Wow!! I can hardly believe that I am telling you all about my fourth week here!! God is sooo good!! Last Saturday we left around lunch time to head to Monte Cristi where the other orphanage is located that Orphanage Outreach supports. The secular program had been stationed there, and so for last week the Christian internship program moved to MC and the secular program moved to Jaibon. This past week we partnered with Graystone Church (Atlanta, GA) and Old Orchard Church (St. Louis, MO).
In the mornings we hosted a VBS at the orphanage. This is a camp that the community looks forward to each summer. The first day we had 330 kids come. It was CRAZY!!! The theme was Narnia... so the teaching was directed towards biblical themes that are brought up in that book. My role was to help out with the teaching part. It was a cool opportunity because I was able to utilize my Spanish to translate for the teacher (the pastor from Old Orchard) as well as explain the Bible memory games that the kids did. There is no price that can be put on the smiles on the kids faces when they memorized the bible verse!! Also on Wednesday I got an opportunity to communicate very simply my testimony... God is good. I was very blessed by that opportunity. Also, praise God I have another sister in Christ... one girl that I know of accepted Christ.
In the afternoons a group of us went to La Capilla which is a small church in the mountains of MC. I was a team leader for the Blue Team (the older girls). It was such a blessing to be able to connect with them. They each have a story to tell and dreams!! God also used several of the younger babies to share part of His love to me.. I loved getting to hold those precious children. It made my heart sing!!
So this week three new people joined our team. Luke, Chris and Holly. In the mornings we will do work projects and activities with the boys at the orphanage (in Jaibon.. we are back now until August 1st) and then in the afternoon I get to teach the English station for the VBS that we are doing at a local church. I am so excited about this opportunity. God has been faithful. Please continue to pray for encouragement for the team as many of us this is around the half way point of our time in the DR. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We serve a mighty God, one in whom we can place our hope in. And as John shared with us this morning: Hope is the "confident expectation of the righteous".
Praying for you.
Monica
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Week 3
hey all... it has been a great week this past week. God has been so faithful especially this past week. On Tuesday our team had the opportunity to spend the morning in prayer. We prayed with partners, alone and as a group. It was probably the most powerful experience since the beginning of this summer. God really overwhelmed me with the peace that I am down here for a reason and that even though it seems like a long time now, that He is going to use every bit of time to teach, mold and expand me through different children, peers, leaders, situations and conversations. Praise God for His faithfulness!!
So this past week the group of interns had the chance to do an English Camp at the school on the site of the orphanage in Jaibon. We worked with 40 of the same kids that came to the VBS the week prior. My role was to be the co-program leader with Heather to lead my peers in putting on this camp. One of my highlights was seeing some of the same boys that I had on my team last week come back and have that same smile of recognition... it is priceless :)
The theme for the camp was Under the Sea and we did an English focus and a Bible focus each day. Some of the things we worked on was Weather (Jesus Calming the Sea), Food (Fishers of Men), Directions (Jonah), Colors, numbers (Gospel). It worked out very well and the team did a great job of putting together the camp with four stations: Crafts, Rec., English and Lesson. We also had the chance to do an English Bee on Thursday. They really seemed to like it and we hope to use that tool in the future, just as they have at Monte Cristi in the English Institute. (I thought of my dear family who loved the Spelling Bee while planning it :) ).
For this coming week we are at Monte Cristi with two church groups and some one week volunteers. We will be doing a VBS for 200 kids in the morning and then splitting up between a VBS at a local church and a sports camp at the Baseball stadium in the afternoon. I think I'm gonna go to the sports camp.
Please pray for unity among the three groups and for the kids to be open to the Gospel when it is presented. The big VBS will be themed Narnia and has been a hit before, so we are excited to see what comes of it this week. Also, please be in prayer for the those of us that are going to be here past the end of this week. At the end of this week, we loose about half of the team because they are going home after a month. We will get a few more month long interns, but as you can expect a lot of emotions can be felt during that time.
Thank you so much for your constant love, support and encouragement. I am so incredibly blessed to know you and have you in my life. Please let me know how you are doing this summer. May God Bless you.
