Wednesday, January 27, 2016

ICC Christmas Service

Hi Everyone,

I know that this post is a little bit late since it is almost February, but I wanted to show you the video I made of our Christmas Service at ICC.  The kids in our children's program were invited to participate in the time of praise and worship during our Christmas Service.  They learned all of the signs for  "O Come All Ye Faithful", they played jingle bells during the Christmas Medley, and they spent weeks learning all the signs to a Spanish Christmas song called "Gloria a Dios en las Alturas."  We also decided to make it even more special by borrowing costumes for the kids and they were able to dress up at shepherds and sheep and angels.  They worked very hard practicing and they were VERY excited to get to participate in the service.  They did a great job and were so cute.  Here is the video:



ICC Christmas Service 2015 from Carrie Ramos on Vimeo.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

New Covenant/Shumate Team: Day 10

Day 10: Sunday, January 3

Five members of the team left very early Sunday morning.  Their flight was supposed to leave around seven, which means they had to be at the airport around five.  Unfortunately, their airplane had maintanance problems and they ended up having to get back off the plane and waiting for several hours.  Their plane finally took off around noon.

The other two members were on a later flight, so they came to our worship service with us and then I brought them to the airport at 11am for their flight.

We had such a great time with this team.  They were so great and we enjoyed getting to know them and serving alongside them in all of the different ministries that we visited.  We look forward to their next trip.


Saturday, January 16, 2016

New Covenant/Shumate Team: Day 9

Day 9: Saturday, January 2

On Saturday, we all woke up early and had a quick breakfast before leaving to head to the North Coast.  All of the members of ICC who had come out the day before to help with the community service as well as Sia, who had been helping with the team all week, and our neighbor Ellen were invited to go with on the team's recreational day.

Eddy and I and Timmy, went ahead of them to bring all the sound equipment back to the church in town before catching up to them on the way.  Our first stop was Sosua Beach, where we spent time relaxing, eating our packed lunches, swimming, and taking pictures of the babies (it was their first trip to the beach.)

We then went to Monkey Jungle, where the team went ziplining and fed the monkeys.  And we finished the day at Cabarete Beach where we all had dinner together on the beach as the sun went down.






Friday, January 15, 2016

New Covenant/Shumate Team: Day 8

Day 8: Friday, January 1

On Friday, the men spent the morning completing work projects, while the women did some baking.  That day five people from our church joined us at Hacienda Esperanza. (Ismael and Diana, and Paulo and Erlandia, and Timothy).  They are good friends of ours and are fellow leaders of the church.  They also brought with them their babies (Benjamin Asaph and Samuel), to spend a couple days with the team.  We started by having soup joumou, which is the traditional Haitian New Years Day meal, which Sia made for us all.  It is a type of pumpkin soup.

We then went down to the school building right next to the mission property, where our neighbor Ellen gives English and computer classes, and led a community prayer service.  We wanted to spend the first day of the year dedicating our community to God in this new year. We had a time of worship, and our assoiciate pastor, Paulo, shared the Word.  We had a time of prayer, and then we provided coffee and hot chocolate and water and juice as well as several types of baked goods that the women on the team made for the community.  We had a great turn out and the people of the community also expressed a desire for future church services as well.

In the evening we spent some time all together talking and sharing and celebrating Diana's birthday.  And then we all stayed the night in the team house and with Ellen next door.





Thursday, January 14, 2016

New Covenant/Shumate Team: Day 7

Day 7: Thursday, December 31

On Thursday morning, Eddy and I took care of a few administerial needs of the mission.  We picked up Sia to bring her to the property and paid the bills for the month and stopped at the bank.  We also went to PriceSmart to buy the pizzas for the kids at the orphanage and then met the team at the orphanage.

When we arrived, we served the kids pizza and juice and cookies for lunch.  Marshall played a few songs on his saxaphone for the kids, which they loved.  The team did a short lesson with the kids that they had prepared and colored coloring pages with them and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the kids.  It was a great day.

On the way back to the property, the team visited the local coconete "factory" where they make coconut bread.  In the evening, Eddy and I spent some time away from the team and had dinner with his family.  New Years Eve is a big family holiday here in the DR, so we were thankful to be able to spend some time with our family that evening.








Wednesday, January 13, 2016

New Covenant/Shumate: Team Day 6

Day 6: Wednesday, December 30

On Wednesday morning, we had breakfast all together at the mission house in Santo Domingo.  We then had devotions together and heard the testimony of Anthony and Julissa.  After devotions, the men left to minister to the inmates at the largest prison in the country, La Victoria.   This prison was built to hold 4000 inmates and is now currently holding 12,000.  Unfortunately, there are no pictures allowed, so we don't have any to post.  However, I can tell you that this ministry opportunity is always very impactful for the men on our teams.

Teresa and I and the women on our team kept the men in prayer and spent some time together in the morning.  We went to Krispie Kreme and bonded over coffee and donuts and then traveled back to Santiago, stopping to buy groceries on the way home.

When the men arrived back at the property in the evening, we all went down into town to the church to attend our Wednesday night Bible Study, where John, a member of the team, shared the Word.

Anthony and Julissa







Tuesday, January 12, 2016

New Covenant/Shumate Team: Day 5

Day 5: Tuesday, December 29

Tuesday morning, we left very early in the morning to head to the capital, Santo Domingo for two days.  The capital is on the south side of the island.  It takes 2-3 hours to get there.  We went straight to a neighborhood in the town of Haina, to host a children's outreach with our friend Omeyra's ministry.  We sang praise and worship songs, taught a lesson, had puppets and fun kids' songs, etc.  We also gave each child a coloring page, snack and gift before they left.  We had a lot of fun at the outreach.  We then spent a few hours touring colonial city in Santo Domingo with the team.  And in the evening, we met up with our friends Anthony and Julissa and their ministry.  We attended a roof-top cell church in the most dangerous barrio in the country, Capotillo.