1 Year

I will have been here a year on Tuesday, August 31st. Originally, this would have been the date for me to go back for good -- a year of time spent in the community of Bayona and moving on to other things. However, in January I signed up for an additional 2 year commitment with Mission Emanuel as the Director of Healthcare Ministries. I am so fortunate to have been here this past year and be able to look forward to another amazing 2 years of what God is doing here in the community!

I will be leaving for a month for Maryland to spend time with my family and to raise support for my coming year here in the Dominican Republic. I have raised 61% of my support, but am in need of an additional $15,000 for all of the expenses of this next year. Please let me know if you would like to join my support team.

I am excited to see my family, especially my brother whom I haven't seen in almost a year and a half!

I will also be in North Carolina for almost a week to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Mission Emanuel and to plan for the groups coming in 2011.

Give me a call, send me an email or a facebook message! I would love to talk to you while I am in the states!

Blessings,

Anna

Cena de La Iglesia

Last night the church had a dinner to raise money for the church retreat they are having in September. They invited several musicians and served a beautiful dinner of rice, chicken, vegetables and salad. I don't know why, but every time the musicians got up to play, I thought of Mariachi bands. :)

I helped cook a little, but mainly just enjoyed the environment and the company of friends. It was a nice evening!

It was a "formal" event... so I will leave you with a photo of me and my friends Yineris and Fela.

Fundraising Update

Hello all!

Its a three day weekend here because Monday is a Dominican holiday. I thought I'd take advantage of the extra free time to write a quick update.

As most of you know, I am raising my support for next year (Sept 2010 to Sept 2011) to stay here in the Dominican Republic. I have received pledges for $23,200 or 61% of my overall goal. I need to raise an additional $14,800 in pledges by the end of August.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in supporting my ministry here in the Dominican Republic, please email me at bianco.13@osu.edu or contact me on Facebook.

I will be in Maryland in September to see my family and finish up fundraising. I am praying to have fundraising done before the end of my trip so that I can return to the DR at the end of September. Please keep my fundraising in your prayers.

The Lord has a great promise for all of us. He is faithful and just and He will never leave us. I am believing in His greatness and His plan for my life.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." ~Hebrews 10:23

Rainbow, view from the clinic

Sorrows

I've not received many difficult phone calls in my life. Of that I have been very fortunate, but yesterday I answered a phone call from a friend to tell me that a little boy of 2 months had died while napping in his crib. They took him to the hospital immediately, but he was already gone and there was nothing they could do for him.

Such a joyful little baby... always smiling and laughing. I went to visit him the first day that he came home from the hospital. His mother was so happy and proud to show him to everyone. He had so much hair. I held him 2 weeks ago in church and I guess I'm just glad that I was able to spend time with him while he was here with us on earth.

His very mature sister, who turned 7 today, told me that he was in heaven and that he would always be with us in our hearts. They buried him this morning. His mother, father and aunts are not doing very well. Its hard for all of us to fathom. I can only imagine what they are going through. Please pray for the family: Mara (mom), Sylvestre (dad) and Perla (sister). As well please pray for the community, as the loss of Eliel has hit everyone hard.

Visitors

Sarah and I out at dinner

This month, I have been blessed to have two wonderful visitors here. My friend Sarah who is a medical student at The Ohio State University came for two weeks to help out in the clinic. Sarah spent time observing with Tatiana, our new doctor, and assisting me with entering data from medical surveys. We also toured the city a little, went to the mall and the movies and spent time in the Colonial Zone. Since we were there during the day we were able to visit the Pantheon. I have been to the Pantheon probably 5 times before because of tours with the groups, but this time was really neat because we had a tour from a Dominican Marine that was on guard. The Pantheon is a historic building that Trujillo used for governmental purposes and where he wanted to be buried. He was murdered before he, his wife and his mother could be buried there, so the people took the building back and used it to bury national heroes --generals, presidents, poets, writers, and artists. The building also houses an eternal flame that burns in memory of those that were lost, like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, VA. Other sites we covered were the Cathedral, which I had never been inside, La Calle de Las Damas, Forteleza Ozama, La Plaza del Reloj and Diego Colon's house. Afterwards, we ate at a Ceviche restaurant in the square. It was amazing!

Diego Colon's house

Sarah in the Plaza del Reloj

Inside the Cathedral

Hannah, who coordinated my first trip to the Dominican Republic in March of 2008, came for a week and left this past Sunday. It was fun to be able to take Hannah around Bayona and have her see life here in the day and evening that isn't related to our regular group trips. She was able to spend a lot of time with a family she is close to and was even able to go to a Friday night church service at Chiqui's house (the house we worked on when we came for Spring Break 2008). Hannah and I also spent a little time at the mall and movies hanging out with my friend Karen as well as going to a national park, Los Tres Ojos, that has three subterranean lakes and one above ground. The pools are beautiful and formed in natural rock caverns. Unfortunately, because of the darkness I didn't get good pictures, but the above ground lake is just as beautiful. After the park, the group of seven of us went to the beach at Guayacanes. Thankfully, we had fabulous, sunny weather despite the rainy season!

Hannah and I at Los Tres Ojos

View of the lake