Final post from Dominican soil

This last post from the DR begins in the van as we bounce down the road out of Sierra Prieta.  The entire team is overwhelmed by the experience of the last week and especially of Friday.  The tears from the locals on our departure were real tears of people who will miss their close friends.  It almost chokes me up to even type about it.  The people have become a part of us and we are carrying their spirit in our hearts as we leave.  The Dominican people and especially those of Sierra Prieta are so giving and welcoming and they make our thoughts of hospitality seem anemic, despite the great wealth we all live in.

Yesterday we began with an incredible game of softball with the local youth.  It really was a fun time.  It was like being on the playground; we had captains and chose teams.  After being split up we began to play.  It was really incredible how there was no awkwardness or difficulty of acceptance.  The game was much fun and Bob and Steve really shined.  Their skill brought much respect.  After 6 exciting innings we called it a game and all the players and spectators gathered in a circled to be led in prayer.  It was a truly incredible experience.

After lunch the ladies of our team were able to bless the women who had been cooking for us during the week.  They volunteered their time to work with a pastor’s wife came everyday from another community to be trained how to cook for us.  We had been trying to figure out an appropriate way to thank them for all of their work and care.  So Terry led the women of our team in giving all of the ladies a complete pedicure treatment.  The ladies of the community took to the treatment with great excitement.  It was really incredible to see the expressions on the faces of all involved.

After the pedicure treatments came to a close as most of the team spent the afternoon hanging out with the people and children who would gather around the church.  At the same time Lori, Steve, and I (Greg) were able to meet with the leaders of the community leaders at the elementary school to hear of their vision for the community.  It was very inspiring.   One of the things that really impressed us was the hope and truly constructive nature of the things that they wanted to see happen in their community.  The primary requests had to do with safety/sanitation, children, youth, and health.  The primary things they indicated were about education, job training and keeping youth directed away from drugs, prostitution and alcohol.   They expressed over and over that their desire was for resources to overcome problems not for us to fix them. 

Following the meeting with the community leaders we were invited to a most inspiring Farewell Ceremony.  Many different leaders shared words of gratitude and kinship.  The most touching was the address by the community association president. He said that the people of Sierra Prieta were very sad and without hope before they knew of our interest in them.  But now that outsiders from a place such as the United States had come with such concern for them, their children and their young people there is now an atmosphere of hope and a desire to follow a vision for the community.  No one would say “adios” or good-bye.  They all kept telling us “Hasta Luego” until later.  They said over and over that their doors are always open to us and that even if we came only for a visit with them that we would be welcome at any time.  Following these speeches we were each presented with a certificate of appreciation from FFH.  We felt like we were presented with the key to the city when they gave us a beautiful hand painted plaque in honor of our trip and efforts to help this community.  Greg and Dale and Terry shared words of friendship and farewell.  And each person from the community who spoke expressed their concern for a safe trip home and promised to pray for us, as they knew we would be praying for them.

Following the Farewell meeting we grabbed a quick dinner of PB & J and then joined another service in the yard of the church.  The style of worship is so different but very energetic and after much singing and praising Greg spoke a gospel message from Mark 11:15-18.  The message was described as strong and to the point by one listener.

After the service there were many tearful “Hasta Luego’s”, hugs, kisses and smiles.  We look forward very anxiously to our report presentation on Sunday the 22^nd of November.

We are now at the hotel near the airport and very much enjoying the air-conditioning and modern amenities that we will soon be taking for granted again.

Thursday

Today we are finding ourselves very sad to see the week coming to an end.  After the evening service tonight the people were expressing to us how sad they were that we are leaving.  They said that the last days they have been counting down sadly the time until we leave.  They are already asking when we will return.  They want to know when they can mark on their calendars that we will be back.  They have told us that their hearts are breaking thinking about our departure.

We had a long day today with VBS in the morning.  Corianne (AKA Korean) and Terry (AKA Cherry) (this is how the people here have been pronouncing their names) gave a great lesson about the power of God.  Then we made bracelets with the five colors on them to represent the story of salvation.  It was very exciting to see them repeat what all the colors are and their significance. Then the parachute and balloons.  At the same time the rest of the team was completing another latrine.

