More pictures!

WEDNESDAY

What a great day! The group had several activities today, including visiting the baby orphanage, meeting and playing a group game with the high schoolers again, visiting and making bracelets with the 9-14 year old orphan girls, playing soccer and basketball, and finally ending our day with a brief church service. I would encourage you to ask your student about the upcoming conference that it happening at IGB!

We also got to eat some truly authentic rice and beans for dinner!

Saying goodbye was difficult for many of us, as in just a short time we have gotten to know so many people. The best part of this trip for me has been seeing each student get to know their hosts and various other Dominicans. This aspect of the trip was unlike I have ever experienced. I know I am deeply grateful for our hosts, Pastor Oscar and his wife Olga. And I will especially miss Pedro and Jorge, who were awesome at translating and answering my questions, but were also great guys to get to know!

My prayers for this trip have been answered in the form of these relationships, as well as the beginning of a great partnership between two schools. I continue to pray that the Lord will work in our hearts as we travel home and reflect on our time spent here.

Mucho Gracias y Hasta Manana!

Kory Pruner

TUESDAY

Hola! :)

Today was jam packed with activities!
First, we arrived at 1 of the 3 Mercy Homes where there were about 15 5-8 year old girls. We spent some time playing with them- coloring, piggy back rides, kicking balls, etc. and they were really into playing with the students iphones. Then we headed over to the school and Mr. Pruner gave a presentation to the administrators and a few of the teachers while the students interacted with the Dominican students. We enjoyed a lunch of hamburgers and then spent more time outdoors playing soccer/basketball with the high school students. Most of the students were great at speaking English so it was easy to communicate with them.

Around 3pm we headed to a museum- "Centre Leon" for a guided tour of the exhibits where we learned a lot about the history of the Dominican Republic. After that, we exchanged money so we could buy things at a grocery store and a market. We have been so thankful to have a Dominican accompany us on these excursions because he helped us barter with the merchants and also instructed us on authentic Dominican items/foods.

Tomorrow we will be visiting the "babies" Mercy Home, followed by some more time at the school.
We are a bit apprehensive about what our travel situation will look like with all the weather reports we have been hearing but we will keep you updated about any changes.

Baggage update- Daniel's luggage has been returned to him! Natalie's luggage we believe is on its way to Santiago as I write this and so we hope to be able to return it to her tomorrow! We have been tracking it online and trying to call Delta but due to all the flight problems the call centers have been hard to reach.

Thanks for your prayers! We plan to bring your students home to you even if they are not ready :)

Good night!

Melissa Pruner

Tuesday Pics

Church

The church services where very interesting.  We sat in a cry room and a person translated over the intercom. The translator was very good. The first service was about the book of James. When we sang, we went outside and sat with the congregation. It was awesome to hear the same songs we sing at church in Spanish. For the next message, Daniel and I stayed and tried understand the message in Spanish.

Peter

MONDAY

Today we got to go to the beach while you all back home had to be inside because of snow. We enjoyed the white sand and the crystal blue water. We also got to do a little shopping and experience the culture. Tomorrow we plan to go to the school and meet with some of the kids and help out.

Kylie

Pics from Monday

SUNDAY

This morning at 9:30am our group participated in Sunday school at the church, followed by the worship service beginning at 10:40am. We were able to sit in a glass room that allowed us to listen to a translator translate the sermon. We also sang along in Spanish to a few familiar worship songs! After church we headed back to our host homes for lunch and rest until we all met back up again at the evening church service which began at 6:00pm. Following the evening service, we enjoyed a dinner of rice, potatoes, corn on the cob, brownies, and pop with the youth group! Many of the youthgroup students knew English so it was easy for our students to engage in conversations with them and we even got to play a rousing game of "Never have I ever!" 

Tomorrow we will be traveling about an hour and a half north to the beach! 

Sorry we could not have one of the students blog today! We will try again tomorrow! 

We are still trying to locate Natalie and Daniel's luggage :(. I feel so bad for them but they are making the best of it and their friends are generously sharing clothes and toiletries. 

Stay safe Indiana! We are thinking of you!

