Gringa in the eyes of a dominican

"Coach, are we going to eat rice when we are in the states?  Because I think I might die if I don't have rice and chicken!"

This is one of the many great questions I've been recieving from my girls over the past few months.  As the trip comes closer, the girls get more and more curious of what our time will be like in the US.  A week ago, I planned an activity for the girls to stay with some American families to give them a preview of what there time will be like when they get to the states.  After spending Thursday and Friday night with the families, the girls were BEGGING to stay longer.  At the end, we had some time for reflection. Here are some of their responses of what living with an American is like in the eyes of a Dominican.

Caroly and Lili with their "brothers"

How are American families different?

Esther- They like their desserts! We never desserts after dinner.  We sometimes have sweet foods during the day, but not like the Americans do.

Lili- They always pray before they pray. My family never prays before they eat.

Leslie-They are very united as a family.  They wait  for everyone to come to the table to eat.  My family doesn’t do that.  One person eats at the computer, another in their room and another in front of the tv.

Nana- They eat earlier than my family.  My family always eats after 8.  

Steph- They eat healthier food. My family sometimes eats healthy food.

Keysi- They hang out together.  For example, the parents play with their kids. In my family, my parents never played with us. 

How are the marriages of your “parents” different than the typical Dominicans family?

Shakira- They never argue in front of their kids. Normally here, they yell, go in the road to yell more, throw things, sometimes hit each other.  After that, they just separate from each other.

Steph- The husband actually helps the mom! Here, the man eats and then goes to the couch because these chores are just for women.  When the husband gets home, the food should be ready or almost ready.  If a husband gets home and the woman is watching tv, HA! Get ready because she is going to get yelled at.  “I’m out working and you are here in nothing!

Just to give you an update on the trip, we have been working hard on getting all the paperwork done for the girls visas.  We will go to the American consulate within the next week. Please pray that they grant us the visas. I'll post again when we know the exact date so you can pray EXTRA hard. Thank you for all your support and prayers!

Are we present?

As the teams lined up for the “inauguration” ceremony of the annual semana santa (holy week) volleyball tournament, my stomach dropped.  I looked at all my tiny girls lined up against women my age who had many more years of experience, not to mention many more inches to their tall trained bodies.  “Did I make a mistake in making my girls sign up for this 3-on-3 beach volleyball tournament?  Are they just going to get embarrassed in front of all these people watching, including my boss, his family, and many of my friends? Am I going stand up proud next to my girls as they get a beating in front of almost the entire city of Jarabacoa or will I just sit on the bleachers and cheer them on from the sidelines?  How “present” do I want to be as their coach? 

This is a question that I think most of us have to face.  How present are we in the lives of the ones we love?  I often can get so busy with my own schedule that I forget to be present.  I am not just talking about being there when a friend wants to talk about something.  But really, being present.  Am I so engaged in my girls’ lives that I know what’s going on at home?  What subject are the struggling with in school?  What happened today to my roommate Maggie at school?  I find I often come up short in this area. Anyway... back to the volleyball tournament!

So the Semana Santa volleyball tournament is a 3 day event that people come to from all over the country.  There is a 3-on-3 mens basketball tournament, 11k race, as well as 3-on-3 mens and women’s volleyball tournament.  About one month before the event, I gave my varsity girls two options.  You either run in the race or play in the volleyball tournament.  So we train through March with the special rules of beach volleyball and ready or not, the tournament began last Friday.  The tournament is double elimination. Every game is a quick game to 21. We’ve signed 4 teams up, one from JV, two from varsity, and a team of me, Katie (another missionary from SI and a Dominican friend from La Vega called Sindy. Our team was called San Diego. So as we go through the tournament highlights, I will refer to the teams as JV, Varsity1, Varsity2 and San Diego. Torneo de la Montana… here we come!

DAY 1

JV (Anna, Micah, Stephanie): I give the JV team a pep talk before their game against a team from the capital.  One of the girls already has tears in eyes because of her nerves.  They end up played their hearts out and BEAT the other team. Everyone is going crazy because this was a team that was not expected to win.  So awesome!

Giving JV team a pep talk

Varsity 1 (Lili, Shakira, Dianny): They are matched up against a team from the capital - which had two girls over 5’10 and just jacked. The third is a short chubby girl. (Not politically correct probably, but we’re just stating facts here).  One of the tall girls has played for the junior national team for the DR.  Sweet.   Varsity 1 girls play awesome and outsmart the team and win!

Varsity 2: Gets a buy

San Diego:  Wins their game

Everyone goes on to day 2...

DAY 2

JV: Plays against a strong team from Moca.  San Diego is supposed to play right after so Coach Jess can’t be on the sideline to call a timeout as Moca gets a 8 point streak because she is warming up.  Again, the importance of being present.  Anyways, they end up losing and then face another tough team later and lose.  Still, I was very proud of these girls.  (JV is out)

Varsity 1: Wins one game, loses one… still are qualified to play Sunday.

Varsity 2:  Wins one, qualified to play Sunday.

San Diego:  Wins one, qualified to play Sunday.

DAY 3

Varsity 1:  The moment I’ve dreaded most.  Varsity 1 has to play against San Diego.  Us. Me. Their coach.  Gosh, I’m actually super nervous.  More nervous than I’ve ever been for the other games.   The thing is that even though their small, they are smart players.  Plus, if we lose to them, I’m never going to hear the end of it.  Well, I decide to just pretend they are any other team and play hard. And that’s what we do.  At one point, I even hit one of the smallest girls Lili right in the face. Oops!  Even the commentator said I was an abusadora. Lo siento (sorry).  Varsity 1 later loses again and is now out of the tournament.