Thanking God for you,
Monica
So this past week the group of interns had the chance to do an English Camp at the school on the site of the orphanage in Jaibon. We worked with 40 of the same kids that came to the VBS the week prior. My role was to be the co-program leader with Heather to lead my peers in putting on this camp. One of my highlights was seeing some of the same boys that I had on my team last week come back and have that same smile of recognition... it is priceless :)
The theme for the camp was Under the Sea and we did an English focus and a Bible focus each day. Some of the things we worked on was Weather (Jesus Calming the Sea), Food (Fishers of Men), Directions (Jonah), Colors, numbers (Gospel). It worked out very well and the team did a great job of putting together the camp with four stations: Crafts, Rec., English and Lesson. We also had the chance to do an English Bee on Thursday. They really seemed to like it and we hope to use that tool in the future, just as they have at Monte Cristi in the English Institute. (I thought of my dear family who loved the Spelling Bee while planning it :) ).
For this coming week we are at Monte Cristi with two church groups and some one week volunteers. We will be doing a VBS for 200 kids in the morning and then splitting up between a VBS at a local church and a sports camp at the Baseball stadium in the afternoon. I think I'm gonna go to the sports camp.
Please pray for unity among the three groups and for the kids to be open to the Gospel when it is presented. The big VBS will be themed Narnia and has been a hit before, so we are excited to see what comes of it this week. Also, please be in prayer for the those of us that are going to be here past the end of this week. At the end of this week, we loose about half of the team because they are going home after a month. We will get a few more month long interns, but as you can expect a lot of emotions can be felt during that time.
Thank you so much for your constant love, support and encouragement. I am so incredibly blessed to know you and have you in my life. Please let me know how you are doing this summer. May God Bless you.
Thanking God for you,
Monica
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Week Two
Thankfully I was able to get on the internet tonight... it has been a fun week... so much to tell you all about. Lauren joined us at the beginning of the week and Stephanie, Cara and Micah joined us today. Cara is John's wife and Micah is John's son. Lauren is the intern that will be leaving on the same day as me... so we have become dear friends within the last week. Anyways enough about who is here and on to what we did this past week.
There was a group of 50 highschoolers from Kenniworth United Church (Chicago) so it was such a blessing to enjoy tons of energy on site this week. KUC worked on building volunteer housing for Orphanage Outreach as well as partnered with the interns to run the first ever VBS at Jaibon. I have told a couple of you this already, but this trip and especially this week has been Monica in a nutshell. I got to put my passion for Spanish, kids, teaching ESL all to work this week. Monday-Thursday morning I taught ESL to four groups of kids for 25 minutes each. Then in the afternoons I got to be a team leader for "team verde", which was a group of boys ages 6-13. The stations for the VBS were Crafts, ESL, Lesson, and Rec. It was so fun to be able to translate some, and spend time getting to know the kids.
This past weekend has been a great time of relaxation and an hour of internet time :)... but I am soooo excited about this upcoming week. I had a meeting with Heather, the program leader and friend from JBC, this afternoon and she asked me to be the program leader for the English camp next week. This means that I have done a lot of planning on the front end of things and provide leadership and framework for the English camp. I am so excited to be able to have this opportunity for this kind of leadership. In this role, I wont have the chance to teach per say, but will be able to oversee all that goes on at the camp with the help and guidance of Heather. Please pray for guidance and confidence in the abilities that God has given me as I adventure out on this exciting week!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and concern about the reaction.. I am pleased to say that my hands and feet are back to normal... God is good and He continues to pour blessings on me through friendships, conversations and those boys at the orphanage. God is good.
I am also VERY pleased to let you all know that I can get letters in the DR :)... It will probably take about a week and a half to get here, but I would welcome any cards or letters to know how you all are doing. Please don't send any packages, because chances are that they won't get here, save those for when I get back to JBC :)... ok so its
Monica Swartzentruber
Calle Alta Gracia #80
Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic
Thanks so much for all your love and prayers. You are such a blessing and I can't wait to hear about your summer and share more stories and pictures with you when I get back. Hopefully I will be able to get online next weekend, but I've learned to be flexible and thankful for the time that I do get. :)
Love ya,
Monica
There was a group of 50 highschoolers from Kenniworth United Church (Chicago) so it was such a blessing to enjoy tons of energy on site this week. KUC worked on building volunteer housing for Orphanage Outreach as well as partnered with the interns to run the first ever VBS at Jaibon. I have told a couple of you this already, but this trip and especially this week has been Monica in a nutshell. I got to put my passion for Spanish, kids, teaching ESL all to work this week. Monday-Thursday morning I taught ESL to four groups of kids for 25 minutes each. Then in the afternoons I got to be a team leader for "team verde", which was a group of boys ages 6-13. The stations for the VBS were Crafts, ESL, Lesson, and Rec. It was so fun to be able to translate some, and spend time getting to know the kids.
