Panoramic photos of the murals we painted

Laura Fish has a nice feature on her camera that takes nice panoramic photos.  Here you can get an idea of the finished murals we painting while in Barahona. Click on each picture to see it bigger. The morning that we left, we painted a sealant of the painting to protect it from the weather and fingers marks.

 This is back side of the preschool building that we pained first. Glory, Adoration and Hope.

 This side is darker because it is in the stairwell.  It says God bless you and Jesus loves you.

 

This is looking at two sides of the building.  The front, with God's hand on the far right is the first mural you see when you go through the front gate. Next to it says "Thank you, Lord" and "Sing Praise."

God's hand says "Love" in the palm and the overflowing drops say "Faith", "Life","Joy", "Grace"," Mercy", and "Peace."  THANK YOU, LORD!!!

This side says Happiness, Alleluia, Peace and Faith.  A smaller part of the wall says Joy, but it's not shown here.

We also painted these sports silhouettes behind the volleyball and basketball courtyard.  We have two of volleyball, basketball, soccer and baseball.  Above it says Philippians 4:13 " I can do all through Him who gives me strength." repeated three times. This turned out well too and was the only painting we did at the original building. 

Monday June 20th

Hi to my Dad, Mom, and brother!
  Happy Father's day to my dad yesterday! I hope all is well with everyone keeping up with our blog! Being my second trip to Ebenezer, it was awesome to see the progress of the work we put in last year! It was extremely encouraging that a few of the students remembered me from the previous trip considering we were only there a week. It just shows the huge amount of impact we have on these people. A few days ago, Adrienne and I prayed that we would connect with some teens here. The very next day, we had the privilege to talk with some students and it was a really good time. I am so thankful for the fact that I continued Spanish for all 5 years, although it was a struggle at times. Mrs. Spiegel has equipped all of her students with a high ability to communicate with the Dominican people. Having that just made the experience so much more fulfilling.
   Yesterday, being Sunday, we attended a service in the morning and one at night. During the afternoon, we visited families from the church and a few of us shared our testimonies with them. One thing that really brought it home for a lot of us was visiting a particular student that we have come to love. He attended our English classes and was just one of the most endearing people there. After we shared with him in his home and learned his story, he presented our group with a card written in English. He wanted to thank us for the impact we had on his life while we were there. This was such an amazing gesture considering English is difficult for them and it made it extra special because it was him. Many of us will probably never forget that moment. Sunday was wrapped up with a celebration at the end of the evening church service. It was like the entire congregation was having a dance party for God. It was very uplifting seeing everyone, young and old, celebrating the Lord in that way. It makes you wonder what church would be like if every service ended that way!
 This will definitely be an unforgettable trip and there is no doubt everyone has hopes to return!

Taylor Allen

Yesterday, June 20, we left Ebenezer school/church on a very good note. Yesterday was the party for all the younger kids at the school. So we traveled around the school and sat in on some of the classes. It was a very good  way to say goodbye. Also that morning we finished painting. The painting absolutely looks great. At about ten o'clock that morning we left. The bus ride was for rest pretty much. Everyone slept. When we got to the hotel, everyone was so excited because it was so nice. At Ebenezer, when someone would go to the bathroom the person would have to put their toilet paper in a trash can, we were allowed to flush paper here!. The pool was nice. Then we went to the cave restaurant. It was a great restaurant, very fancy. We are traveling today and everyone is ready to get home. God has definitely made an impact on everyone's life.
Eli Norden

Saturday and Sunday

                                   The DR - Haitian Border...an interesting experience

 We went to the border to take Ruth's sister to meet her husband for her return to Haiti

                     After a long bus trip, Moise believed this group deserved a treat!  Ice Cream!!!

 Posing for a group shot in the courtyard in front of our painting.

 We were able to visit the homes of a few of the families from the church.  They shared their testimony, and then someone from our group shared theirs!  Marisa was Numero Uno!

 This is a little out of order...but here we are arriving at the border. The water is rising from the nearby lake, and they are not quite sure why.  Roads are flooding over and it is creating an even bigger problem at the borders.  This was an intense moment...we were following that school bus.

