Praises, Praises, and more Praises!

Arrival:
Our team arrived in Santo Domingo safely on Friday afternoon with ALL our luggage except the projector screen (which was delivered on Saturday morning). We were received and welcomed to Monte Plata by about 150 people in the Friday night church service (triple the amount of people that usually attend the service)! Rebekah said that the service and the folks there were energized by our presence! Despite how tired we all were, we were excited to be there and to start our "mission"! It was a wonderful time for us to meet the men and women that have been praying for us and that will work alongside us this week.

On Saturday morning, when Ramon (the brother in charge of the orphanage at Monte Plata) saw the projector screen set up, he exclaimed "Hallelujah!!!". We found out that the church had been discussing how to creatively address the screen issue before we came -- they were going to paint a white square on the wall so that the images can be projected and seen. What a direct answer to their prayers when we arrived with a screen and that it arrived safely and on time :) Hallelujah indeed!!!

Vacation Bible School:
We held a half day VBS for the children ages 5 to 12 on Saturday morning. We (and the church) had been praying for a good turn-out of children, but not a number that would overwhelm us... and guess what? God answered that prayer directly as well! We had prepared and packed 150 kits for VBS and 150 children came! God is soooo good to us! Each child had materials to make the crafts and participate in the program. The puppet show was a smashing hit!!! We were told that they had never seen anything like it and the kids (and grown-ups) just ate it all up!!! Our sore arms were a very tiny price to pay to see the faces of excitement and wonder on the children!

Painting Projects:
On Saturday afternoon, our team was split up into two groups. One group went to paint at the church and the second group went to paint at the house that Rebekah is living in. After working hard painting, we took a short break to pass out invitations door-to-door in the neighborhood for Speechless on Sunday night. Some of the kids from the Monte Plata youth group came out to help us. It was fun to get to hang out with them a bit. We were very brave in using our Spanish :)

Saturday Night Youth Group:
The youth group for the Monte Plata church met on Saturday nights. Matthew did a great job preaching in Spanish and the Worship Team was excellent in leading us in songs and praise. We were told that about 30 kids come to a typical youth group night, but this Saturday, there were about 100 of us there! We played the Animal Game. What a crack up! It's great that some of our games are trans-cultural and that we can all still have a fun time and fellowship without language!

Sunday Morning:
It's interesting to wake up to the sounds of the jungle :) Dan preached this morning. He preached on Romans 1 -- about being the God of your own life. We are enjoying worshipping with the saints in the DR.

Speechless is tonight... 7:00pm DR time, 3:00pm CA time!
We are working hard at finishing the last minute details and making sure that everyone knows their lines... well, timing, places and motions, actually :). Pray that many would come and that God will be glorified in our presentation!

Baseball:
We haven't had a chance to play baseball yet. That's on the agenda tomorrow :)


Thank you all for praying! We are confident that the Lord hears them all and is working mightily in the DR because of your prayers! Please continue to pray for us... for sleep, for our health, for communication, and for His work in our hearts and lives, and for the people and saints here in the DR!

Sending a big tired e-hug and lots of love to all:

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