Day Thirteen in the Dominican Republic

Once again, today consisted of changing plans and being flexible. That's a pretty consistent pattern in the Dominican Republic. We had planned on doing orientation today (or last week :-). However, a member of Steve and Sandra's church passed away yesterday morning and the burial was today. That meant they were going to be busy for most of the day today.

So, we changed our plans and put together a schedule for our family for the day. Olivia spent most of the morning writing--emails and an article. I'm trying to convince her to submit it to a blog for teenager writers. We'll see if she listens to me. I spent most of the morning working on my message that will be used in La Romana.....maybe. Whether I use it or not, the process of writing a message in Spanish is helpful because it's forcing me to think about how to use the language and say things with words that I know. It's been a slow process, but it's been good. Erin, Lauren, and Zoe spent a good chunk of time this morning doing a Google Hangout with their cousins. They had fun chatting, being goofy, and playing games.

After lunch, I had a meeting in Guaricano. We will be helping with a VBS in this location two weeks from today. Steve and I met with a bunch of the leaders of the church in that area. It was a lot of fun. We picked up Kelli (the woman to the left of Steve) and then began walking around the neighborhood giving candy out to kids, having conversations with members in the community, and picking up leaders from the church. Eventually, we ended up in someone's home, planning for the upcoming VBS program. We were there for over three hours planning and talking. Well, I didn't do much talking, but I did a lot of listening.

In Guaricano, I met a woman who is passionately following Christ. Her name is Arelis. She told me that when she became a Christian she found herself very hungry for God's Word. She was not satisfied with much of the "fluffy, emotional" stuff that she was hearing all the time. She wanted the meat. So she began studying and studying. She kept on talking about how powerful the Word of God is. Now, she is in the process of getting her bachelor's degree in theology. The picture below is of her house. Her and her husband are planning on building a second story on the house so that the bottom floor can be a church. It was fun to see how excited she became as she talked about the future plans.

The entire meeting was a lot of fun because I got to sit and listen to a group of people who are very passionate about ministering in their community. I also met another woman named Cruz Maria (I think). She told me that her and her husband have owned their house for almost a year. They are very proud of that fact and have turned their house into a ministry center. There are various ministry groups meeting in their house constantly.

We continue to thank all of you for your support and your prayers. We appreciate them more than you realize. It's so important for us to know that we are being lifted up, strengthened, and encouraged by the prayers of the Saints. Continue praying for our family and we will continue praying for you.

Buenos Noches!