 Jovanny was a man from the church that touched everyone's heart.  A former gang member who gave his life to Christ.  After his testimony, Emily shared hers.  And then he presented us with a card that he made for us...all the ladies cried.  Maybe even a few of the guys!

 Dalia and Nahomi helped us in the clinic all week.  Here we are at their house.  What a blessing!

                                      Sunday morning church!  These girls are the dance team

 We introduced our group to the congregation.  They were each able to introduce themselves and say a bit in Spanish.

 Laura played the piano for them.  She played As The Deer, and the congregation recognized it and began to sing along!

 This was Jessica's home, and Chelsea got to share her testimony.

 After walking through the batey, neighborhood, we stood for a picture in front of the newly painted wall at the preschool

 In the evening service, Scott shared from Psalm 37, and Ruth was translating to both Creole and Spanish after Moise lost his voice!

 Chelsea and Brandon made a special friend this week.

 Celebrating with the children after the service.

Jovanny with Emily,. Brandon, Chelsea and Stephanie.


   It is now Monday afternoon, and we have arrived safely to Santo Domingo.  We have a few moments where I can write about our Saturday and Sunday experiences.
   Saturday and Sunday we were able to have the unique experience of visiting the homes of some of the church members, which has never been done before by a group.  It was awesome to hear their stories, and get a glimpse into their daily lives. 
   Sunday was an amazing day of worship!  The day was special because it was a celebration of the 2nd anniversary of the Ebenezer 2 church, which is a Creole-speaking sister church. Both morning and evening services were done in Spanish and Creole, and even some English for us northerners!  The translations took longer...but nothing was lost in translation! God was glorified.  I had the privilege of speaking in the evening service. It was a little more difficult to get my complete thought across, because it was being translated by Moise and Ruth in both Creole and Spanish.  I have the feeling Moise was adding his own thoughts, not thinking I knew that!!  But it was a gift to be able to share God's Word with these people I have come to love.
    We are looking forward to a good shower, cool sleeping arrangements and a nice meal this evening. Hello to my girls, and looking forward to seeing you soon!        
    Scott

Hi this is Gregorio, that is what I think they call me. Went to Haiti today. I cant figure out where any one gets any water around here. It is so barren even the Haiti sea is barren. The border is quite a cluster. A lot of coming and going, just not sure who was coming and going. We had to literally drive the bus through the Haiti sea which has mysteriously been on the rise. I sensed some of our team was a little apprehensive thinking what if we stall out and have to push. Kept it too myself that Moise told me there were crocodiles in the sea. Coffee is good. The security guards certainly have a better time in the DR than they do say at the Findlay Mall. I love the Creole music and was dancing in my head and on my feet all Sunday long. TremendousiO!

PS Sophie we miss you so much and cannot wait to see you tomorrow.
Greg


Hi Mom, Dad, Alex and Trevor,
Happy Father's Day Dad. Sorry I missed it two years in a row.  Everything has been going great here. On Saturday we had a chance to go sightseeing for awhile.  We were able to drive to the Haiti border because we had to drop someone off at there so she could go back to Haiti. On the way there we drove by some of the most poor areas of the Dominican Republic. This is where the people that work in the sugar cane fields live. The Dominican people and the Haitian people are on opposite sides of the main road so we could see the segregation. It was sad to see these kids that don't even have any clothing to wear. It is hard to believe that they can still be happy living like this but I guess they don't know any better.
After this we continued on to the border. It was not really what I expected to see. There is a lake near the border and lately the water has been rising very quickly and they don't know why. This water almost completely submerged the immigration offices and there was also craziness with so many people trying to cross the border and only one lane to cross the border. The military men were everywhere and they were pretty intimidating carrying around their huge guns.
After we returned back to the school we walked around the community and visited different families from the church. They invited into their homes and we shared testimonies with each other. Then we got together and prayed for them to stay strong in their faith. Then we went back to the school and had dinner and relaxed for a short while. Hope all you guys are doing well back home.  See you soon!
Braden Distel

Friday´s experiences, thoughts and photos

Well today we got a late start to update the blog because we were so busy and unfortunately we can´t use the school computers yet.  So here we are once again at our favorite internet cafe to tell you about yesterday´s activities.  The internet at the school worked but was sooooooo slow that this is easier.
Today Jamie, Laura and Tyler are telling you about their days.  Enjoy!!  Love to all back home, we miss you!!! ♥

                          The guys are putting the final touches on the exterior wall of the preschool.

