#3 - First Impressions

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matt. 19:14)

Some of you are wondering if we've posted since "On Our Way"-- the answer is no!  We have been here just over 48 hours and we've been quite busy every moment.  That's a good thing -- that's what we came for!  So here's an update of our first two days in our ministry sites...



We arrived in Santiago on July 17 and met up with our fellow workers from Bakersfield, California. We've been happy to make new friends and to work together serving here in education, health care, sports, and social work in three small communities outside of Santiago, Quiigua, Cienfuegos and La BreƱa.






Some reflections:

SUSANNA - This year in January I wanted to make a New Year's resoution that I thought I could actually keep.  I sensed God was calling me to face my fears - of being away from home, especially at night; of claustrophobia; and needles.  Shortly afterwards, my grandma asked me if I wanted to go on this mission trip to the Dominican Republic.  GREAT, I thought, as all these fears flashed before my eyes!  I would be away from family and home for two weeks, I would be cramped in an airplane and I knew I would need some vaccinations for the trip.  I prayed about these fears and I knew God could help me overcome them.  I had an image in my head of a little boy flying a toy airplane, his mother calling him to dinner, and he said he had to land the airplane safely first. I knew then that God would keep me safe and he would be with me all the way.  When we got to Houston to pick up my cousin Gretchen who was going with us, I discovered that her little brother, Jonathan, is in a phase of loving airplanes of every kind.  He was constantly "flying" the planes around the house and landing them safely; as I watched him, I remembered the image I had. I told him that God had used him to encourage me to face all three of my fears.




GRETCHEN - At the preschool ministry site, we are with children from 3-5 years old.  Each day we feed them breakfast, play with them, and read Bible stories to them.  The missionaries, Yocasta and Vilma, have taught us what it means to love the chldren without expecting something in return.  But, in fact, the children give us so much.  Playing with them one on one is a joy.  Even with the language barrier, we can see their individual personalities.  The children love helping us with Spanish.  The kids are full of love and appreciation and lots of energy -- more than we have!



We started working at our ministry site on Tuesday, the pre-school in Quinigua, a community with a large number of Haitian refugees.  Many of the children come from families where the parent is at work during the daytime, and they are cared for by older siblings.  The preschool is a place of safety and loving care for about 30 children ages 3-5. The teachers/missionaries at the school are two Dominican women who are full of love for God and the children.  They divide the children in two groups - three year olds who are just learning Spanish and 4-5 year old who are learning basic skills needed to succeed in school.  In addition to the academic goals of the school, the children are ministered to physically, spiritually and emotionally.  Each day they hear about the God who loves them.





















Today we fed everyone a simple lunch of rice with pieces of ham.  This is a nutrition program intended to provide a hot meal to the kids of the community, their only hot meal of the day for many of them.  The program used to be able to provide meals several days of the week, but lack of donations and funding has limited it to one day per week.  The children were organized and knew when it was their turn to come into the school to eat.  they kept coming in. I was impressed that they knew they had to be patient and take turns.

























Each morning, we have devotional time, worship, and teaching with the missionaries. While we were still in Houston, Susanna and Gretchen practiced some praise songs and volunteered to lead worship.  They were able to do that this morning.







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