11-25
Thanksgiving Day, 2010 is certainly the most original any of us have ever had. In terms of the trip, today has been relatively normal, if there is such a thing here. Breakfast this morning was pancakes, a welcome familiarity. They were prepared by our cooking team lead by Issa, a pastor who works for food for the Hungry during some team visit. She leads the women from the community in preparing our meals. They have all been a blessing to us, especially the care that they take to make sure we have no health problems.
Since I’m on the subject of food and this is Thanksgiving, I’ll share with you what we had for Thanksgiving dinner. As is the Dominican custom, the biggest meal of the day is at noon. Today the cooking team prepared Fried chicken, Rice and beans w/ sauce, a salad of fresh avocado, local squashes, cucumber, peppers, and onions. For desert we had fresh mango and pineapple. It was truly a meal to be very thankful for.
Morning activities consisted of more sponsored child visits, a crew to the house we are repairing, and a group of folks put on a VBS in the area of the building project, just in gathering the kids in a few houses they had 20 in the impromptu VBS.
The home repair project has turned out to be bigger than anticipated. As I related earlier, the home was constructed out of what amounts to large sticks or branches. They are very hard and have been planted in concrete. It is a post and beam home with palm wood siding. There was a barely operable door some tin siding in a few places and a barely holding together tin door. We have torn off the rusted tin siding, replaced it with clapboard type siding of pine. Then we added a small room to the existing one room house. The project has also produced wooden shutters that the family can close and lock as well as sturdy doors that will lock. There are six of them living there, the parents and 3 girls and a boy of about 17. Anevil, the son, has been a constant help all week working alongside us while his father works at a local farm.
The building project has been a great blessing to us and we are sure to the family. As there are a limited number of tools, and at times many of us trying to use them, even the mother, a kindly yet worn looking woman, hurries to find a tool as a need for it is called out. They look to haggard and worn out but at the slightest smile or encouragement beam back with a huge sonrisa, or smile.
Our hearts have broken of the poor conditions these people live in. 2 things in particular have struck different team members in different ways. The first thing is the smell, I’m sure it comes from the beds that are barely worthy of being taken to the dump, and I know many people who wouldn’t let even their dog sleep on such a thing. Yet this family of six shares 2 of them all together. It is clear that all manner of bugs and probably some rats have taken up residence in the box springs. Speaking of bugs that leads to the 2nd heart breaking experience there. When tearing down one of the walls that needed to be replaced an infestation of large spiders including 3 or 4 tarantulas. We are so blessed to be able to help this family. In response to the beds we couldn’t ignore that situation, so the team has provided the funds to purchase new beds and bedding for the family. We hope that it may be delivered before we leave the community early Saturday.
The VBS today was a little overwhelming as the school had an in-service training for teachers so all the kids had the day off. Over 120 kids showed up and it got a little crazy at the end. The lesson went very well and they seemed well engaged in the other activities. Pray for these children they have few good role models and little moral instruction.
Home visits today brought a few notable situations. One was with Dan who had just begun the sponsorship of his child and had not gotten it completely registered before departure. He brought information about the sponsorship in hopes of being able to connect. It turns out that this boy is the son of one of the ladies who cooks for us. She is part of the local Christian church. While visiting in their home he inquired of the father. The father had been killed when he was electrocuted about 2 years ago. This woman is now raising her sons, 5 & 7, all by herself. Pray for this situation.
I was able to also visit the boy that our family sponsors it was a very good visit, and much easier after last year. It was a blessing to be able to meet his father this year. His father is a carpenter and he gave us a tour of a “resort” that is being constructed just down the street. It is truly luxury for this community with swimming pool, large Jacuzzi, and rooms with individual bathrooms, even running water. But on speaking with the local FH workers we discovered that this will be kid of a mini “sin-city”. The funding for it is questionable, probably drug related, and the prime activities there will be gambling and probably prostitution. It will likely be a place for people with means to come from the city and commit their indiscretions in a more secluded place. We MUST PRAY that God brings this place down. Surely the young ladies of this community will be enticed into working there and the bad company cannot help but corrupt other young people.
The relationships we have built here will be greatly missed once we return home, especially those among our team including the FH staff and interpreters. They have been such a great blessing and more than that have become a part of our team family. Pray for them and their continued work. They are the real people on the front lines of this battlefield of faith.
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