Buehlers on Mission

The roosters are still crowing, the Tropical Storms storming (our kids love the “natural” showers), and the Buehlers are back in Jarabacoa. The four of us have all safely arrived and are settled back in the Dominican Republic, ready to start another year serving the Lord.

Over the summer, we were blessed to spend some quality time in the United States. Our primary ministry, Doulos Discovery School, intentionally provides a summer break for its staff in order to mentally recharge and be ready to pour out and into the students for the next school year. This break provides enough time for North American staff to head to their sending communities to spend time reconnecting with their family, friends, and support team, which is exactly what we did.

It was so encouraging and affirming to be able to share about the Lord’s work in the D.R. with our loved ones and our home church (Creekside Community Church), as well as with Melissa’s parents’ church (Freedom House Dayton). We are so grateful for the outpouring of love and support we received from so many of you, THANK YOU!! Additionally, our weeks stateside provided a platform for us to process the shock of moving to a new culture and the weight of the great need, both physically and spiritually, that is ever present on the island. Having time to process was a need that we did not even recognize until we arrived back in the states, so the time we had stateside was an incredible blessing.

All four of us had the mixed emotions of sadness when saying good-bye combined with great joy and excitement for the upcoming year here. During our first month back in Jarabacoa, we have loved reconnecting with our Dominican neighbors and friends, along with fellow missionaries, through meals and get togethers. We’ve also plugged back into our local church, had the joy of attending a baptismal service for a Dominican friend, and resumed life in our Jarabacoan community.

With school being in-person this year, our Spanish much stronger than it was 13 months ago (don’t worry, we still have a loooooong way), and a strong, foundational community, we are extremely excited for what God has in store for us this next year. Now that we are fully settled, both Melissa and I feel a burning fire for God’s work here and an even deeper passion within our hearts that is richer and more focused than before. We are frequently asking God, “Dame tus ojos…Dame tus manos…Dejame reflejar tu gloria!” Give me Your eyes. Give me your hands. Let me reflect Your glory!

Our Upcoming Time

Michael will be splitting his time between his role as Middle School English (See M.S. team below) and Academic Vice Principal. The dual roles will be a lot to undertake, but Michael’s efforts will aid in many areas across the Doulos campus and allow for greater immersion of the gospel throughout all subject matters. Ava will be in 5th grade and Brennan will be in 8th grade. Both children are excited for in-person learning, Outdoor Education, and spending time with their classmates instead of being with them over a zoom call. All students are starting the year on-campus, five days a week, which we are all truly grateful for.

Melissa was amazing last year, juggling at-home learning with relationship building and evangelism. With the kids being on campus, she looks forward to having more capacity to connect with local Jarabacoans in the marketplace, deepen the relationships she has formed with people here, and follow the discernment of the Lord for other opportunities to serve.

All of the good works that have been done have come completely due to the goodness of God, our Father. It has been so evident to us the blessings that He has provided throughout this entire journey. One of those ways is through the generosity of our support team. All of your prayers, care packages, words of encouragement, financial contributions, and kind notes have meant so much to the four of us. We love all of you and are constantly blessed by your faithfulness to the Lord and the ministry you make possible here in the DR.

This last weekend, Brennan, Ava, and Mike went to the North Coast of the D.R. to partner with some fellow missionaries while Melissa was out of town for a women’s missionary conference. We drove to Sosua to work with our dear friends, Nate and Rachael from love restored, as well make some new friends, Tim and Holly Garland from Raiz Ministry and a team of other local missionaries from GoMAD. Tim and Holly have been working in the Haitian village of Loma Bajita (about 10 minutes outside of Sosua), where they have been engaged in humanitarian work. Their end goal is to always share the love of Christ through relationship and to share the freedom and joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During their time in the village and through their communication with the village leadership, they had discovered that almost every household in Loma Bajita was dealing with a Scabies outbreak. In order for them to effectively treat a village-wide outbreak, all 300 homes and 1,500 individuals must be treated at the same time, which is quite the undertaking.

