All Coming Together

After the tour of the goat farm, the students got changed and headed to church.  The "Youth Group" meets every Saturday night... but most everyone from the church attends.  It was a vibrant time of praising God in through music, prayer, and the preached Word.  

Lunch was a wonderful treat for our team... rice, beans, and goat meat!

After church, Argenis and Rosemary asked me and Rachel to stop by their home.  The Dominicans share my love of fried chicken... so I was thrilled when my discerning nose picked up on the heavenly scent wafting into the street.  When we walked through the front door, we saw that their home was packed full of friends and family members that we've had the joy of knowing for years.  It was a late night for us... later than we wanted.  But the food was rich, and the fellowship was even richer.  

Argenis drove to Villa Mella to have his mother prepare the lemon fried chicken. It was the best fried chicken I've ever had!

Richard didn't do any work preparing the food... but he wanted to take all the credit!

The heat has been fairly oppressive the last two days.  We have a number of folks that are quite tired and are dealing with some stomach issues.  Rachel and I are definitely in that number as well.  But we're thankful that Tyler and Dean seem to be handling the heat and the exhaustion a bit better than we are.  

The students getting ready for the morning service.

This morning we woke up and got ready for church.  Tyler and Dean did a wonderful job of leading the team devotionals as I prepared to preach in the morning service.  Simultaneously, Rachel and several of the girls from our team headed over to Paul and Linda's to serve in the weekly blood pressure clinic.  Rachel has been able to teach Christina, Kai, and Nanako how to take someone's blood pressure, and they all did a fantastic job of serving in the clinic, and helping in the distribution of appropriate medication.  This was all done under the supervision of Catherine McMillan (Paul and Linda's Daughter), who runs the blood pressure ministry every Sunday.  They work closely with doctors in the United States to keep tabs on the many villagers that struggle with high blood pressure.  If the villagers attend the weekly worship service, they are provided with free check-ups and medication.  This morning, God blessed their efforts, and Rachel and our students were able to help Catherine attend to over forty patients (and all of them joined us for morning worship).

Catherine McMillan is in charge of the weekly blood pressure ministry.

Catherine told us that they were expecting a big crowd for the 8am clinic, because they knew Rachel was coming down. Sure enough, people started lining up at 7am.

Kai was in charge of getting the right medications to the right patients.

Nanako and Christina were quick learns when it came to the blood pressure clinic.

I love seeing our team demonstrating the love of Christ in such a tangible way.

Christina got into the action as well! She's going to be an amazing nurse!

This morning I wasn't feeling my best, but the Lord helped me preach on Matthew 10 and the portion of Scripture we considered several weeks back at Proclamation.  Because of the large number of blood pressure patients, we ran out of seats in the sanctuary, so some guys had to run across the street to grab some from the school.  All total, Paul and Linda said that there was well over 100 in attendance for the 9am service.  Following the service, the church broke up into 3 or 4 separate groups and worked through a series of five questions based on the sermon and Scripture passage.  It was a wonderful time of fellowship and transparency as brothers and sisters in Christ shared about their struggles and God's faithfulness.  

As always, Dario did a fantastic job of translating the sermon.

As I type this, Paul is headed back over to the church to lead worship in the afternoon service dedicated specifically for the Haitian villagers.  After putting up the blog, I'll probably head back to the cabin to catch a nap and a shower before preaching again in the evening service.  

Please pray that the Lord would continue to uphold our team physically as we come down the home stretch.  This has been such a tremendous trip, and we want to finish it well.  Please pray that we would have an unselfish attitude for the remainder of today, and especially tomorrow as we share a wonderful day at the beach with our Dominican brothers and sisters.  

Soli Deo Gloria!!!