Our New Year's Eve in the Caribbean

Hola amigos, Marissa here again!

Today was a great day. It all started with waking up at the crack of dawn, as usual, thanks to the best roomies ever, Theresa and Linda, for it was time to eat breakfast. We sat down to a lovely meal of eggs, croissants, and once again, bacon and sausage for the meat-eating humans.
Oh, and who could forget the amazing orange juice??

After breakfast, we got our stuff ready, for today was a day of adventure. Ketly and Theresa went to go exchange our dollars for pesos. When they came back, we hopped into a crowded van, and we spent about an hour in there enjoying conversation, exotic sights, and ...I only fell halfway asleep once or twice.

We drove all the way to Santo Domingo, and it was interesting. The streets were really narrow, there were colonial buildings, and there were really bad drivers everywhere. Theresa, Linda, Don, Susie, Ketly, and I went into the markets while Mary and Bob went on a small historical tour for their love of history and photography. However, I didn't exchange my dollars to pesos for nothing!

Shopping there was QUITE the experience. Here are some things I learned about shoppers based off my observations:

• If you look at something for more than three seconds, you REALLY want to buy it. "Good price!" "40% off!"
• If you express your desire to buy something at ALL, it's necessary for the vendor to grab one or two more things for you to go with it, because you clearly want ALL that you can't afford!
• Even if you look in the general DIRECTION of an item, you want to buy it!
• English is clearly not an important language to know if you're a vendor.
• Etc.

So yeah, I also felt proud of myself for talking someone down in price. That felt awesome. I'd never bartered before.

After an hour and a half, we piled back into the van, and it was off to lunch for us. YAY, FOOD! We arrived at a place called Garden Cafe, and we sat in an outdoor patio. It was SO loud because of the music coming from out front! Also ordering food was a mess, and then we found out AFTER the food came out that they'd run out of fish. Aw, nuts. I really wanted fish, but it's okay, there was still chicken. And of course...beans and rice! (They're a STAPLE of the diet here.)

After lunch, we piled on into the van again, and drove about 45 minutes to the beach. I think I fell asleep again on the way there, but am not sure. THE BEACH WAS AMAZING.

We were sat down at a table, and it was so beautiful there. The weather was warm, and so was the water. Theresa, Linda, and I all went into the ocean. I literally stayed in there for like half an hour. I haven't been to the beach in like 3.5 years. AND I WAS IN THE CARIBBEAN?? I couldn't BELIEVE IT!

And the best part was that I bought ICE CREAM!!!! It was sooo good.

We left the beach after about two hours of heaven.

And I fell asleep on the way back, too. Kind of.

We chilled for a couple hours, ate dinner, and got ready for the evening service at church. There were so many amazing songs and singers. The Holy Spirit filled that room despite our language barrier. We were dancing, clapping along, and just worshiping with them. It felt great, and is something we'll never forget.

Anyway, it's now the New Year. It's past midnight here. Outside my window I hear the worship songs from the church across the street...after a bunch of maniacal yelling--I mean, preaching--from the pastor just prior to the songs. Feels different... definitely like no other New Year's Day or eve I've ever had before. Here's to a great start to 2017! Praying for God's blessing on the rest of our trip, that His holy spirit would work in us, the teachers we've trained, and the children at VBS.

Happy 2017 to each and every one of you.

Marissa



Spontaneous Warmth

I  am always amazed by the warmth of other cultures.  It doesn't matter that you don't speak the same language, and age isn't an issue.  Communication is always possible.  I experienced another example of this phenomenon this afternoon.  Seven missionaries who all speak English mixed with about 90 teacher trainees that only speak Spanish, and yet we were able to find enough words in common to truly understand each other.  All because we wanted to get to know each other.

Some of the highlights of  the day ...

• A 6:30 am call for a devotional study for the seven of us, which turned into eight because a local security guard with a heart for God wanted to join in.
• A beginning worship song, in Spanish, by one of the local church ladies that totally brought the love of God into the building.  I know I'm a sucker for a beautiful vocal but I had to tell her just how beautiful it was.
• Participants ranged  from about nine to nearly 70 years old, and laughter was heard from everyone throughout the day.
• After lunch, one of our group started to hum a worship song, which encouraged one of the locals to join it, which got three young ladies singing, and the next this you know, the entire group of 100 or so were signing for all they were worth, and it didn't matter if the singing was in English or Spanish, the worship was the key!
• I made two new friends, who even though they don't speak English, insisted on exchanging emails.
• And, finally, the graduation ceremony was enough to bring a grown man to tears.  The love and appreciation experienced was awesome. 

