Spring Term Blog

¡Hola, familias!
La estamos pasando increíble en la República Dominicana. ¡Gracias por confiarnos a sus hijos tan increíbles!

by Megan Strange, Upper School Principal 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3

Thank you so much for bringing your kids to school bright (actually super dark) and early on Saturday morning!  From the moment that we gathered, they have been a BLAST!  We are really having a great time and we are so thankful for your prayers for our team.  

Our travel day on Saturday was a long one, but lots of great team bonding!  Most of the checkin at the Atlanta airport seemed to take longer than it needed to...but we got through safe and sound and still grabbed a quick breakfast before boarding.  The whole team was seated together over a few rows and we had a great flight into Punta Cana.  After landing, customs went smoothly and then we walked out to 85 degrees and sunshine.  Welcome to the DR!

Keny (with one "n") rolled up in the TIME bus and Luis helped us get loaded up and on our way.  It was almost 3:00, so the crew was starving we were pleasantly surprised that there were coolers in the bus full of sandwiches and juice boxes along with chips and oreos for everyone.  That really livened up the crew.  Everyone was chatting and enjoying the scenery as we drove along the coast of the Dominican Republic.

We arrived at TIME just in time (pun intended) to unload the bus, find our rooms, and head over for dinner.  Carmin and the awesome kitchen ladies had spaghetti ready for us and the team was definitely ready to eat again after all of our travel adventures.  After dinner we had a quick TIME orientation and then headed to the TIME house for a team devotion and to unpack.  Even though we were tired, the kids had a lot of great contributions to our "where did you see God at work today?" reflection time.

Weekend nights here are extra fun because the Dominicans love to party and have a great time...so there was some loud dance music down the street well into the night.  Ask the kids about it...they have a lot of ideas about those parties...and we shared a lot of laughts about it.

God is faithful.  He is working!
Megan Strange, Upper School Principal

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 4

Sunday morning we woke up and headed over for a great breakfast of sausage, eggs, and muffins before loading up to go to church.  The church was about 15 minutes away, but we definitely experienced an authenic Dominican commute with cars, motorcyles, and dogs all over the place...while passing the markets with fresh produce, raw chicken, and a whole pig all set out for the day.  Definitely lots to see and learn about!

The church was beauitful and thankfully, air-conditioned. We are soft Americans, so the comfort was much appreciated!  The worship leader for the church is Luis from the TIME staff and he has a wonderful voice!  The pastor was very gifted as well and he preached about an hour and a half from Luke 10 reminding us of God's calling on our lives to share the gospel.  The service ended with a time of communion and visiting with the church members...such a vibrant faith community!

We came back to TIME to change clothes and have lunch.  We had rice, beef, salad, and ice cream for lunch and sat around and chitchatted for while. That is one of the best gifts of this trip so far...lingering around the table rather than rushing right off to something else.  After lunch, we had a little downtime before loading up to head out to sports ministry for the afternoon.

The team made a quick grocery store stop to load up on snacks and to check out the Dominican specialities.  From there we drove another 10 minutes to a beautiful basketball facility.  We thought we would be playing outside, so this was definitely a pleasant surprise.  We knew we'd be playing against the Dominicans and it was awesome to see some NBA size guys walk up in their matching jerseys.  One of our boys asked me "if you mention basketball on the blog, can you please not say who won?"  

We went through a series of stretches and drills and did some shooting around.  Then everyone gathered in the bleachers for a time of hearing the gospel presented.  This is always a special time in the TIME sports ministry.  They save the games for after the gospel presentation and had a captive audience!  We played several rounds of games...the NBA guys verse our guys, the girls from the Dominican against our guys, and then some little kid against our girls.  This old principal even played full court for about 30 minutes....so please send Advil!  

The kids naturally gravitated towards chatting and hanging out with some of the Dominican kiddos and there was a lot of laughing, gesturing, and Google Translate being shared.  A group of us went outside and hit the volleyball around with some of the kids and then it was time to roll.

We got back to TIME and took quick showers, changed, and went up for dinner.  Tonight we had taco salads and brownies and everyone seemed to really enjoy it!  The kitchen crew cleaned up quickly and then we headed up to the rooftop gathering space for devotions led by Andy Reed.  Andy used 4 passages from God's word to help paint a picture of what it looks like to serve others in the name of Christ.  We took some time to share where we saw God at work today and then closed with some quick reminders for tomorrow morning.

