Thoughts about my Second Mission Trip

We made it home around 10:30 last night after a long day of flights.  Everything went smoothly except there was about an hour delay from Atlanta to Des Moines.  Everyone was pretty tired so there was a lot of sleeping going on during the flights.

To say I am exhausted would be a pretty good understatement.  I have never worked that hard for a week straight in my life.  I went to bed last night when I got home, and have been taking long naps in between grabbing food and checking work emails.  Yesterday as well, there were some of the team members that had uneasy stomach aches and I was one of them.  Its scary going on a plane for three hours when your stomach is pretty unsettled.  All went well, and we made it home safe and sound.  I am still not feeling the best, but that is expected with the change of food and things like that.  I am dealing with the after shock a little better this year.  Last year I took it pretty hard as far as feeling guilty of all the things I came back to after seeing how happy the Dominican people were with all they didn't have.  The great people of the Dominican are constantly in my thoughts though, as I have been telling family and friends about the memories of the trip.  I am sure it will take a week or so to get back to normal and feel "right" again, but I would do it all again in a heart beat.

Saturday morning we took one last final tour of the campus and hung out for a bit before we took off for the resort.  We all went and helped serve the students breakfast in the new kitchen, and that was a pretty amazing sight to see.  There was a proud moment for all of us as Project 52 donated quite a bit of the supplies that it takes to make the food each morning.  The kids are so happy to have the food available to them so you can't help but smile in that kitchen.  We took team pictures under the gym sign that was made in memory of Treye as well.  It was extremely bitter sweet to leave camp Saturday morning.  On one hand you can't wait to get back home to see your family and friends, but on the other hand, you want to stay down there forever to help Lighthouse School and the people of the Dominican in any way possible.  The community down there holds a special place in my heart and always will.  It even rained during our daily devotions on Saturday morning.  It was a pretty amazing sight to see the rain falling down when it hasn't rained in the Dominican for quite some time.

Saturday afternoon we went to Columbus Square and shopped a bit.  We then took off for the resort for a day of rest and relaxation (and drinks) by the ocean.  We spent the afternoon on the ocean talking about memories and playing volleyball.  It is always good to have a day of relaxation to get to know the team better.  One of my favorite parts of the trip is getting to know the team better and by the end being pretty sad leaving everyone for the last time.

Saturday night was really fun as well.  The resort has shows each night where they dance and sing and do that type of stuff.  We were all sitting in the front row when they had their dancers come down and pick out 12 guys.  Everyone who knows me knows that I do NOT dance or anything like that, so of course I got chose to go up on stage.  As well as Adam, Chad, Matt, Ryley, Scott, Wayne, and Mark.  We had a specific dance we had to do by ourselves, and the winner was chose by how loud the crowd got when they called your name.  It was hilarious and Toni Nederhoff took videos that hopefully will make their way to Facebook soon.  Ryley eventually won the dance contest and it was possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen.

That pretty much wrapped up the trip.  We had a few more drinks and called it a night, and the rest is history.

This trip was a lot like one I went on last year.  Though there was not a specific "thing" we needed to get done, we worked extremely hard so deserved the day at the resort.  We didn't really get off the campus much, other then for church and the community walk, but I had seen it all last year so it was good to get work done at camp.

It is pretty hard to talk about the trip right now.  We talked in our last meeting how we try to tell people how the trip was, but it is almost impossible to sum it all up.  People from America just do not get how the Dominican people live unless they see it.  The poverty level there is terrible, they do not have running water usually, and they do not get the privilege to have cable or the internet at any time they want it.  I always feel guilty coming home to a nice apartment that has warm running water with cable and internet.  Luckily, there are many pictures and videos we took that sums up what it is like in the Dominican pretty well.

The trip for me was enlightening.  It is so nice to go down there for a week and work hard for a great cause. It seems as if we get so caught up in work and life so much that we do not have time to step back and take a look at our life here at realize that we actually do have it pretty well here.  We get stuck complaining about all types of things that go wrong, when in actuality, a lot of the problems we have are not that big of a deal.  I am not meaning to say that all of our issues are not big deal, but a lot of them are not worth getting worked up about.  When I get down to the Dominican and see how much love and care the people have for everyone, it gives me hope.  Hope that proves there still is good in this world filled with evil.  The Dominican people have the biggest hearts and I love being down there.  It also makes me hope and pray that eventually people in the states can become more and more like the people of the Dominican.

