layne and Caitlin

By Boat, Car, and Foot. The Great Northwest.

2010-07-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

These past several days, Lucy, my parents, and I have been seeing the Northwest by boat, car, and foot. My mom and dad came ready to visit us with notebooks full of researched destinations, from the Olympic Peninsula to the Troll Under the Bridge. We had a nonstop trip full of sightseeing.

We began in Seattle by car. Here we saw everything and anything historical, botanical, and touristic. We strolled the famous fish throwing Pike Place and ate at a crumpet shop, toured historical Capitol Hill, esteemed the beautiful Queen Anne area (which is so close to my heart), shopped at the University District, viewed the Locks in Ballard, and the pondered the curious Troll Under the Bridge.

On the last leg of my parents' visit, we hopped the ferry to the Olympic Peninsula. The first day we drove all the way to the coast, marveling at all the beauty along the way. We beheld the most amazing lake, Lake Crescent. When we got to the coast, we hiked out to this great beach at La Push. By the end of the hike, unfortunately, my parents were on their death beds. After that, we drove to Forks. (Yes, we were a bit curious about the Twilight craze. If you are a Twilight fan visiting Forks might be right up your alley). All in all, I'd call that day quiet impressive.

Each night during our sightseeing of the Olympic Peninsula, we stayed in Port Townsend. Port Townsend is a quaint, Victorian town overlooking a beautiful bay. On the second day, we took a ferry across the straight to Victoria, BC. This was an awesome day. On the ferry ride, we enjoyed the bluest sky and water and saw several dolphins. Then when we arrived in Victoria we ate crepes, strolled the downtown, and had high tea at the Empress Hotel.

On our final day, we ascended into the Olympics to Hurrican Ridge. I was once again awed by the beauty of the Northwest and God's creation. I wanted to sing like Maria did, "The hills are alive with the sound of music."

We arrived back in Seattle fatigued, but filled with great experiences and memories.

Let me bring you up to speed: "Friends" with babies

2010-04-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hullo friends!

We have had a SUCH a big year! We have moved back from our beloved Dominican Republic, had a baby, and then moved again to Seattle, Washington. We are settling into our lovely new home which I like to call "Friends" with babies. We live in a house with our friends, their one-year old, their baby-on-the-way, our baby, and of course, us. All of this Layne told you in the last blog, so I won't bore you with any worn out details.

I, Caitlin, am going to be taking over the blog. (Ladies are always good at freshing things up anyways). So, this entry is about me, just to let you know that I am taking the reigns. And it's gonna be good.

So, welcome to "Friends" with babies.

"Alas my friends we say goodbye

2009-12-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

In May of 2007 Caitlin and I said goodbye to our friends, family and home to head off on an epic adventure in a far away land. Who knew our lives would change as they did? Who knew we would see and experience such wonderful and terrible things? Can you put words to the people, the culture, the injustices, or the life that one endures on a mission field in the third world? We shed many tears, had many laughs, we were frustrated to no end, experienced many victories, and we were deeply loved.
Today Caitlin and I are saying goodbye again. As you already know we made the temporary transition back to the states this last summer. Everything has gone by so quickly. Our beautiful daughter, Lucy Layne, is now four months old. For the last 5 months we have been living with my parents in efforts to save money to reestablish ourselves in American society. As I write this we are entering into the next faze of our transitioning life.
What lies 2233.6 miles away? Answer: Our new home. We have decided to go west. Seattle Washington is our destination. Along with being some of the most beautiful country in the nation, it is also home to my best friend that I have known for over ten years. Jeremy, his wife Meghan, and son Emmitt have opened their lives for us to come share with them. We have found a house to rent and plan on living in community with our friends for a good bit of time in Seattle. The plan is to explore, grow, and learn all there is to offer from this unique opportunity. No doubt it will be a challenge, but one that is adventurous and full of memories waiting to be had. While living with our friends will be a short-term experience, we do desire to explore to see if Seattle is an area God would use us in.
The adventure begins on Friday December 4th for me. My friend will meet me in Missouri and together we will drive 40 hours to the Pacific Northwest. Caitlin and Lucy’s journey has already begun. They flew to Seattle Sunday the 29th of November, and have begun to settle into the house and get things organized. We do not know exactly what God has in-store for us. Please pray that he continue to guide us, and that we will continue to listen and be faithful when he calls. As of now I do not have a solid job lined up, although I have some interviews, and temporary work available upon my arrival. Praise God for taking care us! He always has, and always will. Pray that we will continue to be obedient to His word.
Friends, we don’t know how to thank you or express our gratitude for being willing to serve by supporting us. Through prayer, time, and finances you have made it possible for us to put our hands to work and be apart of God changing the lives of children and adults. The stories are a book-length long and still bring us much joy and rejoicing. Caitlin and I pray for you, that God would continue to bless you, that you might bless those that do His work. Please, we beg you, to seek out those in need and continue the rich service that you have graciously shown to us. There is a great work to be done within our borders, as well as outside. Thank you, thank you for all you have done. We love you all, and would love to hear from you and all God is doing in your lives. God bless.

A Dominican friend once told me...

2009-09-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

A Dominican friend once told me, “Excuse me if this is rude, but your culture is weird.” I sometimes reflect on those words as I go throughout my “normal” daily routine. I sometimes find myself uncomfortable or uneasy just driving down the perfectly paved roads with the perfectly ordered traffic. We were in Colorado the last couple of weeks for our Debriefing and Renewal training. While there, we were able to spend some time with friends, supporters and family. One evening while we were there, we went with Caitlin’s brother and his wife to Denver and walked around in the outdoor mall strip of the downtown. Have you ever been overwhelmed and not realized it? People were talking to me and trying to carry on conversation, but I apparently wasn’t there. All I saw and heard was the homeless people, people in expensive clothes with lots of shopping bags, street performers, and guys with 12-inch spikes in their hair. This used to be all normal right? We went into a Barns and Noble bookstore and I apparently lost it. I just went on complete shut down. There were so many books! I like books. Everywhere I looked there were books, and ones I wanted to read. Books on food, health, history, poetry, literature, politics, how to books, novels, and an entire Christian section. There just wasn’t enough time, and where should I start, and really we were only there to use the bathrooms. I was brought back to earth when Caitlin asked me if I was ok. Much like my 5-week old daughter who goes right to sleep when things are and loud busy, I was over stimulated. It was a surprising reminder that although it was less than 3 years ago when we left our country, reentry will be a little more complicated than expected. My Dominican friend was right on a number of different levels; this country is weird. But not because of its structure and order, those are all wonderful things. It’s strange here because you wonder how many people know that all of our order, variety, freedom of expression, and wealth are not so normal but rather tremendous blessings compared to the rest of the world. We are our in own world. Do we even know it?

During our training in Colorado Springs, we learned that the average time period for resettling in your home culture is 4 years! We also learned and identified with the stages of a cross-cultural life. Right now we are in the “Chaos” stage, comforting right! Did you know that 50% of missionaries come back to their home culture with severe anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and thoughts of suicide? Ha! It’s good to know we’re not alone! Although I wouldn’t put anything in the “severe” category, we have experienced a good deal of most of those whether here or on the field. That’s not something you hear everyday from a missionary. In all it was a very needed week. We felt validated, understood, and comfortable talking for the very first time since we’ve been back. People were actually interested! We were also able to process the good and bad over the past two years and ponder on how we want to incorporate those things in our new life. Good quality time was spent seeking the Lord and His direction for the next adventure in our lives, and we will be excited to keep you all informed as God begins to reveal His plans for us now.

We are privileged and honored to have been the recipients of your gifts and prayers. Without all of you we could not have done the work of Lord as we did in the DR. We are confident that lives are changed and that it was a time well invested. We thank God for each of you on a regular basis, and pray that you would go on investing in expanding the kingdom through a local body, local missions, and foreign missions.

