Jail Time

    Morning devotions at 7am were led by Dan. He talked about how God has plans for our lives and the legacy we want to leave after we're gone.
    The girls had some free time while the men visited the jail. The Sunday morning visit is a staple of this trip. Approximately 200 prisoners are enclosed in a very small building where the men join the prisoners in worship and each gave a message pertaining to their condition or specific to the sins of men.  As cameras are not permitted in the prisons it's difficult to explain the difficult conditions these men live in.
     While taking Nathanial back to his house God opened another door. Nathanial was planning on visiting the larger jail outside of town so the team took the chance to see if they could also preach there. This prison is much more strict with security so visitation is difficult. They required passports but thankfully Shawn was still carrying everyone's copy. They were able to each give messages again but this time to a much larger and different audience. It was a real blessing to spend the entire morning witnessing to these men and giving them hope.
     After lunch the team spent some time at the beach. While this area is very poor it is only a few miles from the ocean (it's not developed so no tourism). It was good to enjoy God's creation in the warm surf.
     Empanadas and yucca was tonight's fare for supper. Then the team went to Alberto's church and dropped off Paul, Jim, Chloe, Jamie, Chris, Katrina and Tom. Jim gave the message.
     The remaining team (Dan, Shawn, Duane and Phil) continued on to a village to show the Jesus film. They set up on a basketball court so had built-in seating for the approximately 200-300 that attended. Shawn gave the gospel message and Dan shared about the team.
     Traffic in the DR is let's say "not as organized" as in the states. Very fast, congested, many different types of vehicles and lack of both rules and following the rules that are in place is the norm. On the way back to the house and while stopped at a red light downtown, the team bus was hid hard by a motorcycle from the rear. Only by God's design was the motorcyclist not killed as he was thrown into the back window. Phil, Chloe and Shawn were in the rear seat but the curtains stopped much of the flying glass as the window exploded. Only the word "Dios" remained intact (God). While accidents can happen in any country, in the DR we travel in the safest vehicle there is.
     A bit shaken but relieved and blessed team did a debrief and finished the day around 11pm.
     Take note: team members will be on local radio with Nathanial the next 3 days. You can listen over the internet at 81.9ternura from 12:30-1:00pm Azua time (10:30-11:00am central). Monday is Phil and Jim, Tuesday Shawn and Chloe and Wednesday Chris and Jamie.
 
God bless and please keep praying