7 days

I'll upload a few photos each day to document my last week in the Dominican Republic.

Geidy

I wish I had a picture, but I don't.

My replacement, Geidy (pronounced 'hay dee'), began working with me at the beginning of December. Geidy grew up in Jarabacoa and accepted Christ twelve years ago. She has been involved in her local church and had led a weekly cell group for the last several years. Her pastor recommended her for the position and she has been well discipled by him. She is my same age and is single. She studied accounting and likes to cross stitch.

I had about twelve work days to teach her all I could about Los Higos, running the Women's Center, and ministering to students before Christmas break began. So far the girls have warmed up pretty well to Geidy. I expect that connecting with them will be a struggle at first. Please pray that God will give Geidy direction in her leadership of the Women's Center and that He will give her favor in the community.

Navidad

The preschool had a Christmas dinner a few weeks ago. The preschoolers performed a short program prior to the meal- quoting scripture, singing, and dancing to Christmas music. The families were invited and the church, where it was held, was full. For the meal, each child along with two or three family members were allowed to eat. In addition, each child was given a small gift with a toy and candy.

techo

In October a team from Chicago and Indiana worked on the roof of the preschool. The tore of the old rood, replaced some rafters, squared up the porch, and put on a new roof. Because the school was repainted this summer and now has a roof, the building looks new.

The bottom side of the new tin roof is white, so the inside of the school now feels much bigger and brighter. We are thankful to all the guys that came down to give their time and labor towards maintaining the school in good condition.

celebration

With the teenage girls group that meets at the Women's Center each year we have three cycles that last about four months each. In each cycle we talk about a different topic. This past spring we talked about health, and in the summer we talked about dating. Now we are starting friendship. At the end of each cycle those girls that have had good attendance are invited to a fun activity. When we finished the summer, I invited the girls to the base where we crafted a slip and slide- something they had never played on before.

When we first explained to the girls what we were going to do they didn't seem to think that was a good idea. Angie, my summer intern ran and flung herself at the slip and slide and they thought it looked painful. They decided rather to use the plastic as a sit and slide and had a blast!

At lunch time, a student who was with us on the last two-week outreach of the summer served them Mexican food. It was a neat opportunity for her to test whether she could cook without her mom's help and an opportunity for the girls to be exposed to another Latino culture.


I am really excited for this fall cycle talking about friendship. Thus far we have talked about turning the other cheek (Matthew 5) and had a vibrant discussion about how our sinful nature tells us to do quite the opposite. We read from Luke and John about how Jesus demonstrated turning the other cheek when he was being abused prior to and during the crucifixion.
We have also talked about conflict styles and will soon talk about listening. My goal for this fall is to present topics that help them to understand how God relates with us and how we can related in similar ways with our friends and family. There is a lot of conflict in Los Higos, so pray that God would use this cycle to reveal to the girls how He relates to them and how they can also relate to one another in that same way.

Jesus y ovejitas

Wow! It has been way too long since I've posted on the blog!
I will try to catch you all up on some of what has been going on in Students International's ministry in Los Higos.
In August, the preschool got a face lift. Johana held a pulga (garage sale) to raise funds with which to repaint the school inside and out. The school was repainted the same butter color it has always been, but the murals were all painted over and replaced. The front of the school now shows Jesus sitting on a railing amongst a bunch of lambs and holding one in his arms. John 10:27 is painted above the lambs, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me". I love it!

exposicion de costura

On Saturday we had a sewing exposition. In the past I've found these events showing off our sewing projects to be quite boring, so this time we decided to try to do something more fun.

The girls prepared a dance routine to "Soy Soldado"- a merengue song about being a soldier for Jesus. They also did a little fashion show, which really got the crowd excited. I couldn't announce the models over the noise and realized I should have brought the megaphone.

Each girl got a certificate showing that she advanced to the next level. This week I began a new sewing class with ten new girls. A couple more also want to join! Pray that I'll be able to handle so many girls at once and that they will learn to cooperate with one another in the new class.