Guest Blogger: Belinda Ressel Santiago Mission Trip

  Hey Everybody!

Hope this all makes sense. I’m sure you are thinking to yourself FINALLY BELINDA IS GOING TO BLOG!!! Yep... I am saying the same thing. Each day I think ok... today is the day I going to sit down and start typing, but then I think to myself ABOUT WHAT!!??!!  So I begin…

As you all know Phyllis and I have been friends for quite sometime. What brought us close was the day she was baptized. She had been talking about it for, it seemed, like months. So… the big day had arrived and I along with several other friends went to Ridge point Church to witness the greatest moment of anyone’s life. In her video taped at least a week before, she talked about all her friends and co-workers and how she was so grateful they had come to her baptism. This was CRAZY!! It seemed has though God had somehow told her that we would all be there. And… Tah-Dah… we were! From then on out I had finally found a church home, which I had been searching for, but honestly off and on, and when I felt like getting up.

So fast forward a couple of years and Phyllis had gone on her first mission trip. I wanted to hear all about it, so we went Chillis (shocker) alone and she told me all of these crazy and unreal stories. Dead people that were shot in the head… little girls being sold as prostitutes…. Families and CHILDREN living in a “landfill”… TRASH DUMP! Seriously, this could not be.  A year went by and I kept thinking to myself “well kiddo… you need to pray and see if this is what’s next in your walk...” YEP! Going to Honduras!!

Since 2011 when I first visited Honduras things had became more difficult. No one said being Christian was easy. MAN, THAT IS SO TRUE!! To this very day I struggle in so many ways. I’m working on some areas and trying to stronger but it’s very hard. I had always thought of myself as a Christian but didn’t really know what that meant until that week in Honduras.

The next summer I planned on going to both trips, back to Honduras to see the people I love and to the Dominican Republic to see what God is up to there.

Side note: When you think of 3^rd world countries, you ask yourself, “How can God be there when it’s so poor and people are suffering?” Let me just say that you will NEVER see God in so many ways until you visit a 3^rd world country. Everything people have, they say is a blessing from God. Things that they hope and pray for in the present and the future will always start with “If it is GOD’S will….” Not if I can get this much money or do this and this and this… NOPE GOD’S WILL!! Their faith is SO strong. Nothing goes unblessed.

Now… DR. So Phyllis left in March and I got to take her to the airport which was the hardest thing to do. I didn’t realize until Heather and I were in the elevator that I just left one of my best friends alone to move to the DR and she had NEVER been there before. I got through the first couple days and then it hit me like a ton a bricks on the Friday after she left. I heard “Edge of Glory going to work... cried… got to work looked at my calendar… oh Jesus Group (aka Family Group) no Phyllis… cried again… then Heather walks in the door at work to give me Phyllis’ white jacket that she gave me.. CRIED AGAIN!!! I’m not a crier people, so for this to happen to me 3 times in one day is ridiculous.  Phyllis is someone if you haven’t noticed to tell you how it is, which was great for me because I’m a pain and I don’t like to listen to people so when she told me things... she told me!!!

DR trip… when we landed my stomach went crazy… in a good way. Nervous and anxious to see Phyllis, heather and Luke, When we walked out of the airport it was SO awesome to see them all standing there. I screamed and ran towards her. It was like I hadn’t seen her in forever, and I just saw her in Honduras 3 weeks prior. I was ready for this mission now that I had my girls together.

The first couple of days I spend getting to know the place. It was very different from what I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be like Honduras, unsafe for the majority of the trip. Not really… but a little bit. DR was different. It is really hard to explain now.  Of course I waited several weeks to write my blog so my fault. BUT I do know that the school that we worked in was like a jail but I felt safe ALL the time. It was nice being at the school and playing with all the kids. Considering we had “crap” (to US kids), to play with, we had SO Much fun! They loved to play and just sit and talk with us. (Not that much talking going on due language barrier, but I did pretty good). Each day as we headed back to the hotel it was amazing to hear how many kids were treated that day, which means that’s how many kids I got to see, smile at and reassure that they would be ok at the clinic. Those couple days there were fun but then came the hard work which was working at the trade school. I was climbing in the rafters putting electrical stuff through the insulation with Luke. I think I lost 10 lbs of sweat doing that because I was a little nervous to not let my feet slip because I was going through the roof and it was HOT as you know what. I don’t think the people of the other churches there knew how intense we Ridge point girls are. (Not crazy and we talk really quiet) ha-ha! Just Joking! We were CRAZY! Screaming at nails that (Rated R) sucked and pretty much went to “Do-It-Girl-self” when putting up the walls. We were measuring walls using a tape measure (not easy btw), Phyllis running the saw, doing cheerleading lifts to get the high nails in the wall. It was awesome! Food was VERY scary. I thought I had lost weight from not eating most of the meals, but let me just say that if there was a meal that I could and wanted to eat, I ate… I ate A LOT!!! Can anyone say “Mas papas fritas” (more French fries). J I lived on French fries. They were so good.

