It’s weird to think that our adventure here is already over half way over! It has been such a great time so far and I am excited to see what God has in store for our last few weeks. Tomorrow we are welcoming two more people to our team. Ashley and her mom will be with us for one week and we are very excited for them to get here. While we are excited to see them come, we are very sad to see Jessica go home on Thursday. Jessica has been with us for a month and it has been great to spend time getting to know her. We will miss her so much!

We have been very busy working in the village this past week. The kids in our classes are learning and growing so much! It’s amazing to see them so attentive in class, eager to learn as much as possible (this is a big change from the first couple classes).  God is working in their lives.

We have been having sewing classes on Fridays afternoons for the women. The women recently finished sewing their first project, which was a basic skirt. When each of them finished, they laughed out loud with excitement and clapped for each other. It was so cute to see them try on their skirts, striking poses for the other women.  They had such a feeling of accomplishment and they were genuinely excited to see the others succeed in something. I have to admit that I teared up when I saw their joy.

Saturday morning we had a polga (which is like a yard sale but with much more chaos). In Ina’s house, there are bins and bins of clothes to be given to the people of Cercadillo. However, because of the culture of the village, the best way to distribute the items was to sell them at extremely cheap prices and then use that money for things for the village. The polga went very well. Yes, it was chaotic at times, but it was still really fun.

Again, God is working in great ways. He is definitely working in our lives and the lives of those people in the village. This Sunday we were able to go to the village for a worship service and that was amazing. The previous two Sundays, we were unable to go because of thunderstorms, so it was nice to get back there and speak so plainly to them about Jesus. During the craft with the kids, we turned on some worship music and it was so cool to hear the kids singing along with the lyrics that were so clearly written to praise God.

God is moving in the village of Cercadillo. I am so thankful that I get to be a part of it.

The start of our summer reading program

Last week was a bit of a slow week but it was still productive. Due to our transportation being in the shop, we had to stay at the house most of the week. Although we didn’t particularly care to stay at home and not go to the village, we got a large amount of work done for our summer reading program. Thursday we got the chance to go out to the village again and start with our program. The kids were overjoyed to start the program and begin reading and learning English. One of the greatest aspects of going to the village, besides seeing the kids, talking with the people, and demonstrating God’s love for them, is the fact that every day is different from the others. There is never a day that we truly know how activities will go, how the kids will react to what we have to share with them, and what great experiences the day holds. Saturday we went to the village in the morning to pump water for the families and deliver it to their houses. Kristin and I tried to gradually learn how to carry buckets on our heads. (they were empty…we have to start somewhere!) The girls helped us practice!

After eating lunch, we got cleaned up and went to a museum in Santo Domingo and then went to a wonderful restaurant by the ocean shore. They had absolutely wonderful food! We all got to experience something different. I ate tropical chicken, Ben ate seasoned goat, and Kristin had fish. They were all delicious! (We all tried each type of food!)

Sunday we were unable to go out to the village for our weekly church service due to rain conditions so we spent our afternoon praying for the village and the people who live there. Monday morning we met up with a group of women from all over the country and headed off to the village for our reading and English classes with the kids. Each of us help out in different areas each day. Some will be helping crowd control during reading reviews, others will be guiding the children through reading aloud, and others helped with activities.

The women who were visiting the village helped a great deal with surveys of the families in the village finding out how many children they have, which of their children go to school, and their family needs etc. The rain in the afternoons made a bit difficult to finish our classes because we had to consider the children’s safety while walking home! We have had an extremely busy week thus far! We having been eating dinner every night at the the Time Center down the road. It is wonderful because we get to see all our wonderful friends from Time while keeping up with our agenda. Ben has become a fan of helping in the kitchen with making coffee, making muffins, and doing the dishes so we started teasing him about becoming the next Betty Crocker!

Thank you so much for all your prayer support! Please pray for us as we work on staying on task and doing all that God has brought us here to accomplish. Miss you all!

Life in the Village of Cercadillo

Friday marked our first trip to the village of Cercadillo. We got the wonderful opportunity to play with and get to know the children of the village while Ina worked on sewing skills with the women. The kids are beyond wonderful and we are thrilled that they are interested in what we have to share with them! The kids were very eager to play with us! The girls loved playing with Kristin and I’s hair and playing hand clapping games. One of the girls actually tied a string around Kristin’s wrist and shouted to her friends, ” Look! I’ve got the American on a leash!”

On Sunday we returned for a Bible study with the people of Cercadillo. After singing a number of praise songs with them, we broke them into small groups for more one-on-one study. One of the boys in my group was completely exhausted and fell asleep while the lesson was going. It was very sweet!

Monday morning around 9:00 the Anthem Group from Washington State came to help us paint and build bathrooms for the Village of Cercadillo. They were an absolute joy to work with! The two buildings in Cercadillo are now painted wonderfully vibrant yellow and blue! Kristin came down with a small bug Monday morning so she chose to stay at the house to recuperate a bit quicker. Ben was on the “cement team” in charge of building the bathrooms which are coming along quite nicely! The bathrooms only need about two more levels of blocks and roofs before they are both complete!

Tuesday morning we go the chance to work with the team from Washington State once again. The “cement team” once again spent the day working on the bathroom while the rest of us spent a good majority of the day pumping water from the well and delivering water to the families of the village. The rest of the day we did Vacation Bible School activities with the kids of the village. We split the children into groups of three and went to snack, recreation, a Bible story, and a craft. For recreation one of the guys from Washington State was wrapped in duct tape with the sticky side out and candy was placed on the duct tape. The kids were instructed to chase Noah and get a piece of candy from off of him and run back to the other leaders and show us the candy they had retrieved. Our Bible story was on Jonah and how he disobeyed God by not going to Nineveh and how he could have bypassed all the turmoil that he went through by just obeying God from the start. We then made Jonah and whale puppets for our craft and colored them and decorated them with glitter glue.

We’ve been blessed in so many ways being here! Thank you all so much for keeping us in your prayers!

We’re Here!!!

Well, we are officially here! The three of us got on a plane at 6 a.m. yesterday, made a connection in Atlanta, and then came into the D.R. at about 2 p.m. local time. Ina met us at the airport, and we headed for the house, which involved a wonderful drive through a good chunk of Santo Domingo, it was awsome to get to see the ocean, and the gorgeous beaches!

We spent most of the night settling in, and then we got up this morning and went over to the Time Center (an organization that Ina has close ties with) where Ina was helping with orientation for their new interns. It was great to get to meet them!

We will be heading out to the village for the first time after lunch today, and can’t WAIT to see it! We ask everyone to be praying for us as we get settled in and adapt to the culture and the language, and also for God to fill us with His Spirit as we go out to minister for Him!