Rebecca in the Dominican Republic: This Week

Our internet has been going out every afternoon and evening, which is frustrating since it’s at those times when I want to write about our days! I haven’t gotten to write about what we’ve been doing with the Westlake Bible family group so I’ll debrief on that a little.

We started off by traveling from Puerto Plata to Ruben’s farm outside of Santiago for Saturday’s day trip. I visited Ruben’s farm on my first day in the country, but I didn’t really get to tour the actual farm. It was a neat experience to eat my way through with the group; we ate star fruit, passion fruit, bananas, coco beans, apple bananas (my favorite!), and sugar cane. I heard Ruben’s story once more and ate some delicious Dominican food, then we toured around the Makarios farm, which is just up the street from Ruben’s. The other week, when Sharla was here, we ate some sweet potato fries made from the first fruits of the Makarios farm and let me tell you, they were awesome!

Makarios has recently gotten the money to buy another house on Ruben’s street, which has made it possible for us to take in Marianela and her husband and six kids. I know I have mentioned her before, but this is the family where both parents are dying of AIDS and their youngest child, at just 18 months, is HIV positive. Robin, a new staff member who will be staying here for a year, will be caring for them, and so the coming year is going to be an interesting one and a huge time of transition. It was exciting for me to see these houses and know that God is going to do great things there through Robin and through Makarios!

The group came so well prepared for the week! In Pancho Mateo they organized a VBS that included a puppet show, a story, crafts, a snack, and games on the cancha. Honestly, I was amazed at how well the kids behaved—sure there were a few bumps, but this village is full of wild children! The thing I really cherished about this group is the fact that there were fathers out there loving on Dominican and Haitian kids who don’t necessarily have fathers that love them. What blessing for them and for me to see these grown men holding children and swinging them around and showing them love! I also really enjoyed watching the American kids interact with the kids in the villages. Not only were they holding and playing with kids, but they also participated in the puppet show and helped with the games and crafts. It is so cool to see kids at such a young age wanting to make a difference.

Not only did the group love the kids in the villages, but the kids loved them! When we pulled up to Pancho Mateo the second day of VBS, there were already about thirty kids waiting, all wearing the little backpacks they had decorated the first day and cheering! We never get a welcome like that! It was amazing. As we left today (the group’s final day in the villages) I sat in the van between two of the mothers, in tears because they didn’t want to leave the kids.

Today we are taking another trip to Cabarete. Working hard pays off when you get to lie on the beach at the end of the week!