Videos!

Here are some videos so you can see what's going in action here in the DR!

Here is a video of me being interviewed about why I'm serving with Orphanage Outreach:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBMvoC7QpXw

Here is one of me interviewing another intern and some guys from Monte Cristi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYOfyypKfv0

the capital

We took a trip to the capital, Santo Domingo for a "culture day." This is a street that we spent most of our afternoon on, looking at some Dominican crafts and enjoying the Dominican sun. It was great seeing a whole different part of the country than I have seen before, on the other side of the island from Monte Cristi.

Orphanage Outreach dress code everyday is an O.O. t-shirt, and a skirt or some sort of pant that falls beneath the knee. Here, Karen, Kelly, and I enjoyed a day without having to dress in the Orphanage Outreach dress code!

These are pictures of the oldest standing church in the western hemisphere. It's called Catedral Bsilica Menor de Santa Maria. The first brick was laid by Christopher Columbus's son in the year 1514.

Kelly, Sarah, Karen, and I : )

Again, with Sean, Sarah's husband. They're moving to Haiti in about a month to be doctors there indefinitely!

Karen and I climbed to the top of Fortazela Ozama, what a great view! We didn't take a historic tour, but we had fun climbing around the fort and enjoying the scenery.

Life so far in the Dominican

I have been making Monte Cristi my home for two weeks now. Here are some glimpses for you to enjoy:

My favorite place in the entire world is here, on the top of 'El Morrito' (a smaller portion of the mountain 'El Morro'). We took a sunset hike. (My camera doesn't even really give justice to it's beauty, so you can only imagine what it's like in real life!)

This is Karen, Kelly, and I on our first day of school. They came with me the first couple of days to start the music education program that I brought down with me.

The school is called John F. Kennedy. I have ten classes with students ranging from Pre-Premario (kindergarten) to 8th grade. They younger children attend school during the day, and the older children attend in the afternoon, after siesta (Dominican rest time, when most businesses and schools close for lunch until about 2 pm.) I am working with the music teacher who works at the school, Miguel Angel. Before I came, his music classes would sing the same songs everyday while he plays guitar. Now, they sing a few songs, and then I teach the music lesson. I'm trying to learn their names, but I'm not used to having to memorize so many! How do you middle and high school teachers do it?!

These are some of my students and I hanging out during "recreo (recess)." The majority of our recess time spent playing hand clap games, in both English and Spanish.

This is a typical Dominican meal. Rice, beans, and some sort of plantains can normally be found on my plate here. This is a lunch plate, the biggest Dominican meal of the day (not dinner, like Americans are used to). Pictured here, from the top, going clockwise is friend egg plant (great with ketchup), avocado with lime (I never eat this in American, but it's in season here, and it's delicious!), fresh fruit, white rice with steamed chicken and beans, sweet plantains, and con con (I think that's how you spell it-- con con is the rice at the bottom of the pot that has the butter and everything stuck to it-- it tastes like popcorn, and is a treat here!)

Every morning, I get up before the wake up bell to sit and meet with the Lord on the rooftop. It is here that I choose to surrender my day, to ask for strength and guidance, and where I'm able to talk to God about how I'm feeling and what I'm experiencing. I have experienced many thoughts and feelings here already, and sometimes have even questioned my purpose. But each morning I begin my day remembering that I am not the one who is in control. God has me here as a part of His plan for my life, and I choose to trust Him, His timing, and His control. On this rooftop, I am at the highest point at the orphanage, and my perspective is set as I stare ahead at El Morro. It is in this place that I gaze at the beauty of the Lord around me, ponder His promises He has for me in His word, and sit at peace in His presence.

That's all for now. We went to the capital, Santo Domingo, yesterday to visit. I'll post some pictures from that in a few days.

Thanks for reading this! : )

Unexpectedly halfway there

Well I should've waken up this morning at the orphanage in Monte Cristi, but instead here I am still in Miami, Florida.

Yesterday, my flight from Cincinnati was unable to land in Miami due to lightning and high winds that were in a cloud directly over the airport. I sat staring out my window at the lightning around us, and the gray cloud we were circling around. Other planes were doing the same thing. No flights were landing or taking off in the Miami airport, so we went to Fort Lauderdale to land. We sat there for a while and got more gas, then took a 15 minute flight back to Miami, where we were finally able to land.

I was sure I missed my connecting flight to the DR, so I talked to someone to get a flight for the next day, and she said I wouldn't be leaving until 6:30 the next evening. She booked me, and I made some calls to contact the orphanage. Then, ten minutes later, she said that the gates of my original flight had just closed and that I could've made it. I was frustrated that I just assumed and didn't check myself, and that she booked me another flight without double checking if my original flight had left. I was flustered, but not freaking out... I like a little adventure every now and then.

God was faithful and provided for me every step of the way. I was talking with a Dominican woman I met in Cincinnati who was really encouraging and asking lots of questions about what I would be doing in her country. I re-connected with her when we got to Miami, and we stayed with each other while I got a new flight and made sure our luggage would be transferred today. She will be on my flight this evening to Santiago. She was so sweet, and acted as my translator, because the workers at the airport I interacted with did not speak English very well.

