Changes

A few weeks ago the Rowley's, after 4 years of service here in Constanza, decided they will be heading back to the US in December. At first this news was pretty overwhelming for me, not only am I losing my closest friends and pretty much my family here in Constanza, but also losing the people who do the vast majority of the work with teams here!

The last few teams, Craig has really taken me under his wing and taught me so much about making things run smoothly with teams. He has shown me what works and what doesn't, as well as introduced me to the people that I really need to know around town. Through this process he has also really made it clear that these are the things that have worked for the Rowley's, and they may not work for me or I may have to change some things. I have been blessed to have this transition/training time over the past month.

I have really grown close with the Rowley's over my 11 months here, and they have really been an incredible influence on my time here. I will miss them greatly next year, but it is cool to remember that I have the next couple months to enjoy with them here!

With the departure of the Rowley's, my role here will also be changing. During 2011 we are hoping to host roughly 12-13 teams in Constanza and a majority of that responsibility will fall to me. That will include all the transportation, planning, preparation, and hosting of the teams. Craig has also been helping me to understand what needs to be done from the field in order to make the business/accounting side of teams worth smoothly as well (hopefully my business/economics degree will come in handy here!). I will also be running the sponsorship in the Care Center as well as my responsibilities in the Ark with sponsorship.

It is a lot of work, and although I'll be the only Kids Alive missionary in Constanza, I know that I will have plenty of support and help from the other missionaries on the island as well! Please keep me and Kids Alive in your prayers over the next few months of transition over the island as every site has impactful people leaving and will be undergoing transitions.

Over the past month, my feelings have gone from overwhelmed and incapable to confident and prepared. I know that this is strictly a gift from God and that He won't give me anything that I can't handle.

Me and the Rowley's out to eat in Constanza

The legendary soda taste test adventure!

Playground Team

This slide was by far the most popular attraction

Last we week we had the opportunity to have a fantastic team, made up from 4 churches in Western Michigan, here in Constanza. Kids Alive has been taking old, donated playgrounds from the States and shipping them around the world completely renewed and refurbished in order for the kids to enjoy.

A wide view of the kids playing on the playground

On top of all of their work on the playground, the group took a few hours out of their last 2 days to put on big "carnival" days for the kids. They had one for the kids at the Ark and one for the kids at the Care Center. They were a huge hit! The kids were able to play on the new playground, throw water balloons, tug of war, paint nails/tattoos, dizzy bat races and enjoy an awesome skit and puppet show. This was definitely a highlight for all the kids involved, and a fun start to the school year for the Care Center kids.

Kids very into the puppet show!

Dominican Basketball

Today was the first time I played real outdoor Dominican pick up basketball, and I loved it! The court was in a cool part of town by the local National Guard and there were people mulling around the whole time. It was a much different environment than the "indoor gym" that I usually play in.

Probably my favorite part of the whole time was during the 2nd game, everything just stopped. I was confused for a few seconds and then realized that the soldiers were changing the flags outside and they played the whole Dominican Republic national anthem and everyone stood up and watched and listened respectfully...and as soon as it was over back to action! I hadn't played basketball in a long time and was very out of shape...my body is feeling it now - but definitely worth it!

Long Overdue Email Update!

Hey Everyone! It has been forever since my last email and I wanted to give you all a little update. Right now I am in the middle of enjoying 2 weeks back in Wheaton. I flew in the day before my good friend Zach Ullrich's wedding on the 15th and have been enjoying time spent with my family. My younger sister Caroline will be marrying my great friend and former roommate Kirk Sundberg tomorrow, and things have been very busy preparing for it!



After 9 months in Constanza I feel like it really is home. I have enjoyed developing great relationships with the people there and also with Kids Alive missionaries around the island. Time and time again I have felt encouraged that this is really where God has called me to be for these 2 years, and knowing that, has made the tough times much easier to deal with. Since April I have been able to visit Grant Roszkowiak in Haiti, enjoyed visits from my parents and brother, and also joined the Wheaton Baseball team for a week in the capital. These times have been such an encouragement to me and have given me a much needed boost throughout my 1st year in the DR.