It was also refreshing to disconnect from the internet and television for a week.  I get so caught up in watching shows and being on the internet that it was really nice to just take a break from that for a while.  I know I was on the internet each night blogging, but that was it.  Life can be simple and I am going to try to make my life as simple as possible.

The trip was something I was looking forward to from the moment I got back last year and it didn't disappoint.  I just can't get over how grateful the Dominican people are with what they have.  Like I said in a previous post, the people here are content and I love that about them.  They love the American people and know that we are there to help them, so they show us a lot of love.

The last thing I will say is that I really enjoy how much the team comes together for a common goal.  It is so nice to have strangers come together to work hard and become a family by the end of the trip.  I will never forget the 9 days we spent together and the memories that were made.

I said I would post a link to the blog from Jon Kelling.  He was on the trip and blogged about it while we were down there.  He blogs on a regular basis so his blogs are so much better to read then mine.  The one he wrote about Debbie, a worker on the camp, was great.  I encourage everyone reading this to check out his blogs from the trip.  Debbie is a girl that I look up to even though she is younger than me.  She is a hard working girl and is striving to be the best person she can be.  This blog really touched me because when you meet her you know she is going to do something special in her life.

http://my-fathersvoice.blogspot.com/2013/02/rolling-santo-domingo-style.html


That is really all that I have right now.  I want to thank Bill Clark for running the Mission Trip so well.  He is the best leader we could have asked for and he deserves all the credit.  Also, I want to thank Pastor Jon Dawson from Sioux Falls.  He led the daily devotions, and does an incredible job.  He is the type of Pastor that connects with everyone so well and I could listen to him spread the word all day.  I also want to thank my family and friends for all the support and prayers along the way.  Lastly, I want to thank my finance Lindsey for cleaning the apartment before I got home and also picking us up at the Airport last night.  Even though the apartment is already dirty with my luggage, its the thought that counts!

Lastly I just wanted to thank everyone who read my blogs along the way.  I do it as a way to journal my memories as well as give people an insight to the people who have never been down to the Dominican.  I encourage everyone to look into going on a Mission trip.  It will change your life in the best way and will be something you never forget.

I will post pictures that I took on my Facebook page, and you can also check out a lot of pictures from the Lighthouse Schools Facebook Page.  The search for them is under LightHouse Projects.

Please do not hesitate to ask any questions you may have about the trip.  I love telling stories and sharing memories from the trip.

Thanks again, and I look forward to connecting with you all soon!

Take Care,

Corey

Last Day of Work

Today was our last day of work. It was more of the same for me, wheeling cement from the mixer to where we poured all day long. Some of the team went to Jose's house to lay bricks for him as try are building him a new house. Jose is a worker here, and is one of the most sincere people you will ever meet. He is always telling jokes and smiling.  It was bittersweet when we got done today for the last time. I have honestly never been more tired from working. My whole body aches, but hen you think about the difference we are making the soreness seems to go away. It is quite amazing to see how welcoming and happy the community is when we see then.

Today I had my first drink of Passion Fruit juice during lunch as well. It tasted great! It is so fun to try new things down here because everything is so fresh and made right on campus.

Tomorrow we are taking off from camp around 9 and going into Santo Domingo to walk around and hang out. After that its off to the resort for a day of relaxation on the beach before we head back Saturday to a whole bunch of snow. The days have flown by here, but I am ready to have a great day with the team tomorrow!

There is a man here named Jon who runs a few blogs and things like that. He wrote an article today about Debbie, another worker here. It is a great article and really gives you insight one how she sees life and things like that. Debbie is an amazing girl who everyone can look up to and respec. I am goin to post a link to the article when I post Sunday about my thoughts on the trip. I suggest everyone take a look at it if you have time!

Tonight will consist of a meeting about memories of the trip and what we learned, and also quite a few games I'm sure. I may try to defend my spoons title, but we have to finish our Phase 10 game first.

I am looking forward to catching up with many of you when we get home. It is always good to be home, but its hard not to want to be down here all the time helping these great people out.

