Dominican Republic Day 5

DR Blog, Thursday, March 5, 2015

Parkview Baptist Church

We began our devotion by singing happy birthday to Anita. We all agreed that there is nothing more noble than serving others on your birthday. Charles Snipes talked about two words in the Bible that have made a difference in his life. "Come" unto me..."go" into the world. When we come to Jesus, we are compelled to go and share with others. Charles shared how fortunate he felt to be able to do this kind of work.

Today was our last day of work. We primed the interiors of three more houses bringing our total to four houses completely primed and ready for paint for the next group. We went back and saw the houses we painted on Sunday and Monday. These were houses whose walls were built by one group, stuccoed by another, and primed by another. By today, the Dominican workers had run electric, and installed light fixtures, cabinets, and doors. We are reminded of Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2:6-8, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor." Ultimately, we each do our part, according to God's design, and the kingdom advances to the glory of God.

Over the course of several days, over 100 children heard Bible stories, learned principles of the Golden Rule, sang songs about Jesus, and made crafts that we pray will remind them of our time with them. This afternoon we went out to the baseball field (built by a previous Orphan's Heart team) and played with the children for a couple of hours. We played everything from baseball, to frisbee, to jump rope, and volleyball. We were pleased to be able to leave the sports equipment with Pastor Cavier and pray that it will be another tool to help him share Jesus with this community that he has been called to serve.

Our guides, Howie and Fernandez, treated us to a couple of brief excursions on the way back to our apartment. We got a personal tour of the local coffee manufacturer, saw how they dried the beans and got a free sample. We stopped by an ice cream shop (yes, we had ice cream before dinner.) Then we drove out to the beach and enjoyed a nice breeze and beautiful view.

Highlights:
We saw this week how God puts the right people in the right place at the right time. He multiplied our efforts so that we were able to accomplish more than what the site manager ever expected of us. Mission trips develop special kinds of small group relationships--relationships that are not just confined to a classroom, but built on doing the work of the kingdom and sharing the love of Jesus with others. We trust that we have demonstrated that love this week. We trust that exposure to the needs of this community will make us more sensitive to the needs in Lake City. We pray that being missionaries in the Dominican Republic will help us to be better missionaries at home.