Over the past month or so I have really felt the need to send out an email laying out the opportunity to become a child sponsor through Kids Alive. Kids Alive is experiencing so much increased need, and has had the opportunity to respond by adding a significant number of new children to our ministries. I am seeing firsthand how the generous donations/sponsorships have been changing kids and families in the DR. Kids Alive now faces the challenge of matching this influx of at-risk children with sponsors to help support their needs.




I would encourage anyone who is interested to prayerfully consider sponsoring a child and let me know! It would be a great honor to help select a child and watch the relationship develop over the next few years in Constanza.




I am truly blessed by the great network of friends and family that have supported me, both through prayer and through finances, to be able to be in the DR and I wanted to share this increased need at Kids Alive. One of my main roles in Constanza is helping with sponsorship at the orphanage and it is such a blessing to be able to share letters with kids from people I know or people that have been here on past trips! The cost is $35 per month, and this money goes directly towards helping the kids in our ministry. The kids will send various projects and letters throughout the year, as well as pictures and progress reports of the child from the missionaries on the field. I have also attached a Sponsorship Brochure that should help answer more questions.





Thank you so much for all of your encouragement and prayer for me through these past 9 months. I am so blessed to have so many people who have such a big impact on my life and where God has me right now. Please consider sponsoring a child and email me if you are interested!

In Him,

Kyle

Parent's Visit!

Earlier in May, I had my first visitors come and stay with me in my apartment. I was so excited for them to come, it was pretty much all I thought about the few days leading up to their visit.


It was a bit daunting to try and plan the trip, because all I have is a motorcycle...and I live about 3 hours from the airport! With a lot of help (thank you Brian and Trautweins!), we were able to have a smooth airport pickup and a great first night and day in Jarabacoa. We were able to meet kids that our family has sponsored for close to 8 years and eat lunch at their house (quite the introduction for my mom...), and then also visit all the kids alive sites in Jarabacoa and we got to see AWANA's in action, which my parents have been supporting for a few years.

The house that my parents sponsor in Jarabacoa

Lunch at "casa de esperanza"

2 Brothers that we have been sponsoring for a while,
and who I have a close relationship with in Jarabacoa.
This is after we brought a picture of these 3 sisters from
Caroline's trip 4 years ago...they were a little shocked!

The next stop was Constanza in our sketchy, rented CRV. We rode up the mountain in steady rain, but made it there safe and sound. We had a great time in Constanza and it was a blast for me to introduce my parents to all the kids and people I have been working with daily for the past 7 months. They were able to help out with the end of the year party at the care center, as well as spend significant time in each house at the Ark getting to know the kids and the house-parents. We were able to spend 2 nights with the Rowley's which was also a treat, because they have been such a big part of my life here and it was fun for my parents to connect who this family is that I am always talking about! We also went out and bought groceries/supplies to get my kitchen up to speed, and I also learned how to make some very basic meals (finally...) Although our time was short in Constanza, it was jam-packed and we got in everything that we had hoped to do.

Care center kids anxiously awaiting the party to begin!

My mom and my "Dominican mom"

My parents and the newest ark girl

Dad making some new friends and going through their photo books

A recurring theme on the trip was that every person that my parents were introduced to would comment on how young they are! Even though my parents do look young, I thought it was strange that EVERY single person was commenting the same way...until someone helped me realize it is because they think I am so old! Most people here think I am somewhere between 37-42...so they were probably expecting much older and were always pleasantly surprised!

Next stop was the Kids Alive missionary workshop in Jarabacoa. My parent's were able to help "watch" the kids, while the adults were in the various meetings. They organized a great game of "bible baseball" that the kids seemed to enjoy, and also oversaw their service projects. Basically they were glorified babysitters...but they were GREAT glorified babysitters! The workshop was very helpful for me, and I got a chance to reconnect with George and Connie Blake who I had met with at MTI (missionary training international) almost exactly a year ago.