The afternoon brought the completion of another latrine and more sponsored children home visits. The following children were visited.

Alexander sponsored by the Faxons

Oliver sponsored by the Hermans

Dianisia & Paquita sponsored by the Chandlers

This evening the church had a campaign service with lots of out charismatic worship.  Then Dale shared his testimony about being brought out of a life of drugs and alcohol by God’s intervention.  This really spoke to the young people as drugs and alcohol are a huge problem among young people here.  A man from the army shared how he had been saved and gave a great invitation.

As we gathered together after the service the team, 10 from Cornerstone and our 3 interpreters, had a special and moving time of prayer.  We have gained an even greater burden for these people and the local church here.

There will be a final evangelistic service here on Friday night before we leave the community on Saturday to head to the city for our Sunday departure.  Greg has asked if he would be able to preach at this service – we are waiting to see how the organizing churches respond.  Please pray for this opportunity no matter who brings the message. 

Also tomorrow we will be playing in a softball game with the local youth.  The people here are treating this almost like a holiday.  Everyone from the smallest kids to the older adults are asking “What time is the game?”  There is a great deal of excitement surrounding the game.  Pray that we will see and take advantages to make a positive impact during this time.

Sorry no pictures today – it’s too late and I have to get some sleep.  Upload times for even small pictures are 5 to 15 minutes each.

What an Incredible Day!

Today was the first day that things started to feel familiar. We had breakfast at 8am and then some went out to meet with their sponsored children while the rest of the team completed another base for a new latrine. Today was a good weather day as there was only rain during lunch. In the afternoon the VBS was great again as Lori and Zach taught about Peter cutting off the ear of the High priests slave as they arrested Christ. The kids love the songs and just desire to cling to people at all times. After the lesson we brought out the parachute again and is was a huge hit. Many adults and even an elderly woman joined in.

We completed our first latrine today. The family is so excited. The mother came out and looked in it as it was completed she said, “Que linda!” - how beautiful. This is really an incredible thing for them.

Adelia sponsored by the Vanderwerf family

Guder sponsored by the Faxon family.

Enerfries and Filipe sponsored by the Mckearney family.

Bob had an opportunity to minister using his medical training. He checked out a boy who had a fever @ 2 years old and now can’t hear out of one ear and seems to have a lazy eye. Now he is 15 years old. He has seen a specialist but it was a long time ago. Bob suggested that returning to the specialis would be the best thing to do. But it was his presence to encourage the family and motivate them to help their son that made a real difference.

Louis the country director came by to honor our presence. I had the opportunity to hear his perspective on the people here. He was telling me how the people have no real hope. They don’t see positive things in their future. The parents don’t even have hope for their kids. But the presence of people here from far away in an important place like the US brings them up to a great level of confidence. No important people come here unless they are looking for something – like a vote. Many relief agencies bring only money. But the significance of our presence is the relationships we are building. Relationships are what it takes to give people hope, especially people who are perceived as valuable. The truth is that the value comes from Christ – but the only way some may accept this is through being valued by others.

This evening was easily the highlight of the day. We planned to show a movie about the life of Jesus, “The Story of Jesus for Children” Despite problems with the equipment the evening was an incredible success. We could not get the video projector to work, and so showed the movie on the laptop we brought to transmit the blog info. Fortunately there was a sound system we could use for the sound but the 15” screen served to show the movie to over 100 people mostly children and adults. The front yard of the church was overflowing with people before the movie began. While we were having technical difficulties getting things moving the ladies began some singing. It was incredible to hear 100 Dominican voices singing with such great enthusiasm the songs that we had never heard only months ago. It was overwhelming and emotional to hear those kids chanting “Otra, otra!” They were calling for more songs over and over.

