funny story

I promised my friend Anna that I would tell everyone I know this story, so I am fulfilling that promise now. So one night, while the electricity was out (it's a pretty common occurance), Anna goes to use the restroom. She can't see anything, so she finds her way to the toilet, drops trow (that's some odd Northerner slang for pulling down your pants), and sits down. As soon as she sits, something attaches to her backside. As you might expect, she screams bloody murder and everyone runs to see what is happening. She managed to get the creature off after a small struggle, and upon having a flashlight handed to her, discovers that a the mystery butt-attacker was a frog. These are not normal US of A frogs, they are crazy, climb all over the walls and ceilings like spiderman, frogs. They have supersuccion feet that allow them to cling onto almost any surface, including, unfortunately for Anna, human skin. The frog was apparantly taking a dip in the toilet and got scared when the hole was closed up, so it latched on.

Anyway, it's a good story so I wanted to share it. I'm sure it will happen to me someday soon.

My address

A few people have asked for my mailing address, so here it is:

Mail and boxes sent via the US Postal Service:

Jonathan Coleman
P.O. Box 24770 - #PMB KAIDR
West Palm Beach, FL 33416

Cargo via UPS or other Truck lines:

Jonathan Coleman
2211 2nd Ave N.
Suite 11 - KAIDR
Lake Worth, Fl 33461

a small morsel of literary perfection

It's been a few weeks since an update, I apologize. I spent the last weekend at the beach with a short term work team. These teams come in every week or two to help with our building projects and usually spend their last weekend at the beach. Since it was my birthday, I graciously volunteered myself to go along and help escort them. I know, I truly am a selfless person.

I have learned a few things over the last couple of weeks.
1. It's hard to control a class full 5-year-old dominican kids. I started teaching a few PE classes at one of our schools and the little one's are pretty difficult to keep in line with my limited spanish abilities. They run around the playground, jump on me and each other, chase butterflies, and generally ignore everything that I say, but we have fun anyway.

2. The christian life is more than singing hymms and praise songs in church, reading the Bible every day, and appearing friendly and very christianlike. I havn't discovered exactly what this life is about, but I know it's more than that, it's more than appearing as christians are suppose to appear. Christ gives us two commandments, love God and love others, what exactly does that look like? To truly love God and to truly love others, is that really even possible? How do we reach that point where God and others are really (and I mean really) more important than ourselves? That's my reflective thought for the day, like I said, I don't have answers, it's just what's been on my mind.

3. Spanish--not the whole language, but I have learned some spanish.

4. Don't spend too much time hatless in the sun with a short haircut, sunburned scalp isn't especially pleasant.

I feel like I've offered a well-rounded update, some stories, some rambling that probably makes no sense, some things I've learned, and a short boast about being at the beach while most people reading this are freezing their way through the brunt of winter. I have truly offered a work of literary genius.

until next time...

bad things

Two bad things happened to me this week.

First, I was at the airport getting the mail shipment for our group here. In order to take the mail, we have to open every box so that a customs official can check inside to make sure there's nothing illegal. So I was opening the boxes with a little pocket knife and I cut my thumb. It hurt and I was mad at myself, but I found a tissue to hold on the wound so blood wouldn't drip everywhere, and fought through the pain, opening the boxes with my other hand. I was making good progress (there are alot of boxes to open), but I got a little careless with my other hand and managed to cut my other thumb, worse than I cut the first. So there I was, by myself, needing to open a bunch of boxes, then carry them to the car, and I had to thumbs that were throbbing and bleeding profusely. I was not a happy man, my missionary spirit was hidden deep down inside me and grumpy Jon had come to the surface. I did, however, manage to get all the boxes opened and into the car while keeping tissue pressed against both thumbs to stop the blood. Finally I was able to drive to a gas station a few miles away and buy some bandaides so that I could drive home with full use of my hands.

Bad thing #2---I was getting ready to leave one morning and saw the biggest spider in history, I'm pretty sure it was a tarantula, and I'm not exaggerating. It was HUGE. It ran across my floor and hid where I couldn't get it. I was too scared to try to find it so I just left. A thorough search that night before bed didn't turn anything up, so I have to live knowing that in my room, somewhere, is this gargantuan spider. It could be on me at any moment and there's nothing I can do about it. My sleep has been restless to say the least.

That's my feel bad for Jonathan update for the week, I hope you gained some pleasure at my expense.

My last email update-many of you got the email, but I wanted it on here for those that didn't

Hello to all,
It's been a month or so since my last email update, and things have been pretty busy. I could give you all the details of my life in the past month, but instead I'd like to talk about my experiences from this past weekend.

I spent several days working at one of our ministry sites located in a different area of the country. This area, along the north coast of the country is a hotbed for tourism. Beautiful beaches, expensive resorts, and pristine golf courses are commonplace. However, within a few miles of these areas exists communities of people struggling to survive. These are the sugarcane workers--immigrants smuggled over the border from Haiti, brought in to do the dirty work that even poverty stricken Dominicans won't take part in.

They live in shantytowns and suffer through what is essentially indentured servitude under the billion dollar sugar industry. For Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic, there is little hope for a better life. Their kids, even those born in the DR, are refused birth certificates, consequently disabling them from attending public schools because papers are required for all students. They are charged rent to live in the most deplorable conditions imaginable by the companies that bring them over to work, promising good wages, then not paid enough even to eat. Add to this the fact that voodoo is still a prominent religion and expensive witch doctors are sought after to cure any medical problems. This is truly a scenario of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. It's a cycle of poverty and darkness that has little light at the end of the tunnel.

Kids Alive has partnered with another ministry in this area to offer hope where there is none. The other ministry, Dominican Crossroads, has built a village where families can have at least a roof, concrete floor, electricity, and access to water. They also provide free medical care and often provide food for the people in the village. Kids Alive has come along and agreed to run a school/care center built for those in the village as well as those living in the surrounding area. The idea of the care center is as a supplement to the public school system. It provides extra schooling, a meal every day, and Christian education. Also, the public school has agreed that Haitian students that previously were not allowed to go to school will be permitted to attend as long as they are receiving extra tutoring in our school.

This is where I come in. I am in charge of getting sponsors for the 110 students in the school. As of now maybe 10-15% of the students are sponsored, so there is a huge need that I am hoping to fill soon. The motivation in finding sponsors quickly comes from the fact that while we have 110 students now, there are 450 children in the village built by Crossroads and many more in the surrounding community, most of which will have no chance for schooling, or at least one full meal every day, unless we can accept them. We cannot expand our program until we can adequately support the existing operation. Thus...we need sponsors for these children.

I was given a window into a different world this weekend, and I am passionate about meeting the physical and spiritual needs of these children, as well as the responsibility that is on us, as citizens of the first world, to take action and do something about it. You will hear more from me in the future as this project starts to take flight, but I hope that I was able to shed some light on this world of suffering and get some heads spinning as to the magnitude of this situation.

Please email me if you have any questions or would like more information. If you click on the link to my blog, you will see some pictures taken from the village.

Blog: http://dominicanjon.blogspot.com/

Prayer requests:
-For continued persistence and advancement in my language studies
-For the children I work with every day, that they will see Christ in me
-For the project of getting sponsors for this program so that more children can be added
-For the continuing adjustment process of living in a new country very different from my own

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers