Rochester Sweet Rochester!

Before and after my mission trip I visited my 3rd home, Rochester, New York! I can't believe it has been year since I moved away from Rochy. It was GREAT to be back and felt good too! The entire time I was able to visit my favorite people, attend my "home" church Open Door Baptist Church, and shop at Wegmans!!!! 

Here are highlights during my time there!

First night I flew in late at night, my friends Olga and Chris were able to pick me up and went to our favorite late night Dine at "Jay's Diner"! Sorry no pictures were taken, we were way too busy chatting and catching up! After that went over to Olga's stayed with her and next day I went to see one of my good friends and ex-roommates and lovely lil daffy "Joy"!

Aww she'd gotten so big in a year! This is lil daffy "Joy"! I've watched her mommy being pregnant and gave birth to her!!

Coming up Sunday, I visited my "Home" church, Open Door Baptist Church! It was the best feeling to return to a place where I feel so peace, learned so much about who God is and myself! It was great to be there in person than watching their sermon online and be able to fellowship with rest of my church friends! I will always call this church "My Home"! I thank the Lord to lead me to a wonderful blessing church where I can feel comfortable learning more about him and talk about the bible with no fear!

Taken with Insgram

What a nice chance reunite with my Snap!VRS-CS family!! We had a good time catching up and talking about our wonderful memories back when we worked together!!(Missing few folks, hope next time!)

After staying with the Petersens, I was able to stay with my "Family" The Talbotts and spend as much time with them, especially my little Tals! It was so good to have them back in my arms, I just miss them so much!!

This is exciting part of my trip, it was close to Caleb's birthday and he wanted a new bike so that he can train to do some Tours with his mom, Veronika! It was FUN to be part of this process!!  I was so excited to be part of this! 
GOTTA LOVE HIS HUGE SMILE ON HIS FACE!!!!

Spending our night outside playing some baseball like always!! What a beautiful night!!!

Early next morning, Veronika drop me off at the airport to join rest of my New York Missionary Team to Republican Dominica! (Excuse my eyes, I barely to be tired still!! (Me, Jacob, Wes, and Olga- others not pictured)

After I got back from Dominica I was able to grab some more time with my buddies! We were able to go kayaking! I know I've always wanted to go kayaking there when I was living there and got to make it happen! Again it was BEAUTIFUL weather that day!

What a blast!!

I also was able to hang out with the Klingensmith's! Am disappointed, I did have a pic with me and Connie, cannot find it anywhere! Argh, technology!! Anyways, it was blessing to have a wonderful church family that I stay close with and very welcoming whenever I come over to their lovely farm! Am excited to come back next time to see the result of their new remodeling of their house!!  

Oh and was able to see my two beautiful interpreters friends, Amanda and Chelsea!!! Again, am disappointed lost pic of us too! Amanda and I met up at one of my favorite and a must at "Simple Crepes" then Chelsea met up with me little later at Erie Canal. It was SO good to see them!!  

My last few days I grabbed more time with the Talbotts. We went out to the clubhouse n hit the go-karts, had ice cream, and just have a good time as a family till I had to flew back home for my next trip to Europe!

They can't keep up with me! HAHA!!

Absolutely living in his dreams since he loves NASCAR!

We went for a bike ride before they took me to the airport. It was Caleb's first time riding his new bike on the road! Was a blessing and special time for me to be part of it!!

My beautiful "second" family!

 THANK YOU to all my ROCHESTER people for a FANTASTIC time!!! See you NEXT year!

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It was my first time flying with Southwest airlines. I would say it was not too bad and wouldn't mind flying with them again!

What a blessing to have family back home anxious to see me again!

Awwww!!!

What a beautiful landing along with rainbow!!

Love this shot by my mom! Those are my 3 lil munckins (cousins) waiting for my plane to port in and checking out the rainbow!

Thank you Lord for allowing me to travel out to East coast to visit my friends. They are in my life because of you! Looking froward to see them again down the road in my life! In Jesus's Name AMEN!

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Rep. Dominican 3rd Round!

Yes, the Lord had called me to return to Republic Dominican for the 3rd time! The best part of this trip is see how much the kids had grew over the year since last time I saw them (a year ago)! 

This year theme was "Armor of God"- Ephesians 6:10-18
¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

It was a fun and entrainment theme, the kids loved it! Our drama team did a fantastic job explaining the passage about Armor of God from the bible. It was blessing to see those kids emulate what they had learned during their time at camp!

There's tons of pictures I could share! I will just share the highlight of the camp!

Kate, Faith, Lavinia, Kaitlyn, and Emily all ready to board for our last leg to DR! (Click here for arrival pics!)

What a great 2014 camp!!! (See more!)

Our drama team did WONDERFUL job performing!! (click here to see more!)

Swimming time was a must in our daily activity! (Click here to see more!)

This year we were able to decorate our camp t-shirt as part of craft activity! We also did bunch other fun crafts too! (Click here to see more!)

