Our fifth and final Global Outreach team of the summer is off to the airport to start their two weeks in Southeast Asia! Please join us in praying for their safety as they travel, and for their health (spiritual, mental, and physical). Pray for the Lord to bless this time as they serve in unity and for them to draw closer to God as they shine his light in every interaction they have.
We will update again once they have arrived safely to their hotel in Southeast Asia!
After arriving here at the SI base at 5:00 am and exploring our cabins, we got used to the customs of not using the faucet water to brush our teeth and not flushing paper down the toilet. Just as the others on the base were waking up, we were falling asleep. At 8:42 am, Cheyanne woke up and read the pamphlet book about DR history, but soon fell back asleep. The ladies woke up between 11am and noon. After getting dressed, they went and woke up Mark and Spencer at 1pm. While the guys were getting ready, the ladies visited the chapel and practiced a few worship songs.
About 45 minutes later, the team met up in the cafeteria, explored the base store, and had a very late lunch consisting of ham sandwiches, chips, peanut butter, and guava and pineapple jelly. Harpreet was halfway done making her sandwich when she noticed a strange green tint to the gluten free bread we had packed. Upon investigation, she found that one of the two loaves we had packed had been decimated by mold and the Miami heat. Meanwhile, Mark downed three cups of coffee.
After we finished eating, another team arrived and we had basic and kitchen orientation. Around 4 o’clock, we had camp orientation and met the rest of the SI staff, Mark and Alyssa had a team leaders meeting, Spencer explored, Harpreet took a nap, and Cheyanne, Sofiya, and Jordynn laid on their beds and rested. Around 5:30, we started to hear thunder. And as we walked to the cafeteria for dinner around 6pm, the thunderstorm became more prominent.
At dinner, we had La Bandera, a popular dish here that consists of rice, chicken, beans, and salad. After dinner, we headed to the porch outside the ladies cabin, where Jordynn and Sofiya danced in the rain and thunderstorm and Mark danced to DR rap music.
Around 7pm, we went into the chapel to learn more about the country and the main dances: the Merengue and Bachata. As we started to get a better grasp of these two dances, there were two competitions: one for the Merengue in which Spencer and Cheyanne competed and got 2nd place, and one for the Bachata where Alyssa and Jordynn competed and won first place.
-Caribbean team
P.S.: we are taking orders for the supposed TSA-approved machetes that SI is selling in their base store.
We decided to start the day early for a hike in town. Guided by a local friend from the church who also translates for us we were able to walk straight from our apartment to amazing sights. We had constant photo stops while going up the mountain that overlooks the town during sunrise. It was beautiful making all the stairs very worth it. At the top we saw “Baba Yaga’s” house and a fortress built in the 4th century and partially destroyed by the Ottoman empire in the 15th century.
We stopped at the bakery on our walk back for banitsa and streusel arriving just in time to leave for the farm. We weeded greenhouses and cleared a field there. The farm grows lots of produce for the local girls home, Roma people, and the Ukrainian refugees here. The team had fun especially gardening and weed whacking.
We took a tired van ride back for “the best ever” showers and then lunch.
We were also gifted chocolates from the 93 year old in town that we sang happy birthday to yesterday.
We spent the rest of the afternoon planning VBS and playing games till driving out to the Roma community. We arrived to the kids waiting on the church steps waving. Today’s camp went amazing, the kids all loved the activities especially game time. There were also lots of laughs during our interactive skit where we splashed them while they were the animals aboard Noah’s Ark. While we were discussing patience one kid said he had to be patient to wait till it was time to come back to VBS today. We ended the day with a home cooked local meal at the church and a discussion of how great everyone thought the day went. We are all grateful for another amazing day here and looking forward to tomorrow for day 3 of 3 of our first VBS of the trip.
In the last 24hrs we had the amazing opportunity to go on a safari and see God’s creation. We went on 2 game drives guided by a guy named Abdul where we saw:
– Wildebeests – Zebra herds – Warthogs – Giraffe – Herd of Ostrich – Elephant herds – Dikdik – Eland herd – Empale herds – Baboon herd – Cape buffalo – Elephant skull – Superb sterling bird – Tawny eagle – Water buck – Mongoose – Genet (little cat like lemur) – Vervet monkey – Leopard – Honey badgers – Shrike birds – Hyena cub – Jackal (dog) – Clip Springer antelope – Go away bird – Vulture – Hippo – Sacred Ibis birds – Ground hornbill – Mongoose – Lion pride (8 chilling under a tree) (list courtesy of Alyssa but shortened it because so many birds)
It’s very cool to have done something as once a life time as this for the second time. I loved sharing this adventure with my team. We ate lunch after safari and swam in the lodge pool. And are now heading back to courage cafe for dinner on a 3 and 1/2 hour ride. Tomorrow is our last day and we’re all going to miss the girls and East Africa so much. Going to be lots of crying tomorrow.
Little bonus funny quote: Guide – hippos don’t like the sun they burn easily Matt- I can relate to that
At the hotel we ordered two more Lyfts to drive us to the train station but slightly struggled to get all our luggage into both cars- one being a sedan and the other a SUV. As we made our way over to the train station, our Lyft driver noticed we were at the wrong address for the train station so we needed to find the new address and get to the correct location. We finally arrived to the right location and took two escalators to get to the train.