Since it's time to head to bed, the dance party music has cranked back up!  Good news...tomorrow is Three Kings day down here, so people are off work.  By tomorrow night, they will need to go to sleep so they can go to work on Tuesday.  

We are having a blast and the Lord is really giving us some cool opportunities here. Thanks for praying for us!

God is faithful.  He is working!
Megan Strange, Upper School Principal

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MONDAY, JANUARY 5

Happy Monday!  In a surprise turn of events, last night's Dominican party across the street came to an abrupt stop much earlier than expected, so most of us got a great night's sleep all the way up until the roosters started crowing.  The guys were leaving early today to work on the foundation so they met up for breakfast at 6am before loading up.  The girls met at 6:30am for devotions on the roof, followed by breakfast, and the we started construction here at TIME.  Breakfast was great today!  We enjoyed sausage, banana bread, lots of fruit, and hard boiled eggs.

Before we started buidling anything, Pastor Noe asked us "what do you see?" and pointed to a large pile of lumber.  We said that we see a chapel and he reminded us..."not just a chapel, but a place for people to come to know the Lord and to gather to worship Him together."  It was a great opportunity to frame our thinking for the day.  Within minutes, we had sawhorses, tools, and a lot of laughter up and running.  

The boys were at the site where we will be building our chapel and they were gone the entire day.  We can't wait to hear their stories tonight!  They knew that they would have to evaluate the site, dig a 20ft x 28ft trench, set the footers, and level things out with cinder blocks and concrete.  And to their credit...they were ready to get to work!  

The girls worked hard all morning building the panels and enjoyed our first "Coke break" at 10am.  We walked to a neighboring Comaldo and got cokes and stretched our legs a bit.  Then we got back to the sawing, hammering, and drilling until lunch at 12:30pm.  Lunch today was rice, beans, beef, avacado, and salad and we really enjoyed it.  After lunch, we chatted and rested a little bit and then ended up singing worship songs for a little bit before getting back to work...these girls might be going on tour this spring!

We spent the entire afternoon making wall panels, window panels, and slats for the windows.  There was sawdust everywhere accompanied by the sound of drills and hammers and again, tons of laughter.  These girls worked really hard and we know that our guys did as well!  We cleaned up our construction site a little before 5 and all hit the showers before dinner.

Once the whole team was back together for dinner, we loved catching up with the guys to hear about their time building the foundation.  Mr. Clingman was telling us about the man that lives right next door to the site where we will be building the chapel.  The man lives in a very small home...no kitchen, indoor plumbing, or anything like what we are used to at home.  Basically just a small living room and a bedroom.  The man isn't connected with the church, but he allowed the church to store their bags of concrete in his living room to keep them safe until our team came out to work today.  Mr. Clingman said that the man noticed the guys all carrying backpacks and insisted that they bring them into his house for safekeeping while they were working...the man was so kind and really encouraged the guys.

Some of the guys were super pumped to tell us about the chicken and rice they had for lunch and the special coffee they enjoyed.  It sounds like they worked really well together to mix the concrete, bring it up to the site, stack the bricks, spread the mortar, and then just keep doing it over and over.  One of the guys mentioned what a blessing it was that it stayed overcast and breezy most of the time they were there.  They never got too hot and no one got sunburned.  Definitely a blessing!

Dinner tonight consisted of a baked potato and salad bar with all kinds of toppings along with brownies and ice cream.  The crew ate well and then everyone pitched in to clean up the kitchen and eating area.  I'm sure they all do that at home usually too!

We went up to the roof to do our team devotions and to discuss where we saw God at work today.  8 people jumped right in with specific things they noticed today about God's provision and protection.  Taking the time to ask "where did you see God at work today" causes us all to be better noticers through out the day.

Ella and Ashlyn led us in worship and then Mr. Clingman led us in a devotion.  He referred to what Andy talked about last night about being a servant and then taking it to another level by being a noticer and being aware of when the Lord is prompting us to do something or say something to someone to serve them.  He shared about some people in his life that have encouraged him or pointed him towards something that God was leading him to.  We closed our time in prayer and gave a quick overview of tomorrow's sports ministry and continued construction.

I really can't say enough about what an awesome team this is. All 24 people are genuinely enjoying each other's company and contributing to the well-being of the team.  We have connected well with the TIME Missions staff and are really enjoying the opportunity to learn more about missions here in the DR and some of the challenges and opportunities they have on a daily basis.

