Arrival in Sierra Prieta

Wow what a day(s) after 24 hours of travel in 3 states and 4 airports we were so glad to arrive in the Dominican Republic.  The key word for our travels was PATIENCE followed by flexibility.  Praise God we did in the end arrive safely with a few hours of sleep  behind us.

JFK airport sunrise

We were greeted at the airport by our familiar friends heat and humidity.  But even better was the greeting by our brother Carlos his girlfriend Jennifer, and our interpreters, Alexandro and Nethaniel.  It’s like we’ve said before, as soon as our team touches down in the Dominican Republic it grows instantly. 

New Friends young and old.

After a quick lunch we were on to Sierra Prieta.  Even before we unloaded old friends were waiving greetings to us.  We were warmly greeted at every turn.  We ran in to many old friends.  Vasilia, Pastor Sedundo, Guadalupe, Yajirah, Christina, Carlos, and little ones like Anna Rosa, Juan Armando, Yaren, Leoni, and so many others.  Jeff mentioned that it is incredible the greeting we get.  There is surely a significant connection. In addition our friends on the FH staff blessed us with their continual support.  It was great to see Kelvin and Cesar again.

Greeting Yahira

One of our sponsored kids, Anna Rosa 

We are once again staying in the community center.  It has been fixed up a little bit more and the roof mended.  Right now we are waiting out the music from the outdoor bar down the street.  Really looking forward to the electricity cycling off so they stop. 

Holden imagined Sierra Prieta as a wide open plains type samll town, with clear views from house to house and streets somewhat laid out, like we find in Wyoming.  What he found is a community connected by winding roads through jungle foliage. Some homes right next to each other and others separated by a dense curtain of plant-life.  In it all he found new friends as did we all.  He was especially drawn to the multitude of small children following and interacting along our ways.

Already we have seen great strides taken since last year.  Kelvin shared with us that many here have followed the teaching we shared last year.  The community has gotten very organized and compelled the government to expand the school.  In a few months the project will be complete.  They will go from serving 1 to  6 grades in split shifts to serving grades 1 to 8 in full day classes and serving  1 or 2 meals to make sure the kids are well fed and prepared to learn.  We also learned that FH is raising funds to put in a water filtration unit on the community well.  They hope to make it possible for everyone in Sierra Prieta to have clean drinking water at a very low or no cost.  This will have great impact on the health of especially the young ones here.

New school construction of classrooms and kitchen.

God bless you all.  We anticipate a great week of building relationships and seeing God work.  Pray for our youngest team member to find comfort in very unfamiliar circumstances, especially all the nighttime noise. We are blessed to be surrounded by such a supportive team of people.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to some planning and getting a few more things organized.  We'll have a welcome ceremony with the whole community and Jeff will be preaching in the local church service tomorrow night.  We found out our work project will be to build a home for a family much in need of one.

God Bless!