Sunday news from the DR

This morning after breakfast we drove to Gaspar-Hernandez for the first time. It's about a 30 minute drive from Cabarete where we are staying. We were all shocked to witness the effects of all the rain (almost daily for the past 2-3 weeks). There were numerous areas along the way where small villages were flooded. The river had swollen to about 5 times its normal diameter, People had gathered along the banks of the river to watch the rushing waters, It was such a sad thing to see families gathered on their porches with their front doors open to let the standing water out. Some were carrying babies and household items out, wading through about 3 feet of water. Since sanitation is virtually non-existant here, it was very disturbing to see. We even saw pigs floating in the water.

Once we reached Gaspar-Hernandez, things were drier. Pastor Osvaldo's church and home were dry. We were there for the first part of the worship service which was mostly very lively singing with guitar and tamborines, prayer and some scripture reading. Then we went along with all the children to the Compassion Center for Sunday School which was about a block away. Some of our team members had prepared a Bible story, which was delivered by a translator. Others prepared a craft and a game. The children were very well-behaved and seemed happy to be there. It was quite amazing that the theme for the story and activities that one of our team members had prepared was Noah's ark. We hadn't even known about the great flooding here.

The pastor's wife prepared lunch for us (great idea for Jennifer, don't you think?) before we returned to Cabarete for some free time. The evening church service was cancelled because one of the pillars of the church had passed away and they were all attending a memorial service.

We had our own time of reflecting on the scriptures and our experiences of the day, along with a time of singing and prayer. Tomorrow we go out into the villages to have Bible school and English classes. The children in the DR only go to school for half a day, either morning or afternoon, so we will have two different groups each day. Here are a couple photos from Sunday School and our trip to Gaspar-Hernandez. We appreciate your prayers as we go out to serve tomorrow and the rest of the week...