Dominican Traveling

I had a uniquely Dominican experience today:

I spent the last 2 days in Monte Plata (about 4 hours from Jarabacoa) because I took boys from El Callejon to Summer's Best Two Weeks DR. SB2W has a special place in my heart. My first time in the DR was in 2005 when I came with my small group to help build this camp. Now 6 years later I'm sending 15 campers. More on this in another post.

I awoke this morning to the sound of rain pounding down on the tin roof over my head. It was a pleasant for sleeping but a problem for my morning departure back to Jarabacoa. The heavy rains raised the river about 4 ft and made the gravel road to the camp unpassable...for a car.

So, my journey back to Jarabacoa began with me crossing a fast moving 4 ft deep river on a horse. I rode the horse about 20 minutes out to the highway that happened to pass right by the camp. I dismounted and began walking down the highway waiting for someone to respond to my thumb, which only took about 30 minutes. (check hitch-hiking on my life's todo list).

I rode standing on the last step of the entrance of a bus for about an hour back to Santo Domingo. From there I hopped into a concho along with 7 other people on my way to the bus station. What's a concho? Have you ever wandered what happened to all the Toyota Corollas from the 90's? Answer: they're used as public transportation (conchos) in the DR.

I waited about 2 hours for the next bus to Jarabacoa, where I arrived and then walked about 15 minutes to my house.

MiBanco 2.0

The first quarter of 2011 had a "catch our breath" feel to it in the MF Site. Instead of being quick to keep adding groups, we stayed with 5 for 6 months and spent time reevaluating the program. We've come up with some interesting changes:

1. Individual loans start with loan #3 and allow us to be more discerning with who we lend to and gives borrowers a lot more flexibility
2. Lower Interest. We're dropping our interest rate for individual loans from 2%/month to 1%/month.
3. Collateral: We continue to only use "social collateral" with the first 2 group loans, but starting with loan #3 associates will be signing loan contracts that include something as collateral

I've also developed a curriculum for the first 30 meetings we have with any new group. It's a personal finance course that teaches everything from giving, to saving, to budgeting, to how to teach your kids about money.

Kim Streeter

As many of you have now heard, our plan is to leave Jarabacoa and head back to the States some time in early 2012. Ever since Ryan and I first started to think about leaving about a year ago, we both started to pray that God would bring leaders to replace us at our sites. If you've read our most recent newsletter, you know that God has answered our prayers. So I'm going to share with our about my replacement...Kim Streeter.

Kim came down to the DR in the summer of 2008, shortly before Ryan and I got here, and worked with Daisy at the Social Work site. She did a good job of keeping up with the site once she left, and I would hear lots of good things about her from Daisy. And I found out she was from Harrisonburg, so I knew she had to be cool :). So when I heard she was coming down in August 2010 for an outreach...I got excited. Now I don't remember the exact details of how everything happened, but at some point I remember thinking before she even got here, "Kim should take my place at the site when I leave." That idea never really left my mind. Around the same time I also found out I was pregnant, and knew that we would need someone else to work at the site. I think it was her second day here and I casually mentioned to her "Hey Kim, you should come down here and take my place at the site." One of her team members was there as well and she said she had been telling Kim the same thing. To my surprise, Kim said she had been thinking and praying about it for a while! But I tried not to get my hopes up, and we had a great time working together the rest of the 2 weeks. She left the DR still uncertain of her calling. Then a couple months later she came back down to interview. By the end of her stay, she was certain she was coming back! Since then she has been finishing up her job in the States, raising support, and doing all the other preparations she needs to come to the DR. Her plan is to get here in October.

God had blown me away by His provision. Kim is an amazing woman of God. Her life experiences will help her to relate to women of El Callejon on a deep level. Her understanding of and belief in the Word will tranform the women and girls. Her joy and love are contageous. As I am already sad when I think about leaving this place, I have a peace knowing that God has provided the best person for the job.

Kim has an awesome blog if you're interested...http://kimheartselcallejon.blogspot.com

Holloway Visit

A couple weeks ago my parents came to the DR. It was the first time out of the country for either of my parents.

I asked my mom if she'd like to write a blog post about her week and she agreed:

Ryan made sure that our Dominican Republic trip was full of adventure as well as getting to know his ministry site. We rode motorcycles, climbed mountains, saw the waterfalls, experienced the beach, ate Dominican food, and most importantly, met the women and children that Ryan and Caroline minister to every day.

My husband Greg and I spent one day with Ryan visiting the SI Base and learning about the work Ryan does and the preparation that takes place to make his ministry successful. We went to several bank sites and actually attended a bank meeting one evening.

It was there that we had the privilege to meet Miriam. Seeing first hand how she cares for the women and praying with them and teaching them Gods word really blessed my heart. I’m so thankful for her and what she does for the ministry.

Visiting with Caroline and participating in her ministry was the following day. The original meeting with the girls had been canceled but Caroline decided at the last minute to have the meeting. With little notice and a short amount of time Caroline told a few girls, “the meeting tomorrow is on, tell the others.” That they did!! The next morning 20 girls were bubbling with excitement and so happy to be together and especially excited to see Baby James. Caroline led the girls in prayer and singing and a study of

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it. They were delighted to talk about God and share pictures with Caroline on how she and Ryan should train Baby James. What they didn’t want to do was…Go home. You could tell how much they loved her and wanted to stay. This too really blessed me.

I am so thankful for the time we had and all the different things we were able to do and see during our trip. What the Lord is doing through this ministry is amazing. The love I witnessed not only among the people but among the other site workers was truly phenomenal. Ryan’s colleagues were loving, giving, and very willing to sacrifice if it meant being a blessing to one another. It was refreshing to see the love of God in action through each one of them. This was a trip I will never forget!

MiBanco El Tesoro were thrilled to meet my family. One of the women made my mom a few bookmarks to take back to the US with her.


My dad clapping along to our opening song in spanish. Eso es Papi.


These two girls and James sharing a moment.


Prayer time.