August 17, 2007

The month of July was an incredible and incredibly busy one here in the DR, and the first two weeks of August kept up that pace as well! In July, we hosted eight teams, which did everything from basketball camp to construction to medical clinics, and so far in August, we have hosted an additional five more! Also, in the first week of August, we had our very first Drama Camp!

Additionally, we had a total of five interns here this summer who all did excellent work, which also meant that the three female interns were living with Jen, Jackie, and I (we each shared our room with one of them), so there were six females in our apartment! The down side to being so busy and having limited internet time (since we only have three DSL cords, and one of them randomly chooses not to work) is that I have not had a chance to update my blog in much too long!

July started off with a team of 62 people from Eastview Christian Church in Illinois, most of whom were teenagers, that split into two groups doing construction on the churches in Hato del Yaque and Hoyo de Bartola, and one group traveling to Haiti to visit the school and orphanage there. They were a great team, and each group did more work than we expected them to do! We then had two teams here at the same time, one from Oldham County in Kentucky doing a basketball clinic, and the other from Lincoln Christian Church in Illinois doing construction on a new home for the national partner they support, Marisol who works in our kitchen and has seven children and 14 grandchildren and is in desperate need of a new home!

The third week of July brought three teams, one from Morgantown Community Church in Kentucky that continued to work on Marisol’s home, another from Cross Point Community Church in Nashville, TN, that worked on construction of a church for the Haitian pastor, Moises, whom they support (the picture to the left is of the team praying for him on their last day at the site), and the third from Warrenville Bible Chapel that held a medical clinic in Batey Nueve (a community in the sugar cane fields where there is desperate poverty). July wrapped up with two more teams, one from Hikes Point Christian in Louisville, KY, that also continued to work on Marisol’s house, and the other from Northeast Christian Church in Rockford, IL, that worked on constructing the church in Hoyo de Bartola and providing children’s ministry in Los Guandules, the church they partner with here in the DR.

I worked with the teams from Eastview in Hoyo de Bartola, Lincoln Christian and Hikes Point on Marisol’s house, and Cross Point on Moises’ church, so I have been doing a lot of construction! As a result, I have lost a little bit of weight, which the ladies in the kitchen and some in our neighborhood have expressed concern over, but I have to say I’m not complaining, and I kind of like how my arms are now showing some definition! I have also discovered that shoveling is a great workout, and I enjoy it! However, more important things certainly happened as a result of the construction we did, and it was inspiring to be a part of constructing two churches and building Marisol’s home, all of which will be places where God’s love will be shared with the people of the DR! At the site of Moises’ church, I was even able to witness some cultural barriers and prejudice give way, as I introduced Moises to two Dominican women and their children from the community the church will serve who were at first hesitant about meeting a Haitian, but warmed up to him and stated they would come to the church when it was finished!

The first week of August brought a team from Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington and two people from Woodland Hills Church of Christ, my family’s church in VA! The group from Hope Springs did children’s ministry in eight of the churches we support, a medical clinic in another, and on-going training for our pastors to learn about the Celebrate Recovery program! For the first two days of the week, Neal and Andrew, from Woodland Hills, and I helped with the children’s ministry and then we did a two-day Drama Camp that prepared the children involved to present the “Parable of the Unmerciful Servant” to our church here in Hoya del Caimito!

The Drama Camp was a great success! Since school is currently on break, we were able to use three empty classrooms in the school for our camp, which provided excellent space for our classes. There were 13 children involved, ranging in age from 8 to 12, each of whom received a Bible and a beanie baby for participating in the camp, as well as two GO staff members and one Dominican young woman from our church.

During each of the days, we had classes on Voice and Movement, Stage Direction and Blocking, and Costume Creation, and we also assigned roles and practiced, and practiced, and practiced, the drama! The children seemed to truly enjoy each class and were very excited before, during, and after the presentation in church! All of the children were from the neighborhood, but only about half of them attend church, and what was perhaps the most exciting thing for me was knowing that while they clearly enjoyed the camp, they also essentially memorized a parable, and my hope is that the lessons they learned from Jesus’ story will have a longer lasting impact on their lives than the lessons they learned about acting.

It was also wonderful to have two people I know from “home” here to experience this with me! They were patient and loving with the children and more than ready to jump in and help whenever needed, and overall their week here ranks as my favorite of the summer!

The day of the presentation in church was also an exciting day for me, as my Goddaughter was dedicated at church during the same service! Godparents are a tradition here in the DR in the Christian churches, and I was honored when Kathy, our school principal, asked me to be the “madrina” for her daughter, Shanie! The picture to the left is of Kathy, me, Shanie, Kathy's mother, and Samir, Shanie's Godfather.

Throughout the summer, I have also continued to teach my classes, and they are continuing to go well! We are close to wrapping up the advanced classes, and the students have expressed a desire to continue studying, so in September and October, I will be having “conversation” classes with them to reinforce the lessons they have learned and give them more practice speaking English. An exciting new development with the English ministry is that a group of young men in our sports ministry may have the opportunity to go to the states to play baseball but need to learn English to do so, and so, beginning in September, I will be teaching this group three days a week to help them take advantage of the opportunity if it arises!

Just as I know the school year is starting in the states, it will also be beginning here. The teachers come back to school on August 21, and the students come on August 28, and this year, my role with Administration will be more clearly defined, and I will be at the school three days a week to continue working with the teachers on classroom management, school wide discipline, and lesson planning while also continuing the English and Drama ministries, so it should be a busy fall!

There is much more I could write about the school, but I will save that for my next update, which will be within the next few weeks!

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support!

Con el amor de Jesucristo,
Catherine