The financial details of life right now are building up faith in us. God has provided some temporary work for me right now, some remodel work at Caitlin’s parents, but life here is expensive, and our goal of starting a new life seems far away. We are blessed to be able to stay with my parents for this time but are looking forward to when we can afford our own place. Please pray that God will provide for us. Our term with Kids Alive is up at the end of September, but they have agreed to leave our account open until the end of the year. Kids Alive gives their missionaries a three-month transition period where a stipend is paid, insurance is covered, and ministry expenses are reimbursed (such as the training and travel expenses during our time in Debriefing and Renewal). Insurance is the main cost for us with just having a baby. The last two months we have received only half of our required support, leaving many costs that are out of the realm of our current income. Kids Alive will pay these costs for us as long as we have money in our support account, and right now we do not. We are grateful they have agreed to leave our account open for a few more months in hopes that some of these costs can be covered through continued giving. Please consider supporting us during this time of transition while we wait for God to put pieces together. Please pray for us that we would be strong in this time and seek Him who is our provider. It has been a pleasure having each and every one of you apart of our lives. May the Lord bless you and your household!

Lucy Layne

2009-08-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

Photagrophy by April Greene

Little Lucy Layne heads to Colorado

2009-08-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

Since Layne and I have been back from the Dominican Republic, we’ve had exciting things happen. On a lovely Saturday afternoon, our first child, Lucy Layne (bringer of light to the narrow path), was born. It was a beautiful day! She was born on July 25th, weighing 6lbs 5 oz. She’s a tiny little thing, but completely perfect. All the proud grandparents were there to behold the precious, new little life and several friends as well. Everyday since her birth, we haven’t been able to stop studying her, holding her, and watching all her quirky little facial expressions. Having a new baby is just amazing!

This week we are off to Colorado for our debriefing with Mission Training International. We went to MTI for training before heading to the Dominican Republic and now we are wrapping up our missions experience there. We absolutely loved it the first time around, so we are excited to see what God is going to teach us. We are also happy that we are going to see lots of friends and my brother, Chris, while we are in Colorado. And of course we are excited to show off our new little addition to everyone!

Coming Home

2009-07-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

I said goodbye to Caitlin for what would be our longest time apart yet. Watching her and her big belly walk through those doors that only those with plane tickets can pass through was harder than we both thought. The first week was quite enjoyable for the both of us. She was busy being spoiled by her parents and eating at all the places one misses while living in a third world country. I was enjoying time alone; reading and trying to plan our near future the best I could. As the weeks went on being alone wasn’t such a comfort, but I did spend some meaningful time saying goodbyes properly, and mentally preparing myself for all the changes that were set to take place within the next few months.
I think if I took a stress test even now, it would show up off the charts. Three weeks ago, I was watching people take their newly born babies home from the hospital in their arms on the back of a motorcycle. Today, I have to worry if my child’s car seat meets federal regulations; if I’m not sure I am to take it to the fire department to have it inspected, it can’t be over 5 years old by law (cause everybody knows that car seats back then were completely unsafe) and finally, legally the hospital has to check the seat before we can leave and take our baby home. We are homeless, jobless, carless, re-entering this now quite foreign country, getting ready to have a baby, and are expected to look act and feel like we did before we left the country 2 years ago.
On paper it might look like we could have a break down at any moment. The truth is we are experiencing God’s strength, peace and assurance like never before. Don’t get me wrong it’s still not easy, but God has really been on His game lately with us! (like He’s never not!). I arrived in the St Louis airport to a glowing full-bellied wife. If I have nothing else in life I have her. Being away for so long brings that into perspective.
We are living with my parents for this time of transition. Caitlin’s parents have put me to work doing some remodeling of their house, and I have been working to try and rebuild the contacts I once had in the construction business. We have been able to share a vehicle with my parents (which sometimes involves them driving us around much like when we were preteens without a license). Actually today we are finalizing the purchase of a vehicle. We made it as long as we could without one (three weeks isn’t long). It’s not like there are motorcycle taxis at the entrance to my parents subdivision, or that we can walk the corner and catch a guagua (rickety 15 passenger public transportation van filled with 20-25 people).
In all, we are blessed and thank God for that everyday. He is supplying for us emotionally and physically. He is providing a wonderful young little baby girl in the next week as well. We are extremely anxious, especially Caitlin, for her arrival. God has big plans for her and what a privilege to be apart of that.
Thank you all for all of your prayers and support. Please stick with us for the next couple of months until our official time with Kids Alive ends at the end of September. We will be in Colorado Springs for some re-entry and debriefing time, as well as speaking at different churches. If you are interested in having us come and talk please contact us: laynebeller@hotmail.com . And stay tuned for pictures of baby Beller in the next couple of weeks!!

Pray for Haiti

2009-05-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

Caitlin and I recently visited Haiti before she returned to the states. What a different world! It is astonishing the difference just 4 hours away. One thing you will see in the pictures is all the trash. The purpose of our visit was to spend some time with the Kids Alive missionaries there and be a bit of encouragement. Tom, Helen and their three adopted Haitian children have been in Haiti for 7 years. They have recieved much persecution. Last year they were robbed 7 times. Tom has had a death contract on his life, they have been physically abused, as well as spiritually drained. They told us that Haiti was nationally committed to Satan 200 years ago as way to distance themselves from their "christian" oppressors from Europe. There are few or no friends there for them. They definetly do not get to enjoy many social activities outside of their family setting (which because of that they are a family that is very close.) Right now the land that they have been living on and have their minisistry on, is being taken away from them. Drug lords have threatend death if they don't leave. They won a great battle in court, then soon after the drug lords presented false documentation saying the land was theirs. The case is now in the Supreme Court and could take years to be resolved either way. In spending time with the Froese's you feel like you are in the presence of champions. Tom's ability to laugh and tell jokes that we all laugh at (and his family all roles their eyes at) has served him well through everything they have had to overcome. You also get a since of appreciation and grattidude, as they do not have the privilage of many visitors. Over all it was an amazing trip. We were reminded in a loud way the power that Satan has and the importance it is to be fighting for the lives of people. Please pray for Haiti, and for the Kids Alive staff and ministry

