we have started our work at Pico Escondido. One thing that has just been amazing is the ability to return year after year. Each year we get to see projects that have been completed by other teams after we have left. The biggest change has been the pool area that we have been working on for the past two years. Take a look through the Instagram or Facebook pictures to see what the finished project looks like. It truly is amazing!
This year we are working on a few projects. One project has been some beautification/upkeep of the camp entrance gates that are the first thing campers will see upon arriving at camp. Another project was mixing lots of wheelbarrows of concrete to make a drainage ditch outside of camp to help protect the road to camp from rain runoff. That project was completed on our second day of work. Our third project is building a gazebo at the challenge course carrying cement blocks, mortar, and concrete up a steep hill by hand and buckets. We joke each year with our DR friends about what the work is that we will be doing at Pico as it always seems to incorporate lots of concrete work. But our kids are seasoned and willing to do whatever is needed to make this camp speak loudly about the love of Christ. And many hands make concrete work easier. The positive of concrete work and painting is you really get to see major progress at the end of a very hard week of work.
We have filled our free time with walking to the corner market for DR coke (made with cane sugar), ice cream and cookies - but it's well deserved with how hard our daily work is. And last night we had our yearly DR dancing lesson which always produces lots of smiles and laughter. Good memories are being made.
In the midst of all the temporal things we are building and the sweets we are enjoying some eternal is also being built thru team debreifs and our time spent with the Lord each day. Pray over this moments. Pray for the Spirit to enter into our hearts and command our attention to the work he is calling us into. Pray for our team to hear Gods voice and to be overwhelmed with Gods love for us. Pray also for strength and patience today as our bodies are tired and our muscles are sore. Pray for our attitudes as tired bodies and minds can produce sharp responses.
We are grateful for the ability to be a part of what God is doing here in the DR! The team thanks you for your continued support and your prayers for us. Until next time!
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
DR Update - Homestays
First a quick apology for the first blog update coming after about the first 4 days in the DR. This year we have started our time in the DR in our Homestays. This has made it nearly impossible to find the opportunity to post an update and the WiFi has been a little spotty. When you have returned year after year our close Dominican friends have a lot of catching up to do from the moment we wake up to the minute our heads pass out on the pillow. We are so incredibly grateful for this partnership! God is on the move in La Vega and it is so evident by the story's of his provision and the transformation happening in the lives of our VJ friends. Wally is now the Area Director for La Vega and is doing an incredible job. He lives just a street over from Chulo and has begun leading Club in the backyard of his home with his new wife of 2-weeks Anna. As others in La Vega have told me, the work of Vida Joven is making God famous and it's awesome to see! We met Manuel this year, a new Vida Joven friend, that has just come to Christ in the last year due to the work of Vida Joven. He will have his first camp experience this summer in July.
The Homestay was amazing and has so much more to say. But our favorite part of the stay came on the morning of our departure to camp. Yesterday morning we traveled to a women's home, Jeanie, who has been partnering with the La Vega VJ team to host club in the street in front of her home. Wally has told us that she is very poor and does whatever she can to earn money to feed her family of six kids - who are adorable by the way. So he wanted to do something that would bless her that would say thank you for her gifts of storing the VJ chairs for club and allowing them to use her electricity to run the music for club. He found out the she doesn't have a bathroom in her home and has had to ask her neighbors to borrow theirs. Wally took the opportunity of having us in town to build her a bathroom to bless her. And it was awesome! Although we were not able to finish the build for the lack of time, we were able to start the project, pay for the project and pray over the work happening in this home. So so grateful for this partnership.
Today we start work at the camp and I'm being yelled at to grab some breakfast. Until next time. Check the Instagram account for pictures. Www.instagram.com/hsmfirstpres
The Homestay was amazing and has so much more to say. But our favorite part of the stay came on the morning of our departure to camp. Yesterday morning we traveled to a women's home, Jeanie, who has been partnering with the La Vega VJ team to host club in the street in front of her home. Wally has told us that she is very poor and does whatever she can to earn money to feed her family of six kids - who are adorable by the way. So he wanted to do something that would bless her that would say thank you for her gifts of storing the VJ chairs for club and allowing them to use her electricity to run the music for club. He found out the she doesn't have a bathroom in her home and has had to ask her neighbors to borrow theirs. Wally took the opportunity of having us in town to build her a bathroom to bless her. And it was awesome! Although we were not able to finish the build for the lack of time, we were able to start the project, pay for the project and pray over the work happening in this home. So so grateful for this partnership.
Today we start work at the camp and I'm being yelled at to grab some breakfast. Until next time. Check the Instagram account for pictures. Www.instagram.com/hsmfirstpres
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