This past weekend has been a great time of relaxation and an hour of internet time :)... but I am soooo excited about this upcoming week. I had a meeting with Heather, the program leader and friend from JBC, this afternoon and she asked me to be the program leader for the English camp next week. This means that I have done a lot of planning on the front end of things and provide leadership and framework for the English camp. I am so excited to be able to have this opportunity for this kind of leadership. In this role, I wont have the chance to teach per say, but will be able to oversee all that goes on at the camp with the help and guidance of Heather. Please pray for guidance and confidence in the abilities that God has given me as I adventure out on this exciting week!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and concern about the reaction.. I am pleased to say that my hands and feet are back to normal... God is good and He continues to pour blessings on me through friendships, conversations and those boys at the orphanage. God is good.
I am also VERY pleased to let you all know that I can get letters in the DR :)... It will probably take about a week and a half to get here, but I would welcome any cards or letters to know how you all are doing. Please don't send any packages, because chances are that they won't get here, save those for when I get back to JBC :)... ok so its
Monica Swartzentruber
Calle Alta Gracia #80
Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic
Thanks so much for all your love and prayers. You are such a blessing and I can't wait to hear about your summer and share more stories and pictures with you when I get back. Hopefully I will be able to get online next weekend, but I've learned to be flexible and thankful for the time that I do get. :)
Love ya,
Monica
internet times
so right now i have two minutes left online... hopefully i will get to be back online from 10-11 tonight (Saturday) or 9-10 tomorrow night (Sunday)... if not i will be back sometime on Monday... thanks for all your prayers and hopefully we will talk soon.
Monica
Monica
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Week One.
Wow... so I am sitting here at my "designated internet time" and will try to cram all of last week into this update. I have so many things to tell you. First of all, thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has been praying for the reaction. It ended up getting to my hands and feet pretty bad by the middle of the week and now it has almost all cleared up...God is a great healer... thank you for going to Him in prayer. So here are some highlights from this past week:
- Meeting 16 other interns, from various colleges and walks of life. The only thing that we had in common at the beginning of the week was an Orphanage Outreach t-shirt and now I consider this group good friends. Some of them will be here for a month and others for two months. Just yesterday, Lauren came, who will be leaving the same day as I will :) She is a blessing!
- Being under the leadership at OO. John Hopkins, someone who has run summer camps in Colorado is leading the summer program. God is using Him in great ways to lead the interns in a Spirit-filled experience.
- Meeting the 20 boys at the orphanage. We are getting to know each boy fairly well. Each afternoon last week we had the chance to do an organized activity (relay races, capture the flag, get to know you interview, etc.) and then we also had free time to just get to know the boys one on one. One of the boys is named Robinson. He taught me how to play Mancala. Meliss would be so proud :).
- Working to get ready for the group of 50 high schoolers here this week. We had to make 50 beds with mosquito netting for the group that is here this week.
- We also toured and went to the beach on Friday and Saturday.
We have a busy week ahead in leading the high school team through VBS. I am in charge with two other interns of the English station :).. God is so good. There are so many other things to share, but my time is about out.
Thank you for the prayers.
Until next week.
Monica
- Meeting 16 other interns, from various colleges and walks of life. The only thing that we had in common at the beginning of the week was an Orphanage Outreach t-shirt and now I consider this group good friends. Some of them will be here for a month and others for two months. Just yesterday, Lauren came, who will be leaving the same day as I will :) She is a blessing!
- Being under the leadership at OO. John Hopkins, someone who has run summer camps in Colorado is leading the summer program. God is using Him in great ways to lead the interns in a Spirit-filled experience.
- Meeting the 20 boys at the orphanage. We are getting to know each boy fairly well. Each afternoon last week we had the chance to do an organized activity (relay races, capture the flag, get to know you interview, etc.) and then we also had free time to just get to know the boys one on one. One of the boys is named Robinson. He taught me how to play Mancala. Meliss would be so proud :).
- Working to get ready for the group of 50 high schoolers here this week. We had to make 50 beds with mosquito netting for the group that is here this week.
- We also toured and went to the beach on Friday and Saturday.
We have a busy week ahead in leading the high school team through VBS. I am in charge with two other interns of the English station :).. God is so good. There are so many other things to share, but my time is about out.
Thank you for the prayers.
Until next week.
Monica
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