The Rose of Sharon Education Center

The first plot of land in 2011

The school under construction

About a week after I arrived in the Dominican Republic (Aug. 2011), I was invited to go see a piece of land. A pastor had a school and had to change locations. He was talking to Mitch Martinez (view his blog here) about the idea of building a school on the small piece of land so that his students could continue their education. At that time I didn't understand Spanish very well and I didn't understand the need for a Haitian school in La Vega. The good thing is that Mitch understood the need and agreed to help the pastor. A missions team came at the end of August and we started the construction. After just a few weeks and a few donations, a school was built, and the students started the year.


The finished school in 2011

The first school year went well, and while I was home over the summer I received a phone call about trying to find sponsors for the students. Many of the families could not afford the $9/month tuition and the uniforms. God continued to provide and each child's tuition was paid, including the teacher! Since support for 26 of the students and the teacher was going through Transition Ministry, I became much more involved in the school. We planned a wonderful Christmas party for the students in December that was paid for by supporters (read my blog about the event titled "A True Blessing").


God continued to do wonderful things at this school. A missionary came and gave water filters to the 26 families and the school. My parents came down and my dad held a dental clinic for all of the students. Two Dominican dentists joined and we were able to see all of the students at the school. The students that had urgent needs were then able to go to the dentist's office for further work. I took my afternoon English class from LVCS on a missions trip to the school. My 6th-8th graders shared a devotion, a dance, and gave food to each student. It really opened the eyes of some of my students about the lives of other children in our same town. We have also had many other missions teams from the U.S. visit this school.



The new land that we just purchased

However, we knew that we didn't want to just stop with what we had. We had the desire to one day buy the land around the school and build a nicer and bigger structure. There were problems with the owner of the other property, and we had to look for other options. That is when the pastor found this plot of land. We talked to the owner on a Monday and decided to buy the property that Friday. We were trusting in God to provide the finances since we only had $15,000 of the $28,000 that we needed. On Tuesday there was nothing, but God started to answer our prayers and the prayers of many. We received a check on Wednesday from a generous donor for $2,000. That left us $11,000 to go with just two days before we were planning to close on the land. The time to meet with the lawyer was 5pm on Friday. After hearing nothing all day Thursday, exactly $11,000 showed up at 4pm, Friday. God answered our prayers just one hour before the deadline!! We were blown away by the response and how God worked for us to buy this land.

Now begins the next stage of this journey. An architect has drawn up the plans for a wonderful structure which will be named, The Rose of Sharon Education Center. It will be made of concrete block and able to have two stories. We will begin with a fence around the property and the first level which will have four classrooms, school offices, a large eating area, and a room for a person to sleep and watch the property. The lunch area will be large enough to hold church services and chapels. The plan is to have the Haitian school, a Dominican after school homework session, and a church using the facility. If the school or church begins to grow, the second story will be added for more classrooms or a large sanctuary. The price for this building is estimated at $48,000. There is the goal of having short-term missions teams to come down and do some of the construction. This will help keep the costs lower. I believe that God wants this building built and a lot sooner than we think. Two donations totaling $15,000 have already come without us even making an appeal!! When I received those phone calls I began to yell and shout praises to God. There are not even words to express how grateful I am for the generosity of people in the U.S. There is no way that we would be able to accomplish these goals without faithful supporters who are answering God's call to help. There is still much help that is needed, but we know God has a great plan. Please keep this project in your thoughts and prayers. God is SO good and we are trusting in him to provide. We know He will because these Haitian and Dominican children are His beloved children.


Here is a short youtube video that I filmed at the new property. Thank you to the people that donated to make this happen!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFBeI_5NBYE

At the new land with Pastor Juan

Social Trends

I have grown up most of my life questioning things. I don't like to accept an answer because you say it is correct, but I want to analyze it and see if it is even logical. This has been a problem at times because I will defend a small point that doesn't matter. However, I think it is a good quality to have. I learned in school that there are four types of people: 1) The person that won't listen to new ideas and won't change his beliefs. 2) The person that listens to new ideas but won't change his beliefs. 3) The person that listens to new ideas and thinks critically before changing his beliefs. 4) The person that listens to new ideas and will change his beliefs without thinking.