We have group discussion everyday to review what they learned from the drama and how it's related to the bible. This was my main job at the camp. In addition, Julie and Penny, our amazing American Teacher was able to provide teaching workshops to those teachers who works with those kids at the school! (click here to see more!)

We also provided science workshops for the kids to learn different fun stuff! Even had auto class for the boys to learn how to fix basic things. (Click here to see more!)

Sports is other main activity we had here at camp. Baseball was popular last year but this year it was basketball and volleyball! (Click here to see more!)

During our free-time (in between activities) you will find everyone all over! It was fun to see everyone just chilling, catching up with each-other, and playing different kind of games in the cafe area. (Find more pics here!)

At the end of the camp, we were able to help celebrate Ramon and Mira their official wedding ceremony!!

What a WONDERFUL missionaries we have this year! We made this camp possible along with Our Father in Heaven!!! All of us are from different States, NE, NY, CT, FL, CA, TX, and the Dominicans!

I had a WONDERFUL time and experience to return! I will be looking froward to what next year will have in store for this Ministry!! 

Side note: I know this post is way OVERDUE- almost a year late, however, around this time of the year I normal will know if i will be going again. It has been a difficult deciding whether if I should go again. I have been praying to the Lord about if I should return, I didn't had this urgent feeling where I want to GO again! It was a bittersweet feeling, HOWEVER, I will continue praying if I can return next year! 

This year will be in my PRAYERS and for sure MISS them!!!!!

Especially, I will miss my little sassy friend Liris!

She saying a prayer before dinner time to everyone!! What a brave girl!! LOVE YOU!!

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Salt Lake- 3rd round!

It has always been peaceful and wonderful feelings to be back to Salt Lake City! I am still figuring out why this is one of my favorite city to be in, it could be the mountains, atmosphere, or the people? I think its all of those reasons and of course my amazing friend that I adore, M'Leah who lives and introduced me to Utah! :) 

I stayed with M'Leah the entire time, it was the best thing than trapped in a hotel room. We were able to do what we love to do- Telemarking Skiing and catching up on life and traveling! Yup, she got me hooked onto this type of skiing! 

When I arrived, M' picked me up, went for a cup of tea for short time before she went back to work, and I borrowed her car to her house n chill. Later on I met her at the library when she got off work. Rest of the night we hang out at her place and catch up! Friday, I went to Telemarking training at Brighton, which didn't go well!-(long story!). After I was done we went next door to Solitude Resort for the day. After skiing we took a short hike up to see the skyline of the city, then we went to the gym n chill in the hot tub. Saturday, we went to Park City, ski most of the day and met couples of M' friends. Sunday, I had to leave the city, such such such a bittersweet!!! 

Hello Salt Lake, Oh how much I miss you!!

Love the Mountain in the background, at the Library.

Aren't those Mountains gorgeous?

All done with Training!

M' ready to hit the slopes!

Smiling Big, just because we're skiing!

M' looking out at Solitude

Hard to see but this is panorama of Salt Lake!

Our dinner one night, I would say this is WAY better than Chipolte!

Says it all!! ^^^

Hello Park City once again! (2nd time here)

Free your Mind, Free your Heels!

Our ride for the day! (M snowboarded for half day)

One of best shot of us! (Wish took my sunglasses off!)

Ski/board bums for sure!!! 

BIG Thank to M' for being WONDERFUL host and always make sure I am having a good time out there and I did no matter what! Love ya chica!

After this trip, I started to applying to jobs in SLC and it didn't work out couples of times! It was HUGE disappointment but I know God has a better plan for me! I will still come out there no matter what and visit M' wherever she is! :)
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No More Lacking!

Ahh I need to get back to this and catch up on my recently trips before I make another trip! The last post I made was March, 20 2014! Ever since that, I've been on the go since. I.e back to SLC, Rochester, Rep Dom, Colorado, and even made a trip to Europe! 

I will start in order after this, 
Salt Lake City March 2014
Rochester June 2014
Rep. Dom June 2014
Greece and Netherlands July 2014
Copper, CO 2014
and upcoming trips!

Plus change background and make it more up to dated! heetee

Here I start... 

Just to say that despite all good intentions I have failed to find enough time to sit down and write much recently - See more at: http://theedibleflowershop.co.uk/blog/sorry-lack-blogging/#sthash.FghLBQ0U.dpuf

Just to say that despite all good intentions I have failed to find enough time to sit down and write much recently - See more at: http://theedibleflowershop.co.uk/blog/sorry-lack-blogging/#sthash.FghLBQ0U.dpuf

Just to say that despite all good intentions I have failed to find enough time to sit down and write much recently - See more at: http://theedibleflowershop.co.uk/blog/sorry-lack-blogging/#sthash.FghLBQ0U.dpuf

Just to say that despite all good intentions I have failed to find enough time to sit down and write much recently - See more at: http://theedibleflowershop.co.uk/blog/sorry-lack-blogging/#sthash.FghLBQ0U.dpuf

Rep. Dominican Round 2! (See You Later!)