The kids and I joined the crew on Sunday and were able to walk through the village and meet some of the residents, attend an organizational meeting regarding the distribution of the sanitary kits and the education plan (in order to prevent another Scabies outbreak in the future), shoot some hoops with the kids, and assist that night with the preparation of the Scabies kits by loading up medicine, personal cleaning supplies, and household detergents.

Monday afternoon, we split into four teams combined of American Missionaries and local residents. (My Creole is a little rusty (aka nonexistent), so I would have been no help communicating.) We were able to deliver kits to all the houses in the village that we had access to. The people in the village were extremely appreciative of our efforts and our willingness to assist. The team delivered the remaining kits this morning so the entire village could treat themselves and their homes all on the same day for maximum effectiveness of the treatment. Additional cleaning detergent and other materials were also left behind in the effort to purge Scabies once and for all.

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The three of us felt blessed to have this opportunity to serve in a way that is atypical of our usual weekly routine. While we have been able to serve impoverished people during our first nine months, this was the largest block of time, and the most direct contact that the Brennan and Ava have had serving. Both of them were just beaming afterwards and were so excited to be able to be some of the Lord’s hands and feet. The two of them received many compliments from the local missionaries for their positive attitudes and willingness to engage and serve. The three hour ride home was filled with various stories of the last two days, thoughts about how God would use the two of them in the future, and the multiple ways that we felt that God had, and would continue to bless the community of Loma Bajita.

Today was Ava’s first full day on campus with all of her classmates. On Monday, February 22nd, Doulos received notice from the Ministry of Education that our school would be allowed to open our doors to students once we were ready to implement all of the necessary protocols. It was a mad scramble, but we opened our doors to all 1st-5th grade students this morning!

The Dominican Republic has been one of the few countries that has not returned to in-person school since last March due to COVID. As of this week, however, Doulos Discovery School is now one of the handful of schools on the island that is part of a pilot re-opening program. All public schools in the D.R. continue to receive their instruction over television and radio.

Ava was so excited to be in live class with her teacher, see her classmates, and walk to school with Dad. (It doesn’t help that there is ice cream across the street and she knows that I am a sucker for both her and sweets.) Her highlights were English class, where she is making a lap book about floods, P.E. and math. She stated that wearing a mask all day was not as bad as she thought it would be and that she can’t wait to go back again.

Brennan will head to campus on the 12th of March, as Doulos did not want to start all students from prek-12 on the same day. While he continues to do well with his online studies, he is looking forward to being on campus as well.

We have eagerly been anticipating this day since we arrived in July and are so thankful to God for helping us to persevere to this point!

Tomorrow is a day of celebration in the Dominican Republic as February 27th is their day of independence. Dominican flags are flying in abundance all around town and fireworks are already starting to be shot off, even at noon the day before.

Doulos Discovery School has five key values: Christian Discipleship, Expeditionary Learning, College Prep, Mixed Student Body, and Dominican School. One of the ways that they embrace being a Dominican school is through their celebration of Independence Day. Usually, each grade does a presentation at a large event that draws in many members of the community. Due to Covid restrictions, the program was done virtually this year. The program highlighted many aspects of Dominican culture and history with kids from pre-kindergarten to high school.

You can see the video that was created here. Brennan’s class starts at the 1:02:48 and ends at 1:10:00. His part (with a special guest actor) is at 1:05:34. It was neat to be able to showcase one of the ways the school came together to embrace its Dominican culture through modern adaptation that was required due to the pandemic. ¡Feliz Día de la Independencia!

Moving to the Dominican Republic amidst a pandemic has obviously brought many challenges: strict daily curfew, masks, quarantine, and many other factors that limit the freedoms that we have taken for granted. And while we know that they have aided in the safety of the people in the DR, it has made for some tough times. One of the issues that I have had to wrestle with is a major reduction of social interaction for my kids. Both Brennan and Ava are such outgoing individuals who thrive in social settings. While we knew there would be challenges for our kids in the area of friends when we committed to serving the Lord abroad, we had no idea that it would mean online school, minimal trips from the house and weeks of isolation from various quarantines.