We arrived in the train about 30 minutes before it left and had a smooth train ride to the bus shuttle for the airport.
Around approximately 8:29 pm, as we grab our luggage from the train and walk over to the bus shuttle, we almost get ran over by the train. Are you familiar with the song grandma got ran over by a reindeer…well replace that with Caribbean team almost got ran over by a train! #TeamBonding
Our boarding was suppose to happen at 11:00 pm, but we didn’t board until 11:40 pm except for Mark as he had priority boarding due to the carry-on bag. As we boarded the plan, we walk in to a very misty and light jazz music. We got to the takeoff runway, and thought we were about to take off around midnight.
Psych…
We didn’t. Instead we went back to the gate! Apparently, the number of people on the plane and number of people on the passenger log didn’t add up. The flight crew was calling passenger names and mentioned Spencer and Sofiya but thankfully it was other people and not us.
At this point, we are just laughing and are like “of course this would happen.” Right now, our team really echos Job as his faith, patience, and commitment to the Lord was tested by Satan. But, we aren’t going to break or let our spirits be disheartened, we are trusting in the Lord and embracing the unknown and unexpected.
Day 3 (June 28, 2023) Update:
At 1:40 AM, we finally were able to takeoff from Fort Lauderdale.
At 3:30 AM, we arrived to our destination in the Caribbean. After checking in with customs, grabbing our bags, we headed out to meet up with C, and J C (the student international representatives) who took us to our site.
After a total travel of 55.5 hours of travel, losing luggage, delayed flights, 11 hour layover, and various other hurdles, the Caribbean Team has arrived to the their destination at 5:00 AM today!
Despite all of the bumps in the road and trials we have face, we are sticking together and are so excited to have finally reached the to serve the Lord through His people!
We got into Miami at 8:20 pm and our flight was long gone. We stood in line for rebooking for about 30 minutes and then decided there’s no point. There were about 150 people in line.
Mark and Spencer went ahead to Baggage Claim while the girls got food. As the the guys waited for our luggage, the girls headed out to the hotel. They took the wrong shuttle and ended up in the wrong hotel, so they had to go back to the airport once again. The shuttle was not coming in until Alyssa call the hotel and told them we were waiting.
Mark and Spencer waited for our luggage for 5 hours. At 1, they gave up and went to the hotel to sleep. Cheyanne and Harpreet took two showers after the long airport day. Alyssa, Jordynn and Sofiya door dashed granny pajamas (that’s all they had at CVS) at 12:30 am. Shoutout to Joel the doordasher for choosing them. We also washed our socks in the sink. They’re still not dry.
We have never had such amazing sleep. Our wonderful leader Mark got our check out time pushed back to 1 pm so we could sleep in.
At 9 am, Mark went back to the airport and FINALLY got our luggage back all safe and sound.
Psych.
This is Cheyanne’s suitcase. Shoutout to Global Outreach for buying her a new one.
We got ready and just after 1 pm ordered a Lyft to go to South Beach, Miami. One of the Lyfts ditched us so we had to order a new one. The new driver was cool and gave us insight into all the Miami Beaches. Let’s just say they’re not all Jessup appropriate. 1 Corinthians 15:33.
We had brunch at a Cuban cafe. Mark encouraged us to try new things and Jordynn almost threw up trying a corn on a cob. We aren’t kidding.
We then went to the beach and seriously contemplated going swimming in our clothes because it was so hot and the water so nice. We ended up not doing it BUT Alyssa dipped her head in and said she does not recommend.
We started making our way to the Lincoln Shopping Center. We were also on a hunt for ice cream. Little did we know that an instagram dating show was on the hunt for contestants. Cheyanne became the victim but at least they gave her free ice cream after the interview. FYI, she’s not against long distance and her red flags are unemployed men.
We found a souvenir shop and bought some new clothes to change into because we were all overheating. It was 88 degrees F but it felt like 99 with 73% humidity.
We found a 7/11 and bought double XL slurpees for everyone.
At the Lincoln Shopping Center, we bought some stuff that we forgot back in Sac and then ordered a Lyft back to the hotel to get our stuff.
Big thanks to Kayla for figuring all the flight information for us! We couldn’t do it without you!!
Hey guys! My name is Hailey and I’m taking over the blog to tell you about our day today! We started off at home by learning about the history of the Roma culture and developed a greater sense of understanding for their resilient community. On our way out for the day, we sang happy birthday to a 93 year old friend of the local pastor. I wished her happy birthday in the local language and she loved that! Later we walked through downtown to go to lunch which was so fun and pretty! I had Moussaka and a giant bread roll and it was my favorite local meal yet which was so cool because then we got it for dinner… but this time it was homemade and even better!
In the evening we went to a church in the Roma community and did crafts with the local kids and a Bible lesson that taught them about God’s love for them. It was so much fun and they were so engaged! One of my favorite parts was when we went outside and played soccer with some of the boys!! We don’t speak a lot of the language and they speak only some English, so it was fun trying to figure out what we were all saying while we played! Isaac, Noah, Sophia, and I need to brush up on soccer skills! All in all it was so much fun and I can’t wait to go back tomorrow!