I believe that the best one is #3. We are not always correct, and we don't know everything. It is so important to learn to listen to other people, but also not just accept it because they say so. There are so many rumors going around on the internet that people believe, and defend, without even knowing the facts. Many of them come out to be false! We need to learn to think critically. This has been a long introduction into the thing that I have been thinking about recently. I have been thinking critically about our culture, and why we do the things we do. What is it that excites the youth today?

If you look at twitter, Lebron James has 7.5 million followers, Justin Bieber has 35.5 million, and Ashton Kutcher has 13.8 million. That is a small example from secular sports, music, and movies (the first three names that came to my mind). If you look at famous Christian athletes, musicians, and pastors it is very different. Matt Redman has 171,000, Josh Hamilton has 217,424, Rick Warren has 908,000, and Doug Fields has 22,000. I understand that the whole world is looking at people like Justin Bieber and Ashton Kutcher, but only the Christians are following the pastors. That is why the numbers are lower, but it still makes me ask the question why? Why does the Gangnam style youtube video have over 1 billion views?? Why are there over 10,000 versions of the Harlem Shake?? This is all coming from a culture that wants to be unique and different. People get piercings, tattoos, clothes, and color their hair all different colors so that they are unique, but at the same time we are following trends like crazy!! We follow the fashion and the trending topics on the internet like there is no other option.

I have seen posts that criticize Christians for doing their own version of the harlem shake. I am not doing that, and that is not why I am writing this post. I don't want to sound like the critical Christian that thinks we should only focus on Jesus (no youtube, facebook, twitter, etc.) and have no part of this world, because that is not how I think. There is the scripture that says that we should not conform to the patterns of this world, and people take that to mean that Christians need to separate completely. I do not agree completely. I have a two facebook accounts, a blog, and two twitter accounts. That is the best way that I have to share about my ministry and what God is doing in this country. They allow me to show pictures, videos, and ask for prayer support. They can be used to do so much good! I even hashtag stuff!

My question and reason for writing this is; what can we do to make good things trend? Can the popular people and trending topics be Christian? Why do 300,000 people go to Carnival and 2,000 go to United for Him? It isn't just about the style of music or if your youth group has lights and smoke. It interests me that youth want to be unique, yet join every trend that comes along. We have a desire to be a part of something and to fit in. Can we make the church that place? Do we open up for the drunks and the drug addicts, or do we only hope for our Christian students to invite an unsaved friend? Are we going into the streets to minister, or just saying that we should? What are you doing? What are we as Christians doing? Am I crazy and out of my mind for thinking this way? Please comment respond. I would love to get your feedback. God bless!

United For Him 2013

It is incredible to think that this is my second year attending Unidos Por El. Last year didn't go as I expected. A speaker fell over on my leg as I was helping to set up the day before the event, and I was rushed to the hospital for the first time in my life. After an emergency surgery and more than 30 stitches, I spent most of the month on crutches or limping around. It was an incredible time, but also very difficult moving and enjoying the concert when I couldn't stand. I know that many of you were praying for me during that time, and it was very meaningful.

Romy Ram at United for Him

It is good that bad times pass and bodies heal. I have been incredibly blessed to spend my second year in the Dominican Republic and enjoy Unidor Por El with a healthy body!! We have had awesome artists come and perform, as well as great speakers that have challenged the youth. The place has been filling up every weekend with about 2,000 people for the 2nd and 3rd weekends. We are expecting a big crowd for the final weekend coming up.

This event is necessary because of the carnival celebrations that happen in La Vega during the month of February. Ever weekend, hundreds of thousands of people flood into the city for concerts, drinking, and parades. It is a very dangerous time, and a terrible influence for the youth in the city. I friend told me that they were talking to a student that goes to our school after the first weekend of carnival. The students was visiting one of the hospitals, and in a 15 minute window, they brought in multiple dead bodies, and too many injured people to count. There is a great spiritual battle in this city as the carnival festival is celebrating demons. We have provided this positive, Christian alternative to the carnival events.



