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.

Lots of Soccer...and "super bowl party"

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the first group this year was a soccer group from St. Mary's College in California. The group comes every year with different people but Randy, the leader, is always here. All the kids know him and are always asking when his team is coming back.

A little pre-tournament ceremony. Randy is the 2nd one in from

the left sitting down.

It is pretty incredible to see the amount of interest they generate through their clinics and games. The kids play soccer almost every day now. I also picked up some tricks and games to use in my gym class.

Very fun to see these guys in Constanza

The group was a big encouragement to me, as it was fun to hang out with some people (almost...) my own age. I realize that this group isn't a typical group, but I am very excited to get going with more groups in the next few weeks.

A few of the kids from my favorite house in Jarabacoa,

and Starling in front who used to live there but is now

in Constanza.

Keeping tabs on whats going on in the sports world has become much less of a priority to me this second time around (except for the bulls obviously..), but I still thought it would be weird if I didn't watch the super bowl. I invited Jhoan (helps at the care center) and the Rowley's 2 youngest boys Gabe and Isaiah. We had a good time and had some Chicken, some refrescos and played some games as well. The actual game was pretty good, but I think it was fun just to have some people over to the apartment for the first time!

Playing some card games during halftime

Back to Soccer, while the group from California was here. We had a big tournament on our new soccer field behind the care center. Teams from Jarabacoa travelled up here and it was a blast. It was awesome to see some of my little Jarabacoa friends in my town.

This picture is from a game I went to in Jarabacoa,

but I think its cool and my family has been sponsoring

this kid for a long time now.

Sorry...Community Visits

First off, I am sorry for the lack of blog updates since I have been back in the DR the 2nd time around, I am going to try to do better and feel that it is likely I will now that I have better access to internet. After a great time being home for Christmas, the transition has been very smooth in 2010. I feel that I had a good base to build on with relationships when I returned home and they have definitely strengthened since coming back.

At Palmas in the afternoon. It started small but soon there

were people everywhere!

One thing I have really enjoyed this year has been going with the teachers or Alfredo into the community to visit families of children in the Care Center. I actually had no idea that they did this on fridays until about a month ago when I mentioned to Alfredo that I was interested in going into the community and building relationships with the families. I am usually pretty drained by thursday from the week, but these are always refreshing for my friday off.

One of the houses in Palmas

I don't like to take pictures while I'm on these visits so I don't really have any to post, although I do have some that were taken when a team was here from our visit to "carrera de las palmas." This was my first introduction to this community, Alfredo and I went in the morning to ask if it was ok if we brought a team to meet the people there and then we stayed and talked for a while and I really grew to like this community. The trip that afternoon was amazing. Even though I had only been there once before (that same day in the morning...) they treated me like we had been friends for years. I randomly asked the seemingly leader of the community if he wanted to get everyone together and pray and he jumped all over the idea and before I knew it the whole community was out with our team and we had a great time of prayer with these people. This was my first trip so I didn't really think it was a rare thing but Alfredo pulled me aside later and told me how amazing it was and that he had never seen that happen with such a large group. It was a very cool day, and Alfredo and I are going back there this afternoon to keep the relationship going.

A picture taken during the group prayer.

Most of the community right before we left.

Earthquakes, Spiders and Answered Prayers

Ark Constanza kids with the newest member "Nube" (spanish for cloud im pretty sure...)

It has been such a whirlwind around here since I got back Jan 5th that I don't even know where to start! Hopefully I can give a good recap of my 1st 10 days back on the island.

With travel logistics to Constanza tough it ended up working better for me to spend the first 5 days back in Jarabacoa. At first I was a little hesitant because I didn't want to constantly be in the way or a hassle to anyone, but it really ended up being a blessing. I got to visit with old ark friends from previous visits and through sponsorships, as well as develop great relationships with some of the newer kids at the Ark that I hadn't really gotten to know yet. I also got to spend time with Brian Veen who I studied with in Guatemala and it was good to reconnect and catch up a bit after the holidays. The missionaries were great and I really enjoyed spending time with the Jarabacoa crew.

One of my great Jarabacoa friends on my motor. Our family has

been sponsoring him and his brother for years and he rarely leaves

my side when I visit Jarabacoa.

One of the big blessings from spending the time there was I was able to spend a lot of time with the short term group from St. Mary's College in California. I spent the night at the team house for the 5 days and 3 of those nights were with this group. They were a blast and they just took me in as one of their team members. I am excited to meet up with them again this week as they will be in Constanza to serve from Saturday through Saturday.

I also celebrated my first "Dia de los Reyes" which was very fun. After mass producing pancakes in the morning for the big pancake breakfast, the kids opened presents and then we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and playing with the kids. My kind of holiday!

The Rowley's picked me up after dropping Carter off for school and we headed back up to Constanza. It was really great to see them again, it was weird being away for a few weeks after spending so much time together right before Christmas. Housing has been a big transition, as I have basically been living out of suitcases since September 20th now, but the Rowley's were great as I spent the first few nights at their house until my temporary apartment was ready again.