 The final English class.  They were having conversations with each other in English and sharing things that they like.  A lot of people mentioned FOOD!

 Impromptu worship! We were in the ¨wind tunnel¨...the area where a breeze is always guaranteed...waiting to buy souvenirs.  Jerry had a keyboard, and he started playing worship songs.  We all joined in, singing in English and Spanish!  Ah, the joy!  And ah, the tears!  This was a special moment!

                              The guys carried cement blocks to the second floor of the preschool building. Lots of HARD work for them!
              

                               The girls did a fabulous job in the courtyard!  This is the finished product.

 Manuel and his new bride, Kerem, joined us for dinner.  She brought us her wedding photos.  The girls oohed and aahed!  I think they were a little jealous...just ask them!

                                  You can ask Chelsea, Emily, Marisa and Laura about this one.

                                  Ruth prepared a fabulous Dominican meal for us! This was the chicken!

                                                                                Dinner!

Laura, Jamie, Emily and Marisa are practicing for the worship service on Sunday.  Here they are joining the Ebenezer worship team!

Hi family!!! I miss you all! Yes, even you Brad… I actually had a dream about you the other night, weird, I know. Daddy, Happy Fathers Day tomorrow! Mom, everything is going great and I´m having a great experience. But I´m not going to lie, I miss your cooking and I´m hoping for a big dinner when I get home! Also, tell Michelle that I said hi and that I´ll have to tell her all about it when she gets home. Love you all, see you Tuesday!
Yesterday was by far the best day for me.  We first started with the dental clinic for the last time where I got the chance to pray with everyone who came in to have their teeth checked. It was such a special thing for me to experience with these people. I loved when the older Dominicans would place a hand on me as I prayed for them, or when they muttered a prayer of their own while I prayed in English. But my favorite part was praying with the children who came to the clinic because they were just so cute and innocent. One of the women I got to pray with came up to me, Laura and Emily when she was leaving and gave each one of us a kiss on the cheek, it was so special and I will never forget it.
       For our daily English lesson we didn´t have any plans, so we got the chance to have a casual conversation with some teens from the community. We started talking about our interests and discovered that almost all of us enjoyed singing, so we started to name off some of our favorite Church songs to see if we all knew one that we could sing together. Everyone knew Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord, and Come, Now is the Time to Worship and a few others so we sang together in English, Spanish and then both at the same time. I can´t even describe how beautiful it was because even though there was that language barrier, we could all still worship and praise God together. It was so wonderful that I wanted to cry, but I was too happy to… I feel blessed to have been a part of that wonderful moment with God.
       Later on in the day, we all went across the street to finish painting the walls of the school. While I was walking by the outer gate three girls on the outside shouted ¨Americano! Americano!¨ I went over to them and we started having a full conversation in Spanish. They were absolutely adorable, and no older than 5. I don´t know what it was about those 3 girls but they each touched my heart in a special way. I also became close with another girl named Damar who has been helping us periodically throughout the week yesterday. We started playing simple games together and had a few conversations. She fell in love with my hair and decided to give me a new hair do and when she finished her and several other little girls said I was muy linda, or very beautiful… That made my heart smile. Damar then took my camera and started looking at pictures I had from home, she and several older boys were fascinated about my school and my friends. It was so cool to be able to share some of our culture with them just by telling stories and answering questions.
       After that, it was time for dinner. We got to experience a Dominican home cooked meal, prepared by someone from the church. Let me tell you, it was absolutely delicious. We also had the pleasure of eating dinner with a newly wed couple from the church who showed us wedding pictures, which we girls got to oooh and ahhh over. As soon as we finished eating, me, Laura, Emily and Marisa got to go down to the church to practice singing with the worship team. Me and Laura will be singing Our God in spanish tomorrow, and all four of us will be singing up front with the worship group. It was absolutely incredible to be able to worship with the Dominicans in their church. They are all such a musical people, and each one of them had the most amazing voice with some crazy lungs on them. I am so excited and nervous to sing with them tomorrow, so prayers for a successful service would be very appreciated!
       By this time it was time for the group to end the night with our traditional talk on the roof of the school. This group has bonded so closely and every night I feel we become closer. It was absolutely gorgeous sitting under a sky full of stars with the moon rising behind us. The day ended perfectly.