Thank you for praying for us and for your words of encouragement.  We are headed to bed here in a bit (after basketball, spades, tons more snacks, and lots of laughter) and will gather back up for rooftop devotions at 6:30am.

God is faithful.  He is working!
Megan Strange, Upper School Principal

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 6

Happy Tuesday from the Dominican Republic! 

The whole crew slept pretty well last night after a long day of physical work. We gathered at 6:30 AM on the roof this morning for devotions flood by Pastor Noe. He used several different scriptures to point us to the fact that our lives will demonstrate if we truly trust God. He told the story of Abel, Abraham, and Daniel and his friends to help Illustrate what it looks like to live and walk in obedience. We spent time singing together, praying together and studying God’s word together to kick off the day. What a privilege! Then we were treated to a beautiful sunrise over Santa Domingo.

After devotions, we headed back downstairs for breakfast consisting of bread, ham, eggs, and lots of fruit. There was even some special hot chocolate that everyone enjoyed. We ended up having a nice time to visit around the breakfast table, because we ended up leaving for sports ministry just a little later than we thought. Today is the last day of Christmas break for the kids around here, so we were waiting for them to get up and get to the recreation center so we could hang out with them.

We returned to the rec center that we went to on Sunday and were pleasantly surprised to see a lot of the kids that we had played with and they brought a lot of their friends as well! When we first got to the center, there were only about 30 kids, but by the time we left there, there were almost 150. 

We played basketball camp games, did drills, and ultimately shared the gospel. Junior Asher Smith shared his testimony with the group and then our missionary gave a charge to accept the gospel. Several people prayed and indicated that they wanted to talk more about following Jesus.

After the gospel presentation, we helped hand out drinks and snacks to all of the kids and then the five on five games begin. Our big guys played their big guys, then they were merciful and let our big guys play some of their younger guys. And then a bunch of the girls got together and made a team and we really whooped up on their five-year-olds. We had a blast! Lots of laughing and lots of fun. 

Tonight in devotions, Brayden mentioned how cool it was that both Sunday and today all of the Dominicans were so open to playing ball with us and just having fun even though we didn't all speak the same language.  Brayden especially enjoyed helping the kids play knockout today...but we won't tell you who got him out in knockout.  He was a great sport about it!

A lot of of our girls enjoyed playing with some of the younger kids, giving out stickers, coloring in coloring books, and just generally hanging out. There was even a group that went outside to hit the volleyball around.

After sports ministry, we headed back to TIME for lunch.  For lunch today we basically had chicken fajitas with rice. The food just continues to be so incredible and we are truly blessed by the awesome kitchen staff here. 

Once we wrapped up lunch, we went back to our rooms to change into our construction clothes and then it started pouring down rain. We all made our way back over to the construction area and helped unload the lumber truck that had just arrived. There was definitely plenty of wood to keep us busy all afternoon and well into the evening. 

The girls were so excited to teach the boys how to build all of the construction panels since the boys had been at the foundation site on Monday and the girls do construction here. As you can imagine, the boys loved getting instruction from the girls! They were super gracious! In no time at all, everybody was hard at work having a great time and helping each other out. 

We ended up building well into the evening and it ended up being almost 9 PM before we stopped for dinner. We loaded all of the church panels onto a flatbed truck, which will meet us at the construction site tomorrow morning. Once we came in for dinner, we enjoyed cheeseburgers, fries, and all the sides.

Even though it was so late, conversation lingered around the dinner table before we all pitched in to clean up the kitchen and dining room.  Everyone was sore from all of our hard work today, but also pretty fulfilled by all that we got accomplished.  We keep reminding each other that all of this work is to build a chapel where people can come and hear about Jesus and grow in their faith.  What a cool opportunity to be a part of this process!

Tyler Newby helped us wrap up our evening with a great devotion on consistency and what it looks like to be committed to following Jesus with some key habits over time. He challenged us to grow in our walk with the Lord reminding us that we already have the kingdom of God and the charge to share that with those around us.  We closed with a time of prayer and some quick reminders about tomorrow.

The team will meet at 6am for breakfast and then pack up the van to head out to the site where the chapel will be built.  Tomorrow is another long day of physical labor...all to live out Psalm 34:3 as we MAGNIFY the Lord.  

Let's Go Eagles!

