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