God provided again because my mom has a friend who lives in Miami that she used to teach with, so we contacted her, and she came to get me from the airport to stay at he apartment. I hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning (it was then about 9:00 pm), so she took me out to a really nice pizza restaurant. We were in south beach, Miami, where there are lots of high end stores, classy restaurants, art galleries, and lots of people and palm trees. We walked around for a bit. I felt like I was on an unexpected vacation. Today we are going to the beach. Not too bad of an alternative for missing my flight! : )

I guess I'll have to wait to see those little ones at the orphanage just one more day. I'll be arriving the DR around 8:30 tonight, which will put me at the orphanage about 10:00 pm or a little after.

Thanks for all the prayers while I've been traveling! Continue praying for travels and smooth transitions today.

A Community Effort

These are the wonderful women who I was so incredibly blessed to live in a house with my last two years at Miami. I could not ask for a better group of sisters to walk through life with. The seven of them have been constants in my life to experience joy, to suffer together, to figure out how to anticipate uncertainty, to continuously encourage each other to surrender control and to learn what it looks like to walk with Jesus on a daily basis. The true essence of community.

These women have played unique roles in my life, as they have experienced my entire journey with me to making the decision to go to the Dominican Republic. They were there when I was first talking about how I fell in love with the pictures of those Dominican children I saw at the National Missionary Convention, in 2007. They heard stories of my first trip down to the DR, summer of 2008, when my heart was first left there, and more stories when I returned from my second trip, summer of 2009. In our house, they would pile up support envelopes I had received in the mail on my desk for me to find after a long day of student teaching. They celebrated with me by squealing, jumping, and dancing around our living room while the percentage of my financial support continued to raise closer to my goal. And on Saturday, some of them, among a few others, will be helping me lug my suitcases around the airport to send me off.

Support Raising this Summer...

To raise my funds, I sent out support letters, had conversations with people, my mom and housemates had a spaghetti dinner for me in Oxford, and I held a benefit concert to share my heart and to try and bring in another chunk of support. It is honestly not very fun to ask people for their money to support you, so I wanted to try and raise my support creatively. With lots and lots of help from the sweet community of people I get to live life with, I was able to do just that. Anna and Milovan and Kyle Sweetland and Brian Beyke (from Still Pioneers) so graciously performed for the evening. I was so encouraged by the amount of people that came! The sense of community that was built around my decision to teach and serve abroad was incredibly encouraging. I was able to share my heart about serving in the DR. And with a raffle, bake sale, and generous supporters, I was only left with a small percentage of support to finish by the end of the night!

The rest of the summer, I continued teaching Spanish at the day care, and continued raising support. I PRAISE GOD for providing above and beyond what was needed for me to spend nine months in the Dominican Republic. I received 100% support, and enough extra support to provide for my boyfriend to come visit me for a week or two while I am there!

This summer has been such a testament of God's faithfulness and how He truly does provide. I am so so so excited to be moving to the DR to ultimately love with His love and to serve, and to share with others what God has done in my life. :)

As this week goes on, I have been working to finish the curriculum I've made to take to the DR for the music education program I hope to establish. Tonight, my mom, housemate Kori, and I spent hours and hours cutting things out and laminating materials for me to take with my curriculum. If I had done that work all by myself, it would have taken three times as long to do it. This is more evidence of how God has shaped a community of people around me to send me to do His work in the Dominican.

Community support in the form of laminating, scissors, and music notes.

I have been affirmed over and over that God has clearly called me to spend these next nine months teaching music in the Dominican Republic. In all honesty, there is absolutely no way that I would actually be going to the DR without the community support that has been built around me.

If you are reading this, and you have supported me in any way, shape, or form... whether it be prayerfully, financially, donating your musical talent, donating your time to help me create my curriculum, donating your time to give me advice along my journey of arriving at this decision, or even donating your time just reading my ramblings thus far on here...

... I thank you. From the very bottom of my heart.

I would not be going to serve the Dominican without your support.

While I continue moving toward Saturday, I want to ask for prayer in the following areas:

• To rely solely on the Lord for my strength, as I am having extremely late nights getting things together.
• To follow His lead in my daily schedule as it seems crazy busy and all over the place. I tend to want to take control.
• That my time with God this week would be a time of resting in Him, and processing through everything so I am able to be mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared to go.
• For the limited time I have remaining with my friends and family, that it would be encouraging for everyone involved.

graduated, and preparing for the DR

College is over, and summer is here. Summer brings sunshine, relaxation, and quality time with friends and family... life is good, and I praise God for blessing me :)

This summer, I am working at a day care part time as the Spanish teacher. My youngest ones are two years old, and my oldest student is seven. My time spent at the day care has been great practice for what is to come similarly at the end of August.

In the Dominican Republic, I will be living at an impoverished orphanage to start a music education program and to teach English. I have raised 98% of my funds to go for the nine months I will be there!!!

Since I will be working with a music education program that I have created, I am currently looking for a few donated items to take with me that will facilitate the curriculum. If you know of any way that I may be able to get a hold of some of these items for a donation, please let me know via email at brandae.earhart@gmail.com

• 50 recorders (instruments)
• a piano keyboard
• percussion/drum sticks

Thank you so much for visiting the site, and please continue to check back for updates!