After the work shop it was off to the beach for 2 days of R & R in Cabarete. Now if you know how my family vacations, then you know that there was not much to report from our time at the resort. We ate out, laid by the pool, hung out in the pool, and just relaxed like a typical Bradley vacation. My friend Brian from Jarabacoa was able to join us for this and I think he enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere. It was a short resort trip, but very refreshing and just about perfect. We were very impressed with the resort and I definitely will be trying to make it back there within the next year.




We left in the morning for an uneventful (in a good way..) early airport run back to Santiago. I was so grateful for this time to spend with my parent's and so happy that they could see exactly what I am doing here in the DR. Our trip was blessed from the beginning and the logistics and plans went about as perfectly as we could have imagined. I am already looking forward to their next visit, and so are the people here already asking when they are coming back!



(For more pictures, look on my mom's facebook for a good link to their KodakGallery page)

My First Dominican Wedding

One of the casualties from my parent's trip to visit me was the memory card from my camera! So for about 2 weeks I was without a camera, until my mom sent another one with the baseball team. Unfortunately, this wedding was one of the things I didn't have my camera for, but there are still some interesting observations from my first wedding here in the DR.

-Obviously the wedding didn't start until after 8 pm, when it was scheduled to start at 6. I knew that this would happen, but I still couldn't come any later than 6:10...

-The ceremony and reception were actually much shorter than I expected. There was no dancing, and I think that was a big reason why it was so short. The food was great and the cake was fantastic.

-One funny story. I have learned to enter into activities like this with absolutely zero expectations, because you just never know what will happen. So about halfway through the ceremony, a lady that I had never met before came up to me and started talking. She told me that she needed to watch her 3 year old and asked if I could video tape for her. I assumed she meant just for a short part of the ceremony...but it ended up being probably 45 minutes to an hour, with her standing next to me for the majority telling me exactly what to record. At one point she had me walk all the way up in front of everybody to get the best possible angle and close up for her camera...needless to say I was slightly uncomfortable walking in front of everyone as the only Gringo there.

It was a great experience and I had a great time connecting with some other Christian Dominicans my own age. Sorry for the lack of pictures!

The Ultimate Taste Test

This is another long overdue entry. This taste test was the culmination of a few conversations Gabe and I had about which "refrescos" we thought were the best. So we decided to figure it out!

We drove all over Constanza one saturday afternoon to gather as many different types of each flavor that we were testing (rojo, grape, and orange). We weren't able to find all the different brands that we wanted but we still managed to come up with a good haul.

Allllll of our flavors!

In order to make it as accurate as possible, we had the tester sit down and we blindfolded them. We decided to try all 3 brands of the same flavor, in the same sitting. So whoever was going would drink one brand, rate it on a scale of 1-10, and then wait as we rinsed it out and filled it with another brand and repeated.

Isaiah sneaking...trying to "adjust" his bandana!

Taste test in action.

I'm not sure how much we actually figured out from this taste test, but I do know that it was one of my favorite random activities we've had since I've been living here. It was fun to be spontaneous and do something as stupid as a soda taste test but we had a blast!

The winning brands! Kola Real and Fanta tied for orange,

Kola Real won for Grape, and Country Club won for Rojo.

Our "reward" for finishing the test was a "manzana verde" or green apple refresco which we can all agree on being delicious!

Not sure exactly what we're doing, but the manzana verdes

taste great!

Over the past few weeks we have started to have some "movie nights" at my apartment as well. We pick out a movie (usually we have enough movies lined up for about 15 movie nights..) and then Gabe and Isaiah will come over and we'll make dinner and have some soda and watch the movie. It is a fun time, and always good to change up the normal routine of life every once in a while.

Late Edition - Birthday in Constanza

Sorry this is a bit overdue, but I wanted to put up a blog entry about my 1st birthday in Constanza!

Me and the Rowley's at Socrates Steak House

A few days before the birthday, the Rowley's took me out to eat at a steak house that we had been talking about going to for months. Thanks to a nice birthday donation from my parent's we were all able to enjoy a GREAT steak and a fun night.

