YoMama (Sonoma State and James Madison University)

Francisco and I sat poised on orientation day, ready to share with our 5 new students the history of the art site, a bit of our own stories and the 4 points from Scripture we like to focus on: being faithful in the little (in regards to talents), focusing on putting our treasure in heaven, serving is considered being greatest in the Kingdom, and the multiplication of small things (5 loaves and 2 fish). Little did we know that this lively group of young ladies, 3 from Sonoma State in California and 2 from James Madison University in Virginia, were just as poised and ready to enter into all kinds of scriptural debate with us. The first day of deep engaging set the theme for their two weeks of service with us here. These ladies not only dug into Scripture with us, but also dug into the culture, interacting with the community of El Callejon, interacting with eachother, interacting with art, with themselves and above all, with God. Some of the questions Francisco likes to ask are: Is everyone in the world a child of God? Where did sin originate, how is it conquered and why was it conquered the way it was? What are the difference between talents and gifts? What are yours?
These girls not only tore it up with us, but took these same questions to others from their schools and got everyone searching Scripture and coming back with, "Well, what about this?" It was AWESOME.
These 5 girls: Andrea Smith, Danielle Koehler, Emily DiMarco, Chelsea Gault and Janelle Burns also took on the El Callejon mural project with the same fervor. The people of El Callejon, now getting accustomed to our project, started coming by more often and asking us what each mural meant, or trying to guess. One mural caused quite a stir on the first day. One of our girls, had on her heart to paint a Dominican flag painted in the shape of the country. The colors of the flag are red, white and blue, the white being a cross that sections off four corners of the flag, each quadrant being either red or blue. We asked a couple of kids if the upper left quadrant was red or blue. The consensus was red, so our student spent the morning diligently painting the flag. We left the community, hot, tired and contented with our first day's work. Later in the day, we received some shocking news: the flag was painted wrong!! Putting red in the upper left quadrant symbolized the nation being at war!! Our student was devastated, especially because she wouldn't be able to go back and change it until after the weekend! Francisco, upon hearing about it, suggested that we work with it and try to incorporate the message of the inner war of the soul when it is not in Christ. The idea was contemplated, but in the end, it was decided just to right the mistake because many people in the community can't read and wouldn't necessarily understand why the flag was at war. Through all of this we took it as a blessing... people were paying attention!
The focus of painting the wall in El Callejon is to not only bless the community with beauty, but also to get them to engage with it, cause them to think about the gospel and what it means in their own lives. We are finding the mural is accomplishing its goal.
On top of painting murals, our students also painted faces at the special ed school and hung out with some of our local shoeshine boys while doing art in the park. God really used these girls to bless Jarabacoa, us and eachother. Miss you guys!!
Please continue to pray for the health of our students, for inspiration, and that God would continue to speak into the lives of the people of El Callejon.

2 Down, 5 To Go!

Our summer kicked off with a bang on May 5, bringing with it a small, yet mighty team of 17 students. Bethel College in Indiana and Providence College in California were represented and I had the privilige of hosting 2 beautiful young ladies from Bethel.

The project I had intended to begin, a bright evangelistic mural spanning the entire length of El Callejon, was delayed because of rain. So, Cristina DeLeeuw, Martha Weirich and I took on another fun project: painting an installable mural for the inside of the Special Ed school, Genesis. At their old location the students and teachers at Genesis had enjoyed some murals that were painted on the cement wall bordering their grounds. This time we decided to paint on a large piece of wood that could be moved if the school should ever have to move again.
For inspiration, we visited the special ed site and learned about what was going on there. We spent a day in discussion and design. I asked the question: "How do you think God feels about the kids who go to Genesis?" The general consensus was that He thought they were special and wanted them to know their gifts and what they could bring to the world around them. We decided on the theme, "Christ in you, the hope of Glory" and combined our three designs to make one beautiful painting that I know will inspire all who walk through the doors.


