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Tales from a Last-Minute Chaperone: Venturing into the Dominican Republic

Laurie Wilke responded to a last-minute call from Bellevue Presbyterian Church for a volunteer to help supervise their large group of female students headed to the Dominican Republic on a short-term Venture trip. Here is her unexpected adventure in her own words:

I knew that the students (as well as us leaders) would be positively impacted, but the “how” was awesome to participate in/watch as it unfolded.

by Laurie Wilke

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Getting Stuck on a Roller Coaster During a Power Outage in Malawi: A Father-Daughter Story

What do you have in common with Brandon Albers, Seattle tech mogul? You both care deeply about children in need!

 

Brandon made the 2017 Puget Sound 40 Under 40 list for his work at L4 Digital. Maybe you even caught his interview with the Puget Sound Business Journal about his family and their love of serving others.

by Meredith Sutton, COTN staff writer

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Bringing Dreams Back to the Dominican Republic—12 Trips with Ryan Church

“Anytime you are interacting with any level of abject poverty—poverty is really when you are robbed of your ability to dream,” says Ryan Church, former Senior Director of University Ministries at University Presbyterian Church (UPC) in Seattle and current interim Director of Outreach.

Ryan recently went on his 12th trip to the Dominican Republic with COTN. And he noticed a lot of differences between this Venture trip and his first visit.

 

by Bethany F. Bregan, COTN Staff Writer

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Changing the Way We See Poverty—in Africa and at Home

After playing hard, young Monica fell asleep in Steffanie Heringer’s lap. COTN’s Uganda staff told Steffanie that Monica felt safe in her arms. This was the first time Steffanie met Monica, the girl she and her husband, Dan, had been sponsoring through Children of the Nations.

by Bethany F. Brengan, COTN-USA Staff Writer

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You Are the Church

On a recent trip to Malawi and Uganda this past March, I was bestowed the great honor of being a guest speaker at a three-day conference that led up to the grand opening of a new COTN¬Uganda church plant and school chapel.

by Jeff Lander, COTN-International Spiritual Care Director

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Nineteen-Year-Old Mother Gets a New Home and a New Start

Nineteen-year-old Rosibel didn’t get to start her family on her terms. There are few examples of happy, functioning families in the Dominican slum she lives in.

by Cassia Burke, COTN-USA Staff Writer; and Reymon Ane Lebron, COTN-Dominican Republic Communications Coordinator

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Six Ways to Prepare for Your Venture Trip

So you’ve signed up for a Venture trip this year. Obviously you have a lot of physical preparation to do—fundraising, shopping, collecting resources, and packing. But beneath the physical preparation, you have a much more important job to do mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. 
 

by Cassia Burke, COTN-USA Staff Writer

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Is it Safe? Your Five Biggest Questions About Your Mission Trip

So you’re going on a Venture Trip—that’s exciting! As you begin preparing for your trip to Africa or the Caribbean it’s only natural to have some questions and concerns about the country you will be working in. 

by Heather Ostalkiewicz, COTN–USA Staff Writer

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Update: Haiti Five Years after the Earthquake

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. The disaster killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 1 million, and wreaked havoc on Haiti’s infrastructure and economy. 

by Heather Ostalkiewicz, COTN–USA Staff Writer

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Sponsors Keep Steven's College Dreams Alive

We spent Friday in the village of Mgwayi, for what COTN dubs “cultural immersion day.” Our team split into pairs, and each pair was matched with a family. We spent the morning with a little girl named Aida and her mother, plus a rotating cast of cousins and neighbors who made their way in and out of our circle that morning. Our mission that day was to simply spend time with this family, learning a bit about the rhythms of their life.

by Lindsey Cornett, COTN Partner

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