Boxing NIght 2009

Don't forget Boxing Night! Our annual Boxing Night clothing drive for the homeless begins on the day after Christmas. The senior high youth will be spending the night in the church parking lot on Saturday, December 26 to help raise awareness of the plight of the homeless.

More on Boxing Night

Celebrate Christmas Around The World

On Wednesday December 16, come celebrate the birth of our Savior through traditions from around the world, 5:45-7:30pm. Tickets are $5 for children 10 and under, $7 for everyone else. Advance ticket purchase only. Tickets will be on sale beginning Sunday, December 6^th. Invite your friends!

Enjoy food, crafts, stories, music, and more.

What do you choose?

Join the discussion! This week's Geneva blog question is:

In his inaugural speech, President Obama said that voters chose hope over fear. What situations are you facing right now where you are being challenged to choose hope over fear? What empowers you to make this choice?

Friday

It's another beautiful day here in the Dominican Republic sunny and low to mid 80s, though we had a brief midday rain.

Today our teams worked only the morning. Julia and Lindsay went with the ESL team today and the remaining members of the two CE teams combined forces. We had a very good morning with our group of 15 girls in ESL--it was much quieter without the boys!

Our group leader, Dick, picked the ESL team up at 11 am after we finished our morning session so we could go to Semillaro (a very poor shanty town up the hill from Gaspar-Hernandes) where the CE team was having Bible school until 11:30 am. It was quite an experience and one that I'm sure none of us will ever forget. We saw living conditions that no human beings should ever have to endure--tiny lean-to shacks of one or two rooms, dirt floors, occasional washing machines on the porches, garbage, dogs, cats and chickens and roosters all over the place. A number of people were doing their laundry and the soapy water running down the hill made it very challenging to make the trek up the mountainside. We saw the stream where many of the people get their drinking water--it's the same stream that all the sewage runs into. Mission groups that have been coming to the area for a number of years have installed outhouses and a water purification system, but not everyone takes advantage of them yet. The children were adorable and really enjoyed going to the little church at the top of the hill for Bible school. They all wanted their photo taken!

Our nurse, Judy, has had a very busy week. Thank you all for the donated medical supplies. Judy has put them to good use. She has seen some very difficult things here--elephantitis, severe infections, people with tumors, anemia, parasites and cancer. Some days she held a clinic where people sat and waited for hours to see her. On the other days, she went up into the more remote areas where people were too sick to leave their houses.

After lunch at the pastor's house, we had a meeting with the pastor where he shared his vision for the church and the community.

We returned and had a couple of hours of free time to go for a swim in the ocean before dinner. After dinner, we went to church for a special service where the church offered their thanks to God and us for this week. We were presented with certificates and gifts, prayers and lots of love and hugs. It was a wonderful time for all of us. Jeff, our team member who has been sick all week, was prayed for during the service.

Tomorrow, we have a day for sightseeing. We have invited the pastor Osvaldo and his wife, Rosa, to join us. We're looking forward to a day of relaxing before coming home. It will be hard to leave because we've all been so blessed by our time here.

Thursday--no rain today!

Barb and Jennifer had a very interesting experience today. We took a lunch-time walk around Gaspar Hernandez (the town where we teach ESL.) We met the town judge and a plantation owner. It turns out the plantation owner lived in Boston for 28 years and speaks wonderful English. One of his sisters is the mayor of Gaspar Hernandez. He took us for a little tour of the town and up to meet his other sister. It turns out that her house is the one that we had passed many times and wondered about because there is a big sign in front that says Jesus Christ is my Lord and King of this house. She welcomed us into her big beautiful house with warm, enthusiastic hospitality. We sat on her veranda overlooking the Caribbean and chatted for awhile. She is a social worker who brings food, clothing, and other aid to the poor of the area. She also helps them to find better houseing. She and her brother volunteered to take us for lunch and a day at the beach.

The CE Team yesterday didn't feel we had made any impact on the children at all, it seemed like crowd control. But today when the second team came to do there lesson, the children had made a large poster with hearts all over it thanking Julia, Carol & Joan for a wonderful day! God was at work all the time.

We all had a good day today, but are getting tired. We thank you for your prayers and support.