Update

2009-05-11T10:01:00.001-07:00

Hello dear friends!!
It is a joyous Easter season here in the Dominican Republic. Semana Santa, or “Holy Week” is probably the most celebrated time of year for Dominicans. Just about everything shuts down for a week of celebrating and relaxing. Our kids were off from school and ready and packed for a vacation. For 3 days all the kids from “The Ark” in Jarabacoa, as well as the kids in our Constanza program (another Kids Alive home site), set off in 3 different groups all across the island. We explored, camped, hiked, and had lots of fun. Caitlin went with the littlest kids to the coast of Samana. Another group drove all the way east to Bavaro. I was with the oldest group, and we went to the southwest. Memories were made, relationships strengthened, and appreciation for God’s wonderful creation was understood in a new way. See our blog for a more detailed account and lots of great pictures of our adventures. www.layneandcaitlin.blogspot.com .
Our time is nearing its end on the island. In May we will complete our original 2-year commitment. We have struggled in prayer and thought over the past year as to our plans and the direction God will lead us in life. We have thought of staying longer, transferring to another Kids Alive site, or going back and starting a life in the States. It has been one of the hardest decisions we have had to make thus far in our marriage. Our decision, or rather God’s revealed plan to us, is to move back to the States and start a new life there for an undetermined amount of time. We are both excited and sad, as the last two years has been unbelievable, as well as unforgettable.
Right now our plans are for Caitlin to return on May 19th. She is in her 3rd trimester and will need to return for doctor visits and to prepare for the birth of our first child. I will be staying for a few weeks longer as we will have teams coming to Caraballo that will need someone to lead them. I will join Caitlin back in Missouri and am anxious to take part in the birth.
I’m not sure if one can put into words the things we have experienced, the people we have meet, and the things God teaches a person in a third world country. One sees, lives, and changes from the onset of the journey. We are changed people from the inside out. I’m not sure if we would in a lifetime grow in the things that we have grown in over the past two years. We are closer to God, more mature and ready for life, humbled and broken, and stronger in our marriage. In another sense we are afraid. Will people understand? Will we be able to relate to our friends, our family, and our culture? Will anyone care? There is a Gospel message in this place that is hard to understand if it is not experienced first hand. There will always be apart of us here with these children, these friends, and these people who choose to stay and continue to sacrifice their lives for the overwhelming task of meeting the needs of this country.
We can say with confidence that God did amazing things through us. We were able to be apart of so many things, and share in the lives of so many that are eternally changed. I think of our year in Caraballo and the growth we were apart of there. The brand new project that it was when we arrived, to the thriving school it is now. Over two hundred kids being fed, taught, and discipled on a daily basis. I think of Ruben and Yubi whose lives will never be the same, going from living in a run down shed, to having concrete walls and floor, running water, a bathroom, an office, and even a spare room for guests. What a blessing it was to be apart of hundreds of individuals that made up the dozens of teams. We taught, laughed, cried, and set light to a new path for them. We lead them down a path that changed their lives, the same path that changed ours. We experienced so many whose lives changed right before our eyes. There are so many people who will never be the same because of what God is doing in the DR, and what a privilege is was to be apart of that. What friendships we made, National and American! Our time at “The Ark” has also been special. The friendships we have made with all the Dominican house parents, interacting with the kids on a very personal level, and being apart of the community has been special beyond description.
Being a military kid accustomed me to moving every three years, starting over, and ending friendships on a regular basis. This, however, is not much like those other times. This is harder. Maybe it’s because we have learned more than anything in this place: that life if about relationships. I realize that I practice better relations with the guy that helps me out in the local hardware store than I do my own family and best friends back home sometimes. You can’t get away from doing relationships well here. It’s more important than time and a busy schedule, problems, money, even comfort takes the backseat. We will miss being offered coffee every single time we enter a house of a friend or stranger and people greeting every person in the room when they enter the bank, clinic or whatever other public place. We will miss having our door constantly open and people coming and going, little kids with their faces to our window saying our names over and over. We’ll even miss the sound of motos and chickens at 2 AM. Everywhere you look there is life and relationship. But what about when we return? I guess I should get used to not greeting other women with a kiss on the cheek! But our desire is simple and a bit cliché. If life is what you make of it, then we want to make our life full and rich in relationship. We have this place and God’s people here to thank for that.
We are also indebted to each and every one of you who have dedicated and sacrificed over the last 2 years so that could continue in the work that God placed in front of us. Thank you for your service, thank you for your sacrifice, and for your time. It is our hope that we represented each sacrifice that each of you made with integrity, respect, and honor. Not a single week has gone by when we have not been completely humbled and in awe of God working in the willing hearts of each of you. We feel privileged and honored to have been an instrument and opportunity for so many people to serve the kingdom. Thank you for your obedience and willingness to serve our Lord where He has called you. Our time with Kids Alive will officially end at the end of September. While in the states we will have a time of “re-entry”. We will be attending a re-entry and debriefing course in Colorado Springs. The same group that did our initial training before leaving for the DR also offers this crucial training for those re-entering into their home culture. Kids alive will continue to pay us salary until the end of September as well as continue our medical coverage, provided we have the necessary support. We humbly ask for your continued support during this time of transition for our family.
Our plans are not yet certain. We desire God’s will for our lives and are confident He has plans for us that will continue to expand His kingdom. We are certain that those plans are centered in relationships and look forward to seeing how He blesses us or how we bless others within that realm. Please pray that we seek the Lord daily so that we do not miss a single detail of His plan. We are excited beyond words to start our family and continue His. Pray and hold us accountable to raise our child to fear the Lord. Please also pray and consider the next opportunity to serve the Lord through your recourses. It is our prayer that you continue to help and serve the poor no matter where that might be. I believe with all my heart that Kids Alive International is an organization with integrity and is an excellent avenue for helping those in need. If you would like to continue supporting a missionary, or would like to sponsor a child or perhaps a couple of children, please let us know and we can introduce you into kingdom building relationships. Kids Alive isn’t the only organization that is full of integrity and expanding God’s kingdom (although I’m bias with them when it comes to helping kids), but we know many people in many countries doing a variety of different things and if you need any ideas, we are here to help. You might even consider coming on a short-term mission trip to the DR. If you are part of a church body and are interested, Caitlin and I would love to come and share with you the joys of serving those in need and talk with you face to face about missions. Who knows God might touch your heart and you may decide to come and replace us in our jobs!
Sincerely,
Layne and Caitlin
P.S Keep up with our blog for updates and fun pictures of cute kids! (and soon, our own cute kid!)
www.layneandcaitlin.blogspot.com

Gran Circular

2009-04-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

Once a month "The Ark" has a "Grand Circular" It's when all the kids and house parents get together in our multi-use building for a time of celebration. What are we celebrating? Nothing particular, just celebrating being a kid. They like to put on plays and skits, or sing songs. Normally there is a time of praise and worship. They really love it when we sing "Si Senor" or "Yes Lord" (Trading my sorrows). We sing "yes lord in every lang. we can think of. The favorite is Japanese: "Hi senor". We also celebrate birthdays and have ice cream, and give gifts. The kids love it.

Pico Duarte

2009-04-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

I climbed the highest point in the Caribbean! For 3 days I hiked with a group of people up Pico Duarte. It had rained for 2 weeks previous to the trip and the bottom of the trail, the first 2 days, was mud a foot deep. The first night of camp there was nothing to sit on. I was determined to sit in comfort so I cut down some bamboo that was growing near by and fashioned myself a chair, tieing it together with vines. It took a little longer than I thought and wasnt all that sturdy, but I was able to sit in it for a few minutes! The second day was a 7 hour hike up to the next campsite. I took a picture of a whisky bottle someone had thrown off to the side of the path, only because at that moment every muscle and bone in my body was aching and telling me I needed a break. Who in the world would drink a bottle of whisky while climbing a 10,000ft mountain? It was a much needed moment of humor, at the same time a feeling that made me want to barf. YUCK!
The third day we had a quick 2 hour, but very painful summit to the top. It was beautiful. Pablo Duarte was a famous Dominican, and they really really love him. His name and face is plastered all over every city. He even has a presence at the peak where his huge head is. Going down took another entire day. I don't much like going down. But I guess it's a part of it.

Semana Santa

2009-04-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the week the DR shuts down. It is one of the most celebrated times of year. This year we took our kids in "The Ark" and our kids from Constanza, and set off in 3 different groups for a 3 day adventure. Caitlin went with the littlest group of kids. An entire school bus full of kids under 8 years old. Have you ever been camping with a school bus full of 4 and 5 year olds? They went to the coast of Samana. They also hiked into the water fall "El Limon" Have you ever hiked with a school bus full of 4 and 5 year olds? They went on boat ride too, which was fun until one flipped over with everyone in it. She said it was quite the adventure. Another group went southwest towards Bavaro. I was with the oldest group and we went southeast. We didn't have too much of a plan and just sort of set out with our group of 37. We visited the Haitian boarder and crossed into Haiti. We then headed further south all the way to the tip and camped on the beach. It was beautiful, except we were attacked by some kind of fierce insect that were small enough to get through the mesh screen of the tents. Over half of us look like we contracted the chicken pocks. 3 weeks later and we all still itch very much! We also were able to walk through a salt marsh. Because of the high density of salt and sulfer, my feet have never been cleaner! The beaches were absolutely beautiful, with water "the color of gatorade" as described by one of the kids!

Resurrection feast

2009-04-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time with our Kids Alive family celebrating the resurrection. Lots of food, and wonderful fellowship.

Look What We Are Doing

2009-02-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

The biggest project that I have undertaken here in Jarabacoa, has been the maintenance program at ‘The Ark’. With more than 10 buildings and around a hundred people; being organized and having a well thought out program is essential. Wilkins, Fernando, and Marino, all house dads, have been working with me for the past couple of months. Organization, structure, quality, and problem solving are all fairly new practices. I have been talking with them about the importance of each issue, and how it relates to every aspect of their lives. More importantly, practicing these things provides key principals we want to instill in the lives of each child in our care. Ultimately we are honoring God and glorifying Him by being good stewards, and responsible servants. It’s a bit of a process going against the grain of a culture, but it has already proven to be rewarding. We are seeing each one start to take ownership over their home, the day to day projects, and life in the Ark in general. It is rewarding to hear the returning work teams say they notice the difference as well. The goal is to have the three guys work as team and be self sufficient in the daily projects and maintenance needs for the entire orphanage.

