Wednesday

We started off the morning by joining the staff at Palo Blanco for devotions.  After we enjoyed listening to a few praise songs in Spanish, Chris had everyone get in groups (some of our team members and some of Palo’s staff) and gave everyone a small container of Play-Doh.  We each made something with the Play-Doh that represented something important to us or about us and shared it with the rest of the group. This activity was a fun way to interact with the staff and create some more personal relationships.  We then had a lesson that reminded us that we are the clay and Jesus is the potter (Isaiah 64:8) and if we stay in the center of the potter’s wheel we allow God to work in amazing ways in our lives. We prayed together while everyone held their play-doh (clay) and asked God to make us soft and moldable for His purposes.  Everyone then put stickers on their containers with our main verse in Spanish and English to keep as a reminder.

In the afternoon both Jill and Tyler got to go visit the homes of their sponsored child. Jill sponsors a six year old little girl named Yadielis (Jah-dee-el-ee) and was pleased to see that compared to many of the families around here she has a decent home and lots of family support. Jill was able to meet several family members including Yadielis’ mom, cousins, grandma and great-grandma. Yadielis’ home has several beds and she only has to share a bed with one cousin. Many of the homes we have seen only have one bed for the entire family and often the children end up sleeping on the floor or at a relative’s home.  Just a few days prior to our arrival Yadielis’ mom was in an accident. She was standing on the side of the road and got run over by two mopeds (mopeds outnumber cars in the D.R. 20 to 1). She has severe road rash on her arms which are starting to get infected and she is very bruised and sore.

Tyler sponsors a little boy named Antony who is 9 years old.  Tyler was very excited to get to see his home which is in one of the poorest areas of town. Antony thankfully has one of the better homes for the area. Their home has a refrigerator and a small stove top in the kitchen for food preparation.  Food for the day was stored on the cement floor (a bunch of bananas and several onions).  Most families are only able to afford meat once every few weeks and mostly eat whatever grows around their homes. Beside the kitchen is a small area with a little table to sit around and next to that a curtain partitions off the small bedroom.  Tyler was very excited when Antony sat on his lap to have his picture taken with his padrino (sponsor).

In late afternoon we split into our two groups and went back to the neighborhoods for our second day of vacation Bible school. Each site again had over 50 kids show up from the barrios and we sang songs, played games, and did crafts. Katie, one of the missionaries, shared with us that each summer the Kid’s Alive teams host multiple VBS’s in different neighborhoods and by the end of the summer nearly every child in town has had the opportunity to attend and learn about Jesus! VBS in the DR is quite different than in the states. Kids show up on their own with no parents . Little girls who look to be about 8-10 years old walk in carrying their toddler siblings. The kids are rough and obviously haven’t spent much time in a structured environment.  Crafts are done under a small little lean to where supplies have to be rescued from the gusts of wind. The fact that these kids are showing up to VBS at all is a small victory!

Today we ask you to pray for Yadielis’ mom to recover from her accident and the infection in her arms to clear up. We also ask for prayers for each kid attending VBS this week to have soft hearts that are ready to receive Jesus into their hearts and lives.