All in all, the two days of the train the teacher portion of the trip were an eye opener for love, warmth, and worship that I feel more than blessed to have been allowed to attend.  I can only imagine, and look forward to what the next six days hold for us.

Don Gilzean.

Day One of Teacher Training

From the desk...I mean, top bunk, of Marissa Zimmer.

So after many, many miles and hours of travel, we finally made it into the Dominican Republic. We were shuttled by bus to the airport in Punta Cana, and that was a really interesting experience since I guess I'm pretty used to conveniently arriving right at the gate. The instant the air hit my face, I was relieved. Yeah, it was really muggy, but it was so warm. Sure beats cold December in my opinion! The airport looked so tropical--almost like a giant hut from the outside. We stood in two really long lines and that is when the mugginess started getting to me...people, bodies, noise, long lines, and did I mention people?? TOO many people.

Theresa and Don insisted that the young man who took my passport was flirting with me since he was so smily. 😒

We got our luggage and poor Susie's water bottle leaked all over herself and the floor. Awkward.

We found Ketly, our person, and she had actually worked with the team in Nicaragua. Cool. I was so tired I was just blindly following whatever was happening. Did I mention I'd barely slept at all during the past 24 hours of traveling? Ouch.

So we got on the Good Samaritan bus and drove to the place we are staying at... something like Iglesias Maranatha Mision. Oh and I fell asleep for like 20 minutes on the bus. oops.

So we got here and we got a couple rooms. I have the top bunk of me, Theresa, and Linda's room. Don't be too jealous. I kind of miss hot showers, but that's okay because at least we have running water. And so far we have had very good food. So we ate dinner, had a meeting, and wow I can't even remember what else besides going to BED!!! Theresa and Linda sure love early-to-bedding. WHICH MEANS WAKING UP EARLY. OH MY GOODNESS THEY GOT UP SO EARLY. And they woke me up at like 6:30!!

Good ol' Don led our morning devotional and Mary led a couple worship songs while Theresa braided my hair. Thanks guys. Then breakfast was yummy... porridge, rolls with peanut butter and jelly, fruit, and oh there was meat for the actual meat eaters. Then we were off to the church.

It looked interesting. They had about a dozen ceiling fans and the windows were really big and they had a modern day sound system which was cool. I can't really remember all that happened because I was.......asleep. A lot. I MEAN IT WASN'T BORING OR ANYTHING!!! (lol Theresa and Linda sorry) but I remember they made puppets and Mary and I really tried singing in Spanish and Don presented the "creeping charlie" personality and a bunch of other stuff. There was so much. Especially coming back from after lunch, oh my gosh, I was soooo ready to take a nap. Well... who's to say i didn't take a miniature one?

....ANYWAY! It was a great first day and i think the Sunday school teachers really enjoyed it! we will be back tomorrow and i actually will be doing more up there this time like presenting the weeping willow character and i get to be a brat named suzie for the discipline skit YAY.

Oh we got CAKE AFTER DINNER YAY. and theresa and linda are still awake! whoa! its 9 here--very late for these early birds, so i should probably give Theresa her phone back.

Thank you for reading this, supporting this ministry, and for praying for us. We will keep you updated. God is doing some cool stuff already!

ttyl,
Marissa Zimmer

Zzzzzzzzz

We arrived safely with all our luggage. Woohoo!  We were greeted by our sweet fried Ketly and a bus to pick us and our luggage up. We traveled from Punta Cana to our temporary home in La Romana. It's population is over 110,000. We are staying in a little dorm near the church. Great logistically.  A few hiccups like power and water this morning but no biggie. Most showered last night.
Some serious Zzzzzzzs took place last night. In fact most are still snoozing. Feeling refreshed and ready to tackle teacher training.

Disaster Averted

One of the suitcases was left at the curb. Fortunately, Linda got it before the bomb squad did.
Best TSA moment: Marissa got pulled out for a rubber snake. Actually, we were sure they were profiling as the rest of the team besides she and I were fast tracked through.
We had a bumpy ride, but arrived safely in Denver. Next stop DC. Not as much turbulence that round.

Dominican Republic 12/27-1/6

Our 7 person team heads out 12/27 and returns 1/6.  We will be doing 1 teacher training and 2 Vacation Bible Schools. 

If we have wifi we will blog.  So check back often.

We are on east coast time.  So it will be awesome to not be too far off of our time zone. 
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/dominican-republic/santo-domingo

Please keep our team in prayer.

Home Sweet Home

We are home safely.  Thank you for your prayers and support!