Eventful weekend

2009-02-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

Jesse is married! On Valentines Day our friend and Caraballo co-worker was married on a beautiful private piece of land overlooking the ocean. Ariel is a really great guy, a good, friend, leader in the church, and perfect for Jesse. Our camera was out of battery, so no pics of the wedding. But it was beautiful!
In the same weekend the Parks, long time friends and supporters were in town. The Parks are special people in our lives, and in the lives of so many kids in our program. They have been coming to the North Coast of the Dominican Republic for several years, and were influential in the connection with the Caraballo project and Kids Alive. The Parks have the best house on the beach in Caberete. Caberete is called the kite surfing capital of the world. It is about 30 minutes from our old stomping grounds of Caraballo. It was a place we frequented regularly for some down time, or even to take a team at the end of their stay. We had the privilege of spending a few days catching up with them. One of the main reasons of their visit was to head up a fundraiser called Kite Surfing for Kids. It was an event that took advantage of the Kite surfing community, tourism, and local shops and restaurants to raise money for 3 charities that work with underprivileged children. Kids Alive, Crossroads, and The Dream Project will benefit from and split the $11,000!!! Thank you to the entire Park Family, Kee, Susan, Sophie, and Camile for your tireless efforts in reaching children at risk.
This was also the same weekend our dear friend Candace Greene returned home to Canada after a year and half with us in Caraballo. She has become one of our best friends and we are going to miss her very much.

Our Sweet Pad

2009-02-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

The last 6 months at The Ark has been a one of a kind experience. The mountain scenery is refreshing and the air cool and crisp. It rains A LOT! When we arrived in August, it seemed like it rained every afternoon for the next 3 months. Recently it has been raining all day long, going on the 8th day in a row. It is quite frustrating when your transportation is a motorcycle and you live 10 minutes from civilization. Not having a dryer makes things interesting too. There’s something about putting on smelly mildewy clothes that makes you really want the sun to come out.

2009-01-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

Caitlin and I also celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Dec. 23. Here are a few pics of us.
Also i've posted pictures of Kings Day at The Ark.

I'M PREGNANT!!

2009-01-14T10:13:00.001-08:00

A lot has happened since our last update. The most important of course being we bought a new camera for Christmas. Well, that’s not entirely true, although we did buy one. Neither is the statement of the heading “I’m pregnant” exactly correct. However, it would be correct to say that Caitlin is pregnant!! Much has happened in the last few months. We have settled into our home at the orphanage, made friends, started accomplishing things with work, we’ve been home for Christmas, and yes, bought a new camera. But the most exciting news is that we will be expecting a child sometime in the middle of July.
About 3 months ago is when we discovered the wonderful news. We are extremely grateful that God has blessed us with this privilege. While in the states over Christmas, Caitlin and I went to see the doctor and heard the heartbeat of our little child not yet 3 months in the womb. Seemingly so far from being born, but already bearing our traits. Our child grows and awaits the glorious day, much like the two proud parents. It was a blessed time to spend with our family and offer this news as a very unique Christmas present. We will be bringing in a series of firsts with our first child. Both sides will produce first time grandparents. We also have first time great grandparents. And believe it or not we even have first time great-great grandparents! Needless to say, there’s nothing but smiles all across the board!
This of course means many things and many decisions to be made. In May Caitlin will fly back to the states in order to have the baby, who is due around July 18th. Our original two year commitment with Kids Alive will complete in May. We had both made the decision to stay in the DR for an extra few summer months. Summer is the busiest time for us, as is when most of our work teams come for service projects. I will be going back to Caraballo and leading 3 teams in June and early July, among whom our home church “Cape Bible Chapel” will join me to start off our short summer of teams on the north coast. Immediately following, I will fly back to Missouri to be with my wife and to share in the birth of our first child. As of now, our plans are to stay in Missouri for at least a couple of months with the new baby, and our immediate family. Beyond that, we are unsure at this time where God will bring us. We are excited and also a bit nervous as God continues to develop our lives through these changes; and we are confident it is for the furthering of His kingdom. But, we are not finished in the DR just yet; and we know God has many more challenges and blessings in-store.
The month of December in the DR was a short one for us. We flew back to Missouri on the 12th of December. Awaiting us were our families, friends, and numerous supporters; many of whom hadn’t seen us since the last Christmas. We had 25 days to catch up with old friends, spend time with family, fellowship with our home church, and eat. This year I took home the title of “most weight gained in the States”; with 15 pounds being added to my overall weight. Surprisingly enough, Caitlin was not a sore loser, although I might add also that I gained more weight than my pregnant wife.
We returned to the DR just in time for the Kings Day celebration at “The Ark”. Kings Day is January 6th, and it is when the big gift giving festivities take place. Every year “The Ark” has a grand celebration with a pancake and fried salami breakfast, and a gift giving time. Every kid gets 3 or 4 gifts, and all the missionaries get to watch as eyes light up, and faces fill with joy when presents begin to be passed out. It is very much an emotional event as these former “dead”, unwanted and abandoned kids partake, some for the very first time, in receiving these few gifts. Material as they may be, it is love they are truly receiving. Although, these gifts of plastic toys will pass away, this ceremony of receiving these free gifts allows a model for the ultimate free gift to be received. The rules are the same no strings attached, no obligations, no requirements, no prior gift receiving experience needed; nothing except pure innocent child-like faith and excitement. We look forward in this year in placing Christ as the center; to bring every child under our care into their full potential in Him. Thank you for your continued prayer and support. We are indebted to each and everyone one of you who are sacrificing your time or finances to help us show the love of Christ to the beautiful people of this country. Please continue to pray for our ministry as well as the changes that will occur in our lives in the near future.
In Christ,
Layne and Caitlin Beller

The Ark

2008-11-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

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

2008-08-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-06-28T07:34:00.001-07:00

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.

2008-06-28T07:15:00.001-07:00

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.

2008-06-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-25T08:14:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-07T15:44:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

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!

Sabbath

2008-03-04T06:33:00.000-08:00

We rest! With four teams in five weeks we were much overdue for some rest. We spent one day at a hotel relaxing and reading by the pool at a place called Susua By the Sea. Our favorite get-a-way hotel. This last weekend we spent exploring the Island. We stayed with some friends on the south west coast of the island. There is a much different feel on that side. We stayed in a town called La Romana. The area is much wealthier due to new tourism and the sugar cane industry. They are actually cutting the cane there, where as our side of the island cane hasn't been cut for three years. Even amongst the poor Haitian cane cutters, there was a sense of pride and dignity, a concept that is rather foreign where we live. We also visited the "Mecca" site of the DR, Higuey. It is home to the Altagracia shrine of the holy virgin. Every year millions of Dominicans make their way to this site, including a yearly traditional pilgramige. The place is said to have supernatural healing powers. People with all kinds of sickness, disease, and open wounds come to expose themselves all around the temple in hopes of being healed. As a result you have a town with an extra dose of beggars. There were all kinds of statues of Mary with animals and angels bowing down to her. The main event is inside this massive concrete structure. In the middle is a platform where hopefuls make their way to the top with a sacred candle, and then pass by a glass protected print of Mary as they lay their hands, wounds and brokeness upon it and give out a hopeful prayer for healing and wellness of life. It was a very interesting and insightful cultural experience. After, we went to Jarabacoa to spend some time with friends. We stayed there one night and while we were there, Alberto called and asked if we wanted to stay a night with him and his family at his parents' house in a town called La Vega. We spent a day with him looking for a truck to buy and seeing much more of the country side, including a good portion of the Cibao Valley. It's a beautiful part of the country with a lot farming and rich agriculture.

We are very grateful that we were given the time of rest. Now we are ready to deal with more of the third world blessings!

Possible future?

2008-03-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

Some of Jessi's friends from college came for a visit. But they weren't picked up from the airport, mostly because they didn't fly here, they sailed. Derrek and Dan are sailing around the world in their 32' sail boat. Their mission is to see the world and help where they can. They have set up a foundation and are using raised money to help out with organizations like us. They bought enough socks, belts, and underwear for our kids to last awhile. They spent about 2 weeks here and a good portion of it helping at the school, with construction, and whatever else was needed. Jon, Candace, Caitlin, and I all spent the night with them on their boat. We cooked up some mexican food and hung out on the water, experiencing boating life. I think I have a bit of boat fever now. The idea of learning to sail has been ever prevelent in my mind since they left. Possible future? I don't know we'll see, I did pick up some sailing books though to keep me busy in the mean time. You can track them if interested at. http://www.theworldbysea.com/, or check out the links we have on this page,

Teams

2008-03-04T05:53:00.000-08:00

Teams are in full swing here again in Caraballo! Already we have already had four teams come and do everything from medical, to organization, to construction. Our first team was a group of nurses. Jessi went to school with some them. It's a neat connection to be able to host your friends and see how this place impacts people who you are close to.

