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| On the bus heading to the river for baptism |
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| Awwwww... Mommy y su hija |
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| Mitch and Daniel on the bus going to the river for the baptism. |
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Las profesores
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| Moise beginning the baptism |
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| The group waiting for their turn to enter the river. |
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| One of the 15-20 people getting baptized |
Hello from your friends and family in the D.R.
We have been doing many different activities in the last 5 days, including construction jobs, teaching, and painting. The weather here is wonderful like always, and I wish I could express how amazing of a country the Dominican Republic is. I especially requested to write on the blog after at least one church service because that is one of the most spectacular parts of the entire journey. The culture of the church service is very different from that of a traditional American church. The instruments are basically the same: guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums, and microphones. However, the difference shows up in the enthusiasm of the congregation to participate in singing, clapping, and even dancing. The dance instructor for the chicas at the church, Daniela, put it this way, "When you sing or dance for a worship song, you are doing it for and in front of God, his eyes are looking directly at you, so why wouldn’t you do your best?" That really stuck with me and I hope to be able to bring that back with me. Also, our group performed a song this morning, and will play another this evening. Sarah played the electric guitar, Mitch played his guitar, Megan played keyboard, then there was me on the bass. I would have been fine with that except the fact that I was told I was going to be playing on Saturday, with only one band practice for me to learn two songs. Luckily, both songs are very simple and at least the first song went smoothly. I am looking forward to this afternoon and the rest of the trip. See you soon!
Griffin Rath
PS We sang a simple verse in Spanish called "Te doy Gloria/I give you glory" then English and back to Spanish. Since this morning was a Creole and Spanish church service together, so they sang in Creole too. It was a great experience not to perform for the people but to be able to worship and have them participate with us. Tonight we will sing "Alabare" and the congregration knows the song better than us so I know they will enjoy and sing with us. All is going great here, everyone is happy and healthy and our God is good!
Patti Spiegel
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| Everyone was in front for our song so we didn't get a picture during the service, but afterwards, Ruth took our picture while we sang it again! |
This afternoon was quite relaxing for everybody. Finally we were able to lie down and catch up on some much-needed sleep. Most of the guys, like me, ended up playing cards and enjoying each other's company during our time off. Around 5:30, we ate some dinner. I believe we had spaghetti, salad, and, of course, a combination of fresh fruits, such as pineapples and mangos. After dinner, we went to the night service of our church, and it was very cool. Even though there were less people than in the morning, I felt that everyone there was truly happy to have us as a part of their service. The sermon was done by a young man named Yoel, who we all know well. We were all very impressed by his message, which lasted for about half an hour. The entire service lasted for and hour and a half, and there was A LOT of singing. It is actually really cool to hear them sing because everybody does it with their entire heart and soul because they are a happy and enjoyable people. Oh yeah, we also sang another song tonight called Alabare. It was all in Spanish and most of the congregation knew it and sang along with us. We're all having a great time down here, so don't worry so much (Mom :))
-Brian Dailey
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| See how happy Brian is to get an M&M?! |
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"Daniel the Great!" He told me to put that caption!! :-)
This is Moise' yougest son and he is certainly a ham!! |
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Yoel preaching during the evening message.
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