After all the work and hanging out with the kids we go to have a free day, so we went to see Phyllis and Luke’s homes. They were very nice. Looked like expensive apartments from outside. Then you go to the inside and it was really simple. Not much on the walls and very little furniture, but there was just enough to make it seem like home. It was so peaceful there. Seemed like there was nothing to worry about except for the random people stopping at the outside gate and it being loud when cars go by but it was yet peaceful. I could see now why Phyllis told me in Honduras, the DR was her home and she missed her home (DR). It was very nice in Jarabacoa. When we went shopping to the stores in the “downtown” area, it was just like walking into stores at an outside mall or like going antiquing with my mom in Dade City. It was easy. We didn’t have to worry too much about crazy  people attacking you with a machete. Oh that’s right… we had the 2 crazies that bought machetes. So awesome, RPC girls. We saw quite a few Americans in Jarabacoa, which made me think it was a great place to live. This made me feel a little bit better about saying Good-bye to Phyllis the following day. After shopping, we were able to lay out by a pool at a near by hotel and then visit 2 waterfalls. They were so beautiful. I even got to jump off a small cliff that was near the waterfall, and I didn’t throw-up, chip a tooth or lose a contact like the time I jumped into the 8^th largest hole in the Bahamas. Yeah… you would think I would have learned from that experience but I’m a daredevil. I like to walk on the wild side. Mom would have had a heart attack. J

So fun day over and church the next day… I haven’t read any of the other girls blogs but I will get to them one day. I’m still trying to catch up on Phyllis’ blogs since this is only day 2 that I have read her blogs. I know… I SUCK AT LIFE and AS A FRIEND!! I’ve been in denial about her living in the DR. I just think… yes I know what’s going…. And I really don’t. I’m getting better. So… church… Church was AMAZING!! This blows any church service I have been to out of the water. Sorry Pastor Timm, but the music and the atmosphere were so awesome that God was there looking at us and speaking to us. A couple of times I thought I was going to loose it. It was either going to be a ridiculous laugh, which I usually do instead of crying or just let the tears come. This time it was a combo. I laughed at appropriate times and got a little bit teary most of the time.  (I’m weird I know… and sorry Dana for laughing when you were reading that one night from Crazy Love to the team in your room… it was either laugh or cry and at that moment it was laugh… super sorry, it was not at you) But the hardest thing I hard that entire day was on the bus that morning riding next to Phyllis. She told me that it was really hard for her to see and hang out with us. It had been the best week ever, which laughing and jokes and just fun, but she knew it was ending on this very day. Of course not forever but for a good bit until we were able to go and visit. This time I cried... oh and I also yelled at her for making me cry. (Sorry, Phyllis) lol!!!

But that Sunday was the best day ever. We were all together, worshiping,  and enjoying our time together. It was a very tough evening but we all made it through with our good-byes. I still think about that day and tears come to my eyes. I miss my Phyllis, my rock. She helped me stay on my toes and kept me straight on my path. I’m a little bit curvy sometimes, but there was one more thing that she said that Sunday morning that I always think and remember, “they are looking up to you” (referencing the ones we lead in Christ; whether it be friends or in a small group setting).

Love you, Phyllis!!!

Your, 

Bee!

School Days

 School started for teachers last week.  This week has been retreats and setting up our rooms!  If you know me, I dont spend money on much.  I spent the most money my first year teaching, then stopped the madness the next year, so setting up my room with nothing has been pretty easy.  Definitely different than IVE EVER had to do in the States, though.  This is my birthday board.  The black sheet background was ripped that I found in the storage room.  I took it home and washed it.  Lydia, my aide, and I cut it up because it was a mess.  My friend Jessica gave me the yellow border and I printed the rest on my computer.  Thanks, RidgePoint Church, for the printer!  Julie Duncan gave me the little index cards for the names and birthdates before I left!

 I hand wrote the banner I Believe In You!  The yellow stars I found in some bag in the hallway.  Some of my girls, Mallory and Fenley, laminated the ladybugs for me and sent them with the missions team.  I printed out the Love God, Love Others, and Be a Good Steward on the computer.  It is our school theme.  That is the fan from my house because someone stole my fan last year :(  I carry this to school daily and bring it back home when I am done.  My chalkboard is HORRIBLE.  As you can tell, chalk barely writes on it!

