Gateway Youth Team - Sun, sun and more sun!

This may be our first day in Barahona, but we are in full swing and working hard.  Our team had 2 main tasks this morning – 4 of us presented at our Teacher Seminar and the rest of the crew worked on prepping walls to be painted.  In the afternoon, half of us went to Blanquizales Church, one of our new churches, and put on the first day of Bible School there.  The children there loved it and are excited for tomorrow when they will learn more about the power of God, learn more English and science and play more games.  The rest of the group stayed back at the school and church we are staying and worked on projects we will use for camp the rest of the week. This team works and plays very hard.  We enjoyed our spaghetti tonight with rosy sun touched cheeks and talked about the day. Each night the boys have played a game of  “handball” and we have lots of card games each night.  Tomorrow we have a full day of children as we do Bible School with 3 different groups of children.  Pray for strength and endurance as we share Jesus with the children of Barahona through the heat. Ohio sure did not prepare us for this 90 degree weather!

Safe Arrival

Hi everyone, this is Rene here in the Findlay office. The team is having a little bit of trouble posting to the blog, but asked me to let you all know that they made it to the Dominican Republic safely and are looking forward to a great week! Please continue praying for them!

Saying Our Goodbyes

Today we headed to Degeance, our last school for this trip.  It's a school up in the mountain.  Students showed up for the Good Choices seminar and some medical follow ups even though it was Saturday.

The kids were excited to volunteer to answer questions and participate in the games Charlie, Trey and Ricardo had prepared.  The highlight though was basketball and football on the playground.

This evening has been busy with taking final inventory of the pharmacy, kitchen and team supplies.  The team members are falling asleep mid sentence (but it's a good, content, satisfied kind of tired). Maude made a wonderful meal of homemade french fries, fried chicken, beans and rice, pikliz and fresh fruit.

We have started saying goodbyes to our friends here in Haiti.  It's always good to come home but leaving here is sometimes hard.

Phillipians 1:3-6
"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you.  I always pray with joy beause of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion unti the day of Christ Jesus."

Talk a lot, talk a little more!

This morning we went to St. Marc School. Our ride was windy and a little rainy.  Heather assisted Deb with her rain poncho but by the time she got it on it had stopped raining.  But we enjoyed a good laugh.

Charlie, Trey and Ricardo started the day with a "Good Choices" seminar.  Ricardo began with teaching how to be a good friend.  Trey talked about choosing good foods and nutrition, clean water and exercise.  Ricardo challenged Trey to demonstrate his fitness skills by doing 60 push ups.  Trey had no problem as the children counted them off and cheered him on.  Charlie finished with talking about the qualities in a good leader.

The nurses did follow up checks on kids that were sick last November and also saw some that were not feeling well today.  Belinda and Rene took a wild ride around St. Marc looking for a pharmacy to replace some needed meds.  Pastor Will finished sponsorship interviews.

This evening Deb and Belinda had a concluding seminar with the community agents. They all looked so nice in their graduation shirts.  Charlie attended the seminar and spoke to them about the importance of follow through.  He demonstrated his point by teaching them how to follow through with a basketball shot.  They each enjoyed their turn at taking a couple free throws.

Tonight Charlie, Trey and Ricardo are assisting Pastor Herve with a youth leadership seminar at MPCA.  Our youngest team members (Trey and Ricardo) have enjoyed a nap before dinner every day.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner prepared by our cook and friend, Maude.  It was the best goat meat any of us have ever had.

I Thessalonians 5:11 NLT
So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

WHY?

I hate these bugs
I'm so hot and sticky
I'm tired of long pants on hot days
I'm tired of warm water to drink
I hate cold showers
I don't like the rats running across the tin roof all night long
I hate getting up at 6:00 AM
I want a real flush toilet

Why I come is:

Kitchen Karaoke with Maude
Listening to Deb's stories
The ocean
So fun to see kids enjoying basketball
My teammates are now life long friends
Seeing little children's faith in God shining through
I get to help the children feel better
Seeing the smiles on the kid's faces
I love these children and am loved in return
But most of all.....
I am sharing the love of Jesus with children

We traveled to LaHatte today.  It rained last night so the road was too muddy for us to reach the school.  We unloaded and began to walk the couple miles up the dirt road.  It meant we carried a small honda generator, a five gallon jug of water and all our medical supplies.  The pictures show WHY it was all worth it.