Take care and I will talk to you all soon!

Corey

Cement and Church

Today was more of the same of the previous days. I am now best friends with my wheel barrel, and will be again tomorrow.  We are working hard to get all the cement we can laid before we leave.  There were some people taking video of our system, and I will say it was a pretty awesome system to be in.  There was an assembly line pouring buckets into the mixer, one person mixing, and then 3 people pushing wheel barrels to pour. Hopefully the videos will be on Facebook soon.

Christian came and talked to us last night about his story. I encourage anyone to try to listen to his story next time he is in the area. It all started with someone sponsoring him like people do for the children of the Lighthouse School now.  To see what it has become all from a dream is pretty neat.

After work today we played baseball with some of the local kids and also went to church. Going to church is so neat because it is so different then church in the states. The atmosphere is very alive and loud and it was an awesome experience.  We walked to church and it was dark, so it was fun to be out at night and see how many people are out and about.  Other then that it was a pretty regular day.

Everyone is pretty tired from working so hard, but it is so rewarding its worth it. We are taking full advantage of siesta time after lunch!  I am not looking forward to heading back as seeing all the snow we got that's for sure. I will gladly take the peeling skin from the sun I have already over frostbite.

It's bittersweet to me to have the last work day tomorrow. I love it here because everyone is so happy when it looks like they have so little.  I already can't wait to come back next year and for years to come.  It is all worth it to see all the smiling faces on the kids at the school.

I am goin to try to blog tomorrow night after work, but if not then for sure once I get back to the states to wrap up the trip.

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone back home is safe from all the snow!

Take care and talk to you soon.

Day 3 of Work

Today was a long one. We are laying cement for the new building addition, and we have to lay a ton of it.   We are using the cement mixer that Project 52 sent down so that helps a lot, but it is still hard work. There are usually about 8 people shoveling ad carrying buckets, 2 people running the cement mixer, and then 3 people running the wheel barrels. It is a pretty long process, but we all got it going smooth so it was good.

Tomorrow will be about the same thing, but we are heading to a local church here in the afternoon so it will be a shorter day than usual.

We also played basketball tonight, which probably wasn't the best idea because we were all exhausted from today, but it was a good time.  We played some of the guys that work here.

Also today during devotions Pastor Jon said a quite that was pretty awesome.  He said "preach the gospel and if necessary use words." That is a perfect quote for this trip. We may not speak the same language, but the people here know what we are doing here.

Tonight will consist of Phase 10 and maybe some Catch Phrase. It is so fun to hang out with the team and make some new friends along the way.

Lastly I wanted to give a shout out to all the Iowa State fans. Sorry about the loss! I heard the officiating was bad and all that non sense, but we know Kansas is the better team.

That's about it for now.i am hoping to blog tomorrow if we get back from church at a decent time.

Tomorrow is also the Dominican Republics Independance Day.  We will probably go to a local bar and celebrate with all the locals so that should be fun! (Kidding we would never go outside of camp alone). Only 2 more days or work until we head to the resort! It will be nice to relax at the resort after a long week of hard work.

Hope everyone is dealing with the snow ok. I hear we got quite a bit. Lindsey if your reading this please don't take my car and get into an accident! Haha kidding.

Take care everyone!

Day 2 working

Hello Everyone!

I am writing this pretty early which means we had a good day of work. We worked from about 830 until 5 today. We are working in the camp, so today we carried bricks up to the third floor of the building. They have a pulley system where you have a guy on the ground who attached the brick and then pulls the brick up to the third floor and another person at the top takes them off and throws the rope back down.  The other members of the team payed brick and made cement.  It is really tough work, but it is really fun when everyone is working together.

Tomorrow is looking like we are going to be laying cement all day so that should be interesting. A lot of the wheel barrows we use do not work the best, so it is really hard work, but the Dominicans keep us going at a pretty fast pace.

Lighthouse School also painted the sign on the gym wall that says Treye's name.  It's tough to look at it and not shed a tear or two.  To see the difference that we and all the other teams are making is so inspiring.  People around here love seeing us because they know we care about them and want them to be able to have some of the same things we do in the states.

