October included two very special visits for Amaury and I – our friend Sarah Longest from Louisville, KY, and my mom and a team from Woodland Hills Christian Church in Abingdon, VA! The picture to the left is my mom and I on our trip to Palo Alto for the team to see the retreat center and church where Amaury's parents minister - the city of Santiago is in the background!

While Sarah was here for a visit, she helped us prepare for the upcoming Drama Camp in Hoyo de Bartola that the team from Woodland Hills would be a part of leading, and she also led a teacher training at Colegio Evangelico Isaias Emmanuel on using crafts in the classroom. The teacher’s really enjoyed the training, as you can see from the pictures, which focused on recycling common household items to use for crafts that would also aid in teaching lessons in the classroom!

Sarah was also able to spend some time with her GO Kid – Noelmy – and Noelmy’s mom. Their meeting took place the same time as my English class, so to give my students some extra practice, they helped in translating! Afterwards, Sarah came to class and we had a time for conversation, which also helped them put into practice all they have been learning in class! It was a true blessing to have her here!

The day Sarah left for the states, my mom and the team from Woodland Hills arrived! In order to keep family and friends in the states up to date on their trip, we posted some pictures and comments about their activities on this blog, which can all be seen below.

The Drama Camp they helped provide was a wonderful blessing to the community of Hoyo de Bartola and especially to the 24 students involved! There are regular events at the church for the children, but this is the first time a team came to work just with the “jovenes” – or teenagers (camp participants were ranged from ages 12-16), and it was very special for them – one even asked if they would be back the next week to lead another camp! The team from Woodland Hills is pictured here with some of the students after they received their participation certificates during the church service.

Hoyo de Bartola is a garbage dump where somewhere around 600 families live, and life there can be very dark and hopeless there. Alcoholism, drug abuse, prostitution, and gangs abound, and all of these can be strong temptations in the lives of young people if they do not have something stronger to hold onto. Giving them the only true rock to hold onto is what God is doing through the church in “the Hole” through Pastor Felix Abreu and his family – they work in the church daily, bringing God’s light into that dark place. Having a team come down every day to help them in ministering to the community, as the team from Woodland Hills did, encourages and supports them, and as Felix expressed about the work the group did – will always be remembered by him, his family, the church members, and especially the youth who participated in the camp!

In addition to all the team did in Hoyo de Bartola, they were also a special encouragement to us! It was such a blessing to have each of them here, and especially my mom! She was able to stay with us in our home, and having that extra time together in the evenings to talk about the day and just have her as part of our daily lives was a special treat, and we have missed her since the team left. Our time with the team as a whole was a wonderful blessing, and we are grateful for their prayers, encouragement, and loving support, and we look forward to when they will all be able to come again!

This blog would not be complete without mentioning that at the end of October, we were also blessed by being able to travel to La Romana for a few days to see friends who had gone there to provide a medical/surgical clinic, and we are so grateful for our time with them! Even though our visit was short, it was special to us, and we were inspired and encouraged by all the team did in La Romana!

We also wanted to thank everyone for your prayers and notes of encouragement about our water situation. Thankfully, the day Sarah arrived, our water service returned to normal - God is always on time!

I will be travelling to the states on November 23 and returning to the DR on Dec 15. While there, I hope to see as many of you as I can!

May God bless each of you in all you do – you are all a blessing to us!

With love in Christ,
Catherine and Amaury