In the City

Today’s VBS was pretty chaotic- our craft that went with the Esther story really excited the kids!  We were missing Ms Wendy and Mary Catherine today- MC was sick but thankfully is feeling better. After lunch, we go to different sites for different ministry activies. Today we went to La Canela to prayerwalk. Team C was there to do sports evangelism.  We split our team into two smaller teams and had opportunities to walk and pray and meet people in the community. We actually spent some good quality time praying for several familes. After the prayerwalk, we went back to help Team C with the evangelism. Shannon was able to give a Spanish NT to one of the Dominican soccer players. He was super excited to get it and thanked us more than 20 times!  Kate got to see some of her best dominican friends- Ruben and Lauren and meet their families.

PS- thanks for the comments! Team D loves Jesus, each other, and the Dominicans and ya’ll!

Yesterday, VBS was kind of crazy, but really fun as always. Yesterday afternoon we went to Bonao for water purification but really Brad and Kevin did that while “las chicas” got to know the people of the church and the community by prayer walking.  We even met a man who had been paralyzed by a stroke three years ago and still had a seperated shoulder. Karen was able to use her therapist skills to give him advice to heal and reduce his pain.  While we were there, we were blessed to meet a girl named Ali from the Peace Corps who happened to be a Christian.  She was just beginning her 2 year project and is living with a Dominican family.
     Today, VBS was smooth sailing and the kids were cute as always.  At Villa de Yaque this afternoon, we really got a chance to bond with the kids and teens our age through sports evangelism. We got schooled, but it is okay.
     Overall, everything is going really well, we miss you all but we love it here!

Hola, Guess what?  It’s team B again. Another incredible day in the DR.  Today was by far the most challenging day of VBS.  Today’s craft was crowns from Burger King with jewels and stickers to decorate them.  The kids went crazy! Even our translators had trouble with control.  But, despite the challenges, it was a good day.  This afternoon we were in Palmar Arriba and finished painting the BB court. It was humbling to see how much prode the Dominicans have in the BB court, something we often take for granted. While Hunter, Jonathan and Jordan painted, Amy, Mallory Maggie and Angela entertained the kids with many rounds of Alleluja.  Pretty soon the entire team was helping to paint the court. We really enjoyed doing something for this community that has so little! Remember to keep us in your prayers as we finish out our week in the DR!

Today we really hit our rythm, everything seemed to go smoothly and most of all, several young men accepted the Lord during our afternoon youth evangelism outreaches! Awesome!  For me, what is so neat is to see how “profoundly affected” the US volunteers are as they minister here and at the same time, see and hear the impact they make on others. 

Tomorrow will be our grand finale- VBS lesson in the morning is real important so please keep folks in your prayers. In the afternoon, we will be out at Palmar Arriba to say our farewell and dedicate the BB court. All the CSBC will be there together so it will be kind of cool!

A few words from the adults:

     Melvin: “Please pray for the children in Los Santos.”

     Mike: “It is not what lies in the environment of these children, it’s what lies in their hearts.”