Megan Strange, Upper School Principal

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7

Today is the day we have worked towards since our first team meeting back in October. Chapel day! This is a day that is both hard and holy. We have worked hard to prepare our hearts and minds, the guys mixed and poured concrete for the foundation, and all of us have hammered, driven screws, measured, cut, routed, and truly put our blood, sweat, and tears into every one of these panels. And today is the day to put it all together for the glory of God!

Our group has bonded really well and is clearly having too much fun together! You could tell by the bleary eyes and yawns as we all gathered for breakfast at 6am this morning. We thought everyone was wiped out after building and loading until almost 9:30 last night, then dinner, clean up, devotions, and wrapping up for the night. Not a chance! In true teenager fashion…they found their second wind and played basketball and cards and chitchatted well into the night. And these are special days because of things like that!

After breakfast, we grabbed our gloves, water bottles, and sunscreen and helped round up the remaining tools and supplies needed for the day. Since the TIME staff was going with us to help with the build, we rented a second bus and pulled a trailer for the tools. We enjoyed looking out the window on the hour drive to the site.

When we arrived at the site around 8am, the pastor and the neighbors were excited to see us. They bonded with our guys the other day while they worked in the foundation so the guys gave us the lay of the land. We unloaded the tools and all of the panels and then we lined up around the perimeter of the foundation for a time of prayer and instruction for the day.

We worked our tails off for 6+ hours, enjoyed a wonderful lunch of chicken (not dog like Keny told us) and rice, toured the pastor’s ministry to men in the community, and then put the final screw in the roof panel around 4pm. There was a lot of laughter, picture taking, and wow moments as it all came together.

Mr. Clingman presented the keys of the church to the pastor and let him know what a privilege it was to partner with their church community in a way that none of us would fully realize until eternity. Would you join us in praying that many people would come to know the Lord in this space and that they’d follow Jesus all the days of their lives?

This day is always special and very rewarding. What a privilege to partner in a place where God is truly at work to help the community grow and be encouraged!

We arrived back at TIME, unloaded the buses, and headed right up to dinner.  We enjoyed Dominican chicken and veggie stew with salad.  Then the group went up to the roof for devotions.  We spent some time worshipping together and then talked about “Stones of Remembrance”.  This week can be one of those stones of remembrance for each of us as we experienced God in some new and fresh ways.  To wrap up time of devotion tonight, we shared the “letters from home” with the team.

Thank you for sending the letters. They help mark this milestone in the life of the recipient and help encourage their heart.  This is a tradition that my youth pastor started when I was a kid that I have continued on mission trips as an adult and it is always a meaningful time.  There was a good bit of weeping and a lot of smiling as the kids read what their parents, friends, family, etc. wrote.  Thanks for taking the time to do that…it was meaningful for sure!

We are all headed towards bed looking forward to a fun day of celebration at the beach tomorrow.  Below I’ve posted some thoughts shared by some of our students.  It is overwhelming to consider the things that have been shared with the whole group or even in mealtime conversation this week in response to the question “Where have you seen God at work today?”  Here are just a few to encourage you about the way the Lord is working.

Let’s Go Eagles!
Megan Strange, Upper School Principal

I’ve seen God this week through worship and devotions. I’ve  also seen him when we are able to help other people by building the chapel and sharing the Gospel with people. 

Emmie Nelson, 9th grade

One thing that has meant so much to me this trip is the faithfulness and humility of the men and women at the chapel sight. I mean they had sheet metal houses on dirt and they were bright with the joy of the lord. It makes you feel a certainty that God will bless you and bring you joy in the things that he has provided us in our lives. We go about everyday without a clue of how blessed we are and to see these people who have literally close to nothing in tears worshiping God did a lot to my faith on this trip and influenced me to build a stronger bond with God.

Brayden Guiterrez, 10th grade

This week God has shown me what it means to serve with the Lord at the forefront of my mind. To see past the wood I’m nailing to the bigger picture of making heaven crowded. I saw God in teamwork and the way we came together to build a chapel in just 3 days, I saw Him in small interactions and in the grace of the Dominican people. I enjoyed worshiping alongside this amazing group each night, and staying up later just to play more basketball. I will cherish these friendships I have made and never forget how much God has impacted my life this week in the Dominican Republic.

Kate Honaker, 10th grade

I’ve seen God in the people we’ve gotten to speak with while building the chapel this week. I’ve seen him in the kindness of strangers that have helped and the drive that the church members had especially during the foundation day. I’ve seen the difference between God and humans by looking at the country as a whole; the beauty of the landscape versus the stark contrast to the trash and poverty that has engulfed the people.

