Dominican Republic 2008

The team from the Cayman Islands arrived Sunday, June 13. After some training and drama practice they went out ministering on Tuesday. It was a great day of ministry. They continued the work on the kitchen and worked really hard to get as much done as possible yesterday.

In the afternoon we went to a hospital in Puerto Plata in order to pray for people and give them toiletry bags. It was a hard, but fruitful time. The students were disheartened as they saw the needs of the people. The hospital was out of oxygen because they only 7 tanks for the whole hopspital. They were also out of blood. It´s just a hard thing to witness.

Something awesome happened as we were there, three people accepted Christ as their savior. The really encouraging part was that a local church group was also there sharing with the people so we know those who accepted the load will have follow up.

Today the team is back in Nazareth working on the kitchen and this afternoon they will visit the dump where they will hand out food and perform their dramas.

I hope to have pictures posted soon. Please keep checking back!

We saw the youth group from Pennsylvania off on June 30. They were sad to go and we were sad to have them leave. It seemed like such a short amount of time together. They truly grabbed ahold of everthing God had for them on this trip. We hope to have some more pictures posted soon of their time here in the DR. Some of the computers here lack Java, but we´ll make sure we get them up soon.

The staff and interns are leaving tomorrow for Barahona where we will scout out for the possibility of taking future teams. We are excited and at the same time it´s hard to leave the comforts of what you know. It almost feels as though we have been living here for quite awhile now, even though it´s only been a month. I suppose you get used to your environment quite quickly. Please pray for our travels and that we will have many divine appointments. Thank you so much!

The other day we were blessed with the opportunity to help the people of a village called Aguas Negras (Black Waters). Their village is located right next to the ocean. Years of garbage have piled up on their shore line and this is the area where the children play. We were able to go in and clean up a large area and use the items around us to build a playground right next to the water. Many of the children jumped right in to help us clean up the community and were so hard working. It was encouraging to see and be able to show the kids that they can make a difference in their community. The hope is to instill in the children a desire to see their country changed. We will try to get some pictures up as soon as possible showing what was accomplished.

The youth group from Winter Park arrived on Sunday afternoon ready and willing to jump into training. They quickly learned the dramas that they will be using to minister to the people. Today is the first day that they are going out to do ministry. This morning they went to a village called Nazareth where we will be building an addition onto the school located there. We are adding on a kitchen for the school. Many of the kids that attend classes are under fed, some receiving only 1 meal a day. By building the kitchen on, the school will be able to begin to provide 1 meal in the morning to give the students a better diet. This will help them to better stay awake and participate in class. It is such a blessing to be able to impact a community and have a lasting effect. We are so excited about this opportunity! This afternoon the team will be going to the public hospital in Puerto Plata where they will pray with people and pass out simple hygiene kits. The patients in the public hospital do not receive very good care. Our hope is to bring them some joy and peace as we pray with them. We´ve had some 3rd world country experiences, which are good to have on a mission trip as it´s better to be able to experience what the people live through every day of their lives. We´ve lost power a couple of times but only for short lengths of time and we´ve also run out of water. God is so faithful though and has blessed us with amazing people to help us out. Please pray for the students to continue to experience God and for divine appointments as we are out ministering to the people. Thank you for your prayers!