Once the movie began more and more people came and watched. The close attention that was paid throughout the movie was amazing. After the movie Martires gave a clear and concise Gospel invitation. 23 young people and children came forward and accepted Jesus as their savior. Their names are below please hold them up to pray.
Antonio
Jason
Pedro Louis
Edifrain
Louisdavi
Louis Manuell
Juan
Eliseo
Vladimil
Emily
Alberto
Endri
Luigi
Samuel
Milady
Emily
Rafiel
Mariella
Desidenny
Amourice
Quarelli
Ronel-Benjamin
Leon-Ramirez

Tuesday – This morning we divided up into 2 teams once again.  There was a work crew and a home visit crew for the morning.  The work crew completed another cement base for a latrine.  The home visit crew went with Kelvin, the community liaison, and Chelia (Shay-la) the interpreter who joined us yesterday afternoon.  Kelvin brought us to visit the homes of 4 different sponsored children. 

The children were very intimidated and we had to work very hard to draw them out.  Though I don’t think many 9 or 11 year olds would be much different given the 6 foreigners staring at them hoping for a response.  With some effort at communication there was a little response and the mothers or grandmothers of the children were very welcoming and thankful for the partnership we have entered into with them.  Greg even tried the “waist high on my ducks joke” to break the ice – at least it loosened everyone up. 

The FFH staff assures us that subsequent visits will go much better now that a beginning relationship has been established.

We visited the homes of:

Yasmine and Ciprian sponsored by the Herman family

Christofer sponsored by the Wilson family

Mariana sponsored by the Mckearney family

Mariana was the most outspoken she said she hopes that we come back; she wants to see her sponsored family again soon.  They really see our presence here as a sign of hope and blessing.

The afternoon’s activities were hindered by a rain storm that hit just as the work project and VBS were supposed to begin.  They probably see the annual rainfall of the Powell area each week. 

After two and a half days here we are drawing closer as a team and learning to trust each other not just as teammates but with realities of our weaknesses.

Zach says “It’s and experience, it’s really very cool – I feel very white.”

We are all working hard to learn the culture and build relationships with the people here.  Dale can’t speak much Spanish so he yells “Hola” and holds up the 2 fingered peace sign.  Now almost the whole community is doing this when they see us.  It’s neat to see a small gesture of welcome from so many.

The team and especially the ladies have been connecting so well with the children and young girls.  It seems like if we are outside of our quarters they are holding and talking and singing all around.

It has been a blessing to have Bob with us, it’s been a comfort to be able to have a MD address our aches pains, watch over Steve’s incision site, and advise on bug bites.  We sleep with mosquito spray every night and still seem to get a bit or two. 

The rain broke and we were able to begin the VBS this afternoon.  However, as soon as we had gathered about 20 kids the rain began again so we moved them inside the building where we are staying.  Aletha did a great job telling the story of Peter getting out of the boat and walking on water.  After some singing and the story we brought out the parachute provided by Chris Wolff.  It was really incredible to watch the kids play with it. 

I can’t wait to share a video – but the upload time is so long I can’t possible do it from here.  Each picture takes up to 15 min. and must be done out back by the outhouse.    But it is so incredible to be able to share with everyone as it happens.  Be sure to tell everyone to check the blog I’ll try to update daily.

The work crew couldn’t work because of the rain soaked ground.  It’s too dangerous to work in mud along the edge of a freshly dug deep hole.  While VBS was going on the guys from the crew helped fill the water tank for washing and then get our truck unstuck from the mud.  Dale wore some of the mud for the rest of the day.  Then the guys got out one of the soccer balls and played volleyball in the street with the teenage guys from the community.  This was very exciting because it was our first real interaction with them. 

Before dinner we had a short meeting with Arismendy the FFH regional director.  He shared FFH’s vision for the community and similar communities across the world, to work closely with local leaders, families and local churches to alleviate poverty on all levels.  Here in the Dominican Republic, the communities are so welcoming and to their work which has made them so much more effective.  There have been many promises made to them by politicians, and even other non-profit relief agencies but with no actual results.  But FFH’s continual presence in the communities shows their real commitment. 

