and watched a Dominican comedy classic "Sanky Panky" No it's not a porno get you mind out of the gutter. A sanky panky is when a Dominican man meets a older maybe not so attractive wealthy American woman in hopes of marrying her and fulfilling his biggest dreams of being able to sit around all day and do nothing. Ok maybe they do that anyway, but the catch is that they would have money, and ultimately someday be able to go to the US, specifically NYC. It's actually really funny, even if you can't understand what they are saying.

A special dinner

Ruben and Juvi invited Caitlin and I over for dinner in their new house. It was a special night. We played the game "Apples to Apples" (in spanish) it was a lot of fun. They have such a beautiful home. We had a traditional Dominican meal, with fried plantane, potato and egg salad, and fried salami, (healthy I know), oh and home-made lemon juice. The only thing their house lacked was kitchen cabinets.

Dominican boredom

My neighbors do almost nothing all day long. Today I stayed home from the school to catch up on paper work and emails, and all day(just like everyday) they hung out on our bench outside and 3ft from where I'm sitting. We like our neighbors and make it point to hang out with them during the week. But literally from about 9am-10pm it’s crowded with life right outside our windows. They made a wonderful doll yesterday that kept them entertained for several hours. Pray for Caitlin and I as we continue to pursue relationships with these people and that God might open opportunities to share with them about our faith.

The Dad factor

Our Last work team was a very special group from Wheaton Chicago area. Many kids Alive missionaries are strongly connected with the Wheaton area as well as WBC whom we hosted for the last week. Our feild director Vic also came with his son Sam. We had a packed house with 24 fathers and sons on our first Father/Son team. What a great idea! These guys worked their butts off and had a blast. We poured over 40 yards of concrete in almost monsoon rain conditions. Their team work and discipline paid off in the end with the completion of a full court basketball court. Our Haitian workers didn't really know what to think of the father son crew, who did so much work we had to create more in the end. What a huge testimony for this village to be able to see father and son working hard side by side, laughing and playing, crying and praying. Their impact along with their hearts were huge. They also put on a hot dog and game party on Sat. for our kids. What a treat!

Family and Friends

We got a call one night and the voice on the other end said, " Hi I'm Caitlin's Uncle Frank, She's never actually met me, but I'm here in the DR doing medical missions and would like to come see you guys if possible" So we hung out a day with long lost Uncle Frank! It was fun, he is a DR. in California and has been doing Medical missions to spanish speaking countries for many years. We showed our village and hung out on the beach with him, where he kindly bought our lunch.

Caitlin's brother and his wife were able to visit the very next week. Chris and LaChanda were missionaries in India for awhile and are now in CO Springs where Chris works at his missions home office, (eMi). We enjoyed having them here. We were able to spend quite a bit of time with them and really had fun. They also got to expirience classic DR life when the bus they were on to explore the island broke down.

Our friend Jenny and her dominican husband Miguel have been a huge blessing for Caitlin and I. We occasionally go on double dates and have fun fellowshipping together. Jenny has been in the DR for about 7 years and recently married Miguel. They work for a mission group that does similar things as Kids Alive. Jenny is about 7 months pregnant and we all got together and had a baby blessing party for her up at the Crossroads retreat center with Bob and Jana. Instead of typical baby shower gifts we gave gifts of the spirit that included, music, poetry, scripture, art, and many other creative things.

One of the workers at our school also just recently had his 5th child. Penel is one of my favorite guys at work. Caitlin and I went to visit him and his family. I told him he had enough children now for a basketball team!