A very common question during my time at home was "what are the biggest challenges you face there?" and "how can I be praying for you?" I usually geared answers to both questions back to the uncertainty and constant transition of not having housing nailed down. There is no doubt that everyone really followed up on that and prayed for it to work out because less than 24 hours after I had arrived in Constanza the housing had worked out better than I could have imagined! I will be moving into a fully-furnished apartment for the rest of my time here and in the same Colmado I have come to love. Altagracia and Yuli have been so great for me and helping me get settled in their property, it has been fun to get to know them so far. They have also felt kinda bad about me not being able to move in so they have really been taking care of me!

The only downside to this is that the temporary apartment I am in now is taken from January 20th-30th...so I will move into the teamhouse here (again with the St. Mary's team for the first few days..) and then move in permanently on the 28th! Needless to say I am very excited to finally move in. There is some stuff I haven't even used yet that was packed all the way back in September that will finally get used.

Always a good time doing sponsorship letters

with the kids....this picture is a pretty accurate

depiction of a typical day trying to get letters done

with the kids.

St. Mary's will be our first group of the year and I am excited to get going with teams! I know it will be a lot of extra work, but it is something I am pumped for. The Rowley's and everyone here have been putting tons of work in to get the new team house ready for guests. There has also been someone just chillin at the team house for who knows how long and I don't know if he is ready to give up his kingdom he has started on the outside wall! I asked one of the dominicans working at the team house about the spider and he said it was very very very dangerous and that one bite or prick would be very bad...not what I like to hear already hating spiders...When a Dominican tells me to stay away from something like that I ALWAYS listen..(well except for taking the picture..)

My new friends! And what I think about before going

to bed every night...(don't let Kirk see this...)

One of the first days back in the temporary apartment, I was checking a problem in the toilet because mechanism to flush was broken...so I was taking a look inside when all of a sudden the water started slushing back and forth which seemed strange to me but I thought maybe i had leaned into the toilet or something. Then I realized that the whole bathroom was shaking! I started walking out of the bathroom but was very disoriented and could see the whole floor moving in waves...I didn't have the urgency to get out of the house that I should have had because I had never been through an earthquake before, and especially not one like this. I finally made my way outside and saw the ground still moving in waves and heard everyone yelling and that is when I realized it wasn't a fun thing it was a serious thing. Constanza is on the same fault line as the earthquake in Port au prince and that is why it was so strong here. Thankfully everyone in my area was fine and I didn't hear of any damage. Keep Haiti in your prayers, it is uncertain how we will be affected from this but I have heard rumors that there will be some Haitian orphans coming to Kids Alive for as long as 6 months.

To me this earthquake was a unique, interesting, and unsettling experience....but for millions in Haiti it was life-altering and tragic. Please pray for everyone in Haiti, and especially my good friend Grant who is serving as a missionary there and will certainly be front and center in the rescue mission and months ahead.

A lot has happened these first few days back but I am so blown away by God's answered prayers. The housing situation is looking great, the kids all remembered me and we picked up right where we left off, and it looks like internet is on the horizon in my apartment as well which would be awesome. Thank you so much for your continued prayers as my constant transition continues!

The two youngest kids who were very excited when I

came back! The boy on the right is the newest ark arrival

and older brother of the girl in pink!

Back in the DR

Sorry it has been so long between blog entries. I didn't really see much of a point to update while I was home, but hopefully I can do a better job now that I am back in the DR! Here is a copy of my email update from today.

Hey everyone,

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years! I am back in the DR, currently in Jarabacoa for a few days before I return up the mountain to Constanza on Sunday night. It feels great to be back, spending time with friends here and the kids in the DR has been great. I am anxious and excited to return to continue all the relationships in Constanza that I started to develop before Christmas.

My 3 and a half weeks back home were great, it was incredible to see family and friends. I enjoyed everything except the cold weather and snow! My time back was busy, filled with meals with friends, 4 family parties, trip to Kansas City to see family and watch my friend play for the Chiefs, mini-road trip to St. Louis for a concert, Bulls game, and countless hours spent hanging out with family and friends. Although my time back was amazing, towards the end I was definitely feeling ready to get back to the kids and the work in the DR, something I didn't think I would be saying when I first got home!

After my "trial" run of the first couple months in the DR now the main event begins. I will be serving in the DR for a much larger chunk of time without returning home and will be much busier with increased responsibilities with groups from churches coming throughout the spring and summer. This is a challenge that I have been looking forward to and the interactions with these teams should be encouraging and fulfilling. Now that I am gone for a bit longer feel free to send me letters/packages! It is really encouraging to get mail here and I would love to hear from my friends and family in the states.

Please keep me in your prayers and I continue to adjust to the culture and language and that God would give me great opportunities to be a Godly example to the kids and people here. Also, please keep my housing situation in your prayers as well as there is still a bit of uncertainty surrounding it and I am hoping to figure it all out these next few weeks. If you have any questions or are looking for ways to support me or the ministry here please send me an email I would love to talk to you. Thank you so much for your continued support through this stage in my life.

In Christ,

Kyle