wow its been awhile

I am so sorry i haven't been in touch better the last couple months, but it has been busy.

In order to give ya guys a better idea of what i do down here, i created a quick flick that you can view if you go here.

School of music - Has been growing and I'm currently paying one and sometimes two student teachers to help with the lessons. There is a section about our school of music coming out in a New Missions newsletter soon. I'll definitely keep you posted on that.

Christian Surfers - we're currently working on our official affiliation with Christian Surfers International. Cal Fisher of CSI just visited us and slowly, but surely we're forming a network around the whole country of Christian Surfers. We're currently seeing anywhere from 10-30 surfers meet weekly for a bible study. We had a BBQ last week and had over 50 in attendance. There is a lot of excitement amongst us to grow our ministry here as well.

Upcoming travel plans - I will be in Cleveland, OH for Jesse and Ashley's wedding from May 17 - 24. I will remain in the DR for most of the summer as growth and other people's travel plans are increasingly making my presence here a necessity. I hope to return to California in August.

Walking on Water movie premiere

On Thursday, February 11th our community of Christian Surfers held a movie premiere at Colegio Nueva Vida in Sosua, Dominican Republic. The movie premiered was Walking on Water which is a newly released christian surf flick. My friend Michele Raymundo came down from Christian Surfers Encinitas to assist us with the event. We created flyers, handouts, and provided transportation to and from the event from three different communities. The event was sponsored by five different local surf/kite surf schools and apparel companies. The event showcased all 5 sponsors, surf photography by a local artist, two local surfboard shapers, and a local rock band. Food was provided at the event for a low cost and the movie was shown through a HD projector and killer sound system. A local christian surfer within our community named Jesus was able to share the good news of Christ after the movie.

All in all, over 100 individuals from the local surf community were able to make it out to the event. However, the triumph in which we are more grateful is that one local surfer gave his heart to Christ. His name is Gabbie and when Jesus invited people to accept Christ, Gabbie came running forward. Gabbie is a surfer we have been loving on intentionally in the past 6 months or so. Gabbie came to a place in life where he was ready to just throw all his pain and loneliness to the ground. He came to the movie premiere all dressed up with the goal of accepting Christ as his Savior that evening. I was almost in tears at the beauty of the moment. In front of all his peers and the surf community he accepted Christ and is currently becoming involved in the local church.

The success of this event has lead to showing the movie in two local schools and plans are being made to premiere the flick on the east coast of the island as well in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. God is doing great things in the surf community here and our group of christian surfers is becoming more and more internationally renown through different organizations and visiting surfers.

As Many of you have already heard, the Earthquake in Haiti has effected New Missions in Haiti as well. Here is a link to Help.

Here is a letter from our site in Haiti -

We had communication from our team in Haiti this morning, and everyone is doing well.

Currently, we are working on two evacuation plans. The first plan is through the government and consists of using either a boat or helicopters for the evacuation. The second plan would be a private evacuation using our resources from the Dominican Republic.

Despite this tragedy, the team is fulfilling the mission that God has called them to. We believe God has each and every one of them there for a purpose.

We have major damage to buildings in Haiti. The destruction is beyond repair. Numerous buildings will need to be torn down and re-built. Temporary structures will need to be erected in the meantime. We are still reviewing the overall damage to our 22 elementary schools and High School.

Here is the latest update on deaths:
* a kindergarten teacher died
* three of our school children died, one from Birey and two from Amber Pere
* numerous people died in Leogane when buildings collapsed

Here is the latest update on building damage:
* two elementary school buildings were damaged beyond repair
* our medical clinic building is damaged beyond repair
* our Bordmer office is damaged beyond repair
* two churches are damaged beyond repair
* we have Haitian men traveling to each location reviewing damage
and we will have another updated list of building damage.
Please donate to our Earthquake Reconstruction Fund.

We will need to re-build. As of now, our top priority is hiring nurses for each of our 22 elementary school locations and High School to provide medical care in the aftermath of this historic earthquake. As there will be an increased need for medical care, we will be right in their area available to meet the need.
Please donate to our Medical Clinic ministry to make this possible.

The amazing sound in the middle of all the tragedy came from villagers singing songs of praise along the road Tuesday night. The power of the Gospel prevails.

Today, we distributed food to two villages and all our schools already have food on hand to cook and prepare as children return to school very soon. Immediately, we will purchase more rice and bulgur (wheat) to meet the needs in the surrounding villages.
Please donate to Rice for Haiti to help in this effort.

The mission team is safe here at New Missions. We have adequate supplies to care for our team members. Concentrated efforts from Central Florida are being organized to help provide transportation for the team here to leave as soon as possible. We thank God for His protection.

Please continue to remember our New Missions team and the entire country of Haiti in your prayers.

Visiting the family before heading back south

There were snow flurries in Sarasota, Florida this weekend!! I was so not a fan. I had a layover in Kansas City, MO on the way back home and there was snow everywhere. The wind was super strong as well so it was blowing the snow all over the place. There was a moment when I was getting off the plane where I thought someone had shot me in the face it was so cold! I have so much respect for those of you who live up there. For realz.
Anyways, it’s been great visiting the family despite the weather so far. It’s a huge blessing having a loving and supporting family and it’s been great to relax and hang with them this week. I’m currently working on updating the website to include a supporters page and more organized photos page so please stay tuned in the next week or so for these updates to take place!

Surf trip/ Camp Able DR Meetings

Two meetings coming up if you’re interested in joining us on either of the two trips we have planned:

Surf trip: Wedn. Dec 9th at Panera Bread in Carlsbad California. 7:30 PM. The address is 1935 Calle Barcelona, Carlsbad, CA 92009. If you can’t go, but still want to make the trip with us please contact me ASAP. Facebook site for more info here

Camp Able DR trip: Wedn. Dec 16th at Jenelle Nettles’ house in Tierrasanta. 7 PM. Contact me for an address. Even if you’re unable to go with us it would be rad to get everyone together. Facebook site for more info here

Back in SD!

I’m back in San Diego!! I’ll be organizing and preparing for the surf trip and the camp able trip while I’m here and raising funds. If you still want to get involved in either trips please contact me soon! Feel free to join 25 for 20 if your not interested in attending the trips, but would like to donate to the ministries financially. I’ll also be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas here before I go back Jan. 7th to visit the family in Sarasota, FL and then back to the DR. Woot Woot.

Movie Night

Last night was the first big event we had for the surf ministry down here in the Dominican Republic. There is a group of us that meet every Sunday morning on the beach for a bible study and this was the first big event that we hosted for our community of surfers.

All in all we had over 30 individuals come to the house of Chuck and Mia Gallo to watch “Beyond the Dream, The Joey Buran story.” The movie is about a local California surfer and his testimony of how he accomplished his dreams in the surfing world and was eventually led to be a strong believer in the Faith. It was a great testimony to all the surfers that were there and it was rad watching all the waves. We were able to serve pizza thanks to New Missions and were able to share the amazing story of Jesus with a community of kids that don’t experience love on a daily basis. It was truly a rad night.