Our second team was a very special group of young men that attend a program in IN called Christian Haven. These guys have come from rough situtions and are living in the care of this organization and being finely educated and deeply loved. Every year they take a small group of the ones who excell and prove themselves worthy on a trip such as ours. The boys were from the ages of 15 to 18. We had a really good time getting to know them. What a awesome experience they were able to have.

We also had a special treat of a team when the Parks (of the"Park Care Center") arrived for a week. A lot was accomplished with only a small group of them. The Parks are very special people to us; friends, supporters, and encouragers. In just four days they tackled the huge project of organization at our school. Often times when you are understaffed and still moving at 100 mph important things such as organizing get pushed to the side. With their help we organized and emptied most of our donation room and were able to make over 200 gift bags of clothes, shoes, crafts and toys to pass out to the kids for Valentines Day. They were also able organize Alberto's office!! Now we can walk in it and use it again!!

Our fourth group was nine strong women that came and proved that construction isn't just for the boys. These ladies were tough. We laid around 400 block in just the week they were here. The blocks they laid were the next important step in continuing the next two classrooms that will host another 40-50 new kids!! A lot of them also left as child sponsors, and with the plan to hopefully get more sponsors from friends and family. It is so exciting to see how these kids impact lives time and time again, and I think these ladies were definetly impacted.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to all who came, did, and changed. We are forever grateful of your service.

The start of a new life

2008-03-04T05:09:00.000-08:00

The happiest day thus far for Caitlin and I. And I've never seen Juvi more content, with a bright smile that lifts her face, and a seemingly new energetic confidence in life. It was a day of emotions and a day of rejoicing. Alberto (our director) even cancelled school for this special ocasion. The day we moved Ruben and Juvi into their new house was accompanied with tears, hugs and much rejoicing. All the teachers pitched in to help in the move. As we were loading the van with their belongings and furniture I could smell the stench of mildew and of their bed, and couch that never dried. I am encouraged though. Believe it or not someone actually bought their old shack and the land it's on. They were able to get $1400 for it. What a blessing! They are now useing the money to buy some new furniture. Another thing I found out is that they always have running water, which is very rare in this country. The street lines for some reason in this part of town are such that they don't even need a tenaco (big tank of water on the roof). I don't know anyone that has water like that here. It's a far cry from a buckett in the back yard for a shower. This truelly is the start of a brand new life for Ruben's family. To those who gave in time, money and prayer, thank you. You have helped in not only changing this families life, but more importantly made it possible for God's work to continue through Ruben's joyful energetic and sacrificial life as we strive to impact a nation.

TOOLS!!

2008-01-20T13:00:00.001-08:00

Who doesn't like buying new tools? Caitlin and I were blessed enough to have some extra funds in our account. So we decided to put them to good use. One of the hard things about schooling Haitain kids, is once they are done with 8th grade it is almost impossible for them to go on to high school because of proper documentation. For this, it has been a great desire of our director to begin vocational training in several different trades. I don't know a whole lot about woodworking yet, but I am learning. Our goal is to have a woodshop where twice a week students will learn how to work with their hands. I plan to do things as simple as cut outs of toys, to as complex as cabinets. By God's provision we have also had some tools donated by past team members, and current supporters. These gifts will help make it possible to further education beyond the classroom for our kids. The donation room shelves were my first project. You should have seen the wood before we started. I may have well of just cut the trees down myself. The next project is cabinets for Rubens house! Thank you all who are helping out with this. We are very excited!

We're here!

2008-01-20T12:35:00.000-08:00

Ah yes back home. So apparently it rained the entire time we were gone. Everything was wet. We got stuck in the river on the way to school on day one. It's ok though because the overly generous men passing by were more than willing to get drenched in the river and push us out. They are so nice here. The two little guys hugging got in a fight and this is their punishment. Pretty awesome if you ask me, they had to stand like that for about 15 min. I think we should make grown-ups do that sort of stuff too when they do things they shouldn't. The first week back was preparing for the new 4 year old class that is opening up. Our teachers played cleaners for a few days as we moved Alberto's office and donations into one of the new classrooms. Good job last year Caraballo teams ,15 new kids rescued as a result of your hard work and effort.

2008-01-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

The holidays were a much needed time of relaxation. Wow we didn't realize how much we needed a break. We spent the first part in New Mexico, then took a greyhound (not recomended) for 32 hours to MO where we spent the last half. It was good to see our parents, and friends. I was also able to show a slide show to a song that I played in our home church. Those kids do some wonders when it comes to moving hearts. All you need to do is take their picture. Thank you family for taking care of us and making us feel loved. Next time we will take more pictures, sorry if you are missing.

The Southwest

2007-12-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

We went to Santa Fe NM for our 2 year wedding anniversary. It was really neat. We stayed at a very homey and warm bed and breakfast. We also went to the historic plaza and went in art museums and visited some really old churches. One church has the infamous spiral wooden staircase that defies all science and logic. I was built by a mystery carpenter in the 1800's with just simple hand tools. It does 4 complete spirals before reaching the loft above. There is no center support pole and nobody really knows what holds it up and gives it strength. We also visited the historic Scottish rite mason temple museum, which was cool and weird.

porque yo tengo freezing

2007-12-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

We have landed in the mother country. And its cold. The nature is somewhere near Santa Fe, look not one singe palm tree.

Party Time!!!

2007-12-24T20:24:00.000-08:00

Its Party time in Caraballo. The kids had a special day they will never forget at our school Christmas party. We had an extra scoop of food and it had lots of meat!!! yum! We also had soda and the kids got a Christmas gift bag full of cake, candy, fruit and other yummies. They also put on a play inwhich they acted out scenes from the bible and recited verses. I'm afraid to say it but these kids have more scripture memorized than I do.

Our teachers also had a specail day. We suprised them with a evening of fine dining at a hotel resort and afterwards had a gift exchange. It was really neat being able to be with them on this special night.

El dia de Accion de gracias

2007-11-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

We had thanksgiving too!! Wow it was amazing. We even shared the expirience with our closest Dominican friends. Alberto (our director) and his wife were there as well. It was a grand expirience for them. We had turkey, ham, real mashed potatoes, green bean casorole, carrots, corn, cranberry sauce, stuffing, home-made rolls, and pumkin pie, apple pie, and chocolate cake for desert. In the gringo picture from left to right is, me, Weston(from Vacarrios ministry) Candace(Kids Alive), Jessi, Rachel, and Jonathon(Runs the Art co-op), and Caitlin. Our friends pictured are Josue, Ben Hamin, and Perla. Josue learned English at the Univeristy of Kentucky. He is really good to practice English with.

A day in the village

2007-11-18T09:09:00.000-08:00

While our friends the Youngs were here we went walking around the village visiting friends. Around lunch time our friend Santre invited us into his house for lunch. It was really good, and very gracious for them to share what little food they have with us.

Move

2007-11-17T19:35:00.000-08:00

We moved down the street. The apt. we were in was HUGE. We went from 10 total rooms (including bathrooms) to just 4 rooms total. Wow its a big change. We are learning to simplify our lives in so many different ways. You don't really realize how many clothes you have untill you don't have space for more than half of them. Caitlin does laundry in the shower. The little boy is our friend. His name is Jaun, only we just call him little fat naked boy. He is almost always naked and running around. He was our little helper during the move. Please note that Jaun is NOT one of the children that our organiztion resucues. Ha, I think he is doing just fine. Caitlin has done a wonderful job picking out colors and decorating it and keeping it nice and homey.

Where does all the poop go?

2007-11-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

So septic systems are a bit different here. A lot of times if the people actually have plumbing, the pipes just empty out into a river. A really really good septic is a hole dug all the way down to the water table, yum! But if your professional like we are, you build a 15'x15' two part decomposition chamber completely water proof. These guys dug for about 2 weeks what a back hoe could have done in a couple of hours. So... this is where the poop goes. Everything empties out into this tank which is right next to the bathrooms and into the first chamber where it sits and starts to decompose. Slowly the sludge enters into the next chamber and settles at the bottom while the liquid then passes through pipes run in the ground and empties into another hole where it will sit and filter into the ground. The other pictures are of our progressing classrooms and our beautiful gazeebo. The next two classrooms are under way!

