Un Culto en Mi Casa

The first week I moved into my apartment we had a "culto" or worship service in my house.  A group from the church came, and I also invited friends and neighbors.  There were over 25 people who attended.

  We sang worship songs, had special music and Neftali shared a message from Matthew 7:24-25 about the wise builders who built their house on the rock rather than in the sand. 

The girls made popcorn and brought juice to share.

Having a "Culto" in someone's house is a pretty common thing for those who attend Iglesia Centro Cristiano Shalom.  I've been to at least three of these services in the past couple of weeks.  I think it says a lot about the church and these youth that they attend church services Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and on the nights they are free they choose to continue praying, worhsipping and studying God's Word together in their homes.  What a blessing to be a part of this community! 

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Library Project Pictures.

These pictures were taken in Batey Prudencia on June 5, 2012. 

working hard on phonics and handwriting at the same time

This is the older group who is able to read.  Their work is more advanced.

The leader of this group is Liliana.  She is studying at the University to be
an Elementary school teacher.  It will be a couple of years before she has her degree,
but she's already using her gifts to help others learn.  It's easy to see that she's a natural teacher!

Mario is one of our translators.  He is also going to start teaching English
to some of the older kids in the community. 

These pictures were taken in Kilometer 16 - Batey la Mina on Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Neftali works with this group in Km 16.  They are working on their handwriting. 

This younger group is learning to recognize different letters of the alphabet.

Lujany is teaching them the vowel sounds.

These pictures were taken in Batey Magua on Saturday, June 16, 2012.  Magua is our newest site.  There's not an official church building there yet, but there is a lot of space to give our classes.  Today there was a great breeze.  It was a wonderful morning to be in Magua. 

There is a small group of about 8 students who want to learn English. 
Clara Inez has been working with them for the past several months, teaching them English. 
Today she introduced me to one of her students who recently made a decision to follow Jesus. 
How exciting!  I'm also encouraged by the fact that Clara will continue to be there to encourage
her, answer any questions she might have and be a friend to her as she learns more
about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Handwriting:  Practice!  Practice!  Practice! 

One of the things I love is the one-on-one help and attention the students receive. 
We continue to stress the importance of relationships.

There is one more site that I have not visited yet - Batey Jalonga.  I hope to travel there on Tuesday afternoon to see how the students and teachers are doing and how the community is growing.

Finding My Rhythm

It's hard to believe I've been here for almost a month already!  It feels like only a few weeks.  Things are going very well, and I feel like I'm starting to find my "rhythm."  I've been going for walks every morning at 6am with a couple of ladies from church.  I love being outside this time of the day.  It's much cooler, and the countryside is beautiful. 

For breakfast, I've been making oatmeal, eggs or pancakes.  Last week I received a bag of mangos as a gift, so I got to eat mango every day for breakfast, too! 

I'm getting to be pretty good with a broom and a mop.  I haven't timed myself, but I bet I can clean my whole house in less than 30 minutes.  It's kind of fun, too! 

Yesterday, one of the ladies from the church came to teach me how to cook rice and chicken - the Dominican way!  It was delicious, and I'm eager to try again on my own. 

I had some challenges with my water the first few weeks.  There are two big tanks on my roof.  They were filled with water in the late afternoon but empty when I woke up in the morning.  We couldn't figure out what was happenign to the water.  I went five days without running water!  Thankfully my neighbors gave me a bucket or two of water each day so I could bathe and wash my dishes. 

Finally we realized that the toilet was not sealing property and running all the time.  There wasn't a leak in the pipes at all -- the water was just going through the toilet!!  One more thing to wrap up with that and the water problem will be completely fixed - praise God!  Through all of this, I learned some things about how important water is to daily life.  I didn't realize how much I take these basic necesities for granted.

Mondays -- groceries, cleaning the house, Bible study, Spanish practice and preparing for the week.
Tuesdays -- leadership team meetings and ministry in the bateys, prayer service at church
Wednesdays -- other meetings in the community -- ImapctLives food, writing curriculum, etc
Thursdays -- catch up on emails, write reports, support raising, worhsip service at church
Fridays -- Sabboth...personal day
Saturdays -- Ministry in the bateys, finish computer work, Study
Sundays -- Sunday School, clean the church, lunch at Pica Pollo, Study, Worship at night

It might sound funny, but I'm really enjoying establishing a routine. It feels good to have a rhythm!