Adios, Jamie

Hi everyone! I don´t know about the rest of the group, but I have been having an awesome time! Although it was very hot yesterday, it was probably the best day so far. In the morning I got to help out in the dental clinic explaining how to brush teeth in Spanish, and it is now embedded in my brain! I could communicate well with most of the patients, which surprised me, and I was just amazed at how they would be so proud of just a simple compliment or receiving their very own tube of tooth paste and a tooth brush. I also got to experience the prayer station and it was very impactful because even though most of them do not know what I was saying they would pray under their breath with me in Spanish, and it was still all going to the same God. How amazing.
       There are so many words to describe yesterday afternoon-eventful, exciting, heart-warming, awesome. It started off my me dropping the pineapple jelly all over the floor. (Just a side note: the pineapples here are amazing!) After lunch we went to teach an English lesson to the teenagers that come religiously to learn. We didn´t really have a lesson prepared, so I thought it was going to be a flop, but they proved me very very wrong! We first went around and asked them to answer the question ¨What do you like to do?” in English. Then it was our turn to do the same so they could practice their listening skills. Many of us, both Dominican and American, said we like to sing, and before we knew it, it had turned into this huge, emotional concert. We were singing worship songs for them in English and they would sing the same one but in Spanish. Then we would sing them together. It was so so touching and many of the girls were in tears. I cannot wait to see what will happen at the services on Sunday.
Next we got to experience the art of bartering as Moise brought some vendors to the school. And I must say, Dad, you would have been proud at times, but other times I just felt bad for arguing. Then Marisa, Megan, and I headed to the pre-school to continue working on the mural. But that´s not all we did. We learned how to do the traditional Dominican hairstyle from a 10-year-old named Damar, Jose taught us to salsa, and we learned some addicting hand games!
After dinner with Manuel and Karen, two members of the church, and worship practice with the worship team, Marisa, Tyler, Braden, Eli, and I all decided to get even higher up in the city by climbing up on the roof-without a ladder. Had Mrs. Spiegel known there was no ladder before she would not have let us try. So we put and chair on the table, and with spotters, used our upper body strength to get onto the roof, which we found out this morning is probably one of the highest points in the city! (I literally felt closer to God!) The sky was as clear as it has been this whole trip, and the view was just breath taking. I even saw a shooting star.  So that was yesterday in a nutshell. I must say even though I´m having a blast I do miss my family, even Jana!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! I´m sorry I´m not at home to share it with you. And from all the kids: HAPPY FATHER´S DAY, DADS! See you all when we return.
Much love,
Laura

Hola!!! So yesterday I was on the construction team with Greg and Eli Norden and also Braden Distel.  We painted the outside wall of the new preschool across the street. Painting the school signifies that Moise and Mission Possible are good stewards of their possessions, the reason that their image is so important is that if their possessions blend in with the community they do not look different from anyone else.  The image separation draws respect to Christianity and to the people of the church.  Later that day our construction crew and the Millers carried about 100 or so cinder blocks to the roof of the building for the masons.  We can not actually help with the construction of the 2^nd story because the tasks now need special training and even if we had the training, our help would cause the contracted workers to lose money. Although I really wanted to work on building the 2^nd level I completely understand why I can not help.