Going to church

2007-10-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Most people get up Sunday morning dress up and get in their cars and drive 5-10 min. to church. This last Sunday Caitlin and I had a much different expirience. We have a group in for the next couple of weeks called Mercy Ships. They are an organzation that sends a ship around Africa with missionaries that minister mostly in medical areas. They have been coming to the DR to train their new ship crew members for the last 8 years. The same leaders come with new recruits every 6 months. They are a huge blessing each time they come. They have partnered with a church in Puerto Plata who have connections with a tiny mountain community in the middle of the country. The road ends at the foot of the mountain and you begin your couple mile hike that crosses the river 4 times. It was absolutely beautiful at the top. It's just a small community of about 4 houses and they hold humble gatherings every Sunday. The host family is a sweet little old couple in their middle 70's who have huge servant hearts. Our feet were caked with mud from the hike and our hostess humbly washed Caitlin's feet. They live off their land, and have fruit trees that they harvest and have their grandchildren ride down the mountain on a mule to sell in the near towns. A little different from the "normal" church services held in our "normal" million dollar facilities.

Please Read

2007-10-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and family,
I write to you as hopefully a humble servant of Christ trying to meet the needs of the Body. Many of you know after just 2 weeks of being here my life was changed. God continues to break down walls, walls of pride, selfishness and greed. I have still yet to fully understand, and for that matter not sure if I ever will, how to live my life in light of my brothers and sisters suffering immensely all around me. Words cannot explain the confusing feelings of my rich American heritage and life, and my best friends and family here in the DR that live so far away from the poorest I will ever be. Why was I so blind to the rest of the world for so long? Why was I not taught the injustices of our one sided wealthy society? Why was I not told that I was in the top 2% in the world’s wealth? And that most of the rest of the world lives closer to the way our friends here who live and work in the garbage dump? And how do I harness my righteous anger and passion to break down those walls and open the flood gates of reality so that my family, future children, friends and American church body not only can see, but can be moved, as we are demanded to in scripture, to do something about it?
Ruben and his wife Juvie are very special people to Caitlin and I. If you have read our blog, or heard us talk you know how precious they are, to not only us but to the school we labor in each day. Ruben’s house is located near the river. Land and homes near the river are very cheap and very poor. Ruben lives in a house framed with tree branches and covered with scrap metal. His House floods and his belongings are ruined every time the river rises. Even right now as I write this we are praying that the weeks rain doesn’t flood his house. It’s rained for about 5 days strait and the river rises every day.
The Spirit heavily convicted me to do something about Ruben’s house situation. The house they live in is about the same as the living conditions of the children we rescue. Our most important teacher needs to be taken care of. Rueben is a very rare kind of Dominican in that he is giving up money for the service of God, and we want to make sure he is taken care of and remains as a prominent figure in our school for many years to come. I say with great boldness that our school WOULD NOT function without his leadership and service. We have seen God already bless in a huge way through many of you giving and praying over this. We were able to have many of you be a blessing in helping out with the work this summer. Rubens house is not only under way, but almost finished!! It’s still so hard to believe that in no time at all Ruben and his wife will have a beautiful home that they will be able to raise the family they want so badly.
Right now family, I humbly plea with you to join with me to pull together, and meet the need that is at hand. Ruben’s house is almost finished and so close to them moving in, but right we are at a stand still. We have a floor, walls and roof, and are only lacking the finishing touches. I have estimated about $3500 to finish and get Ruben and his wife in the house. Please join with us as we strive to help a friend, teacher, husband, leader, and fellow believer in Christ. Ruben is someone I would die for, let alone serve. Please help me serve Christ as I seek to better the life of my friend, his wife, future family and the children of the school. Please pray that God’s provisions would overwhelm all of us involved and only draw nearer to him. You can email me if you would like to help out at laynebeller@hotmail.com. Please help…
-layne

We're in the dry!

2007-09-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

The roof is finished!! Ruben's house is now dry, we can start working on the Panete inside. (the inside finishing coat for the walls, kind of like stucco). I have learned a lot so far about building a house in this country. It's quite different and follows the same simplistic rules the rest of life seems to follow here. There is no OSHA (communist US govt agency designed to steal money from the working businessman). No city inspections or codes to follow, and generally you have only about 3 or 4 materials that are needed, the main being concrete. Even the way in which things are built are quite different. Decisions on structure or durability is generally decided by whoever knows the most that's working that day. There are no subdivision covenants that say you can't park a boat or RV in the driveway. (Not that they would ever have any of those things, including a driveway). And putting in a yard is somewhat foreign. I've had to convince everyone to save the good dirt we are digging up to use it for a top layer to grow grass, otherwise your yard is usually all the scrap block and concrete from the construction. All in all we are on our way to a beautiful house for our friends in need. What do your friends need?

The children eat again

2007-09-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

School Started back yeah! We are back in business at the Park Care Center for this fall session of school. Caitlin is hard at work with planning as she will be teaching English, first to the older kids, later to all. I spotted one little boy at the lunch table with a goldish color tint to his hair (malnutrition). I patted him on the head as I walked by noticing. Jesse followed with a smile and said, "oh but we're feeding him now". You need not blink twice to understand why we are here. Pray for Caitlin and I, tomorrow we start our intensive language training.

America

2007-09-11T19:29:00.000-07:00

I had, yes another, oppertunity to go back to America. My best friend, Jeremy French, was married on Sept. 9th. I arrived in Seattle a week early as to have plenty of time to get to know his new wife and meet his life in Seattle. It had been a few years since we had seen eachother. Jeremy is the kind of friend you may only have one in your lifetime. It was neat to be able to see his life and meet his friends to which I felt connected with because of hours of phone conversations. Jeremy is a pilot and I was able to go on a short flight with him. The view

of Mt. Rainier was spectacular. For the bachelor party we went bungee jumping off a bridge. 191ft, the highest jump site in North America. It was on of the coolest things I've ever done. The wedding was beautiful and fellowship was even better. I even met 2 little privilaged Haitian children who were adopted by the pastor who married Jeremy. It was an emotional meeting. They were beautiful and their rescued life something that words can't explain. All in all my trip was amazing. I pray that God would manifest Himself into the Covenant relationship that Jeremy and Mehgan have entered into, and that the world might never be the same due to their obedience in serving following and blessing Jesus Christ.

Going to Grandma's

2007-08-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time visiting my Grandma. It was a little strange being back in the States, quite a different life. Thanks to some generous team members I was able to visit Grandma probably for the last time, as she is in the latter parts of cancer. I shared pictures of Caitlin, and also the work we are doing here. It was a sweet time service. Of course it was also nice to see familiar family faces, Aunt Belva, BJ and JR, Clint, Doug, Missy, the whole crew. My Dad was there too. It was nice to see him and spend at least a couple of days with him. And when does playing with cousins ever get old!

Abandoned babies

2007-08-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Caitlin and her friends found this little girl and her mother out in one of the villages one day. They had recently walked from Haiti. This is a common thing, as the Haitians seek a better life here in the DR. It is about a 2 or 3 day walk from the border. They come to this area because they know there are other Haitians and possibly family who live in the villages surrounding the sugar cane. She is about a year and half old. The girls immediately took them to the public hospital. They hadn't eaten in days. The little girl looked especially rough. Her skin looked like that of someone of 90 years old. I borrowed some pictures off of Jessi's blog, you can also refer to hers for a more accurate medical take. (the "jessi" link on the left) She had infections and swelling from unkept bug bites. She was almost lifeless as she hadn't eaten in days. The girls made sure they received proper treatment and bought the mother enough food for her daughter to last awhile. When they returned a couple days later to check on them, the food was gone. When asked what happened, the mother said she didn't know what happened to it. Having dealt with this situation in times past, Faith, our friend, instantly knew what had happened. "She sold the food". Meaning yet another day where the little one hadn't eaten. The mother was in fact starving her little girl. It is something that frequently happens in the Haitian community. It's their form of birth control. Something none of us could ever begin to understand. So, the girls took the baby. Now, she is staying at the Crossroads mission house until she is nursed back to health. After that we are not sure, Neither Crossroads nor Kids Alive, in this site at least, is set up for an orphanage. She is doing much better after just 2 weeks. Her swelling is going down, and I actually saw her smile for the first time today. Her skin is improving as the old is falling off making way for the new. This is the second case of this we have witnessed in the last month. One little boy who was being starved is now living with a friend of ours just down the street. Please pray for these situations as they are unfortunately not rare. Pray we would know what to do when they arrive and the proper way to handle them. Pray also for the children, although I myself haven't really figured out specifically how.