Riley Sargent, 12th grade

I saw God at work this week through all of the Dominicans. Their joy and positive attitude is infectious and inspiring. It is evident that no matter what struggles and challenges they face, they put their trust and faith in the Lord and trust that he will provide and protect them through anything. 

Ashlyn Knight, 10th grade

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 8 + FRIDAY, JANUARY 9

These last two days have been a blessing to tie a bow on our time in the DR.  After Wednesday’s chapel build, team dinner, and “letters from home” everyone was ready for bed!  We gathered Thursday for breakfast a little later than we have all week and the extra sleep was much appreciated!  The crew has worked hard and really found a lot of joy in serving each other.  And…day after day…that takes a lot out of a person.  Thank you Lord for strength to keep walking into the next tasks as needed!

Thursday was our beach day.  We left TIME after breakfast and headed to the Mercado Modelo.  This is a market area where the kids enjoyed seeing traditional Dominican souvenirs and some fun things to bring home.  I think some of you are in for a fun surprise when your kid gets home!  The kids enjoyed trying their hand at bartering.  Perhaps they will give that a try when we return home to Acworth/Kennesaw!  

From the Market, we headed to the Juan Dolio beach for the afternoon.  We have worked hard this week and it’s always good to take some time to rest and celebrate the culture of the area where we are serving.  The Dominicans took great care in hosting us at the beach.  We had lunch, played spike ball, enjoyed the ocean, and just had a great time chatting and celebrating the week.  There were lots of vendors on the beach selling sunglasses, wood carvings, fried pork, and all kinds of things.  Some of our teammates are quite adventurous and enjoyed bartering with those vendors as well!

We left the beach around 4pm headed back to TIME.  Once we returned, everyone hit the showers and got dressed up for the TIME Banquet.  As a ministry, TIME does a fantastic job of keeping the gospel in front, having a vision for the community they are serving, and celebrating God’s faithfulness.  We had a great time celebrating!

The TIME Banquet started with a wonderful dinner full of all kinds of Dominican specialities…tons of food!  Then we had a time of worship, singing, and dancing.  The last part of the banquet was a blessing from the TIME staff over our team followed by our last “Where did you see God at work?” time of reflection.  This time the missionaries and TIME staff all participated and the stories were sweet…ones we know that will echo in eternity.  This week has been a special one.  God is faithful!

The last part of our night was just for the NCCS crew.  We headed up to the roof for one last team time together before heading homeward.  Everyone has had a chance to pray for another teammate over the course of this week.  We also challenged the kids to look for creative ways to serve their prayer partner.  The way we reveal our prayer partners on trips that I lead is for the person to share something that they have learned about their prayer partner and then say who it is.  For example, “this week I really enjoyed working with this young lady. I knew her a little bit from school, but this week I’ve enjoyed working with her and getting to know her better.  She has gone out of her way to serve others and really seems to have the joy of the Lord.  It has been my honor to pray for __________.”  As you can imagine, that turns into a pretty powerful time of celebration and encouragement.  I believe there were words spoken in that circle that will stick with folks for many years to come.

Everyone headed back to their rooms to pack up, organize items to be donated, and head to bed.  And you know these awesome kids…they caught a second wind! There was a lot of laughter, chatting, and swapping stories from the week.  Everyone finally wound down and got to sleep for a few hours before it was time to get up.

Friday morning dawned with the notification from the rooster neighbors of TIME.  We are going to miss those natural alarm clocks!  The team gathered for breakfast a little before 9 and then we spent a while eating, chatting, and saying our goodbyes to the TIME staff.  The TIME Staff and missionaries have served us so well and it was a gift to honor them with some words of encouragement and gifts.  Then we loaded up the bus and headed on our last “Keny Express” to the airport.

Praise the Lord the whole airport process went really smooth and we are officially on our way home. Thank you for praying for us and cheering us on all week.  Mr. Clingman, Mrs. Bartlett, and I really enjoyed serving with these incredible young men and women.  We know God has HUGE plans for each of them and we were so blessed to get to know them all better.  We’d go anywhere anytime with this crew!

Thanks again for your prayers.  As your kids get home, please be sure to take some time to hear the stories and join us in celebrating God’s faithfulness to us at every turn in the DR.

Let’s Go Eagles!

Megan Strange, Upper School Principal