 |
| Pastor Franklin & Mike Motley at Men's Bible study |
FRIDAY: The construction team got
the footer poured and it's ready for block tomorrow. They negotiated paying the
workers by the block so we hope the project will come out less expensive.
Sergio and Mike placed a Bible verse at the corner written in the cement. I
asked if they had been drinking plenty of water and Zach said yes until Ken put
the ice cold blue Powerade in the cement! Tori did her self defense class for
about 20 kids - rather than teens, but they enjoyed it and wanted to ride with
us in the van to the ball park but that wasn't possible. They ran and beat us there anyway! Many kids
were at the park today - too many to count. Jamie's ladies Bible study made
barrettes with about 20 ladies. Suzanne's Bible study had 30+ ladies. This
morning we went prayer walking around the park and prayed with many people. One
lady we prayed with asked us to pray for her daughter who was having
gallbladder surgery as we were praying. She was very worried about her daughter
and grateful for our prayers. We prayed for jobs, health, and even a young
woman who wanted to make a change in her life. She said that every time she
prayed she got a headache. We told her that was Satan trying to keep her from
praying and not to stop. Mike M &
Paul are at the men's Bible study tonight. Time to eat dinner, but I think we
are the dinner for the mosquitoes!
SATURDAY: The construction guys and
helpers laid 800 block today. It was a long hard day for them and they didn’t
get to enjoy the beach in San Raphael, but they got a lot done. Ken gave his
tennis shoes to one of the Haitian workers and told him not to sell them or he
would be fired. So Mike washed the mans feet, and when Mike walked away as he
was putting the shoes on, a couple of men came up and asked for his shoes and he
gave them to him probably for a price. But…when Ken found out he told him to
either go back and get his shoes or not come back. I think Ken got his shoes
back.
The rest of the group went to the
beach with 45 young people from Barahona. Everyone seemed to have a great time.
There were a lot of people at the beach, but it was beautiful. We also made a
craft with them. Everyone had to pick up a rock from the beach and Sandi had
wire and beads to wrap around the rock to make a photo holder. Even the guys wanted
to do the craft as well as the jewelry salesman watching. He wrapped the wire
around a piece of larimar! Then we came
back to the hotel and the worship team of the church and translators had dinner
and fellowship with us. They are such fun people. Later, the worship team
practiced the music they would be presenting Sunday morning. We will be posting some videos when we get
back.
SUNDAY: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZANNE!!! We
went to three church services today. We first went to the Haitian church at
9:00. A few people gave there testimonies at the end of the service. Fernando,
the Haitian pastor shared his recent testimony about losing his job at the
hotel. He is trusting God to provide at new one or he will have to return to
his family in Haiti. Zach lead the children's story today, he spoke about David
and Goliath. We then came back and had lunch at the hotel with the translators.
We shared peanut butter and jelly, Dominican crackers, cashews, and bananas. We
then went to the blind church at 2:30. We meet many of our old friends and
shared lots of hugs. Some of the ladies even brought out the crowns that
Suzanne had given them at a bible study last year. One of the church members
named Ray is in the hospital at Santo Domingo with stomach cancer. Suzanne and
Sandi took some special time to pray with his wife. After that we rushed
over to the "downtown" Church that we have been working with all
week. We meet at the back of the property where Sergio (one of the church
members) spent all day Saturday smoothing out and scraping down the dirt for
Sunday's service. We had a shaded area to sit during the worship. The shade was
provided by the center block wall the men had built last year. The music was
both in Spanish and English. Mike and Page joined the local worship team and
they also sang a duet. The last sermon was all in Spanish, but we were told
there were a lot of visitors at the service tonight and Paul gave an
evangelistic message. Scott was the most awesome Goliath tonight for the
children's story. When the part of the story came when David hit Goliath with
the stone Scott fell off of the half wall he was standing on (so he could be
tall.) We all thought Scott had fallen down on accident and maybe even passed
out, but we found out after checking on him that he was just a great actor.
Most of the group went to the showing of the movie Courageous in Spanish
tonight. Many lives were touched by the messages today including
ours.
Continued Sunday night *On a side
note we just heard Suzanne scream out her room because she had a crab wanting
to keep her company.
