Wednesday, June 20, 2007

My devotion time is focused on Wisconsin – my son meets with his attorney for the first time today.

Breakfast was oatmeal, which always tastes better in the DR. No idea why; Millie says she does nothing special.

We met with another of the children Fred and I sponsor, Yesica. We drove in the truck, because it’s quite a ways from the school. Yesica, her brother and her sister live with her grandparents, and attend a charismatic Catholic church. Her grandparents said that protestants in the DR don’t think Catholics are Christians. I shared that I do, I grew up Catholic, and know that, as in many faiths, there are believers in Christ, and people who just go to church. Religion does not make a person a Christian; faith in the blood of Christ does. Dilio shared that, when he decided to accept Christ and leave the Catholic church, he was fired from his job in a Catholic school. Her prayer request is for her grandfather’s health.

Next we visited Phil, Sarah and Courtney’s sponsored child, Rosa. She was very shy. During the course of the visit, we learned that she and her sister sang in the church choir, so we asked her to sing her favorite song. She was too shy to sing alone, but when her sister agreed to sing with her, they sang a very beautiful song for us. We invited them to join us in the afternoon at VBS.

I don’t think I mentioned that it was hot. It was very, very hot. I didn’t take the temperature this year – when I did so last year, it seemed to make the heat harder to take! So, suffice it to say, it was hot.

At the home of Carol’s sponsored child, there really wasn’t room for all of us to go inside, so Courtney, Sarah and I sat on the porch and visited. Courtney asked me what it was like to grow up Catholic. I had an overwhelmingly positive experience in Catholic schools, so I shared that with her.

After that visit, we went back to the school for a lunch of spaghetti with chicken. I must’ve looked hot, because Vicki insisted on having me use her fan, which was a more powerful than mine. We hitched a ride on the truck to the church for VBS, singing all the way. I’ll get those songs down, yet!!

Nataniel and Katarina joined us to lead singing. I saw Rosa and her sister, and the were all smiles during Pharoah! I’m not as graceful as Lynn doing the motions, so I’m sure it was pretty funny to watch! One of the songs Nataniel and Katarina sang was called “Tu Fidelidad” and it’s very beautiful. If I got it down right, the words are:

Tu fidelidad, es grande
Tu fidelidad incomparable es
Nadi es como tu, Bendito Dios
Grande es tu fidelidad

Quiero llenar tu trono de alabanza
Quiero llenar tu trono de Adoracion
Quiero Adorar postrado en tu presencia
Y Proclamar te Señor

The craft project for the day was to make friendship bracelets. Courtney had cut all the colors of the strings, and sorted them into baggies with a bead for each. She went to a lot of work! The kids loved the craft – the strings were braided together about halfway, the gold bead added, then the rest of the string braided. The children were to give it to a friend.

After VBS, I was pampered so much I joked about getting the spa treatment – Martires and Lynn brought me ice water, Mario fanned me, Nataniel gave me a shoulder rub. I could get spoiled!

Some of the team were handing out more letters to sponsored children, and we took the other children outside. One of the children asked me if I liked to dance (because I’d been doing the motions to Pharaoh, I suppose). I said, yes, I used to enjoy doing a polka. Naturally, that wasn’t a dance they knew, so I had to show them. There’s nothing quite like a vigorous polka in the 100+ degree heat! After I showed them the basic steps, I dragged Rick into the demonstration. Dilio also took a go at it. It was fun!
Phil, Sarah and Courtney led the devotional on what it means to be a missional church. Wish I’d written more down, because it was a really good devotional.

Dilio looked very sad, so a couple of us talked to him and learned he would be away from his family for a month. He showed us pictures of his wife, and said he has two sons and an infant daughter.

Then we gathered in the camp’s conference room to sign caps. Sarah had the great idea to get baseball caps, and have all the team members sign them, to give to the VBS students. 150 caps take a while to sign, so it got to be a bit late before we slept.