Is it possible?

Is it possible to sum up how much someone has meant in your life in a blog post. I don't think so.

Cory and Laura Beth did a great job of throwing a farewell party with a video and memory book to express how much the McClouds have meant to all of us here in the DR.

Father, thank you for blessing us with Tj and Holly!

GROUPS 2008

Thanking you all for your hard work and giving up so much of the year in planning and prepping for this trip of service to the DR. God be praised!!

Pre-Summer Medical Team

Levy, AR

Highland View, TN

Fairfax, VA Youth
Maricamp, FL

Cloverdale, AR

Lake Cities, TX

Westminister, MD

FairFax, VA Adult

How do you spell Intern?

With gusto!
These guys have been dedicated to the summer program from day one onward. We thank them for giving up their whole summer to be such a blessing to us, the teams and the people in the DR.
Thanks, Luke, Jamie, Felicia, Daniel, Chad, and Catherine!

Summer with Catherine

Catherine is my returnee intern and basically has been my right-hand "man". She's done summer tutoring for the kids in the homes, English with Jarisa, Sunday Bible class for the young kids and Weds nights with the older girls, organized the home files, the home storage, the group storage, and been respite "mom" for a week while house mom, Ada, went on vacation. She's been a wonderful mentor to the kids in the homes, and she's been a joy to have here!!

Anticipation

OK...nothing deep here. But for 5 years I've looked across our yard, checked the growth of
trees that began as seedlings, seen them weather tropical storms when mighty trees in the area twisted and snapped, and this year the long awaited fruit have appeared. I love avocadoes.


OK...now I'm starting to think deep. Is this a tad bit of how God anticipates and looks forward to our growth?

DR History

The interns spent part of their last break in the DR capital, Santo Domingo, getting a bit of the island's history.

Shhhhh!!!!!

We sent for Jarisa's mom and sisters to come spend the weekend.... ...and to participate in a "farewell" suprise party for Jarisa. It was a success!!
We'll miss you, Jarisa!!!

If all goes well, Jarisa will be departing from the Dominican Republic this Tuesday the 15th of July. She'll be traveling with the Cloverdale Team, who'll help her get through all those obstacles that one faces when traveling abroad.

What a hike!

Cloverdale (as well as Levy) hiked (any where from 3 -5 hours) up the mountain to El Morito. This involves carrying a backpack with overnight needs, sheet, food, and water.

Activities upon the mountain involve work projects (painting, roofing, or cementing local villager's homes), a gospel meeting, and a movie. Those with a bit of energy left over take an additional hike to a nearby water fall.

Count Down

Normally "count downs" are things one happily looks forward to....Christmas, birthdays, summer vacations just to name a few. Specifically, we eagerly anticipate several count downs before the year's end...a new grandbaby, daughter's graduation and marriage.

One count down is difficult to see approaching. Tj and Holly's 2 year commitment with MannaDR ends this August. We know God has awesome things planned for them and us; we just hope that it involves our paths continuing to cross!!

In Rememberance of Him

This Sunday we gathered around to "commune" and remember what the Lord did for all.

Brian led our thoughts to use this time as:

• A memorial of Christ Jesus
• An occasion of thanksgiving
• A public proclamation
• Expression of confident expectation
• Time of self-examination
• Time of sharing with Christ
• A demonstration of unity

As we "supped" together, we shared what this time means to us, shared passages that touch our hearts, sang songs that praised and thanked our Father for what he did.

We did as families do around a table of love and appreciation, we enjoyed each other and were encouraged by one another, knowing we had a Father who loved us so very, very much!!

VBS

The groups have done a great job planning and presenting their VBSs this summer.

So far:
"Courage" (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; Ester) presented by Levy
"Fruits of the Spirit" presented by Highland View
"Trust" (David and Goliath) presented by Fairfax

Still to come:

"Creation" presented by Maricamp
"Faith" (Noah's Ark; Daniel and the Lion's Den) presented by Cloverdale
"The Power of God" presented by Lake Cities
"Amigos de Dios" (Apostles being called) presented by Westminister

New Addition

Drum roll, please.........

