Today has been an awesome day! After breakfast and devotionals, we went as a team to downtown Jarabacoa to "people watch" and pray for the city. We ended up doing more than just watching, as many of us had the opportunity to speak and sing with the locals in the town square and share the Gospel with some of them. I think we all have been struck by how relaxed and welcoming the Dominicans are; the majority of them are very willing to strike up a conversation on a street corner with a random "americano"!
After a brief lunch back at La Salle (the retreat center where we are staying), we headed out to the church in Buenos Aires. There we were greeted by a courtyard of smiling children, and we walked through the surrounding neighborhoods to gather other children and teens to play with us in the churchyard. For the next three hours, the church property was transformed into a playcenter, with teen guys playing dominos by the side of church, younger children singing "I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart" in a hut out back, kids of all ages playing volleyball in the frontyard, and Calvary girls giving piggy back rides to the little Dominican girls. It was a joyful time for everyone.
For dinner, we enjoyed a traditional Dominican meal of rice, meat, and beans with fresh papaya and avocado...yum! Afterwards, we prepared for our first youth rally and headed off at 6:30 p.m. to Buenos Aires. One of the lessons that we as a team have learned regarding culture is, "It isn't right or wrong; it's just different." We got to put this saying into practice today when the youth rally started 45 minutes late, a drama and praise team from another church showed up to perform unexpectedly, and the music for our own drama had technical difficulties. However, none of it mattered. We still got our message across and had lots of fun doing it.
One experience during the day we will never forget. It had been raining buckets for the past two days. The river was muddy and high. Puddles were everywhere. When we arrived at the outside lot for the church service, we saw huge rain clouds rolling in our direction. Immediately, we prayed that God would keep us dry and move the rain storm away from us. When we finished, Mitchell said, "Hey, guys! Did you see that? The clouds just changed directions!" During the entire service, we stayed completely dry. God is amazing!
-Bethany and Lauren :)
Lauren says she misses you, mom, dad, and Allison
Roger says hi to Sue.
Darin says hi to his kids too....
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