Bobby performing at United for Him

It was exciting to have Transition Ministry partner with Unidor Por El to help raise support and have people watching the event from the United States. I also have had a great time as some of the performing artists have stayed at my house. Bobby is one of the artists that I have spent a lot of time with, and he is even in my first video shout out! The event is broad casted live at www.livestream.com/latinmedia each weekend. It begins at about 6:30 pm EST on Saturdays and 5:30 EST on Sundays. Tune in this weekend for the final two days!! Saturday is mostly worship and a speaker for the youth. Sunday is a mixture of rock, rap, and worship music. Check the Transition Ministry Website for more information on United For Him. Look at the Transition Ministry Facebook for pictures and the Transition Ministry Youtube for videos from the event. I have talked to many people that have been praying for this event during the last three weeks. Keep this last weekend in your prayers!! Thank you so much for the support for this event and my ministry. You are awesome!!

A Day in Miami

All my life I have tried to avoid layovers. Every time I go through Miami I have had at least a five hour layover and most times it is seven hours. It is a dread to sit in an airport that long and I couldn't imagine anything longer. This time I guess I waited a little too long to book my tickets. The only available trip back to the Dominican Republic after Christmas would be an overnight flight and a 12 hour layover in Miami. I was not looking forward to this, until I got a great bit of advice from my uncle. He told me to not stay in the airport but to look for tours and trips around the city. This turned out to be some great advice!

I was able to leave the Miami airport and travel around the city. I took a trip down South Beach and then headed downtown. My stops were the American Airlines Center, where the Miami Heat play, and the Miami Marlins new ballpark. They happened to be giving cheap tours of the brand new 500 million dollar stadium. I was able to go onto the field and through the club house. It was an incredible way to spend 8 hours in Miami.

Now that I will be booking more tickets to and from the Dominican Republic, I think that I will start looking for long layovers (I'm young and can function on little sleep). My next ticket will hopefully be booked through NY, and it will hopefully be a 24 hour layover. I came to realize that the most expensive part of a vacation is normally the plane ticket. If the ticket is already paid for on my trip home, then the short vacation in a new city is practically free!!

A True Blessing

All the girls ready to go into La Sirena.

Today started very normal like every other day before. I arrived at the school at 7:20am and prepared myself for classes. I soon began to find what looked like an easy day become very stressful. I only had one class today because of final tests, but I also have to complete all my grades before I leave on Wednesday. I found myself with my head stuck in a pile of papers, tests, notebooks, and my grade book for 5 straight hours (30 min lunch break in there). I finished my day 45 minutes early with my head hurting and my eyes burning. All of those numbers and the math on the report cards were not a good combination. All I wanted to do was go home and rest before continuing to work on grades and finals, but I had one more thing to do.

The group looking at all the flavors of ice cream.

Today was the Christmas party for the Haitian school that my ministry sponsors. There are 33 students in the school and 23 of them were ready for their party. Donations were given in order to buy each student a present and give them a treat. The plan was to take them to La Sirena (comparable to super Walmart) and get them some ice cream. Many of them have never been to La Sirena before. It is only a 15 minute drive to the other side of town. After La Sirena we were going to stop and buy each student a gift. Something so simple began to be so very special for me.

The students praying for their ice cream.

We arrived at the school to pick up the students and found them dressed in their best clothes. They were going on a field trip across town and were not going to look bad. Many of the girls were in the cutest little dresses. We arrived at La Sirena and gave the kids time to look around the store. The entire group of students stayed together as they walked around. When they were done in the toy section we moved to the deserts. They picked out a chocolate and strawberry ice cream (with no arguing) and sat down in the cafeteria. Debbie and I began to serve the ice cream for each student. We would put a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of chocolate in each cup. We also thought that some of the kids may not want two flavors so we made some cups with just one flavor. The teachers gave the cups back to us like we made a terrible mistake and forgot the other flavor! haha. I guess we do things a little different. It amazed me that as we served each student an ice cream not one student began to eat. They waited, without a single taste, until every student had received their ice cream and prayed. We talked, laughed, took pictures, and then loaded back up into the van.

One of the students with her presents.

