FEB 18. (a.k.a. beginning of busyness) -
We were off to Orlando for 8 days of conferences. International Capacity Conference spanned the first half of the week and Realtime the second half, with, of course, travel time before and after. Every year, FCA hosts ICC at a location somewhere around the world close to one of their international partners. This year, it was hosted in Orlando so that the 43 international leaders who were able to attend could also enjoy Realtime Realtime is an event that happens every 3 years where the majority of FCA staff and many of their spouses come together for a time of fellowship and fun.
ICC days were packed with sessions and workshops and just enough time to connect with other international leaders over lunch and in the evenings. Our main highlight was getting to personally know other Latin American leaders. We Latinos (I was told on several occasions I seem more Latina than American so, yes, I say “we”) were known as the rowdy bunch - no surprise there. Pretty sure Asia wasn’t quite sure what to think of us, especially during bowling night.
One of my personal highlights was connecting with a few Guatemalans - I felt like we already knew each other just from talking about familiar places. ICC will be held in Guatemala next year and I’m fully planning to take extra time, if we go, to show Miguel my other home country :D
Miguel’s personal highlight was having Willie, another one of our 3 Dominican directors, along. He was approved a visitor’s visa and was able to make the trip with us, much to Miguel’s delight. He enjoyed, still enjoys, poking fun at Willie’s reaction to America - I guess since Miguel considers himself an expert on all things travel and America now ;)
The entire ICC conference was so encouraging. There’s nothing quite like seeing so many countries represented in one place, united under one goal - to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Realtime was a very different experience, with 1500+ people in attendance. Our highlights there were being able to connect with people who have been to the Dominican before on trips and have supported the ministry here in various ways.
MAR 3 (a.k.a. busyness sets in) -
Only a few (short) days after returning home from Orlando on the 26th, our first visiting team of the year arrived. A 16 member team, consisting of fathers and their baseball player sons, spent 5 days with us helping with a much needed house addition for a coach Miguel works with and running baseball clinics - and of course enjoying playing several games, Americans vs. Dominicans. It was an incredible start to the year for mission trips! We are hoping to host up to 15 groups this year and are within sight of that goal. Five Dominican baseball players gave their lives to Christ after hearing the gospel and testimonies of who Jesus is come from the lips of other players and coaches. One of the American baseball players, who joined the trip last minute, also gave his life to Christ! God knows every person’s heart and how to reach them. He was baptized in a pool that evening at the facility where the team was staying and has truly gone home a changed person.
MAR 11 (a.k.a. crazy busyness begins) -
Several (even shorter) days after the team left on the 8th, our boss flew down from the States to oversee some staff training and evaluations for several days. We were away from home for most of that week since these sessions were taking place in Boca Chica. We came home for the day on Thursday and headed right back on Friday because...
MAR 16 (a.k.a. crazy busyness full force) -
Two guys, J & A, flew in for a weekend stay to get to know the ministry and begin planning a mission trip in August. Miguel had university that Friday and Saturday, as always, so I met them and arranged lodging for them in Boca Chica. That evening, Miguel took them for dinner as I headed right back to Punta Cana with our two other directors, Willie and David, and Willie’s wife for a dinner with the FCA board of trustees who traveled to the DR for their annual directors’ meeting. We had the opportunity to share what is happening here in the ministry and what kind of impact is being made in the DR through FCA.
We stayed in PC overnight and headed back to BC Saturday morning to take J & A to San Pedro and visit staff and several ministry spots there all morning. Back to BC for the same thing in the afternoon. Lots of questions and answers later, I left them with Willie and another staff member who speaks English pretty well while I kept an appointment with our accountant.
On Sunday, Miguel and I headed home to Higuey for church and to (try to catch up on) rest before heading into what was “supposed” to be a normal work week. J & A had been in Santo Domingo meeeting up with some friends that Sunday morning and were planning to spend the afternoon and evening with us.
We got a call two hours after church ended, from the international office in Kansas City, where someone happened to be in the office since she wouldn’t be at work on Monday. A call had come in from the son of a German couple who was on the board of trustees. He said his parents had been in a car accident here in the Dominican Republic but didn’t have good phone or internet connection, so they hadn’t been able to share a lot of information yet about what had happened. All their son knew was that his parents were at a hospital somewhere and no one knew yet how badly they were injured. We soon received more information on which hospital they were taken to and headed out the door the same time as J & A arrived at our house. Upon arrival at the hospital, we were grateful to find that no internal injuries had been sustained. Mr. G. had a few fractured ribs and his wife had a broken rib and several fractures on her leg. The injuries were enough that they were admitted to the hospital for the week before being cleared to fly. Their original plans had been to stay a few days for vacation after the trustees’ meeting and instead they spent twice that time in a hospital room.
MAR 19 (a.k.a crazy busyness turns to just busyness again) -
The whole week while our friends Mr. and Mrs. G. were in the hospital, we were blessed to be able to assist them with translation, clarifying hospital reports, straightening out the police report, and following up with their rental car company. It did require a lot of road time, since the hospital is about 40 minutes away, but it was a joy to be able to serve and be relatively close by. They've been such an encouragement to our own faith with their stories of international travel to spread the Gospel.
They were scheduled to fly home, attended by a doctor, on Saturday (the 24th), but due to some unexpected pain, that flight has been delayed until tomorrow evening. Mr. G. is up and walking around and making use of the hospital cafeteria while Mrs. G., whose leg has several fractures, is patiently waiting to get back home.
