The Last Day of Work
The kids don't know it's coming... but we've got a big surprise in store for them tomorrow.
Dario Cruz (who translates most of our sermons) arranged for us to attend a baseball game tomorrow between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Santo Domingo Phillies! The kids are expecting tomorrow to be the last day of work projects, but they've worked so hard this week that Doug Diehl (our foreman on the work projects) expects us to be all finished by the end of today. They will walk into breakfast tomorrow expecting to have one more exhausting day of work ahead of them... but then we'll tell them that there's a bus parked outside that will take us and the Dominicans we've worked with into the city for this special treat! We are really excited to surprise the kids in this way because they have worked so incredibly hard to serve the brothers and sisters here.
But of course, the work isn't really the most important thing. Concrete will inevitably fall apart, and walls will require painting over and over. But the relationships we have with our Dominican brothers and sisters will bear eternal fruit... and that is what we're most interested in. Last night, our students were involved in a number of skits and assignments with the students in Linda's Advanced English class. Rachel played the role of an impassioned taxi driver picking up an English student up from the airport in Phoenix while Lucas and Ian were male models from Milan that needed help finding a hotel. All of these skits were meant to help the English students grow in their pronunication and command of travel-oriented vocabulary. And believe me, it was pretty entertaining watching the kids use regional accents!
Today, once the work is complete, we expect to spend some time walking through the village. This will be an eye-opening experience for all of our first-timers. Already we have heard the students talk about the obvious poverty here in the Dominican Republic... and especially here in the rural parts of the country. But they haven't seen real poverty... not yet. That will come this afternoon, when the Dominicans we have worked with all week in work projects and English classes show us their village and their homes. Our students will struggle to comprehend the incredible poverty that these dear brothers and sisters live in. But the poverty won't be the thing that stands out the most. Instead, the warmth and hospitality of these impoverished people will be the thing that stands out the most. They are not self-conscious about the state of their homes. Instead, they are thankful to the Lord for meeting for their needs and sustaining them by his provision of their daily bread.
Brothers and sisters back home--please don't stop praying for us. In all of our years coming down here, we have never enjoyed such a sweet spirit of unity and contentment. That's really saying something... because we have always had such amazing experiences down here. But the Lord has somehow allowed for this annual trip to get better and better every single year. And for that, we are beyond grateful.
In the end, my only regret is that it's impossible to truly capture in this blog the palpable sense of joy that EVERY SINGLE STUDENT has down here. In our Bible study this morning, one student said that she was somewhat jealous of the incredible intimacy and love that the Dominicans seem to share in the Lord. And our group was able to talk for a bit about how the God we worship--the God that created the entire universe--is jealous for you and for me. And so, we are asking the Lord to continue working by his Spirit and through his Word in the hearts of our young people.
Soli Deo Gloria!!!
Dario Cruz (who translates most of our sermons) arranged for us to attend a baseball game tomorrow between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Santo Domingo Phillies! The kids are expecting tomorrow to be the last day of work projects, but they've worked so hard this week that Doug Diehl (our foreman on the work projects) expects us to be all finished by the end of today. They will walk into breakfast tomorrow expecting to have one more exhausting day of work ahead of them... but then we'll tell them that there's a bus parked outside that will take us and the Dominicans we've worked with into the city for this special treat! We are really excited to surprise the kids in this way because they have worked so incredibly hard to serve the brothers and sisters here.
But of course, the work isn't really the most important thing. Concrete will inevitably fall apart, and walls will require painting over and over. But the relationships we have with our Dominican brothers and sisters will bear eternal fruit... and that is what we're most interested in. Last night, our students were involved in a number of skits and assignments with the students in Linda's Advanced English class. Rachel played the role of an impassioned taxi driver picking up an English student up from the airport in Phoenix while Lucas and Ian were male models from Milan that needed help finding a hotel. All of these skits were meant to help the English students grow in their pronunication and command of travel-oriented vocabulary. And believe me, it was pretty entertaining watching the kids use regional accents!
Today, once the work is complete, we expect to spend some time walking through the village. This will be an eye-opening experience for all of our first-timers. Already we have heard the students talk about the obvious poverty here in the Dominican Republic... and especially here in the rural parts of the country. But they haven't seen real poverty... not yet. That will come this afternoon, when the Dominicans we have worked with all week in work projects and English classes show us their village and their homes. Our students will struggle to comprehend the incredible poverty that these dear brothers and sisters live in. But the poverty won't be the thing that stands out the most. Instead, the warmth and hospitality of these impoverished people will be the thing that stands out the most. They are not self-conscious about the state of their homes. Instead, they are thankful to the Lord for meeting for their needs and sustaining them by his provision of their daily bread.
Brothers and sisters back home--please don't stop praying for us. In all of our years coming down here, we have never enjoyed such a sweet spirit of unity and contentment. That's really saying something... because we have always had such amazing experiences down here. But the Lord has somehow allowed for this annual trip to get better and better every single year. And for that, we are beyond grateful.
In the end, my only regret is that it's impossible to truly capture in this blog the palpable sense of joy that EVERY SINGLE STUDENT has down here. In our Bible study this morning, one student said that she was somewhat jealous of the incredible intimacy and love that the Dominicans seem to share in the Lord. And our group was able to talk for a bit about how the God we worship--the God that created the entire universe--is jealous for you and for me. And so, we are asking the Lord to continue working by his Spirit and through his Word in the hearts of our young people.
Soli Deo Gloria!!!
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