We are all packed up and have finished breakfast. We are cleaning up our rooms and will be loading up and heading to the airport soon. Our flight departs the DR at 1:15pm. We are scheduled to land in Miami at 3:35. Then we leave to head home to San Francisco at 8:05pm and arrive 10:45 local time. Please pray for the flight schedules to be on time and for an easy trip through customs. We miss all of you and will see you soon.
Today, we went to a local church and spent the entire day working on a building that the church uses for their children's programs. We worked on putting a ceiling up, framing an interior wall and demolishing a section of a concrete block wall. We ended up having quite a bit of idle time during the work, due to not having all of the neccesary supplies for the project. Once we were missing items, the Dominicans we were working with would run out to get the neccesary item, which happened several different times throughout the day. We also had to make do with the tools we had available to perform the work. The block wall we ended up taking down with framing hammers. We ended up having paint rollers but no trays. Throughout the challenges, each of the team members kept a good attitude and worked hard, when there was work to do. The weather today was clear in the morning and a little more humid than yesterday. After lunch it rained hard several times. This actually helps to relieve the humidity some during the rain, but when it stops raining it is more humid. Many of us run outside when it begins to rain to cool off a bit. We are adjusting to the weather, but it does tire us out quicker than we would like. We all have a greater appreciation for air conditioning. We have also learned that cold showers are a blessing. Not much need for hot water here. At the end of the day we returned to the base to a nearly full swimming pool and enjoyed a refreshing swim in the pool. During our evening session we spent time in small groups praying for the 7 spheres of the Dominican Nation. The 7 spheres were: Business; Family; Media & Communications; Arts & Entertainment; Government & Law; Education and Church. We followed up the prayer time with worship. After worship we and the Ywam staff prayed over a young man by the name of Bobby who had come to the base a couple of days before us. He is 20 years old and will soon be starting his third year at Indiana. He left out earlier today to head home to Chicago. We are looking forward to a day off tomorrow to go explore the beach and some of the city here. After a long hot days work, this will be very refreshing.
Hello, this is Abigail, writing today's post. Today was an awesome day! We got to sleep in an entire hour later (8:30 whoop whoop!) and then we prepared to go to the beach. The beach is about a 10 minute walk from the base where we are staying. It was beautiful! Light colored sand and blue, clear, warm water (Total opposite to the beach in California). We all had a great time playing in the water and splashing around. John, our YWAM leader, warned us about swimming to the areas where the bottom was covered in seaweed in case there were sea urchins (Because they would sting). All was going fairly well, we had a chance to buy some souvenirs and then it was back in the water. I was with Josh and Matt in the water when I sorta tripped onto the seaweed. Oh my goodness! Instant pain shooting up my leg, and first with the shock of the hurting I wasn't sure what happened. I stood up out of the water and yelled out, "Is this what it feels like to be stung by a sea urchin?!" No one was quite sure. Within minutes it seemed to be inflamed or something because it was bright red and clearly, very swollen. After a painful walk up out of the water and onto the beach, I was able to lay down. I took some benyadryl and advil (Don't worry mom, I'm fine.) and slept for a bit while my Clairene rubbed my back and took good care of me (What else are bestfriends for?). John later said that he could tell I was a shopper because everytime a vendor walked by I would sit up and say, "What are they selling? Is it a good deal?". After resting a bit I felt much better and there was no more swelling and we all managed to walk to a restaurant for lunch where we got some AMAZING pizza and pasta. After another 10 minute walk back to the base we all got to rest for a while before eating super good tacos. We started a great game of Silent Football (Whaddup, Mark?) before a crazy/freaky/awesome/exciting discovery was made. A HUGE TARANTULA!! The YWAMers who were near by were shocked at its ginormous size! So, after taking what seemed like a million pictures it was time to "take care of it". Rod found a large board and killed it so that it wouldn't poison anyone/thing and, as one of the Spanish speaking girls living on base, described to her brother "He went KABOOM KABOOM on the tarantula". So, it's been an eventful day and I hope everything at home is going well. Te amo mas, Abigail.
Last night after dinner we headed down to Malacom to minister to the boys who were out on the street. We performed a skit for them and fed them a warm meal. While most of the boys were in their teens the youngest boy we met last night was 10 years old, which is the same age as our youngest son. It's very difficult to comprehend sending someone so young to look for work to be able to feed themselves.This morning after breakfast and devotionals we headed out to Pastor Esmeralda's Church. We led the children in a few songs and performed a skit, followed by a craft. We then took a short walk down to a small baseball field, where we played baseball and games with the children. After lunch and depleting our water supply we headed back to the base for a short time to refresh.In the afternoon we headed to Pastor Gabriel's Church. Pastor Gabriel is 22 years old and has been leading this church for about six months. As we were heading to the church the rain began again. For awhile we didn't think we were going to be able to have a service. We were told typically the families do not let their young children go out in the rain, do to the poor medical care and the risk of injuries. During a few breaks in the rain a small group of around eight children showed up at the church. We played with the children for a while hoping the rain would let up. We decided to go ahead and do our program with the small group. Prior to starting we prayed with our group and were ready to start when the rain let up. Pastor Gabriel challenged the kids to bring as many of their friends as they could within the next five minutes. Within the next few minutes we had a group of approximately 60 kids. We once again sang songs and peformed a skit. We had so many children we actually ran out of our paper plates for our craft, which we had written a bible verse on. We ended up handing out note book paper, which many of the kids wanted more than the plates. We finished up and headed back to base just in time for dinner.
Well we prayed for some help with the weather and it cooled some last night and has begun to rain today. we are feeling refreshed after a good nights sleep. As I write the kids are literally dancing in the rain. I am so proud of the way they are adapting and being flexible. During the night we lost power which meant the fans weren't working. This made for a really hot, humid night. When the power goes out, so does the water. This also presented a few challenges. By breakfast the water was working thanks to the help of a generator and the power was back after breakfast. During devotions this morning we talked about being luke warm Christians and losing our first love. Jaime, the YWAM worker who shared devotions, shared that in the south 100 years ago they didn't use the term "born again". They said "I have been captured by His great affection". I loved that. We have been focusing on how our service needs to stem from our love for God and because He loves us. I thought that saying went right along with this. This afternoon we are gong to Le Tanque, the Haitian community. We have spent the morning preparing songs, skits and crafts. Should be fun to hang out with the kids in this community. Since the employment rates in Haiti are around 40% many Haitians come to the DR for work much like the relationship between Mexico and the US. After dinner we will go to Malacom which is a place where street kids hang out. In that area due to the poverty, many families will tell their kids when they reach the age of 10, that they will no longer provide food for them. They still have a home but have to go out and find work in order provide their own food. So sad. We will be taking them a meal and interacting with them for a while. Thank you for your continued prayer. We feel it. We miss you all but are so thankful for this opportunity. Talk to you soon.