On my actual birthday, I went over to the Rowley's for a great dinner and a birthday cake! I was not really expecting any of that so it was a great bonus. It has been a huge blessing to live down the street from them and be able to pop in and out for meals and just to hang out.

Me, Isaiah, and Gabe with my awesome birthday cake

Probably the best part of the birthday was the unexpected and really thoughtful gifts from Gabe and Isaiah! Gabe looked all over Constanza for a certain Dominican Baseball team lanyard, and we're gonna continue looking for it and trying to find one! Isaiah sewed together an awesome pillowthat said "From your buddy Isaiah," which was complete with drawings and filled in with markers.

I couldn't have asked for a better 1st birthday in Constanza!

Me and Isaiah and my new pillow

Past few days in Haiti

Me, Grant and Pierre up on top of the church

Things have been a whirlwind over the last couple days, but I'll do my best to try to capture everything that has happened. Grant and Pierre Garcon and his crew (about 10-12 people including mostly family/tv crews) got here from Port au Prince on Wednesday morning. They were pretty tired so the first day was pretty low key for a bit after they got here. I loved just spending time with them, the group was filled with fun and interesting people that we really got to know well over the few days they were here.

Me and RJ went to go meet them at the airport on Wednesday morning in the truck and we turned right back around and got in a different truck to come back.....only to find out that that truck was staying at the airport to pick up a different group! So we hopped on some motorcycle taxi's (right down my alley..) and took off for the mission and quickly passed their huge truck on the terrible haitian roads. We stopped at a random grocery type store on the way back to get something to drink and we found about 8 Dr. Peppers! It was a great surprise and Grant said he had never seen DP's there before so we were pretty happy (ok mostly me...). We took a nice tour of the mission that afternoon and you could tell that they were really there for the right reasons and not at all for publicity.

Yup

Thursday was a real busy day. It started with me and Grant heading off to the soccer field to start spreading word about the sports camp we were going to be doing that afternoon. We met and watched the professional soccer team practice for a bit and then just rode around town for a bit which I loved. We then went back and grabbed Pierre and a few people from his crew to go meet the team before they were done practicing. Pierre was all about driving the Gator and it was fun (and a little scary at times..) riding through the streets of Haiti in the back. After we met the team (again) we took the Gator and the other vehicle down to the beach where the market is. It was crazy and packed, but they said it was nothing compared to Wednesdays when it is Market Day and there are people EVERYWHERE. We also visited a local bakery where it looked like something out of the 17th century..very interesting. We then went back to the mission and grabbed everything/everyone and went out to the field!

Riding around town in the Gator

The kids were so excited and Pierre had a ton of energy and passion to help the kids. We played soccer, tug of war and threw the football around. It was incredible to see how unbelievable of an athlete Pierre was, just in everything he did it was very evident that he was an NFL receiver. Later in the day, we visited the kids at the school and they handed out tons of colts pictures, pennants and school supplies. Very cool to watch him interact with the kids, one of the things I didn't realize before the trip was that he is completely fluent in Creole. His mother really only speaks Creole so in the house that is what they speak. He has done so much for Haiti and especially for Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, and what probably meant the most to me about him coming was that this trip was planned BEFORE the earthquake. Some people will pessimistically think that he is just doing it for attention or to promote himself but there has never been a doubt in my mind the entire week that he is here for the right reasons.

Pierre and Enol speaking to the professional soccer team

Even through all of the circus events from the past couple days, it has been great to spend time with Grant. We have had some really good conversations and it has been good to be here this week so that he can just get away from all of the craziness and stress from this week and just relax a little bit. We dropped the group off at the airport on friday morning and went to another site on the beach. We had a great relaxing day, but also had our fair share of crazy adventures trying to walk back from the beach to the ministry site! Let's just say a combination of waking up at 4am, no water, no breakfast, and walking back for over an hour in the hot 3pm Haitian sun was not a very well thought out plan...It is something I am glad to have survived but wouldn't wish it on anyone!