Through it all though, they have been so perseverant and have really focused on the positive. The two of them are doing so well and are embracing the adventure of life in the DR. We check in often and they highlight the fun experiences we have had, the silly moments from their peers in their zoom meetings, and the appreciation of the new friendships they have begun to form in the five months we have been here.

They have even begun to build friendships with a couple local boys. Dominicans are very social and usually are open to embrace their neighbors. With COVID, however, that has been the opposite. Our first month we were here was the highest spike in cases for the country, so there were no kids running around the neighborhood and very little interaction with our neighbors. Slowly though, those walls have broken down and we have gotten to know our neighbors more and more, and have had our front street transform to the after school sports-complex. Recently, they had a two-on-two soccer game going on with lots of sweat, giggles and enjoyment.

No matter what the trials are, God is proving that He is faithful to break down all walls and barriers. Nothing is too small to be used in His favor, even a dirt road and a soccer ball.

Recently, we have been attending a Spanish speaking church located on the Students International (SI) campus. In a typical year, dozens of service teams come from North America to serve children in the DR alongside SI. Each team paints a block as a remembrance of their service time.

During the worship service last week, Brennan leaned over and said, “Look Dad, it’s Oregon!” And sure enough, there was the following brick.

The saying, “God is everywhere, but sleeps in Jarabacoa,” is a common phrase heard amongst the residents of Jarabacoa and is a testament to the beautiful surroundings of our town and that fact that it feels so close to heaven being high in the mountains. To me, this block was the perfect reminder of the conflict of a split heart.

Early in our missionary training, and many times since, we have heard that once you enter the mission field, you will always have your heart in two places. Our love for Oregon has never changed, even as our love for the DR has increased.

All four of us have had our turns of missing Oregon and the friends, family, and familiarity that comes from life in the PNW. It can be the thought of a Roth’s Apple Cider doughnut, missing Nana and Papa’s annual pumpkin patch, a worship song we sang with our Creekside church family, funny inside jokes with my YC students, Mimi’s rolls, or countless other random memories that send a sudden pang straight to the heart.

Through all of this, God has been teaching us how we can live in the space of completely conflicting emotions and still be at peace. We can be joyful in the work that God has called us to here and yet be sorrowful at times for what we are missing out on in Oregon. We can be excited for the new doors that are opening yet totally exhausted from all the cultural stresses. We are free to rest in His grace and come as we are, split heart and all. It is here, in that posture, that we find His true, sustaining rest, regardless of our geography.

On Friday, we found out that Ava was selected as the 4th grader that best demonstrated the character trait of the month: courageous. Doulos focuses on six codes of character throughout the year as part of the work to truly develop disciples of Christ. For the trait of courageous, Doulos emphasizes, “We risk doing what is right and good when faced with challenges big or small. (The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1)”

Ms. Johnson, Ava’s 4th grade teacher specifically stated, “Ava has been so courageous in live class by speaking and sharing out in front of the class. Being new to Doulos this year, she has done such a good job by participating and reaching out to the other students online.”

Ava received her award at our monthly school-wide celebration, Revolution. We are so proud of the courageous actions that Ava has engaged in and the witness she is to her classmates. She has truly embodied great courage throughout our entire transition and we pray that she will use this same courageous spirit to pursue Christ throughout her life.

Yesterday was a cast away of the best kind. After four weeks of being side-lined with a broken arm, Brennan got to throw his full cast AWAY. What a happy day for all of us!

The timing of his injury has been a source of discouragement for him this past month, as he has been unable to get it wet or fully participate in our new island life. His heart was already struggling with leaving friends and family; this injury really seemed to be the tipping point of plummeting his spirit on many days.

The good news, however, is that we are two-thirds of the way there. He will wear a shorter splint for another 13 days and then have total freedom to be a crazy boy once again! We even found some rainbow chip frosting for our cast away celebration cake. Score!