One of the things Pastor Jon said today in devotion was "pray for us that the message of The Lord may spread rapidly and be honored." This is a bible verse that really hits you when you think about it.  The question was asked what everyone prayed for before the trip. Most people said their health or their safety, but in reality that's not what we should be asking for. The main thing we should pray for is that the people down here see us working here because we believe we need to. Whether you are religious or not, when you come down here and see the difference you are making, you find out its bigger then you personally. God is great and it really shows when you come down here.

Tonight will hopefully consist of me winning spoons again and continuing the dynasty, and then hearing about the Kansas game. I need Kansas to win otherwise I won't live this one down for a while.  Other then that nothing much is new here. I hope everything is great back home!

I will try to blog again tomorrow after work.

Take care.

Corey

The Day at the Farm

My apologies again, I am writing this on an iPod so I am sorry if my spelling is off.

Today had been exciting! Minus a pretty bad sunburn, there are no complaints.  We spent the day at Christians family farm and plate softball with the local team.  Wayne was the umpire and it was hilarious. We ended up winning the game, but Wayne gave us a call that sealed the deal so we could call it a tie.  We also donated some team uniforms and other supplies to the community as well. It was a pretty good feeling knowing that we really did make a difference in their lives today.

Being around the people down here just makes me really realize how good life can be. They are so appreciative of even used things and it makes you think about your own life.

Other then that tomorrow it is back to work as usual. It will be a lot of mixing and carrying cement so it will be a long day. We make it fun though so I am excited.

Last night we had our first spoons tourney of the trip and I am happy to announce that I won for the second year in a row. Just wan to thank my family for all the New Years games of spoons for training  me so well.

Also, being down here I keep seeing tons of scooters. Some people know I have always wanted a Vespa (retro scooter) so I have decided its time to purchase one. Lindsey if your reading this right now I am pretty sure your not happy at all about that decision but it has to happen.

That's really all I have for today. The Internet here is not quite as good as last year so I am trying to blog each night but I get disconnected a lot. Hope everything is well in the states!

Last thing, the Jayhawks play Iowa State and I am a little nervous. I will be there in spirit and am really hoping they win this one. I will leave you with this.

Rock chalk!!!

Travel Day and Day 1 of Working.

WE MADE IT!

To say yesterday was a long day would be an understatement.  Our flight out of Des Moines was delayed by a few hours so that started it all off.  We then got onto the plane, and sat in it without moving for at least an hour while the crew was "de-icing".  We then made it to Atlanta, and had to run to our flight just to barely make it on time.

We flew into Punta Cana because we could not fly into Santo Domingo.  We were all grabbing our luggage and there was one bag missing so we had to wait at the airport for about an hour and a half.  Punta Cana is 3 hours from where our camp is, so we ended up getting to camp last night pretty late. 

It was a long day but defnitely worth it to finally get down here!

Today we got to sleep in a bit and took a walk around the community.  I was talking to Matt and we both realized that it does look a lot different than last year.  A lot of the roads are paved it is really nice!  The community walk always is amazing.  The people here are so appreciative of us and the life they have.  In talking with Christian, he stated that everyone is content with what they have.  I love that about this place.  The camp has also changed a bit.  The kitchen to feed over 1,000 kids breakfast is now done, and the dorms for the kids are what we are working on this week.  I will be posting pictures to my Facebook when we get back, but there are some pretty incredible things going on here.  This is such an inspirational place to me.  I can't put into words how much everyone loves it here.

This afternoon we mixed cement and wheeled it all over the place.  Talk about getting thrown into the fire.  I think its safe to say that we will all be pretty sore tomorrow.  I can't wait to see what the rest of the week has in store. 

Last story for the day.  There is a guy here that played basketball at Cornerstone University, and in talking to him we played him at Grand View.  It was at a tournament in Indiana and we won, but its such a small world that he would be here.  He will be a great addition to our team when we play the Dominican Team later this week.

Tomorrow is the day we go to Las Charcas (Christian' Hometown) and spend the day with his family.  It is another 3 hour drive but we are going to play softball against the town softball team.  It will be an exciting day!

I am hoping to blog tomorrow when I get back.  Hope everything is going great back in the States! I will catch up with all of you tomorrow hopefully.

Take Care!