Our baby-girl is engaged!!!

Jonathan Raine (a Kiwi, and son of the director of the Bible College our daughter is attending in New Zealand) proposed to Shawnean Wallace (an American, whose South African father had married the dean's daughter of the Bible college he had attended in NY) this past May after dating for a year.

Welcome to the family, Jono!!

A Group Effort

The groups work hard while here in the DR. It's such a blessing to have so many extra hands make our jobs lighter. Thanks Fairfax. painting at the Children's Home

rock detail

Brilliant

All groups end their week with supper at the beach and a sunset devotional.
The Creater demonstrates his majesty at the ocean like no other location.

Highland View member, Tyler, demonstrated his brillance by proposing to girlfriend, Brittney.

Celebration!

Lindsey Bynum had a surprise Graduation party last night. We are blessed to be a part of this young lady's life.

HAPPY GRADUATION, LINDSEY!!!

Invitation to a Wiennie Roast

A few weeks back we were invited to the children's homes' wiennie roast. A new experience was had by all. The kids first time to roast hotdogs on a wire over a fire, and....

...first time for us to roast marshmellow Peeps. Shame!!!

All Work, No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy

Levy have added the final extention to the basketball/soccer court. It's big now!

The groups have a real workout when they come here.

But we're not total "task masters".

They got the job done quickly and a quick rinsing off of cement in the nearby river was refreshing to all.

The Pieces are Coming Together

We've been praying long and hard for some one to fill the role of well driller with the MannaDR work. Rich and Audrey Amy were invited to join the team a while back, but due to obligations that kept them in the States they weren't able to come at that point. Well, all that's behind them and they're wrapping things up to head our way.



As we humans wonder how things can possibly get done, God is making all things possible.
We've been open-jawed for the past several months in awe of our Lord's "ways" and witnessing how he's placed in the hearts of wonderful people, to come and serve along side us in the MannaDR work. Bart, Kristen and Elijah Norman; and Kyle and Vicki Graham will be working in the outreach of Rio San Juan.

Please be praying for the Amys, Normans, and Grahams as they all embark on heading off to language school in September and plan on arriving in the Dominican Republic in January 2009.

Making Room

There's some expansion going on at the camp.

The meeting area has been expanded by a third and has given us a lot more room.

The roof has since been put on.

What to do if...

Yesterday the medical group trained the MannaDR staff and Dominican House moms in CPR and helping someone who is choking. Very valuable information when one lives so far from medical care.

All the children in the homes had check-ups as well.

Interns Take over

If you've read previous blogs, you'll know that Cory and Laura Beth have recently returned home with their first born, Harrison. While Laura Beth recovers and all three get used to a new way of doing things, our interns have taken over the Wednesday night Bible classes.

The girl interns are teaching the little ones until Laura Beth returns to teach.

And the guy interns are teaching the "jovens" (young people), and then the girl interns will join them to be of assistence as well, while Cory assists Laura Beth.

Helpers

It was great having Rich and Audrey visiting earlier this month.

They helped us out so much.

Rich turned Brian on to locating places on a satelite map.

Started contructing the soccer goals on the "newly increased" court at the Homes.

And turned a drum into the grill Brian wanted, making him very happy.

Audrey helped me to organize the Home's storage room.

Taught me Accounting 101 (I hope I can remember it all)

And cleaned my house!! (No picture since it didn't stay clean after she left)

Thanks, Amys!!!!

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day here in the DR and we celebrated our moms with a worship service of the children in the Homes singing some songs, reciting scriptures and inspirational poems for the moms. A time of sharing stories about our mothers ended a lovely service honoring God's gift of moms.

Norm has been meeting with a group of young people in Rio San Juan and some are musically inclined. Mother's day and the camp grounds was a perfect reason and place for them to perform their first concert. They did a really good job.