Day Nine in the Dominican Republic

Just like every Sunday, our day began with Sunday School and Worship with the Body of Christ. Olivia and Erin joined the "older kid" group. Rachel, Lauren, and Zoe joined the "younger kid" group. I joined the adult group. The best part about today's worship service was that we were able to understand much more of what was going on. We understood the order of worship better. We are also picking up the Dominican Spanish much better. This meant that we were able to sing along with some of the songs. It also meant I was able to "translate" a little bits of the sermon to Rachel, Erin, and Olivia. The sermon was on Romans 12:12-16 (focusing mostly on verse 12). He preached on the life of prayer and God's Will. He spoke about times in our lives when we wonder what God is doing, and times in our lives when we may even question God. He talked about the importance of waiting for hope to come. He spent time connecting all of this with Matthew 6:25-34, where it talks about not worrying about our lives but seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He ended by reminding us of Christ's prayer in the garden, "Not my will, but thine be done." It was great.

Lauren and Zoe joined the younger children for children's church. They had a blast. Zoe was very excited because she was able to get a snack. Lauren was excited because she played catch with one of the younger boys the entire time. Sandra (Steve's wife) said that she had never seen that young boy so smiley and opened up to other people before. That was pretty cool to hear.

After we finished with church, and finished lunch with Steve and Sandra, we were able to do a Google Hangout with my parents (after working through their technical difficulties). The girls had a bunch of fun being able to see grandma and grandpa on the screen and get to talk with them. Grandma and Grandpa also enjoyed time talking with their goofy granddaughters.

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting and relaxing. It was much needed for me after a busy week. I was able to lay down in bed, in an air-conditioned room, and read a book. It had been quite a while since I was able to do that. The girls spent some time resting as well. However, they also were able to connect with a few more of the neighbor girls. They played with these girls for over two hours tonight. They tried a wide variety of games, trying to explain them to the best of their ability. The older neighborhood girl (the one on the far right) spoke english pretty well. So that helped. It also rained tonight, which cooled things down nicely, allowing Rachel and I to spend some time together on our balcony reading and watching the girls.

Once again, it was a very good day. We are also looking forward to this upcoming week. My schedule is much lighter this week--I think. We have a day set aside for "Cultural Appreciation" and another day set aside to prepare for VBS sessions next week. So, that will be nice. It will be something that we can all work on as a family. I'm looking forward to a slower week and the girls are looking forward to being around me more.

Here are some prayer requests:

• Again, we have much to be thankful for:

  • Thankful for Sunday as a day of worship and rest

  • Thankful for the Body of Christ

  • Thankful for understanding more Dominican Spanish

  • Still thankful for A/C

  • Thankful for rain tonight and cooler temperatures

  • Thankful for opportunities to connect with neighborhood kids

  • Thankful for good fiction books to read :-)

• You can be in prayer for the Bible Study that is happening tomorrow morning. Pray that kids show up and that it goes as well (or better) than last time. I'm looking forward to it.

• You can also be in prayer for our VBS preparations. We will be nailing down some of the details more this week. I will be preparing some teaching sessions in Spanish. So, that will be a lot of work but I think it will be fun.

• At the end of this week, I'll be meeting with a group of people from Guaricanno to talk about doing a VBS there in a couple weeks. Pray that these meetings go well and that we will come to a consensus.

• Also, Steve and Sandra will be renewing their Visas this week. Steve has told me about how difficult and frustrating the process can be. So, be praying that things go smoothly for him and Sandra and that things go through without any headache.

That's it for tonight.

Buenos Noches!