2005 Dominican Republic Trip: Friday, August 19

Susan wanted to work at the construction site, so I stayed back with VBS team. We had VBS in the morning this time. I thought we’d have fewer children, because of changing the time. We had far more children: 170! Victor led some singing, and had a neat “clapping” game that I think Kids’ Celebration will enjoy. He had the children divide into two groups. Then when he pointed at one group, they clapped once. Same for the other group. He walked down the aisle of the church slowly pointing at each group, then gradually accelerating until they were all continuously clapping. Millie’s daughter, Patricia, helped a lot. She helped us get the craft ready, and she speaks some English, so she helped us communicate with the children when the interpreters were busy elsewhere.

The construction team worked only the morning, so they could get time between work and the farewell ceremony later in the afternoon.

During lunch, Dr. Bill and I had a nice visit with Kelvin, the youth pastor. He is trying to learn English, so with the help of my electronic translator, and a good Spanish/English dictionary, we were able to have quite a long conversation without the help of our interpreters. Kelvin is one of four sons, and his father raises cocoa. I felt led to give him the Spanish/English dictionary to help his efforts, and wrote a little dedication in the front, which Andres translated into Spanish. He said it is difficult to find good reference books like that in the Dominican Republic. (We found our copy at Half Price Books.)

In the afternoon, the women on the team met with the women of the community. Roxy had planned a nice craft, and Rosie (one of the Dominican women who works for FH) had ordered a cake and some juice to serve as refreshments. Patricia helped again with the craft, and with communicating with the women. She has a sweet spirit, and is a very pretty girl. We met at a chapel a couple of miles away from the main church, and visited, prayed, and did the craft. It was a wonderful time of sharing. The chapel was quite warm, so Almonte brought electric fans over from the main church – unfortunately, we had no electricity that afternoon, so they didn’t work. Noranne mentioned that often we find it difficult to fit prayer and Bible study into busy lives, and asked how they fit this into their lives. Some get up earlier, some take some time during the day. One of the women who is a teacher said she prays with her class. Noranne pointed out that praying with their students is forbidden in the US. They were surprised to find that they have a freedom that we do not, and said they would pray for our country. The cake was delicious – a white cake with an almond cream filling, decorated with slices of almond and a few maraschino cherries. When we left, we were all hugging and crying together. It was a beautiful experience, and words do not do it justice.

After that, we joined the rest of the team at church, and then drove over to the school for the farewell ceremony. Josie spoke on behalf of the pastor, who had obligations elsewhere. I don’t remember all that was said, but I do remember one of the people who spoke said that when the Americans are here, it is impossible to keep the children at home – they want to be where the Americans are!

After the ceremony, we drove to the newest well and water tower, and there was a ceremony to dedicate the well to the community in the name of God. Jonathan admired the workmanship, and some people washed their hands in the first water to come from the spigots.

Then we went back to the camp for supper, and to get ready to leave the next day.