Wednesday

Today was construction day. The day began with breakfast at 7:30. Pablo spoiled the team with empanadas. Kim led a devotion about our call to serve and ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

While the team is funding 7 separate building projects this year, the singular project they are helping with the labor is pouring a "garage" floor by Pastor Anderson. This area will be used as a temporary church until his membership increases to the point where he can expand (he doesn't own a car anyhow).

Paul, Dean, and Mike stayed to work while the others visited the Special Needs School where they shared messages. At 12:30 Chris, Crystal, Sheila, and Molly went live-on-the-air on Radio Azua. Every day for a half hour Nathaniel hosts a Christian radio program (on a secular station). The ladies discussed their faith journeys and while a bit nervous to start with did a fantastic job of sharing.

A late lunch was at Anderson's and the next hour or so was either canvassing, taking a break, or running errands. Beans, rice, chicken, salad, avocados, and pineapple punch were enjoyed.

Another delicious Dominican Pablo and Ruth supper and the team headed out for the Jesus Film. They ended up in a remote and hilly part of town and showed the film on the exact spot as they did in 2008. El Hefe directed them to this location as the pastor is new and it's another very poor area. The hillside setting was gorgeous under the full moon that was shining down on us. About 50-75 of mostly children watched the movie and Jesus sketch, listened to messages, and sang with the team. While our language differences may be a barrier to communication, worshipping Jesus is universal and warm hugs ended the night.

Poverty, poor nutrition, lack of transportation, lack of medical care, and less-than-safe living conditions all lead to various forms of sickness, disease, and injuries; the team sees cases every day without having to look hard. With 3 team members having medical training this allows better recognition of the most serious conditions. Tonight was the 2nd night in a row where a life-threatening condition may be made well if our prayers are answered.

Many topics needed to be discussed so the debrief went long and the team arrived back at the hotel around 11:40 to get ready for a 7am start on Thursday.