Today was more of a site-seeing day.  We started off by taking Ruth´s sister to Haiti.  On the way to the border it was a beautiful drive because we were traveling through some of the most unique mountains I have ever seen.  But once we started to approach the border the scenery changed from beautiful to dreary.  For some reason the valleys have started to flood, no one knows why, but the water just keeps rising.  At the border the old Dominican Immigration Office was flooded up to its roof with water so dirty it looked pretty much like soda.  All of the border offices are in trailers currently and they are having to bring in more dirt to raise the ground level because the water is still rising! Events like this are just so saddening because unlike in America where we have talented and highly trained engineers to fix the problem, the people of Haiti and the Dominican are more susceptible to weather and its consequences. 

As far as lessons learned so far on the trip, I would have to say consequences would be a big lesson.  Its not that I never knew about consequences, its just I realized how much more permanent and life altering they can become.  Scott was telling us a few nights ago about how he saw a child with ´´screw teeth´  and that they were probably developed because the mother had been infected with syphilis. So that got me thinking about generational sin, and just the complete consequences of someone´s choices over their lifetime.  The best analogy I could come up with is that life is like a wall (yeah, I came up with this while I was painting, had some thinking time).  When you start your life the wall has been just freshly built.  The imperfections in the concrete from construction is the generational sin, or the sin you inherit from your fathers and so on.  Every stage of life we go through we add a layer of paint.  This is where the consequences come in.  I noticed that even though we were putting on multiple layers of paint, some of the errors from the old paint just could not be covered up completely.  This is a lifetime consequence, no matter how far removed from the situation or action, you will still have to deal with it.  Also the other main thing I noticed was for us to apply the new layers we had to completely sand off the old layer, if the flaky parts of the old layer weren't sanded off then the new layer would peel off quite quickly.  In life if we just try to forget about something without truly making an honest effort at fixing the mistake, we will just revert back to what we were. If we do not go to God with our issues and have him help us with them we really have not changed, we have just covered up our problems to be revealed again at a later time. So that´s what I was able to take away from the painting yesterday.  It probably does not make sense, but we were told to write about a lesson learned or something along the lines of that so this was the best I had!

Tyler

Day three, Thursday

Well, today you will read about yesterday´s adventures.  MAYBE tomorrow we will have internet at the school so we don´t need to bother Moise to have to drive us to this internet cafe.  I hope so.  I hope you enjoy today´s blog! 

The things you see on a Dominican street!!  Yesterday we saw the Dominican version of Spain´s famous Running of the Bulls here!!! Several random bulls were running down toward us on the street.  Surprised us so much that no one had their camera ready!

Hola! My day was a true blessing. I spent my day outside of the dental clinic with many of the students painting the preschool across the street from Ebenezer. We had the privilege of painting murals on the outside walls around the school. When we started  in the morning it was spitting rain but not enough to interfere with our painting, thank goodness. During our time painting I really had the opportunity to get to talk with the students which was a special gift for me. From one parent to another, you all have wonderful and amazing children! They each bring their own special talent to each day with a willing heart and at times even  step out of their comfort zones. It is awesome to watch them interact with the Dominican students. I have heard each American student question their Spanish speaking abilities and then get to witness their ability to communicate with no problemas, what troopers! After a hard day´s work, we went to the school´s new property where they will be building a church for the Creole members to have services. As we left the property we walked and prayed out loud, very powerful! We then went to the beach which was a beautiful sight where we could wade in the water. It was a refreshing end to a hard days work. Blessings to all!

Nancy Hartman

P.S. Hello Hubby, miss and love you mucho! Thank you so much for helping Chelsea and I enjoy this trip. ♥♥♥♥

This was the start of our day!  What a wonderful blessing and promise of God´s presence.  It is difficult to see but it was a double rainbow. WOW!!

Dr. Miller, Chelsea and Patti working with a patient.  He has extracted MANY teeth here.

Laura, Adrienne and Taylor posing with their painting in front of the new preschool. 

A panoramic view of the finished wall behind the preschool.  It says Glory, Adoration and Hope.  Other words are on the other sides of the walls.  This was the first day we painted here. 

Here is the LB group, except Chelsea, who was assisting Dr. Miller, with our new boy that we sponsor. His name is Brainy!!!  Like my students!! ♥

Maybe Daniel will be a doctor like Dr. Scott!!