 God told me that I wasnt teaching for long and to not bring materials to the DR, so here I am with no calendar or anything for that matter.  I keep asking Him and He continues to say NO to having it all shipped.  My intern/new roomate will be here tomorrow, she got me a pocketchart from Target for a dollar and we are making numbers from scratch.  These are things found in storage or printed on computer.

Lydia taught me that instead of laminating, you can cover the entire paper with TAPE!  Freaking awesome!!!  Thanks, Jessica, for the shipping tape!  All of these will hold up nicely because they are fully covered!  I found the bugs in a bag in the hallway, too!

More to do, but this is it for now.

Mission Trip Video From Trash Mountain Project

http://trashmountain.com/blog/july-30-august-6-2012-team-video

Guest Blogger: Heather Linn (Mission Trip Santiago)

The Mission Trip

 

            This was my first experience for an international mission trip. It was also my first experience for a mission trip as an adult. I had gone on several as a middle school/high school student in the U.S and Canada, but never on one to a third world country. I knew that there would be kids to play with, buildings to build, labor to be done. It felt good to do the labor, to be part of a bigger story, but that is not the lasting impression that I took from the trip. It had nothing to do with the millions of nails hit, (more bent or busted than actually into the wood), or the games that were played with kids while they waited their turn for the medical clinic. The lasting impression came from the community, in the heart breaking stories that the people have.             

          The people of Cienfuegos have endured more than imaginable in their lifetimes. They are forced to do labor that we would never imagine doing just to survive. They have to rummage through garbage to find recyclables just to make a wage we would laugh at. I knew they had to do this going into the trip, but seeing it happen is a completely different experience. It is an experience that makes your heart break for them. 

            We were able to tour the community and see the entrance to the trash dump. The entrance is a dirt hill that you climb/slide down until you get to a creek. This creek is lovingly coined “Hepatitis Creek”, looking like you could definitely catch that or worse in it. Some of the trash gets lost in the creek when they exit the dump. People have lost shoes in the muck. The locals just wade through; through all the trash and water run-off. The dirt hill is tricky to navigate on your own with my shoes with grips. There were many times that I would slide some of the way, catching myself before I lost my balance. Again, the locals are able to scale it with ease.

            The school area is a beacon of hope for the children in the community. It is a way out of the life that has become the norm for their families. Pastor Pablo runs a program there called “Kids with a Hope”. This program allows students to receive additional support in their education, 2 warm meals a day, and some basic medical care. They have taken kids who were malnourished and turned them into healthy adolescents. As a teacher, I understand the importance of a full belly when learning. If the students did not have basic needs met, they would not be able to successfully attend school. This program services a couple hundred kids in the community. As a Christian, Educator, Female, or just a person, I view this program as a win. An opportunity for the community to have a safe haven that will hopefully better the lives of the citizens it serves.

            On the school’s campus is a church, where some of the students and families are able to worship on Sunday mornings. We were able to join them in worship the Sunday we were there. Most of the service was in Spanish, and my Spanish is non-existent. I grew in my faith during this service more than I ever remember growing before. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY WERE SAYING! The church had white plastic chairs. There was no air-conditioning, no fancy lights, stage, or media. The building was open air. There was a drum set that was patched up, an acoustic guitar that accompanied some songs. They had a sound system with two microphones that intermittently worked. Yet, here we all were, worshiping Jesus together. It was again, at this service, that it was apparent that Jesus is enough. As much as I enjoy the hoopla that goes on at our American churches, it was glaringly obvious that we don’t need it. All we need is Jesus, His story, and each other.

            I spent a lot of the week wondering what made me so special. The only difference between my life and the life the locals lead is that I was lucky enough to be born to parents that lived in the United States. That’s it! If my parents had lived in Cienfuegos when I was born, it would be me looking for recyclables on the dump. It is obvious through the families that are involved with the school that they are no different than the American parents. Their ultimate goal is to give their kids an opportunity at a life that is better than theirs. Isn’t that all parents really want for their kids? Pastor Pablo gave these parents an opportunity to better the lives of their kids. I hope through the continued efforts of Pastor Pablo that the kids achieve this goal.

            J.J, a pastor at RidgePoint, talked one night after dinner about what happens after the trip. We are all willing to give up our time to help people for a week, but what happens when we get home? How do I continue to spread Jesus’ love even though I am back to my comfortable life? I don’t know what this means for me right now. But I think about his statement a lot. Where in my life can I continue to be a part of something bigger?