Fun

2007-08-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

We're having fun!

Walls

2007-08-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

We Just keep building!!

All day

2007-08-17T16:17:00.001-07:00

Pouring concrete here is tough work. Concrete truck? Who needs 'em when you have these 2 studly workers. What a team!

Rest

2007-08-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

WE GET A VACATION!!! Well sort of, we went down the road a little bit and stayed 2 nights in a hotel by the sea. It was a much needed break. We sat by the pool and read our books, snorkled in the sea, and most importantly, relaxed. We also spent some time with friends. This is the entire Amlingmier family. To have all of them together is very rare and special. They are the family that runs Crossroads, the ministry "next door"

The promised land

2007-08-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

We found Land!!! It was a little more than we expected, but it's the perfect location and pretty much only place available. Alberto, our school director who is also playing a big part in Ruben's house, keeps saying; " there is much future here, thank you God."

And then there was a floor

2007-08-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

It was hot, sweaty, exhausting, and back breaking, but we finally have a solid floor to build on. We ended up using a lot more block than we expected to build the house up so there is no chance of it flooding. The hard detail work is done, now is the fun part in seeing the walls go up. Rueben and his wife will be in their new house in no time. Praise God!!! Good job teams on the hard work.

Look what we built

2007-08-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

With our Last team, we took 2 days and worked on a gazeebo. This will provide the kids with a place to hang out and sit in the shade. The next step is learning how to put thatch roofing on. And I have absolutely no idea how thats going work, but I know it will look really neat. The first thing I had to do though, was cut the grass.

Medical and VBS

2007-08-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

With our last team of the summer, we did medical clinics and VBS with the some of the villages around Montellano. It was hot, dirty, and memorable.

Ruebens House

2007-08-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

Today my heart was broken, today my life was changed. It started out as a normal day. Jesse, our American friend, and Kids Alive co-worker, and Alberto, the area director and good friend, came to pick me up around 8:30. We were to pick up materials, and go out to the school to talk about work for the upcoming team the next week. We were about to cross the river to head to Caraballo, when suddenly Alberto turned off the main road and down onto a low-level street and small neighborhood.

“Alberto wants to check on Rueben, his house flooded last night,” Jesse said. It had rained for about 7 days strait and there was a lot of flooding going on even in our neighborhood so it didn’t surprise me. Rueben is the head teacher at our school. Alberto is the director, but often leaves Rueben in charge when he is not around. He is educated, responsible, and has a huge heart for the children we are rescuing. Caitlin and I haven’t been here long, but already Rueben is one of our favorites. He is so kind, loving, put-together and well rounded. He speaks pretty good broken English as well.

As we pulled onto the street, you could see houses on both sides with what looked like every single belonging they had, beds, furniture, clothing, all hanging up, or leaning up against the house. “Wow”, I thought, “It looks like they had more than some minor water problems.” As we continued around the corner, the houses seemed getting smaller and the area poorer.

We pulled over to the right side of the street to park in front of what I assumed was Reuben’s house. Instead Alberto started walking across the street to what I thought was some abandoned shack, or tool shed. “Rueben, ?Como esta? Bien, Bien.” I don’t think I’ve ever looked more like a tourist. I had ‘astonished’ written all over my face. Jesse and Alberto proceeded to greet Reuben and his wife, who were both smiling from ear to ear to see us. As they went inside I stood in the same spot. I was in disbelief. I gathered myself and opened the homemade gate that lead right to the door and stepped inside.

What I saw even now is bringing tears to my eyes. I listened as Reuben explained how the water got to over 3 foot in their house. I watched as his pregnant wife mopped the mud caked kitchen floor. They opened the stove to show us how the mud had even filled it. Not 20 feet and outside you could see most of their belongings, bed couch chair, table clothes, books, and much more, all waiting to be dried by the hot sun. The lump in my throat grew too big to control and I had to step outside. I didn’t want them to see my tears. He kept saying with a smile, that God was in control, and that He has a purpose for this, and that they would be ok. I looked upon their belongings, knowing there was no chance of them drying. Caitlin and I had been trying to get clothes to dry for a week and half. It’s so humid here the matches won’t light. And I knew that the rain would come again later that afternoon. I walked around back to see their bathroom, which was a makeshift lean-to against their house made from whatever scrap they could find. It was under about 4 feet of water.

“They said the water in the street was up to their necks.” Jesse said, as she joined me again outside. At this point the shock was wearing off into a deep sense of something needing to be done. I felt heavy, convicted, and the need to fix this problem. It wasn’t that I was just so shocked to see poverty, or people in need. That’s everywhere. You expect it; this is a third world country. Every single child in our school program comes from poverty, and much more. It is a sad thing to see, but yet this case although not as bad as some of the kids, hit me much harder. One thought kept racing in my mind. “This shouldn’t be this way.” First of all, even for a Dominican, this was rough. But that’s not why I was burdened.

Jesse told me when we got back in the car, that Alberto had to do a lot of convincing to get Reuben to come work at the school. His family wasn’t too happy about it, mainly because it doesn’t pay very much. He is educated and could easily find a job that pays twice as much. He is giving up much, and happily, for a much greater good. This is the reason my life has changed. This is the most important teacher in our school, our school that rescues kids from living conditions like the one Rueben his and pregnant wife are living in. Which actually an update, three days after we visited the house we learned that they have been trying for a really long time to have children, and were so excited to finally get pregnant. Today we heard they lost the baby. Not much more needs to be said about that, if you ever have, or know of someone who has gone through that, you know the pain. Now just imagine going through it just 3 days before having your humble house and possessions being ruined by a flood.

We said goodbye and got back into the truck and headed across the river. I was speechless. I was trying to comprehend the magnitude of what I had just experienced. My mind was racing trying to figure out a way to fix the problem. The first thing that came to my mind was “We have extra rooms in our house we could buy a bed and they could stay their.” Not satisfied with that I kept searching. “That won’t do.” They were already staying with friends until the water went down. And even then it was just going to flood again maybe the next day, or during the rainy, season for sure. I grabbed my Spanish dictionary and frantically searched for a word. The Holy Spirit’s presence inside me was thick. It took control of me in that moment and before I knew it I said in my broken Spanish, “Alberto, yo queiro construier la casa para Reuben.” Which badly translates, I want to build a house for Rueben. Alberto knew the need was great, and knew that it would change Reuben’s life.

He asked if I knew about how much it would cost to build him a house. I started thinking about how much money we had and that I just wanted to give it all away even though it wasn’t enough. I thought, we don’t have to use all of our support for ourselves, and wondered how much we could live off of and how much we could give away. I thought about the question, “how much do you think it will cost?” I thought about how it took somewhere around $240,000 to build our house in Cape. I took an educated correct guess at around $10,000 to build a quality house for them. I wished so bad I had that kind of money. Or that I was back in the states and I could just work harder, or longer hours, or get another job on the side. Why does everything including doing things for the kingdom, cost so much money?

So here is my plan. I am going to build Reuben and his family a house if it takes me 3 years to save money or do it on my own. Obviously the best situation would be to get them dry as soon as possible. Because of the placement of the land he owns it would be much better to purchase land elsewhere, so that there is no chance of flooding again. Land adds about $4000 to the project. I have seen God work in more impossible ways in the last few months than I ever have before. Like I said I wish so bad I could just fund this on my own, but I also know that if I have to I will, that’s how much I believe in this man, and his ministry. Reuben is essential to what we are doing here, and I think it is so important to take care of our workers Dominican and North American.

Poverty has and will forever continue to change my life. It will forever change how I shop for food, clothes, how I complain about having to change my clothes twice in day because of the rain, knowing that I am blessed enough that if I had to I could change them 20. Please pray for Rueben and his wife LLuvi. Pray that God would provide in their lives both for a house and for a family. Thank you all so much for your prayers

Layne Beller
Work Team Coordinator
Caraballo, Dominican Republic

Building blocks

2007-08-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

We have come a long way in just three months. Our last work team for the summer just left. We are both tired and sad . Tired from the 3 months of intense non stop action, sad because we truly love being apart of people's lives as God uses us and this place to change them forever. We overcame and accomplished a lot this summer. The goal is to have the 2 classrooms up and running for the fall, where Caitlin will be starting her English program. Look at all the progress!!