Here is a group of our students who are painting the courtyard area, behind the basketball court.  You will see more pictures as it is finished.

On the way to the beach, Moises took us to see the land that Mission Possible just bought for the building of their Creole church.  It is a valuable piece of land, right next to the University.  Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were devouring us at the time but we had the opportunity to see his vision and to pray for this new project as it is being planned.

Emily and Chelsea sinking in the pebble beach!  Water was bath temperature warm but still refreshing.

Scott demonstrating his juggling skills while at the beach. 

These brave boys went all the way in to enjoy the water.

Greg, Braden, Jose, and Tyler.

Today was the third full day we were in the DR. After a breakfast of cereal and pineapple, I read and gave my interpretation of Psalm 1. The group then went to get ready for their tasks. I was painting fluoride varnish in the dental clinic. I liked having that job because I was able to talk with the students and adults for a little bit as well as protect their teeth. I was with Tyler and we worked well together. After a short break and a meal later, I went outside to continue painting the preschool. I put the second coat of paint on the base of the wall and the hands- well, one of the hands. It was really bad, but we call it the Spock hand.- After cleaning out the brushes and getting the paint off of the floor we were able to admire the wall. It looks really nice, thanks to those in our group with an artistic touch (ie not me).After some confusion, we headed off to the beach. It was a fairly short drive to enjoy a pebble beach. I didn't get in; most people did not because the water was too cold. I think only Tyler and Braden went in (they were cold afterward). We returned to the school for some "walkos" (pronounced walk-os) as Laura called them because apparently "walking tacos"  was too long to say and unoriginal. We wrapped up the evening with Dutch Blitz, a card-game that I´m awful at, and the evening debriefing. We finished this with a prayer circle where each group member prayed for the person beside them. I requested my prayer to be for building strong relations with team members and the Dominicans (and today I became friends with a Dominican girl named Alesandra).
We went to bed at 11:30 making for an early next day.

-Brandon

¡Hola familia y amigos! What a blessing this trip has been thus far! Day three was just as eventful and busy as the past two with the continuation of our dental clinic. Yesterday I was in the extraction room with Dr. Miller as his assistant and translator. I began the morning with some reservations about my abilities to correctly translate for Dr. Miller. As the day progressed, I lost all sense of fear because I realized that my job was so much more than acting as a translator. The kids looked to me as a source of comfort and someone they could look to when in need. I was able to hold their hands and caress their faces as they went through something scary. It was one of the best moments in my life and I will forever remember their kind eyes looking into mine.

            After another long day, Moises once again treated us to a special trip! We took a fifteen minute bus ride to a beautiful beach and were able to feel the smooth pebbles and warm water on our toes. We even found a few pretty shells! Upon arrival back to the school, we had a late dinner of walking tacos, yummmy! The highlight of my day was our group meeting that night. All the group members shared a story about their day and how God had worked through them. The other nights, we ended our meeting with a closing prayer, but this time we ended with multiple prayers. Spej instructed us to pray for the person to our right, so we made our way through the circle. Dad, if you are reading then you should know that I prayed for Mom, you can imagine all the tears!

Marisa prayed for me and she blessed me with her eloquent words and true devotion for our Father. And as you all can imagine, we shared quite a few tears!

            On a closing note, I would like to ask you all to keep us in your prayers! Prayer for our safe travel back and that God will continue to work through us to help our new Dominican friends.

            Dad, I wish I could be with you for Father´s day but I know you are proud of what I am doing here. I am beyond happy to call you my dad and I love you more than you could ever imagine. Thank you for being who you are, thank you for being my dad. I miss you and love you always! 

Love Chelsea

Chelsea Hartman

Day two in Barahona

Well, this day has been great.  We are really developing a rhythm now.  All of the students are doing great here and so willing to do whatever is set in front of them to do.  I am SO proud of everyone!!!  Each day I am having two students come to the internet cafe to write their impressions.  Hopefully you are enjoying the trip through their experience and eyes.  Today is Emily Miller and Stephanie Taylor.
Love to all, keep us lifted up in prayer... we are praying for you too!  ♥  Patti Spiegel

Here is the morning English lesson with teachers Emily and Brandon.  The afternoon classes are usually bigger than the morning ones. 

