DR 2016 - Wednesday, July 13

Buenas noches! We got up this morning at 6:45 to a delicious breakfast of baked oatmeal and fresh Dominican fruit. Each morning before breakfast a different staff member from Solid Rock leads a brief morning devotional for our group, to center our day. Today a staff member named Kyle talked about worries and learning to surrender them to God and pray for peace, which was very encouraging. After breakfast, we split into VBS crew and construction crew and headed out for the day. VBS had a great turnout of over 200 kids. We sang fun songs and learned about the story the Prodigal Son with a fun puppet show. We enjoyed doing the craft and games with the kids, who were all so happy to be there. After VBS and lunch, we went to the local market for a fun scavenger hunt competition. It was so neat to see more of the Dominican culture, interact with local people, and see all of the different things sold there. After the scavenger hunt, we had free time. Many of us went into the barrios to play with the kids, which is always such a joy. Then as a group, Ken took us to the clinic construction site, which was amazing. As we both went last year, we can testify to the tremendous progress of the project. Last year, we worked on the surrounding wall of the clinic, and when we went today we witnessed the walls of the clinic itself. It is huge and we were inspired by how much of an impact it is going to have on the community. It truly is a revolution. Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a local restaurant called Bienvenidas, where we had wonderful Dominican food, including rice and beans, fried plantains, and even fried cheese. Then we went to Bon, an ice cream shop, which was refreshing. As we have done each night, we met as a group at the guesthouse and broke down our day, talking about what moved us, surprised us, and where we saw God's presence today. It was another beautiful, hot day in San Juan. over and out Madison and Meg