Melissa Pruner 

SATURDAY

We finally made it to Santiago!!!! :D Arrival and customs went smoothly, however, Daniel and Natalie's checked baggage never made it from Indy to JFK. We are hoping that they will arrive tomorrow! Our plane ended up taking off at about 6:30am this morning after combining with another Santiago flight. So basically everything that could have gone wrong with our flights did go wrong but the students had good attitudes even though we were all so tired!

We were picked up from the airport by some of the church leaders/members and they brought us to the church for a lunch of soft tacos and chips. We also met our host families there and they brought us to their homes for some much needed rest before we all met back up at the church for dinner! Our dinner consisted of spaghetti noodles mixed with shredded ham and corn with some bread and apples! Then we headed back with our host families for the night.

Tomorrow we have Sunday school and a worship service in the morning and also a church service in the evening.

We plan to have some of the students write the next few posts for you! Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers especially during the stressful flight situation!

Melissa Pruner

PS- it was about 85 degrees today :) Enjoy the snow tomorrow!

Some pics from the day(s) of traveling

Nevermind

Just wanted to keep you updated for when you wake up in the morning!

Melissa Pruner

Sent from my iPhoneOk, well we are back where we started. We had to exit the plane we were in and now the gate attendants are working on boarding passes for a different Santiago plane that hasn't left yet either. We are all exhausted but have limited options at this point. Trying our best to get some shut eye for now.

10 hours later...

Update: We are still at JFK. After numerous delays and gate changes we believe out plane is here and preparing for our flight-however with all the chaos with all the other flights, we continue to wait for boarding to begin. If we left now, we would get to the DR around 6am. Right now our major concerns are energy and not knowing how/when we will all get our beauty sleep! Your students have been great company and are making the best of the situation! What is cool is we have gotten to talk with multiple people here at the airport which is a unique opportunity. We have even got free pizza care of Delta!

That's all for now! Just got notice that our plane is about ready to board! Praise The Lord! :)

We will provide more updates once we are in the DR! Thanks for your prayers!

Melissa Pruner

Sent from my iPhone

In New York

We successfully landed at JFK airport right on time! The group is getting dinner and hanging out as we now have a 5 hour layover.

Sent from my iPhone

Smooth in Indy

So far everything has gone well. We are hanging out at our gate in Indy and our flight is on schedule!

Trip Devo

Here is a short video introduction to some of our trip devotional:

Follow Me Bible Study trailer from BiblicalSolutionsFor on Vimeo.

One Week!

Our Trip to Santiago to visit Iglesia Bautista de la Gracia is one week away! Join me in prayer for our travels and those who we will be serving.

You can follow updates of our trip by visiting this blog!! 

Also follow us on twitter using #fcsjterm2014

Passport information and vaccinations

Here are two links that give information about getting a US Passport:

For 16 years and younger:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/minors/minors_834.html

For older than 16 years:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_830.html



Also, I have found the CDC website helpful regarding vaccinations and other health answers:

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/dominican-republic

Here is what it says about Vaccines for the DR:

All travelers You should be up to date on routine vaccinations while traveling to any destination. Some vaccines may also be required for travel.
Routine vaccines	Make sure you are up-to-date on routine vaccines before every trip. These vaccines include measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine, varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, and your yearly flu shot.
Most travelers Get travel vaccines and medicines because there is a risk of these diseases in the country you are visiting.
Hepatitis A	CDC recommends this vaccine because you can get hepatitis A through contaminated food or water in the Dominican Republic, regardless of where you are eating or staying.
Typhoid	You can get typhoid through contaminated food or water in the Dominican Republic. CDC recommends this vaccine for most travelers, especially if you are staying with friends or relatives, visiting smaller cities or rural areas, or if you are an adventurous eater.

Iglesia Bautista de la Gracia

Check out IBGracia's website to learn more about the ministry:

http://www.ibgracia.org

https://www.facebook.com/ibgracia.org

PPT from meeting on May 17

Here is a link to download the powerpoint from our meeting on 5/17. Use it to remember key dates and ideas! 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dqxjo6s243m8i33/DR%20meeting%205.17.13.ppt