Monday

Because Sunday was so late Dan let the team sleep in with the van leaving at 8am. Paul led devotions on leading a Christian life.

After breakfast the team loaded up with gospel tracts and headed to the marketplace. In 45 minutes about 500 tracts were handed out to vendors and customers alike. The marketplace is a hectic managerie of produce, household items, consumer goods, and meat (including a goat head and piles of fish in the 90 degree heat covered with flies). Always an adventure and unique look at this culture. Pictures cannot duplicate the sounds and smells

A trip to Pastor Wilfredo's village was next. It's always a treat for the team as he and the children there dance and sing as this is a very special day in their eyes. We support Wilfredo because of his dedication to the orphans and poor Haitians who live here. He is truly a man of God; a dentist/pastor/community leader who makes room in his tiny home for orphans to live with him. After helping serve food, playing with the kids, and hearing Wilfredo's thoughts/ideas about the future we enjoyed lunch in his house. That's when Paul decided to put his head where it didn't belong and ended up with 5 stitches (Paul is not "Dominican sized").

The Mission Center was the next stop to talk to people about future plans to help the disabled. A generous donation of baseball gear brought by Mike and Dave was distributed with Pastor Anderson's help and the guys played ball with the DR boys (with, not against).

Back to the garage for supper and loading the vehicles for the Jesus film that night. It was nearly dark during setup and the attendance very thin at first but halfway through a very attentive crowd was on hand of maybe 40-50. After the team gave the gospel message Nataniel led an altar call with a number of responses. While not a large crowd, the Spirit of the Lord was definitely present and many stayed for some time worshipping and hugging Americanos. We can never under-estimate the power of the gospel and who may respond. It was a very good night and the team was back to the hotel by 10:30 for debrief.

Sunday

Upon arrival in the DR on Saturday afternoon the team got busy immediately and visited the mission building to see the progress and meet with the locals. A short prayer/music service followed. This was a great way for the 5 first-time members to experience our mission right away.

Because of logistical issues with the house we rented in the past, the team is staying at the local hotel. While it does complicate some things slightly, the plus side is that it allows us better sleeping/hygiene conditions.

The base of operations is Nataniel's garage and Shawn led devotions there at 7:30 focusing on what it means to be a true follower of Jesus. After a quick breakfast the men went to witness in the prison while the girls stayed behind to package food. Our retired cops returned with a different perspective.

The team then traveled to the Compassion School to spend time with the kids playing, face painting and learning about the program. Dan, Paul, and Shawn have children here so they were able to spend some time with them also. The team helped with the feeding and delivered ice cream treats. Less than 1% of the over a million Compassion kids world ever get a visit from their sponsor and ours have seen their's for at least 10 years now.

The disabled center was the next stop. We heard their cries and made efforts to better their situations. A message of hope was given. A difficult emotional stop.

That night some went to the church service in Nataniel's garage while the rest showed the Jesus film in a local community. Maybe 100-150 were in attendance. A message focusing on biblical family relationships was give prior to worship music. 

The evening concluded with birthday boy Dan buying ice cream downtown and our daily debrief back at the hotel.

Preface

To inform the reader of this blog: the author needs his sleep. With the busyness of the day and long hours there has not been enough time until now to report on our mission. We have allocated a period now (Tuesday) to correct this situation. The entries may not be as detailed as in the past but we will try to keep our readers and supporters informed to at least some degree. Thank you for your patience.