Varsity 1: Loreidy, Nana and Leslie

Who’s present now?  About 5 of the 9 girls’ parents have came out to watch the tournament which was super exciting! Many times, parents don’t come to watch the girls play, so this was a big deal.  Also, my roomates and other great friends are totally involved with the games and it was so cool to have them be a part of it.

Varsity 2: Loses their game and is also out of the tournament.

SanDiego: In the Semi-finals, we are matched against 3 pretty tough girls from La Vega.  One girl is about 6’1 and if someone doesn’t slow the ball down… watch out.  With the support of our crazy fans, we end up winning and rest till the finals. 

Keep in mind, the champions of the tournament when 35,000 pesos which is about 900 bucks!!! Side note, for those bethel pilots out there, Mark Lettinga was also playing in the men’s volleyball tournament and they also made it the finals.  Men’s tournament champion team wins 60,000 pesos. (In case I forget to mention it later, Mark’s team won the men’s division).   Yeah the DR hasn’t quite grasped the whole equality of the sexes idea yet. J

So back to the championship game. We play against a team from Moca who has also gone undefeated.  I honestly cannot remember a time I’ve been more pumped up in my life. For real.  After lots of diving, hitting, screaming, heart and sweat… we win the game! But you know what the best part of the game was? Looking back and seeing the entire end line filled with my best friends jumping and screaming throughout the entire game.   They could have been there sitting and clapping, but they did so much more than that. They were literally  jumping around and getting us pumped the entire game.  The beer company “presidente” sponsored the tournament so we won a hat, t-shirt, medal… oh and a presidente beer!  It’s just too bad I don’t like beer. Haha. Luckily, I was able to give it away to one of my crazy fans! J

After the winning point!

So besides watching and being proud of my girls and us winning some sweet cash,  I  was reminded of what it means to be involved in someone’s life.  It’s not about just being present…  its about being so involved that you are sweating, crying, screaming alongside them!  Check out the video on youtube from one of the plays of the championship game and make sure you listen to all the commentary of our incredible friends.

VIDEO:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBBH5ja3pCc

Me Soprendiste

“Keysi, tu me soprendiste.”  Leslie told Keysi after a Leslie finally let go of everything that had been bothering at home.  Leslie is one of our best varsity players, but for months she really had been secluding herself from the other girls.  All the girls had gotten together and were sharing ideas of what they had done and what they planned to do to help raise money for our states trip.  When I got to Leslie and asked what she had done, she simply said. “Nothing.” I pulled her aside and explained to her, if she did not embrace her role on this team and start to involve herself, she would have to be kicked off the team.   After this meeting, Keysi, one of the captains on the team, pulled Leslie aside and finally discovered the real root of the problem. Leslie had been having major problems at home and it had led to her pulling away from everything else she actually enjoyed. The neat part of this story is that Keysi and Leslie had been enemies at the beginning of the season. However, God has worked in Keysi’s life and has developed her into a caring leader of the team.  At the end of her conversation with Keysi with raging tears and a final release of what was going on with Leslie, Leslie told Keysi, “Keysi, tu me soprendiste.” “Keysi, you surprised me.”  The restored relationship between these two girls has been an amazing testimony of the power of God and his ability to break walls and renew relationships. 

This has been a common theme for me these past few months. God continues to surprise me.  The volleyball ministry here in the Dominican Republic seems to grow more and more.  We now have 4 coaches who help run our teams.  2 of these new coaches are varsity players who have been involved in the program for a while and now coach our youngest girls team.  These girls have surprised me in the way they have stepped up and now continue to impact and influence other girls.  Also, our trip to the United States is almost fully funded thanks to so many of you who have helped donate.  Thank you for blessing us. We are now at $14,000 of the $18,000 we need for the trip.  If you want to donate to our trip, click on the "we pay" link to the right.  Our trip is July 25th to August 13, so hopefully they will get to thank you personally!   Thank you so much for your prayers and support and making this ministry happen.  

Prayer Requests

·     1.  Trip finances and that the girls will be granted visas

·    2. Wisdom as new coaches are being trained so that they can successfully train and teach new players. 

Game Highlights Video

Bonao Victory!

Last weekend our team played a team in Bonao.  With great teamwork, the came out victorious.  Check out a quick video my intern Sarah (THANKS SARAH) put together of the games and practices leading up to the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wTxty5wX5E

U.S. PROMO VIDEO

DOMINICANS WITH DREAMS

PROMO VIDEO 

I never thought it could be done... but I made my own video! The video shows clips of the girls, some interview questions about the trip as well as a testimony of one of the girls.  ENJOY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTHUz7WGSM

Hard at Work!

Hey friends and family! Just wanted to show you a little bit of what's been going on here! The girls have been hard at work trying to raise money for the trip.  We have been picking up random jobs here and there.  The girls are great workers and its fun to see them really putting in their part for this trip! With the money that we have collected online these past two weeks, we are now up to $7,620!  Our goal is 20,000, but it'd be amazing if we can get to at least 12,000 by January.  Please help us pray that money will come in! :)

Keysi scraping away at some paint

Steph helping a family with a paint job

Thanks so much for your prayer and support.  The girls are getting more and more excited as more money comes in and the trip is getting closer!!!

Dominicans with DREAMS!

Okay, you can now donate for the states trip ONLINE!  In just two minutes, send your donation and help these girls make their dreams come true! Click on the link and see more info on the trip!

https://www.wepay.com/donate/domicanswithDREAMS