It is hard to capture all the amazing things that happened this week. There were too many conversations, little things and blessings to really put into a simple blog entry. I just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and know that God is working in big ways in Haiti. It is hard to see so many people with such little hope/opportunity, but I had to keep telling myself that God is in control of each individual life in Haiti...even if we can't understand that right now. Thank you for all the encouragement and prayer, I need it!

(These are pictures from Grant, I'll try to upload mine on facebook when I am back in the DR)

In Haiti!

I wanted to send out a quick message to let everyone know that after 2 long days of travel I am here in Haiti! Grant is actually in Port au Prince (picking up Pierre Garcon..) so I spend the afternoon with his roommate who picked me up from the airport. His roommate RJ has been incredible and really made things more comfortable for me even though I came here knowing nobody and no Creole.

It was an interesting trip to get here, including just about every method of travel you can think of! I took my motorcycle on Sunday afternoon to Jarabacoa where I spent the night with Brian Veen. He graciously drove me to Santiago in his car where I jumped on Caribe Tours (big charter bus) to take all the way to Cap Haitien. In Cap Haitien I was met by Tom Froese and spent the night with him and his family. I had gotten to know him and his 2 adopted sons on various trips to Constanza and really enjoyed spending more time with them. What a blessing that I had them helping me because I really don't know how I could have done it based on the bus schedules.

After spending the night, they drove me to the airport and we waited together for a bit until their flight for Port au Prince left about an hour and a half before mine. I was pretty nervous, not knowing any Creole and being in a crazy, hot, little airport "terminal." My flight was scheduled for 12:30 and at 12:20 my airline came out and started announcing things and everybody got up and went to the door. This seemed like the right thing to do.....until I had gotten out to the plane and I asked someone (just to make sure....) that it was going to Port de Paix and they quickly told me no no no Port au Prince! So after that close call I went back to the waiting room and waited for about 20 minutes. After that I was feeling very uncomfortable with my situation, so I prayed that God would just help me get to Port de Paix and just lead me on the right plane and help things to run smoothly. As I lifted my head from the prayer a man was standing there and introduced himself in English! He was a pastor in Port de Paix through Baptist International Missions and he had lived in Haiti for over 20 years. Needless to say I stuck by his side all the way until we got off the plane. I don't think I have ever had a prayer answered so quickly, but I sure was grateful.

After a long, bumpy ride in the back of a pick-up truck (tap tap/taxi) I was finally in St. Louis. I then got a tour of the site and went out with RJ and some team members to deliver food to a few houses in the community. It is very different here and the poverty is intense. I think it will be something I will be processing more after I leave. I am trying hard not to compare the DR and Haiti, but it is really hard not to. I am very excited to see Grant in the morning, but the place could be a circus with Pierre Garcon here (as well as CBS, NFL network and possibly ESPN).

It was a long journey to get here, but God has already taught me a ton and I can't wait to see what he reveals to me throughout my time here. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, I will try to get another update or 2 on here during my trip. God is good.

Kyle

Trip to Haiti

Me and Grant (on the right) in South Africa. Unfortunately, Kuenzle will

not be joining us in Haiti, but he definitely has earned a picture on the blog!

This next week I have the opportunity to travel to Haiti to visit a good friend and fellow missionary there, Grant Roszkowiak. We played football together at Wheaton for 4 years, in addition to being in the same small group. I am so excited to get over there and see what his life is like right now and how God is using him.

Please pray for me:

-Safe travel and a sense of peace and protection as I'll be travelling through a country where I don't know one bit of the language.

-That I am an encouragement to Grant while I am in Haiti, as well as the other nationals and missionaries there.

-Safe travel again.........

And I really really will try to be better about updating this blog. I have some good entries in my head, and some good pictures to put up but just need to do it. Thank you for all your prayers and encouraging letters and emails, it really means a lot and is a huge support to me while I am in the DR.

My New Apartment

So a lot of people have been asking me what my apartment looks like...so I took a few pictures and here they are! Once (if..) I get internet in my apartment I will be offering skype tours as well! Here are pictures of my bedroom, living room, kitchen, view from the roof, etc.