sitio nuevo

I have rented a little house with a small yard to use as my new ministry site (shown in the photo above)! I am very excited to have found this location. It is in Los Higos, just up the road from the Casabera, on the same side of the road (for those who have visited us in Los Higos). The house has a living room (shown in the picture below) and two smaller bedrooms, an outdoor kitchen, and a roofed breezeway (?) between the house and the kitchen.

I'm excited to have yard big enough to have a small garden and a rabbit hutch.

The last few days, people have shown up to help me clean the house and fill in a large hole that had been dug in the front yard. The hole as meant to be used for an outhouse, but I didn't like the location (in the front yard, near the front gate). I'm considering building a dry composting toilet (a modified outhouse that produces compost, never has to be moved, and uses no water).

Thanks to everyone who has been praying that I would find a new location!

preescolar

SI began a preschool in Los Higos two weeks ago. Yohana, Andre's wife, who formerly worked at SI's preschool in Mata Gorda, is starting this new school. The kids' ages range from three to five years of age (as far as I know). Nine are from Los Higos, and three of them are from Piedra Blanca, a community just a little farther up the mountain than Los Higos. From what I know of the families, only three of the children come from Christian homes, so this is a great way to help these kids meet Jesus and reach out to their families.

The students have class five days a week. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, they have class from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are served a meal, prepared my one of the preschooler's moms. On Tuesdays and Fridays they have class from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and return home for lunch.

This morning I waited outside with the kids and their parents while they waited for the door to be opened. One little boy started out the school year (last September) going to the public school's kindergarten. One day he had an 'accident' (bathroom related) and some of the older kids made fun of him. After that incident he refused to return to school and he never did go back. The mom said that when she heard that SI was going to open a preschool, she talked with Yohana about sending her son there, even though he is a little older than the other children. They decided to give it a try. After a few days of school her son said he will go to school at Yohana's school, but isn't so sure if he will want to ever return to the big school. We pray that his experience in Yohana's school will prepare him to enter into the public school with confidence when that day comes.

I pray that the children will be exposed to a different way of interacting with one another as they learn how the kingdom operates through their little school. I pray that it will be a safe place for them and a place of beauty for them.

update

Sorry I haven't written for a while. I feel like I haven't had much to say, because I don't know much about what is going on in Los Higos. I was told that the Students International preschool (to be taught by Yohana, Andre's new wife) was supposed to open today! I'll update you all on that as soon as I receive news.

I am still in Iowa, finishing up fundraising. I hope to be back in the DR within a few weeks. That is not to say, however, that I'm not enjoying my time at home. It has been a blessing to have an extended time at home to be with family and friends. Iowa joys include:
*learning to make cheese (actually done in Minnesota)
*visiting my FFA advisor from high school
*using yak-trax
*cross country skiiing
*having time to read books!
*baby lambs!

transicion

Before leaving for the states, I moved out of the casita and the garden, leaving it to the church (which has a building on the same property). We decided that I should look for a new location from which to minister in Los Higos, because the garden was too big for me to care for and seemed to take up a lot of time that could have been used to invest in people in the community.

In addition, we all agreed that it would be healthy for the church to have its own location. They will be stretched as they take on the responsability of paying rent, water, and electricity and work together to care for the property, but we believe it will strengthen the church. Having seperate locations will also help the community to know what is Students International and what is the church.

Andre and Jesus (the assistant pastor of Andre's church) are going to continue gardening with the kids club, which I'm really happy to hear. They are also going to try to cultivate the rest of the land to try to make some money to go into the church treasury.

Moving out was a little hard, because I have invested so much time into the property. It was hard for me to let it go, and I find myself fearing that they are going to pull out the erosion barriers and other unique plants I have in the garden. I've been trying to be okay with that. I pray that the transition goes well for the club as they adjust to gardening with new people.

I hope to find a new location once I get back from Christmas where I can focus more on ministry to women. I'd still like to have a small garden- something closer to what a woman could care for near her home. I'd also like to have space to hold the knitting and sewing classes and offer Bible studies for women.

Please pray that the Lord would provide a new location and that the church would utilize well the garden.

carrera de burro y otras cosas

I am in Iowa right now for Christmas and am planning to stay until the end of January. So, I don't have a lot of updates on what is going on in Los Higos, but will share some old news.

We had three students from Bethel College living up in Los Higos for seven weeks as a part of our semester program. On their last day in the community, the thing they most wanted to do was have a donkey race. We held it right after the kids came to garden, so we had an audience. It seemed that the donkeys were going to fight with one another, so we couldn't have a side-by-side race, so we decided to have each participant run individually and we would time them to determine the winner. The picture below shows the second-place winner on his donkey, 'Fuego'.

On a more serious note, the church began adding on to the church building before I left and were hoping to have the addition done for Christmas. From what I understand they were not going to enclose the new addition, but rather just have a roof and partial walls (or no walls?). I'm sorry I didn't have my camera on me to get a picture before I left.

kermes

The church had a kermes, a fund-raiser, last Saturday. They enclosed the basketball court with palm branches and tarps, and charged $RD30 entrance. They had a flee market, local entertainment, and a concert with singers from the capital and Jarabacoa. They made about $RD15,000 (about $US425).

Some girls from the club did a worship dance

They raffled off a 25-pound bag of rice.

Duary lipsank to Marcos Witt song (check out the kids that are pretending to play the instruments in the back).

They sold a lot of used clothing.

A politician loaned his truck with huge speakers for the concert. You could hear the music everywhere in Los Higos. These are the trucks they use during campaign season to blast political jingles.

charla con los adolescentes

Guelo has been leading a couple English classes/ Bible studies with young teenagers and recently asked Dr. Fernando (a gynecologist on staff with Students International) to give a talk the young people. Last Friday the kids met in the Los Higos community center to hear Fernando talk about relationships and the health issues of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. It's just so clear that what medicine says and what the Bible says about relationships and sexuality are totally in agreement and Fernando made that clear in his talk.

In other news, tomorrow the church is hosting a concert at the Los Higos basketball court to raise money for the mercy ministry. (The mercy committee focuses on helping widows, orphans, and other people who have need). It will cost $RD30 to enter (a little less than a dollar) and they will be selling food and having a yard sale.