THIS WEEK - (a.k.a. due for a break)
We are looking forward to Easter! Miguel will have a break from university classes for the weekend so we've already made plans with friends on Friday and Saturday. We look forward to celebrating the hope that Jesus Christ's resurrection brought and take a few days to rejuvenate before heading into, only God knows, what next week will bring :D
We were off to Orlando for 8 days of conferences. International Capacity Conference spanned the first half of the week and Realtime the second half, with, of course, travel time before and after. Every year, FCA hosts ICC at a location somewhere around the world close to one of their international partners. This year, it was hosted in Orlando so that the 43 international leaders who were able to attend could also enjoy Realtime Realtime is an event that happens every 3 years where the majority of FCA staff and many of their spouses come together for a time of fellowship and fun.
ICC days were packed with sessions and workshops and just enough time to connect with other international leaders over lunch and in the evenings. Our main highlight was getting to personally know other Latin American leaders. We Latinos (I was told on several occasions I seem more Latina than American so, yes, I say “we”) were known as the rowdy bunch - no surprise there. Pretty sure Asia wasn’t quite sure what to think of us, especially during bowling night.
One of my personal highlights was connecting with a few Guatemalans - I felt like we already knew each other just from talking about familiar places. ICC will be held in Guatemala next year and I’m fully planning to take extra time, if we go, to show Miguel my other home country :D
Miguel’s personal highlight was having Willie, another one of our 3 Dominican directors, along. He was approved a visitor’s visa and was able to make the trip with us, much to Miguel’s delight. He enjoyed, still enjoys, poking fun at Willie’s reaction to America - I guess since Miguel considers himself an expert on all things travel and America now ;)
The entire ICC conference was so encouraging. There’s nothing quite like seeing so many countries represented in one place, united under one goal - to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Realtime was a very different experience, with 1500+ people in attendance. Our highlights there were being able to connect with people who have been to the Dominican before on trips and have supported the ministry here in various ways.
MAR 3 (a.k.a. busyness sets in) -
Only a few (short) days after returning home from Orlando on the 26th, our first visiting team of the year arrived. A 16 member team, consisting of fathers and their baseball player sons, spent 5 days with us helping with a much needed house addition for a coach Miguel works with and running baseball clinics - and of course enjoying playing several games, Americans vs. Dominicans. It was an incredible start to the year for mission trips! We are hoping to host up to 15 groups this year and are within sight of that goal. Five Dominican baseball players gave their lives to Christ after hearing the gospel and testimonies of who Jesus is come from the lips of other players and coaches. One of the American baseball players, who joined the trip last minute, also gave his life to Christ! God knows every person’s heart and how to reach them. He was baptized in a pool that evening at the facility where the team was staying and has truly gone home a changed person.
MAR 11 (a.k.a. crazy busyness begins) -
Several (even shorter) days after the team left on the 8th, our boss flew down from the States to oversee some staff training and evaluations for several days. We were away from home for most of that week since these sessions were taking place in Boca Chica. We came home for the day on Thursday and headed right back on Friday because...
MAR 16 (a.k.a. crazy busyness full force) -
Two guys, J & A, flew in for a weekend stay to get to know the ministry and begin planning a mission trip in August. Miguel had university that Friday and Saturday, as always, so I met them and arranged lodging for them in Boca Chica. That evening, Miguel took them for dinner as I headed right back to Punta Cana with our two other directors, Willie and David, and Willie’s wife for a dinner with the FCA board of trustees who traveled to the DR for their annual directors’ meeting. We had the opportunity to share what is happening here in the ministry and what kind of impact is being made in the DR through FCA.
We stayed in PC overnight and headed back to BC Saturday morning to take J & A to San Pedro and visit staff and several ministry spots there all morning. Back to BC for the same thing in the afternoon. Lots of questions and answers later, I left them with Willie and another staff member who speaks English pretty well while I kept an appointment with our accountant.
On Sunday, Miguel and I headed home to Higuey for church and to (try to catch up on) rest before heading into what was “supposed” to be a normal work week. J & A had been in Santo Domingo meeeting up with some friends that Sunday morning and were planning to spend the afternoon and evening with us.
We got a call two hours after church ended, from the international office in Kansas City, where someone happened to be in the office since she wouldn’t be at work on Monday. A call had come in from the son of a German couple who was on the board of trustees. He said his parents had been in a car accident here in the Dominican Republic but didn’t have good phone or internet connection, so they hadn’t been able to share a lot of information yet about what had happened. All their son knew was that his parents were at a hospital somewhere and no one knew yet how badly they were injured. We soon received more information on which hospital they were taken to and headed out the door the same time as J & A arrived at our house. Upon arrival at the hospital, we were grateful to find that no internal injuries had been sustained. Mr. G. had a few fractured ribs and his wife had a broken rib and several fractures on her leg. The injuries were enough that they were admitted to the hospital for the week before being cleared to fly. Their original plans had been to stay a few days for vacation after the trustees’ meeting and instead they spent twice that time in a hospital room.
MAR 19 (a.k.a crazy busyness turns to just busyness again) -
The whole week while our friends Mr. and Mrs. G. were in the hospital, we were blessed to be able to assist them with translation, clarifying hospital reports, straightening out the police report, and following up with their rental car company. It did require a lot of road time, since the hospital is about 40 minutes away, but it was a joy to be able to serve and be relatively close by. They've been such an encouragement to our own faith with their stories of international travel to spread the Gospel.
They were scheduled to fly home, attended by a doctor, on Saturday (the 24th), but due to some unexpected pain, that flight has been delayed until tomorrow evening. Mr. G. is up and walking around and making use of the hospital cafeteria while Mrs. G., whose leg has several fractures, is patiently waiting to get back home.
THIS WEEK - (a.k.a. due for a break)
We are looking forward to Easter! Miguel will have a break from university classes for the weekend so we've already made plans with friends on Friday and Saturday. We look forward to celebrating the hope that Jesus Christ's resurrection brought and take a few days to rejuvenate before heading into, only God knows, what next week will bring :D
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