Special hello to my mom, Casey, Michael, and Lea! I’m having so much fun guys! I love you!
Today was absolutely amazing. We started the day off with a double devotion. The first devotional was from mama M and the second was from two of the CLA (Courage Leadership Academy) girls who led us in two songs of worship. Mama M, in her devotional, had talked about how we live in both a spiritual and a physical world. Her main messaged revolved around how when the physical world does not treat us right, we must open our eyes to the spiritual world and recognize how on our side Jesus is. Her devotional also highlighted how important it is to trust in the name of the Lord so that He can help fight our battles. This devotional was really touching and led some of the CLA girls to share parts of their story. We couldn’t be more grateful that they feel comfortable enough to share with us.
After devotionals, our team headed to courage house to see the younger ones! We sang lots of worship songs and praised the Lord. We taught them a new song with hand motions and we all had a blast! After being at Courage House for a few hours, we left to go see a movie with the CLA girls. The little movie theatre we had went to, was located in the center of a little amusement park! We watched the movie Queen of Katway. It was powerful and tear-jerking and most of the girls could relate to it.
Once the movie had finished, we got in the car and headed to the Church we had attended on Sunday because some of the girls from both CLA and Courage House were getting baptized. We played games and hung out for a while before the baptisms. A total of 33 girls had made a public declaration of their faith today. Watching each and everyone of those girls be baptized was so powerful. Each one had been showered in cheering, clapping, love and excitement once they came up out of the water. We were truly blessed to be apart of such a beautiful thing. I pray that God continues to work through these girls each and every day.
UPDATE 6/26 9pm PDT: The team made it to Miami after a very delayed flight, but sadly their connecting flight was long gone to the Caribbean! The plan was to fly out on a different flight from a nearby airport tonight, but they weren’t able to make it out in time to catch it. They have a hotel in Miami tonight to get some good rest and will fly out late tomorrow night (6/27) for the Caribbean! Pray that they would all have renewed energy tomorrow and that their last flight would be smooth, safe and on-time! 🙂
6/26 12:30pm PDT- Sending hello to everyone from Charlotte, North Carolina…because we’ll be here awhile.
We knew there was going to be spiritual warfare on this trip but what we didn’t know is that it would break into the physical realm.
It all started with our overnight flight from Sacramento to Charlotte. We did have a very cute puppy Winston on our flight. We bet on who would get to sit next to him, and it turned out to be Spencer. However, he is allergic so he let Mark take his spot and Mark was so excited!
Meanwhile, the dog kept Jordynn and Sofiya up for half the night.
We arrived at Charlotte at 6:30 am and were going to be here for 8 hours.
Psych.
We passed the time by playing Monopoly Deal, posting BeReals (we definitely did not retake them and Alyssa was totally on time), snacking, napping and walking around. We also had a really cool piano player who played cool songs including The Office theme song. He played for 5 hours straight (not the same song).
On our way to Shake Shack, Cheyenne got the divine inspiration to stop and check our flight.
Turns out our flight was now coming in at 5:55 instead of 2:30. We are now missing our connection flight to the Caribbean. Our luggage might already be there but who knows? Six of them might still be in Sacramento according to American Airlines.
This is us informing our families about our situation.
There are also thunderstorms coming in soon, so pray for us. Please and thank you.
Good thing we have Mark Moore as a team leader on this trip and he is taking very good care of us. All of our team members said Amen.
To wrap this up, while we might all be running off two hours of sleep, we are #thrivingandsurviving and we believe this happened for a reason and God is keeping us safe.
Hello all! Today was our second morning over here, and tomorrow we’ll get to jump right into ministry with the kids! Today wasn’t as much exploration as it was prep work, but these are the kind of days that we’ll need in order to most effectively spread the Gospel.
We opened up this morning with our team and all got to wake up to some of Isaac’s coffee, something he has a bit of talent for! After getting up and ready enjoying the natural beauty here, we had some of our ministry leaders come over and give us an orientation on the culture over here. There were laughs shared and tears shed learning about all of the unique things and hardships that these folk suffer through, and a fire was lit inside all of us ready to serve to the best of our ability tomorrow.
We then at at a cafeteria styled restaurant where the food was great, and we got to relax at. After a lunch we had some locals who will work alongside us this trip teach us the language, and we spent a significant amount of time learning to count to 10 and learn some important snippets to help talk to the children.
We then moved onto preparing our first day of VBS for tomorrow, with getting down our skit, music selections, craft and game ready for the day! After spending that time till dinner finishing our work, we enjoyed some more time team bonding and sharing in Banitsa, a local popular pastry here that was incredibly well made!
Getting to see the work that everyone is putting into this as well as talents shining where we hadn’t expected has been such a blessing, and a great joy experiencing the growth we’ve had even as a team these last few days. We look forward to spreading the Gospel, and ask for your continued prayer for our strength and rest and the impact our message will have on these children.