He also shared that they would welcome donations of school supplies, baseball equipment, clothing and shoes (especially for children.  The latrines we are building will especially help the kids who often don’t have shoes and so can be found walking in very unsanitary conditions.  It causes them many health problems. 

This is our first evening to have a real break without at church service.  It has been much needed and helped us to bond and recover from the extreme humidity and heat and catch up from our long travel day.  As I am writing there are still drips of sweat coming off my head at 8:30 at night. 

Since I’m writing I’ll take this opportunity to thank my wife for the cards and to tell her and the kids I love you and miss you.  – I’m sure the others would share similar greetings if they had the opportunity.

God bless thank you for your prayers.

Almost forgot – Kelvin (community liaison) asked Bob if he would be able to look at 2 different kids with some severe health problems that, I believe, have never seen a doctor.  Of course he agreed – we’ll see how this goes over the next couple of days.

We will be visiting more sponsored children tomorrow as well as the planned work project and VBS. 

Thursday will be much the same – however we will attempt to lead a VBS in the morning too for kids who attend school in the afternoon.  Friday we will continue to interact with the community and have a softball game against the local youth group. 

Please pray for the FFH’s coordinators, Martires and Jose, they spend week after week away form their families to be with church groups here in the poor communities.  One time, Martires spent only one night at his house if 4 weeks of working with teams.  These godly men have become like brothers to us.

This is me outside by the outhouse sending the blog last night.  God Bless!

Happy Birthday Emily!!

Dale and Zach felt veyr badly that they could not be with Emily for her birthday today.  Happy birthday!!!

Monday

Day one of Ministry

We began the day with breakfast promptly at 8am. After which we divided up into groups one for home visits and VBS & the other for the work project. The group doing home visits met some very welcoming families and some with great needs. One woman Lativa, whose husband had just left her, had 2 boys 6 years and 10 mos. She had no job because she had to take care of her baby, who had a health condition.c
In the morning the work crew laid cement for the first latrine. The community members have dug the holes and then work along side the team. FFH team members Franco and Darrio, construction foreman and apprentice, taught the work crew to do the cement work for the bases of the latrines. We completed two latrines on Monday. On Tuesday the other group will work as Monday’s work crew does home visits and teaches the VBS.

The first day of the VBS brought about 40 kids from the community. The lesson was about when Jesus called the disciples to be fishers of men. They sang children’s songs in Spanish and made a craft of a fishing pole with a fish attached by yarn. The first day revealed many things we hope to improve on throughout the week, including better use of interpreters and better explanation of the crafts. But the children had a great time and learned about spreading the gospel.

In the evening we went with a local evangelist to another part of the community to take part in a service. Bob Chandler preached about Peter and his denial of Christ and subsequent restoration. It was well spoken and well received, despite the rain.

The community has been saying we have brought with us the blessing of rain. They depend on rain almost daily for household water needs and for crops and animals. There is a well in town for drinking water but all other water must be carried a distance or collected from the rain.

We are adjusting to the weather conditions. It has been very hot and always humid. For many of the guys the only time we don’t sweat is when we are taking a bucket shower. The work crew had to keep putting on sunscreen and so far we haven’t had any bad burns to report.

The team has been very supportive of each other. We are also bonding with our Dominican team members very well. Kelvin is the local contact for FFH and though he does not speak English we have enjoyed getting to know him as well. He lives in another community where he has been helping with development. He and his wife just had a baby boy. He drives here everyday to help with our ministry. Also today a new interpreter, Cheila, joined our team. She has never interpreted formally before. She has done informal work in bilingual classes. She just turned 18 last weekend and is a member of the church that Martirtes and Arismendy attend.

Arriving and Meeting the People

The flights out here were an adventure but like everything that has tried to hinder our trip we saw God work things out to his glory.  Despite hours of delay leaving Denver we managed to run through the airport in Philadelphia and got on our flight with no time to spare. 