Our next group came from Vermont, Boston University and Grove City College. I had two women, one from BU (Bethany Slade) and the other from Grove City (Joanna Hart). These lucky two were the pioneers of the El Callejon mural project. We spent every morning in El Callejon enjoying a devotional time with the ladies at the Social Work site and then set to work immediately after. I gave them this challenge: how do we communicate the gospel without words? How can we show this community God's love without using traditional Christian imagery (as the island is immersed in Catholic art-- beautiful representations of the gospel, but something they are already surrounded by)? You will see below just what the girls came up with. I let each one have her own section of the wall, while I executed a design inspired by Zach Humphrey from my Jupiter team in March. I also decided that I wanted the mural to start off by saying: Jesus Loves El Callejon, as a way of proclaiming the real reason why we are there painting. Men, women and children will walk by these words and images everyday and though they might not be focusing on them, I know their spirits and souls will be impacted.

As we were painting we had many people approach us and ask what we were doing, why we were doing it, what did the images mean?? It gave us a chance to share Christ's love with them. As I was painting musical notes one day, two girls called out to me, "What are those?" They had never seen musical notes! I explained to them that music is a language and that these black marks I was making were the letters. I will be bringing a music book to show them next week. All the children in the community wanted to be involved and so on the first day we decided to give them a section of wall where they could put their handprints and names if they wanted.

We spent a week and a half playing with the kids, meeting some of the women in the community and painting, painting, painting. In the afternoons, since it was so hot, we decided to leave El Callejon and find other things to do. We spent time talking with Fransisco, doing art in the park and we also created some collage art to adorn the new dorm rooms at the base!
I had a wonderful and inspiring time with Joanna and Bethany and will miss their enthusiasm, patience and artistic talent!

Stay tuned for more to come!!

April Showers

Hard to believe it's April already! Francisco and I have had a fruitful last few months at the ol' art site and there is much to report. January was a sort of 'resettling in' after our much needed three-week vacation. It was a time to reconnect with our local students and to re-envision our goals for the school. February brought in some alumni of ours and at just the right time, too! Students International leadership approached me to ask if some of our students might be interested in painting a bunch of 'cuadros' (paintings) to sell at the base. I jumped on the opportunity and quickly ordered all of the canvases and paint. The next day one of our best past students lost his job and came by to visit us. I asked him if he'd want to participate and for the next 5 weeks he came and painted everyday, sometimes up to 7 hours a day. In the beginning, Luis Miguel, who just turned 16, would have to walk from home which took him over an hour. After selling a few paintings he was able to buy himself a bicycle to get around. Providing this opportunity for Luis Miguel to earn money while using his God-given talent is what the art site is all about.

March initiated the beginning of 'teams season'. Our first team this year was from faithful Jupiter Christian School in West Palm Beach, Florida. Jupiter has been coming to the DR for years and it was my first time working with them. I had four teens at my site and they were great! We worked together painting murals at SI's new special ed site in the physical therapy room, played and did art projects with the neighborhood kids in El Callejon, did art in the park and 'hung out' with some of the local shoeshine boys. We also started packing up the art school in preparation for our move inbetween teams. What??? Yes, it's true, after much prayer, God lead us to a location that is more accessible, cleaner, brighter and much more affordable. Team Jupiter helped me to get it clean and ready for the move on their last day. Thanks for all your help guys!

We moved the weekend after they left and then Monday morning I had the next team help me get it all set up. Team two came all the way from San Luis Obispo, California (my hometown!) and I had a mix of college and high school students. This team took on the challenge of designing and painting two signs for our Centro Especial Genesis location. We also went into El Callejon to paint kids' faces and to do art in the park. This team brought a lot of much needed humor and unity. You are missed FPC!!

Since then, I am happy to report that Francisco has caught an inspirational wind again and has been painting like crazy!! Working alongside Fran is contagious and so I've started painting, too. It is such a privilege for us to be using the talents that God has given us as a ministry and to share God's passion for the arts with those who come through our doors.

Thanks to all who have come down and to all who support us from afar.

We are blessed!


Fran's new office

Our front room

Our kitchen and 'dining'area

Our main drawing room