Stephanie and Taylor watching the children color in the first room.

Tyler is painting the outer wall with a crowd of admirers! Greg did the upper part of this same wall.

Eli and Braden are sharing a special prayer time with a Dominican student.

Adrienne and Marisa with some students after their lesson and waiting to go to see the dentists.

Scott is extracting a difficult molar with Brandon assisted him.  I am praying and trying to keep him comfortable and calm.

It was a climb to the top, but we helped each other out and had lots of fun!

Marisa and Mrs. Spiegel stayed at the middle area with Moise and Daniel. What a funny kid he is!

Finally getting back after a slippery climb down the waterfall.

Jamie, Emily, Chelsea, and Megan stood under the huge waterfall. It was very refreshing!

The Norden family experiences the cold falls together!

This morning I started out by leading our group in devotions. We read and talked a little bit about Psalm 37. After that, Brandon and I taught our English lesson. We had about 10 students in our class and we taught them how to say their school supplies and interrogatives. It was a little difficult at first to explain some questions they had about the English language, but it was fun to interact with the kids and try to speak some English with them. In the middle of the lesson, the little boy that I sponsor, Luis Manuel, came into the class with me to be my "assistant". It was exciting to get to spend some time with the little boy whose picture is hanging on my refrigerator and my family writes and receives letters from.

When we were done with the lesson, I headed to the dental clinic. My job was to put fluoride on each kid´s teeth. The kids were so intrigued by us painting this weird tasting stuff on their teeth. We had kids that were around the ages of 10 and 11. I really enjoyed interacting with the kids and being able to communicate with them. The dental clinic went very smoothly and we got through many kids. Once we were done with the dental clinic, we ate lunch and did some minor painting that needed to be finished up.
After a long day of being hot and sweaty, we took a 45 minute bus ride to a beautiful waterfall. We got to climb up the waterfall and enjoy the refreshing water. Even in a country that doesn´t have much, God has still revealed his beautiful creations, like the waterfall and the ocean. As a bonus, we got to eat some chicken from Pollo Rey. Lets just say there was no chicken or fries left over afterwards.
God is definitely doing some work here in the Dominican as we continue to spread his love to every person that goes through the dental clinic or the kids on the street that we talk to.
A few things that you can pray for: we have been working hard for these last couple of days which makes us very tired so pray for strength to get through these days, there may be a tropical storm coming towards us so pray that it holds off so we can keep working and get the painting done that we need to, and pray for the dental clinic coming up- its going to be a long day with many adults coming in.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Love to everyone at home :)

-Emily

                     Today I worked in the clinic with Taylor. We would go up to the kids and ask how old they were and write their name down, then ask them to fill in there first and last name and if they wanted to color. One boy told us that he did not know his last name, and so the other boys made fun of him saying ¨You don´t know your last name¨. We felt bad so we told him it was ok and not to worry about it. After the clinic I ate lunch then worked on our murals that we have been painting this week, then we headed to the waterfall. When we got there we started the long strenuous climb to the top. The climb on the way up was somewhat easy, there were small sections of water falls and it felt so good to go stand in it because we were all so warm. When we made it to the top I think we all had a sense of accomplishment. On our way to get down I think I fell about 7 times but surprisingly made it out without anything broken. After we left the waterfall we went and got Pollo Rey (chicken).  We were all so happy when we saw fries because we haven´t eating any fried foods in so long . After our dinner I played Dutch Blitz with Emily, Jamie, and Megan. We were all really into the game because every time someone got Dutch Blitz we would scream it. Megan who was a first time player, actually won that game. We all gathered around in a circle to talk about our day and who we thought impacted us. It was alot of fun to hear everyone share about the kids and I think we talk for about an hour. Over all it was a productive day, I feel blessed to be on this trip and am excited for the rest of the week. Just want to say the I miss and love you Mom, Dad, and Emily!! See you in 5 days!! God bless!

Stephanie Taylor