Arriving was like entering a new world – hot, humid, and filled with smiling friendly faces.  We were met by Martires, Jose, Arizmendy, and some others.  Jose and Martires are our translators – living with us in the church and taking care of all the logistics of the trip.  Arizmendy is the regional director and is looked upon very highly in Sierra Prieta as one who is bringing the much needed help and resources of Food for the Hungry. 

Our living quarters are fully adequate – a cinder block church with a tin roof and a tarp strung across one end to separate the women and men. 

We got to sleep very late and slept in.  After breakfast we took a walk around the community and met some of the children and people of Sierra Prieta.  It is filled with primitive wooden and tin homes that are not much bigger than single car garages.  The people are so friendly and smile and wave at every turn.  As we walked along we played catch with the kids and quickly we included in a game of pelota, which is more like cricket than anything else I could describe.  Soon a few of the ladies were getting their hair braided in the local salon and other folks were making home visits.  It was so amazing to see team members connect so quickly despite the language barriers.

The children look at us as though we are celebrities and flock around whenever we are about.  Sunday afternoon brought us to the local school which only has enough rooms for kids up to 4^th grade even though they meet in 2 sessions each day.  They had a welcome meeting complete with speeches from community leaders, the principle, the PTA leader, a sponsored child and a young man from the local youth group.  Food for the Hungry people also spoke and each person was very excited about the partnership we have started and spoke of many visits.  They said we should consider Sierra Prieta our home.  In some ways we already do.

As the meeting progressed a rain storm struck.  It really struck.  It was raining so hard that we had to suspend the meeting as speakers could not be heard due to the rain on the tin roof.  We waited about 25 minutes, completed the meeting during a lull and then waited another 40 mins for the rain so subside enough to leave. 

The evening brought a service at the church, which was outside because we have taken up the entire inside of the church with our beds.  It was very similar to a service in the States minus the lights, building, and other technologies.  Zach and Aletha shared their testimonies to the blessing of all in attendance.

We have all made special connections with the people here already.  The family of Gregorio, and his son Wilson, their wives and children has opened their home to us already – almost seeming insulted when we had to leave after an hour of conversation and hospitality.  Their home is no more than 200 square feet divided up into 3 rooms.  Their cocina, or kitchen, is outside.  Its a fire on an tin piece elevated on sticks/branches.

Sierra Prieta Quarterly Update

The team is finalizing last minute preparation.  Excitement for the trip is at an all time high.  In just over 24 hours we'll be headed to Billings for an early morning departure that will deposit us in Santo Domingo by 10 pm local time.  Just this week we received an update on the progress Food for the Hungry(FFH)'s staff is making in helping in the community.  

As you pray for the team from Cornerstone and our partners, the people of Sierra Prieta and FFH, I thought you would like to hear more of what God is already doing and see a few pictures from the community.   What follows is FFH's actual report from the front lines.




C2C QUARTERLY REPORT

COMMUNITY: SIERRA PRIETA, MTE. PTA., DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Main activities:

Solving legal identity cases of some community members

When FH began a relationship in the community of Sierra Prieta, we noticed that about 50% of the people in the community of all ages and genders did not have birth certificates. This meant they were not registered in the Registry Office. Their status kept them from certain civil rights as Dominicans. In essence, the lack of a birth certificate meant that the did not exist as people in the eyes of the government. Many of the children and youth of the community can’t register in school because they don’t have birth certificates. Youth and adults don’t have opportunities to get better jobs because they don’t have education, and in some cases if they do have education, cannot get an ID that would allow them to have a better standard of living.

FH promoter Martin Martinez met with community leaders to create a plan in which they could solve this problem. Martin Martinez contacted Mr. Salud Hernandez, president of Los Botados development committee (this community is 5 kilometers from Sierra Prieta), who was very supportive.

Salud Hernandez trains people from the community about the importance of having their birth certificates.

With the collaboration of Mr. Salud Hernandez, we began the process of getting the birth certificates for community members in any age group who didn’t have their documents. Martin Martinez also developed an arrangement with the school principal that allowed undocumented youth to begin their studies while still in the process of requesting birth certificates from the government.