It's bittersweet when the camp comes to end!! Please take few moments to view the pics by click on the link 'See you Next Year".

See You Next Year!

Whew... that was little emotional to put this one together! It makes me miss the kids even more and how wonderful time I had there!

Next journey is to Boca Chica Resort for few days to relax before heading back to the United of States.... 

God's is good by allowing us to come and ministry to those children!
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One more IMPORTANT thing I want to do before closing this... 
I want to Thank You to ALL who had donated to allow this trip to happen! 
Second, for all your prayers and support me on this challenge and life change experience! 
Third, HUGE Thank You to my church Open Door Baptist Church  for all the support and encouragement to return. This church is part of my testimony why I went on this trip. This church has a STRONG support of Missionary for the Lord. I've got the inspire to do this because of this church and how we love the Lord through his serving!!
Lastly, The Lord for allowing me to attend this camp and be part of his will for me to learn more about who God is by planting seeds in those lovely precious children!!! 
Again! THANK YOU!!!!!

Rep. Dominicana round 2 (Campamento)

Am telling you this year's Camp was WAY better than last year! We were blessed with a better camp site, more accessible for Leslie who is in a wheelchair and much prettier and clean! There were many things that had improved this year compared to last year. I will be listing them along with pics!

1. This year we made changes on how to present our bible stories to the kids. Last few year they would use interpreters and the actors would either voice or sign. Julie and I had worked very hard to make changes by using sign language ONLY no interpreters allowed! We had all staffs who knows sign language to preform, even some part does not require signs we still use our staffs! 

Drama Pics!

2. Last few years, teachers and mothers who works at the school would cook our meals for us. This year the camp had their own cooker, which was much better, even the food were delicious!! That way the teachers can take educational develop workshop with Julie in the morning to learn more about Deaf Education. Also be able to interact with kids throughout the day!

3. The campground was PREFECT! There were fresh mangoes and bananas trees EVERYWHERE! Plus they had more fun playgrounds to play on, baseketball court, and even a zipline! The dorms were much better than last year, this year we didn't have to get mosquito nets for our windows. Lastly, it was beautiful campground!

CAMPGROUND

4. We have more fun activities set up throughout the day. We had swimming, sports, drama, craft, nail polish, science, and group discussion classes. Kids loved those activities, even during free time hang around the campground!
-to view the PICS click on the blue link!!!!

Classes Pics!

Sports Pics!

 

Swimming

Toddlers

Freetime!!

I return back to America overwhelmed with rich experiences from being back in Republic Dominicana for the 2nd time. Each year has really improved my relationship with the lord and how i want to live my life! I can't explain in words how blessed I am to be able to service the Lord through this ministry!

Praying the Lord will give me another opportunity to return next year for camp 2014!! <>< 

Rep. Dominican Round 2! (Arrival)

Yuppers, that's right I went back to Republica Dominicana for the second time recently June! This time I came into Santo Domingo four days early from the camp date. I am blessed and grateful for a great opportunity to be able to see what their life is alike outside of camp.

While staying in Santo Domingo for 5 days before the camp, I stayed with an awesome and sweetest host family that is related to Paulina, one of the top Deaf School advocate in the country. Only 4 of us from America stayed with them and other 4 stayed with Paulina. We were about mile or so away from each other. They both cooked excellent foods for us and was very generosity by helping us to get around the city! While we stayed with them, we had opportunity to experience the REAL life of Republica Dominicana by tour the city and learn what their daily life is alike. Am just amazing and still speechless that I live in America not there!

Back View on the top from our Host family's apt!

Front view

Our host family in middle and rest of us who stayed with them (esp for Josiah in the back and Nicole in the front they stayed with Paulina) 
Click here for more pics from Host house!

Touring the city!
Click here for more pics!!

We were able to visit the main deaf school where our kids from camp attended in Santo Domingo. While we visit the school (on Thurs and Friday), we observed their classrooms, interact with the kids, and learn what their educate is a like. On both of those days we also were able to visit several kid's homes, this part of the trip was the most impacting experiences I've had down there. 

One best part of this experience at the main deaf school was that we got to witness their graduation celebration. Their graduation is much similar to ours here in USA. In addition, we were able to visit another deaf school that "was" in the process of establish the school on the other side of the city. The result was that there were a school that was established in different part of Santo Domingo that way more deaf kids could attend school since the main school is too far for them to travel there. God is amazing in many ways for those kids!! Looking forward to see more of God's work in those kids for their education!! 
 

Click here for graduation and school pics!!

As for home visit, as I say it was the most impacting experience for me because I visit one of the poorest part of the city compared to where I was staying at. The entire time I was speechless and was hard for me to talk. I kept on asking myself why am I in America not here. Please look through the pics the pictures explain more than I could!  

Click here for more pics from this home visit!

This experience was worth it because it helped me understand better where our kids come from and life lesson for me. It also helped me to think twice what I want on my daily basis and not to waste my food, etc. I am still grateful I was able to grab this opportunity to see the other side of the world!