A dump of a day

2007-08-05T14:11:00.001-07:00

This is the Susua dump. This is where my trash goes, along with several other towns and many hotels and resorts.

The dump is an experience that is hard to take in. It is filled with men women and children, all who go there to scavenge. They find and collect anything and everything they might be able to sell, like cans, plastic bottles, or wire. They also collect food. they know which food is good for consumption and they will use it in stew. Anything rotten they gather and sell to pig farmers. Some people even live in the dump. There houses are made from flattened out coffee cans, scrap metal, tarps, cardboard and anything else they can find. Some of the local farmers even let their cattle graze in the dump. Crossroads, our friends and next door mission organization, has been leading their groups to the dump for 10 years now. They were kind enough to lead some of our work teams as well. Going to the dump consists of walking around having fellowship with the people, talking and shaking hands. We end up under the shade of large tree where the Haitians gather around and sing songs, many praising the Lord, and beating on homemade drums. After a few moving solos by some of the braver men we start passing out food and water. A simple meal, bread, salami and cold water. With each man woman or child that passes through the line, you can't help your eyes from getting heavy with tears. We are feeding Jesus.

Close to Home

2007-06-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Our home church, Cape Bible Chapel was our second team, and first full week team. It was so nice to see friends and familiar faces again. This last week was a good learning process for all of us. Our team here, learned so much about hosting and organizing. And the CBC team is going back, all 20 of them, changed for life, I'm sure of it. We started the week off with some intense concrete work. We poured the footings for the next 2 classrooms. Normally there is about 12 Haitians for the job and they start at about 7 and don't get done till around 6 a lot of times. The 5 Haitians that were there were confident that we wouldn't get done and were very worried and nervous about having what they thought was to be 20 lazy Americans, 12 out of that 20 being girls. We sure proved them wrong. I have never worked around a harder working group of individuals in my life. It's well over 100 with humidity and yet ever single person worked above and beyond their potential. The workers were absolutely floored when we finished the job in only5 hours. The rest of the week was equally productive, as we painted the entire existing four classrooms inside and out. As well as getting a chance to build a little Dominican style with block and mortar. They were also heavily challenged each night to rethink life in light of the poverty they saw first hand everyday. I am confident that every single person will now look at their own life a little different now. I'm not a prophet but I also know some amazing things are going to come out of this trip for them. We pushed hard on child sponsorship, on other needs here, and the needs back home. If you know someone who went on the trip I encourage you to talk to them and ask them how their life has changed forever. Congratulations CBC on an amazing week here in our country. We love you all and can't wait to see you again.

We here by claim this street

2007-06-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

I'm still devising a plan on how to go about stealing this sign.

No, really I am. The problem is its on a really busy street in Puerto Plata, and Dominicans never go to bed. I've never seen people party in the middle of the street all night long.

Our first team

2007-06-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

We had our first team! They were only here for 2 days, and there was only 6 of them, but it was a good introduction to the busy schedule and very large groups we have ahead of us this year. This project was constructing a temporary roof for the new bathrooms,(that will eventually be tied into the classrooms) and also mixing concrete by hand and pouring a sidwalk. The neatest thing that happened though, was, there were only 6 of them, but they have already comitted to sponsoring 4 kids!!!!! They are taking back 10 pictures to their church and plan to get every kid sponsored. Now that's a story worth telling!!!

Our animals

2007-06-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

We have 3 animal friends that live with us, although they are not all freinds with eachother. We got 2 pure breed boxers from some missionaries who were heading back to the states. Dillon is 5 she is the mama, and has the gold hair. Kila is the daughter. When she was a puppy she was hit by a car. She is now the cutest 3/4 dog I've ever met. She is 1 years old

Greg is here

2007-05-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

Our friend and supporter, Greg Schwab is visiting for a whole week. I think it's a good experience for him because he's not just doing the normal tourist stuff. He got to see the country, people and way of life. He also helped us paint . Our house is a work in progress hopefully in a couple of weeks we can show pictures of it finished.

Bugs and Birds

2007-05-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

These pictures don't do it justice. Within 5 min of our first night i killed 6 cockroaches, and 2 enormous spiders. Our land lord lives upstairs and they have about a dozen roosters and they all start with their noise at around 6 am. but they don't quite till around 10am. Once the first one starts then every single rooster within a 5 mile radius starts in too. It's pretty ridiculous. The mosquitoes are also really bad. The first night we stayed in Monte Llano at the team house we both got about 2 hours of sleep because we were being eatin alive. We sprayed ourselves until we were about ready to pass out from the fumes and still they wouldn't leave us alone. We now have a fan, and a net which allows us to sleep at night anyway.

New

2007-05-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

So i bought a bike. its a honda 125 dirt bike. its awesome. most people don't have dirt bikes because they are generally for rich people. But i got a heck of deal on this one from a missionary that is going back to the states. It's also really old, but if anything goes wrong, labor is really really cheap here. A dirt bike will also suit me better because of the condition of the road, or lack of a road, that goes out to the school. We also found a place to live! I think we are in the nicest nieghborhood in our little town. monte llano is a quaint little town in the Puerto Plata area, (the beach). This is a picture of our street, and our house. We are on the bottom part.

A day with the Kids

2007-05-27T09:28:00.000-07:00

we arrived in the DR the first of the month. For the first 2 weeks, we spent at different sites around the island. We spent a day at Palo Blanco, where caitlin sat in on some classes, and I helped Jon with sports class. Jon has done a great job. He said when he started the kids had ablsolutely no idea how to have an organized activity. You really don't know the importance of organized activities untill you are in a culture that you can see the effects of the people in the way they interact with each other and how they live their lives. It's pretty interesting to watch the change in these kids lives even in something as small and seemingly unimportant like P.E. class.

Caitlins B-Day

2007-05-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

yeah, i figured out how to put the pages to english!

Caitlin turned 24 May 14th. We spent the day hanging out with friends. Micah, Vic and Leslie's daughter made a cake (Vic is the island director). Later we had dinner at Jon's house with his roomate Angel, 3 of their dominican friends, and some of the other missionaires. Jon's house is about the size of your average american garage, so it was a bit packed.

no habla espanol

2007-05-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

ok so we now have internet access in our house. oh yeah we moved inot our house. We have so very much to catch up on. so we have internet, but take buckett baths, no car, concrete floors, lights for half the day, and running water is scarce. but, we have internet! alright so its been awhile since I set up this blog, which was the last time it was updated, and i forgot the password. no big deal you just follow intructions and have it emailed to you right? well not if you don't read spanish. I searched for an hour to try and get the blog pages in english. no such luck. i finally figured it on my own and now im able to update again, except wait, oh yeah, the pages are still in spanish. So right now i'm just guessing on what to do. You might have to bare with me either untill i learn the language, which could take awhile, or untill shows me how to get the website in english. ok im going to try and post pictures, it may or may not happen. I hate not knowing the language here.

2007-05-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so not all of it was training. We did have time to spend with friends and family. We have so many pictures of the mountains. They were awesome

It snowed 18 inches. Crazy.

We got really close to the missionaries at our Training, (Mission Training International). We also got close to the elk. We met some life long friends and had experiences we will never forget. The training was the most amazing learning experience we have ever had. It was basically how to effectively minister to people in a different culture. But, it was also awesome marriage counseling, a great time of fellowship and rest, conflict management strategies, patients building, and extremely humbling for any and all American citizens.

2007-05-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,
This is our blog! Forgive us for we no nothing about how to create a blog so if this is absolutely aweful please give us grace and put the stones down, I'm sure we will catch on.
WE ARE LEAVING THE US!
Our good friend Aaron Roth threw us a wonderful going away party. There were old people at the party too, they are just on the other side of the room. We love old people they are our friends as well.
We Have some wonderful praises. After 18 months our house is now under contract!!! We are set to close July 1st. The buyer wants the furniture too. Pretty crazy. We also sold both our vehicles, and my trailor, along with every single one of my tools with the exception of my tool belt and trusty Eastwing hammer. A man doesn't ever part with his hammer.
And now....

We're headin West