MONDAY: Monday morning the
construction workers went to prepare the stage area for the concrete to be
poured. They also worked on finishing the walls for the stage area. Suzanne
went to the park to caricature and the rest of the group went to the local
university to converse with the students in the morning classes. We helped them
practice their English and we also had the opportunity to share our testimonies
with them. Then everyone but the construction group came back to the hotel for
a quick lunch and then was out again. In the afternoon all but the construction
team went back to the university to converse with the afternoon classes. We did
similar things with the students in the afternoon. We had two ladies Bibles
studies again today, one lead by Susanne and the other by Sandi. The ladies
groups were still large around 25-30 people. After that all the groups meet
back at the hotel. Some of the group went to the beach that is close to the
hotel. The construction men got to wash their dirt off in the salt water. We
also had some local vendors come to sell larimar, paintings, coconut jewelry
and various other souvenirs. We had a great time shopping and some of us picked
up a few gifts for our family back home. For dinner we had some fish and rice,
it reminded us of a New Orleans dish.
TUESDAY: Today the construction team
is working on pouring the concrete for the stage. We went to the university
again today and had a great time with the students helping them with their
English conversation. It has been interesting to find out about their life in
the Dominican Republic. Some were from other towns and had to ride their bikes
into town or were staying with someone in town so they could attend classes.
Some were married, but most were single. Most weren’t working so that they
could spend most of their time learning English. Many of their parents didn’t
want them working until they got out of school. Others were learning English to
help them in their job. Occupations they were studying for were architecture,
doctors/pediatricians, nurses, teachers, and others. They all wanted to know
what Dominican food we had eaten while we were there. The students kept asking
us if we had tried Mondongo, and I thought they were saying McDonalds! Mike
Motley came home with the recipe. Hope Jackie likes it! They also told us about
the “Dominican Flag” which is chicken, rice & beans. We gave each student a
journal, bookmark, Christian tract, and a pen and they were so appreciative. We
encouraged them to write their stories, thoughts, prayers, praises, etc. in
these journals. One student who was serving in a church said she would write
about what she had read in the Bible each morning. One student I met on Monday
told me the story of how Jesus had completely changed his life two weeks prior
to our coming. He had accepted Jesus as his savior and had given up a life of
alcohol. He said his parents couldn’t trust him – they would give him money and
he would waste it on alcohol or girls. Now he said they were able to trust him
again. I encouraged him to continue to attend church and trust God to continue
his transformation. Pray for this young man – can’t remember his name, but I
can remember his face. There were others who shared their testimonies of belief
in God as we shared our testimonies. Two young men from the US who are
missionaries with an organization are staying with Pastor Franklin and are also
working with these students. They said they are very open to talking about
their faith or their lives without God and are asking many questions. We also
gave one of our mission trip T-shirts to each teacher and we had two RoughRider
baseball caps to give two of the teachers also. Following the morning and
afternoon classes we went to the baseball field area again to work with
children and ladies. Again many children enjoyed the Bible story and
activities. Mike M finished giving out his Goldfish crackers so he wouldn’t
have to go home with them – but they were given to the children who came and
heard the story and participated in the activities. The ladies groups were full
again with 25-40 ladies and again lots of hugs of appreciation. During their
hugs you can feel our mutual love for Jesus passing through us. Not knowing the
language gives you the opportunity to just look at each other and know that
Jesus is speaking through your touch. LOVE these women! Following these
activities we went to the church site and had a closing time with music,
sharing, and goodbye hugs. While we were beginning the closing time the
construction workers were pouring the last of the concrete for the slab and the
cross in the window. They finished about halfway through and came as they were
(very dirty and tired) to the praise of the people. The construction workers
were church members, mission team members, Haitians, and neighbors. Franklin is
encouraging the church to help do more work on the property through the year –
there is much they can do – even without much money. Pray that they will accept
that challenge. Back at the hotel we packed our bags, ate another delicious
meal prepared by Robby the chef, and shared the day with each other. Ken will
remain in Barahona through part of Saturday and will return to Dallas on
Sunday.
Pray for Ken and all of the people
we met. Pray also for the North Monroe group that is coming at the end of next
week. They will continue working with the same people and will hopefully be
installing bars and gates on the property.
Please know that your prayers were
felt. We can testify to the power of your prayers for us during this trip. We
had no serious injuries, on-time flights, strength to withstand the heat, money
to do the project and stories to tell when we got back. Thank you!