The next stop was the toy store. Each student began to look around to see what they were going to get with their $200 pesos (US$5). One girl picked out a doll and a few other things only to realize that it was only $100 pesos!! She was so happy that she could keep looking. She returned 5 minutes later with about 5 more items that put her over the limit. haha. She was happy to return a few things a leave with exactly what she wanted. Many of the girls left with tea sets, cooking sets, dolls, sunglasses, and jump ropes. The guys chose video games, chess sets, basketballs, and yo-yos. They kids were so excited for the little things that we were able to provide. Their day was filled with joy from an ice cream trip and a small toy. It really showed me what true happiness is. What is it that brings joy and happiness to my life? It truly was a blessing to be with those students today. God bless them and God bless you all!

An Attitude of Thanksgiving

Do you ever stop and think about where God has taken you? Have you given Him something in your life and seen what He did with it? I am in amazement right now looking back over the last 4 months. These 4 months have been completely different than anything I could have imagined. I started Transition Ministry in July with a plan in mind, and God blew that plan away. He has taken it and gone further than I could have ever dreamed. I am sitting here right now in amazement and thankful for so many different things. God truly does something special when we put our lives, goals, and dreams in His hands.

We just got done celebrating Thanksgiving here in the Dominican Republic. This country does not celebrate Thanksgiving, but we get together with some of the American missionaries around the country to celebrate. This year we had about 20-25 people. We also have a special Thanksgiving chapel with the afternoon English students and a Thanksgiving dinner with the families of the teachers. I was asked to preach at the Chapel this year and it was a great privilege. Eating with the missionaries was an incredible time to share with others in ministry and give God the thanks for what he deserves. I thank God for every day that I have here in this country. I thank God for each one of you that supports me and my ministry. I would not be here if it wasn't for the support and prayers of each one of you. I cannot thank you all enough. It is truly a blessing and an honor.

However, Thanksgiving is not just a holiday or one day a year to give thanks to God. We should be living a daily lifestyle of thanksgiving. Scripture tells us to rejoice in the Lord and come before him in thanksgiving. It says to be thankful in all things and in all circumstances. Paul teaches to be thankful in the good and the bad. It is so easy to be thankful for what we have when things are good, but very hard when we are going through a difficult time. I try to teach my students that we can find something to be thankful for no matter what we are going through. Living with a lifestyle of thanksgiving allows us to see the positive in life and helps us to treat others with respect. Try waking up each morning with an attitude of thanksgiving and see how it changes your day. It won't only change your life, but it could change the lives of the people you come into contact with. God bless!!

Preparing For A New Year

About one year ago I sat down to write my first blog as a missionary. I only wanted to be a missionary for about four months. That quickly turned into one year, and now I am about to start my second year. One year ago today I could not have imagined that I would be in this place. I am now ready to leave after a very busy summer. I am so excited to be working in the place that God has called me. There is no better feeling.

I had two months in Colorado to plan for another year on the missions field. This summer I was able to preach at Fishers Peak Community Church in Trinidad, Colorado. That is the church that I attended for two years while at Trinidad State Junior College. While in Fort Collins, I attended Timberline Church and Mill City Church. It was so amazing to be involved in those places. I was ordained by The Missionary Church International, and started my own ministry; Transition Ministry. It was amazing to see how God provided in all of the work that I accomplished and to raise funds for the next yaer.

I am now packed and ready to return to the Dominican Republic. I will continue to teach at La Vega Christian School, work with youth, and have a baseball ministry. I am very excited to announce that I have been working to sponsor 50 Haitian students at a school that I helped build last August. We have 28 students sponsored so far and am looking to sponsor the rest. It is only $9/month to give a Haitian child an education. I am so excited to see what else God has planned in the next year and how He wants to use me in ministry. I just want to thank everyone that has supported me and prayed for me over the last year. That means so much to me.

If you want more information or want to receive updates while I am in the Dominican Republic, please look at my website www.transitionministry.com. I have a ministry facebook and twitter account which you can find on the website. Send an email to ryan.pauly@transitionministry.com if you want to receive newsletters and prayer requests. God bless you all!!

Ways that you can pray:
1) Safe travel tomorrow, August 9th.
2) Health as my body adapts to the food again.
3) That God would provide sponsors for the other 22 students.
4) That I would transition smoothly and be able to find good friends to spend time with.