And, We're Swimming - Our Youth Leaders in Action

Batey Magua

This is the team from Magua.  They travel twice a week by motorcycle to this small community to teach and minister to children and their families -- over the river, through the woods and sometimes in the rain!

Yahson, Meralis, Neftali and Belkis.  Not pictured, Joselo.

Kids eagerly waiting for class to begin.

Yahson reviewing of the previous weeks' Bible lesson.

We serve a great big God - enormous!

The older kids playing tag.

Building postive relationships with Christian role models.

Belkis working with the younger kids.

Lots of special kids in this group!

So thankful for the opportunity to work with them. 

May God give these leaders wisdom, courage, patience and love as they continue to
 share the love of Jesus with the children and families of Magua.

Kilometer 16 - Batey la Mina

On the other side of town, another team travels by public bus 16 kilometers from town to this impoverished community to work with another group of kids. 

 Reviewing the Bible lesson from last week.

Oscar working with the younger kids, recognizing and writing the first letters of the alphabet.

Kenia testing the older kids to see how many really know the alphabet. 
English & Discipleship Classes

English & Discipleship Classes

Another group of three also travel by public transportation twice a week to Batey Prudencio to teach English and give a Bible class.  We are amazed at how this class is expanding.  Word has spread and we've enrolled several new students from neighboring communities!  Praise God!

Venisa, Mario and Belkis

We always start with prayer and a discussion on different tconcepts from the Bible.

This is the class for beginners.

These are the more advanced students. 
They are listening to a recording of people speaking English.

Commissioning Three New Teams

The teams listed above have been going on for the past several months.  Last week we commissioned three new teams who will start working twice a month with children in three new communities.  We're going to give this a try for the summer and are praying that God would use our time and energy to bless more children and their families.  Whether or not we can keep this going during the school year is yet to be determined. 

Pictured here are just about all of our leaders at the commissoining service.

A close-up of our new polo shirts! 

We are sending you out into the harvest field. 
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

We are yours, Lord.  Use us for your glory.

Medical Clinic - La Guajaba

You may remember me talking about Doctor Maritza before.  She has helped us with a couple different medical clinics now.  She is a delight to work with.  I'm looking forward to the impact we can have as we continue to work together. 

Maritza gathered other doctors from the hospital where she works.
We used the medicine we had left over from Resurrection Lutheran Church. 

La Guajaba is quite a ways from town. 
There were many people who showed up at the school that day for this clinic.

We call this triage -- gathering information -- name, age, chief complaint...

Lots of mothers came with their children. 

A common complaint is the flu -- headaches, runny noses, coughs and sore throats.

Several elderly folks came to the clinic as well. 

We were happy to be able to treat folks of all ages.

Many people walked to the clinic, some came on motorcycles and others on horseback. 
But, not us...

Praising God for the new vehicle He provided. 
It's so nice to be able to jump in and go and not have to worry about transportation.

We have more medication left and hope to do another clinic in the fall.  (Maritza will be out of the country for the rest of the summer.)  I'm happy to do these clinics, but I'm praying for a next step that can make a bigger and lasting impact in the health of the people in these communities.

Camp Shalom with Hope Church, VA

It was an absolute delight to work with the team from Hope Church, Virginia in the first-ever "Camp Shalom."  This team from Virginia put together a 3-day camp for kids from the Shalom churches in Guayabal, El Seybo and Centro Cristiano Shalom.  They invited a few of our youth leaders to work with them -- what a blast!

Each day we started with prayer.
The kids were organized into groups based on their ages.  The groups rotated throughout the different stations.
By the last day, we must have had about 100 kids altogether.

Each day the kids got to do a craft.

This project was especially creative. 
They filled old ties with this white stuffing to make snakes!

Add eyes, a tongue and of course eye brows! 

Another station was basketball.

Then soccer.

It sure was hot in the sun, but they played all morning long!

There were plenty of water breaks! 

The fourth station was volleyball.

And, it wouldn't be Dominican without some form of baseball. 
Kids of all ages loved their chance to bat and run the bases.

On the last day, they pulled out a special treat -- the parachute!!

This is one of the Shalom leaders -- Gleny.  She is probably the most dynamic Bible-story teller I have ever met. 
She knows how to capture the kids' attention and tell the story in a way they are sure to remember.

What summer camp, doesn't end in a good water balloon toss/fight?!

This was truly an incredible experience! 

We praise God and thank HOPE Church for all the time, energy and financial resources they poured into this camp.  The kids really are asking "When can we do this again?"  It was such a blessing.  It was healing for all of us to be out in the open air, running and playing and celebrating God's love for us.

Along with the kids, I"m asking myself, "When can we do this again?!"