Northwoods Community Church trip to DR Oct 15-23, 2011

Trip summary by the numbers
Over 800 people treated in the medical clinics in 4 days
Over 200 children and adults pray to receive Christ
30 bags of groceries given to needy families (each bag enough to feed a family for 2 weeks)
600 blocks laid at the school

Northwoods Team 2011

Days 7-9 Friday - Sunday Oct 21-23
Left San Juan and traveled to Barcelo resort for a little R&R before leaving to go back to the US. Stopped in the capital Santo Domingo for about an hour to shop and site see. One famous site is Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor built in the 1500s.

At the resort the highlights were baptisms, communion (the last night together), and hugs of good-bye.

Day 6 Thursday October 20th

The day started with a devotional by Scott on the topic of respect.

Construction Team
Finished up at CCED around noon having laid a little over 600 blocks for 4 days of work. They came back to the guesthouse where the cleared out the tool room, raked leaves, picked up branches etc.

Medical and Child Evangelism Teams
The teams made a quick visit  to the Cordero de Dios school in Elias Pina (near the Haiti border). They got to visit several of the classes and the students sang a song of Jacob and angels coming down from heaven. Then off to a small town called Isidro Martiniz where the child evangelism team shared the gospel with the children. Dave started off and taught the children a song, followed by Eileen teaching them Psalm 119:11. She shared the gospel and then. Sharrie, Jessica, Curt and Dave did face painting. 19 children received Christ.



Darl and her sponsored child Adrian



Tom and Jean with their sponsored child



Carol with her sponsored child



Students who need sponsors at Cordero de Dios









Puppets and their puppeteers



People waiting in line to get into the clinic



Day 5 Wednesday October 19th
One of the greatest joys and privileges we have here is developing relationships with those we work with like translators and workers. One such person the construction team has gotten to know is a translator named Elvis. He lives with his grandparents and shared with several of the guys on the construction team that he was really concerned about his grandfather's salvation. Elvis' dad had recently passed away and didn't want to leave his grandfather's salvation to chance. His grandfather is 91 years old and on a visit many years earlier had seen a witch doctor in Haiti. Ever since that encounter he has been haunted by dreams and possessed by demons. The guys on the team asked Elvis if they could bring others with them to Elvis' grandfather's house to pray for his grandfather. Elvis asked his grandfather and he agreed. So later this afternoon they met his grandfather and though hard of hearing and lacking eyesight his grandfather asked Jesus to come in to his heart and be his Savior. They prayed over the house and for Elvis. Praise God with us and pray for Elvis, his grandfather and those in that home.

Dominican Hair Di\vas
Beth and Jean held another class and 32 students were in attendance. They learned eyebrow shaping.
Four years of hard work are coming to fruition. For the past 4 years, 3 women have come annually to Beth Graichen's hair styling class. This week they will start attending a one year professional school for cosmotologists. On their completion they will be instructors at CCED where a hair styling class will be taught.

Construction Team

200 blocks delivered yesterday were carried two at a time and stock-piled in front of the 2nd floor ramp. A line of 15-20 people then lined up and moved them to the 2nd floor in 15 minutes. No one knows how much the block weighs, but all agree that they get heavier as the day goes on. Rumor has it that things are happening at the construction so Jessica and Lori joined the team and learned how to mud, tie rebar, shovel and strain sand and keep Bill and Ramone supplied with mortar.

Medical Team

Saw around 190 patients today. 3 children had their wristbands cut off. In the DR when babies are born they wrap a red ribbon around their wrist to ward off evil spirits. People working for Clinica Christiana talk to the mother about Jesus Christ and the fact that only Jesus can ward off evil spirits. With the mother's permission they cut off the ribbon.

Becky with smiling mother and infant after ribbon is cut off.

Becky, Diana and Wayne in the pharmacy distributing medicines and vitamins

Child Evangelism Team

The puppet ministry continues to get better and today around 100 children were in attendance when the gospel was shared. Around 50 children and 2 adults asked Christ to be their savior.