Children, adults and youth from the community attend the training with Mr. Salud Hernandez.

Donation of sports equipment

In the community of Sierra Prieta, the youth could not practice sports due to lack of resources to purchase equipment. The youth of the community approached FH promoter Martin Martinez and requested sports equipment. FH responded to the request by donating baseball and softball equipment, which were handed over to the youth leader’s group.

This action had immediate results. Now, the youth are developing their sports abilities and keeping their minds busy, rather than developing bad habits such as drugs, alcohol and prostitution. Some children are working towards the goal of having careers in baseball when they are older. Moreover, relationships between youth are improving as they practice together.

Children and youth with their sports equipment

Prayer requests:

- For the unification of the community for their own development.

- For the birth certificate process in the community.

- For God to continue taking care of the children of Sierra Prieta.

Read This First

If you have made it to this page then you either:

A) have a vested interest in the people of Sierra Prieta (you sponsor a child)

or

2) you have a vested interest in the team from Cornerstone Community Fellowship who is going there.

In either case there are some things that I really want you to be aware of as you try to follow our trip and the ministry that God does in Sierra Prieta.

The first thing is the very nature of poverty. Our preparation has been pretty extensive consisting of reading, Bible memorization, listening to sermons, team building exercises and training sessions. One of the most significant things to come out of our training is a better and more Biblical understanding of poverty than any of us had before. It would be really worth your time to listen to the podcast “Poverty Started Somewhere” found at http://povertyunlocked.com/2007/07/30/pu-002-poverty-started-somewhere-jul-30-2007/. It is a very general but incredibly Biblical perspective on where poverty comes from, what causes it and helps us see how we can be a part of combating it. The bottom line is that Poverty is a matter of sin destroying the way we were meant to relate to everything. They can be broken down into four different failed relationships 1) Failure of Spiritual relationship – our relationship with God 2) Failure of Social relationship – our relationships with other people 3) Failure of Physical or Environmental relationship – The way we relate to the physical world 4) failure of relationship with Self – A failed mental and emotional state that won’t let us see ourselves for what we are.

Poverty isn’t just a lack of money, or resources or opportunity. It’s the result of a failed and sinful system of relationships. Our desire in this is to help restore relationships so that people can begin to heal their perspective and overcome the obstacles they face.

The second thing I want you to grasp is what our C2C (community to community) relationship is about. The people of Sierra Prieta are not a project for us to complete or lost souls to save. They are a community of people we are PARTNERING with. In a real sense they are actually the lead partner. The sanitation project we will be working on has been chosen by them. If we don’t get it completed they will finish it. Each time we work on a project it will be at their direction. Food for the Hungry does have a community representative who works in the community to help educate and give advice to the community leaders but the locals themselves make the final decisions. Our primary role is to enter into healthy and encouraging relationships with the people of Sierra Prieta. For more on the value of relationships in overcoming poverty see http://povertyunlocked.com/2009/09/11/pu-040-walking-with-the-poor-sep-11-2009/.

For information about C2C relationships see http://povertyunlocked.com/2009/06/05/pu-036-church-partnerships-jun-5-2009/ and http://www.fh.org/help/churches/c2c.

The third and final thing that is so important to me and the team is that you, the people of Cornerstone, see this as a whole church undertaking. Already many of you are sponsoring children in Sierra Prieta. Already you are sending money and praying for a particular child or children and their family. This trip is the next of many steps we will take to be a part of God’s transforming work in the lives of this community. Pray, for us and the community, learn about what we are doing and why we are doing it the way we are, and prepare, you may be the next to go. Ask God if he would make a way for you to go on the next trip we take to the Dominican Republic.

My name is Greg Wilson. It’s my privilege to lead our team of 11 workers. We are the first missions team from Cornerstone Community Fellowship. I believe that we will find great blessing and great challenge. Our primary goal is to Glorify Christ in all that we do. I can already see him at work, can you? Are you looking with expectation?

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. (New Living Translation)