Steve Kovach and his friends

Day 4 Tuesday October 18th


Each day before breakfast we have a 5-10 minute devotional led by a different member of the team . Today was Wayne Huang's turn and he shared on love (we're going thru the fruit of the Spirit) from the love chapter out of 1 Corinthians 13. After breakfast we took a quick trip to the local market and you name it we saw it. Bargain of the was Jean's purchase of a large plate of mixed fruit (papaya, pineapple, mango, and cantelope for $1.50 (US). Easily $10 in the US.

Child evangelism
Another hard day facepainting!  The kids love this and swarm all of us to get a moustashe, beard, heart and flower painting on their cheeks, chins, arms and chests.  The children are beautiful and very friendly. They love to hear us try to speak Spanish and talk to us like we know what they are say saying.  We were out to a new barrio today with the CEF evangelist.  We taught the kids a song in English with actions and they taught us one in Spanish.  They were great with the English one. We weren't so great on the Spanish one.  Aileen gave the gospel at the end and 29 kids raised their hands to receive Christ.  We were also able to annoint and pray over about 30 kids.  Many of the children have a red thread on their wrist which is a way they believe to keep bad spirits away.  We prayed that the Blood of Jesus Christ would do that instead.  At the same time, Pastor Juan gave the gospel to the adults waiting to be seen by the doctor at our clinic.  He said that 64 adults raised their hands to receive Christ.  They are so open to God's love.  Today we added painting nails to what the kids could receive.  Even Dave got in the actions with the little kids - the older ones stayed away from his offer. 

Construction Team
After moving 400 block to the 2nd floor yesterday the construction team was pumped for more on their 2nd day. The team took short breaks to enjoy the fruit Jean bought (there was enough for 10) and then popsicles from a local vendor. Just when they were getting ready to leave for the day 200 blocks were delivered. They will have to be moved from there to the 2nd floor. They're already thinking how they can get 25 people to form a line to move the block from where it was piled to the 2nd floor. Stay tuned to see how that works out.

Hair Stylists
Beth and Jean saw 30 attend a class and went over curling techniques. 

Translation
Lois Mannaioni taught another English class.which is for students who really want to learn more English. The students stay after school to attend the class.

Day 3 Monday October 17th
We all hit the road running today.

Child evangelism
Members of the evangelism team using puppets, music, face painting, and tennis ball evangelism with the local CE (Child Evangelism) rep shared the gospel and saw 29 adults and 12 children give their life to Christ.

Medical Team
The medical team saw 250 patients and handed out medicines and vitamins.

Construction Team
10 strong guys loaded up in the back of pick-ups and went to the CCED (school) and laid 160 blocks on the 2nd floor as part of a new 6 room expansion which when finished will have room for 200 students. No one dropped any bricks on their feet and everyone learned that Ramone is the boss.

Hair Queen Divas
Jean Slack and Beth Graichen and the class of 30 beautiful girls learned salon etiquette and applied the latest and greatest feathers to their hair. Steve Sheffer wanted a feather when he got his hair cut, but they wouldn't give him one so Dave Murphy got one instead.

Translation Team
Lois Mannaioni taught an english class to 13 students and loved every minute

Beth says she wants everyone to know that she is having a great time just in case things turn later in the week.


DAY 2 Sunday October 16th

   Attended church in the morning at Cabezza deToro (Head of the Bull) about 45 minutes from the Guest house. Scott tried to get a picture of a combine on tracks, but missed. In the afternoon a few people took a walking tour of the barrios (spanish for neighborhoods). Rumor has it that the local politicians have the curb and gutters poured, promising to finish the road surface, but never do. A few others went for a jog at a local track and got to go thru a political rally. Wayne Huang is up and moving around and doing much better. Good news is that the missing luggage arrived around 5:30pm. Many happy faces with that news.

DAY 1 Saturday October 15th.
Just to let everyone know all 22 of us made it here. Already several things to pray for:

1) Pray for a quick recovery for Wayne who got sick before he left Chicago.
2) We had maintenance problems on our flight from Chicago and the delay caused us to miss our connecting flight in Miami to Santo Domingo. We ended up taking a plane leaving at 12:30pm
3) The majority of our luggage didn't make it from Chicago to Santo Domingo, so pray that it makes it here tomorrow (Sunday 16 October)