Day 6:Sunday Church, A Wedding, and Goodbyes

We Started out the morning waking up to a pretty hot room. Our heat went out about 5am. This morning was our morning to sleep in...I skipped breakfast and slept/stayed in bed until about 10. Went down to lunch at noon. Then went up and started packing up to go home. It was so HOT. I thought I was going to die. We had to get ready for church and get dressed with sleeves on in that heat. Ugh! I couldn't decide if it was really that hot or if it was because I was focused on myself instead of someone else's conditions this morning. Either way it was pretty darn hot. We loaded up the bus at 2:00 and headed to Los Fundos to go to church. 

We stopped off at Lily House to pick up the wedding cake. They trusted us, a group of strangers, young adults at that with their wedding cake. Really? There was a lesson to be learned everywhere we looked and in everything we did. Do you think I would have trusted a group of high school kids with my cake? But in reality does it really matter if there is a dent in your wedding cake? 

When we pulled up the kids ran over to the buses and greeted us with open arms and smiles. We have all made special connections with certain kids/adults and it didn't take us long to find each other. I greeted some of the Mothers with "Feliz Dias de la Madres"...Happy Mothers Day! 

We went into the church and found a seat. A lot of the boys/men had to stand outside and peak through the windows because the church was full. 

Nate , the Pastor of Los Fundos and our Score representative, welcomed us as his beautiful wife translated. He doubted us we found out this week. TRA left last year and committed to the village. He said Los Fundos sometimes gets overlooked because it is the poorest, smallest, least glamorous of the villages. People say they are coming back but don't always end up doing it. When Womack told him we were not only going to build a house but our school would be paying for it with money the kids raised throughout the year-he said ok... Well when we heard that -that was all the motivation our group needed. We said were going to build this house and three bath houses in two days-no problemo! 

Nate commented on all of that and said we had one of the hardest working group of kids he had ever seen. We surprised him and he now knows whatever TRA kids say they are going to do-they will deliver! 

We sang (in Spanish with a projector) Blessed be Thy Name,10000 Reasons, and Mighty to Save. It was so amazing. At that point we were all the same (really all week-we realized the Dominicans are no different than us). Nate preach a sermon in Spanish without the translator. We got the gist of it. Ally and some of the other took the kids outside for an activity she brought with her. 

They passed around the offering "plate"...really cool...

Then it was time for the wedding. Some of the girls danced to a song. It was so perfect! The bride was beautiful. Her dress was amazing. 

As everyone exited the church, we gathered and took a group photo. 

Then it was time for the wedding cake! While the locals were having cake, our group walked over and took a photo with Ms Alba. She was so humbled, proud and appreciative. She deserved that new home. She is obviously a good and faithful servant of the Lord. God Bless Her and her family! 

Then there was cake left so we all got to have a piece. It was so delicious! The women at the Lily House made it. That's one thing I didnt have time to do. Next time I will go visit there. Lily House is a place for women rescued from sexual slavery. They have a place to live and work and worship and feel safe and feel like they matter. I did buy a few pieces of jewelry from them at the complex one night. They made jewelry out of cereal boxes. 

It was time to say goodbye. 

Two of my favorites...Darien and Darien! 

Tino gave this little boy the necklace he had on...he asked for it and he gave it. That's what you do for these people. They gave us so much more than we ever could have given them. 

Everyone just wanted "uno mas foto" one more picture! We learned so much Spanish. 

 

Ally and Eliza telling each other "I love you"! Ally videotaped it. It is priceless. I love those two girls! 

This boy reminded me of Oney! He was doing a funny gesture that Oney always does. He was so full of life and so cute. 

Not easy at all for any of us. I told Marlenis and Alba "l'appromat Anos"...I would see them next year. I can't wait to see how they have changed.  I cried all the way back to the complex. We "got to leave" they had to go back to their normal lives. It was SO HARD.

We had dinner and our night gathering as a group started at 8. Each night we gathered as a group and had a time of sharing. Tonight everyone was asked to share something. It was very emotional. We ALL took something away from this trip. Everyone is on a different level in their walk with God. I learned that it's ok. I have always been intimidated that I wasn't  "Holy" enough to do a mission trip. Wow was I wrong! We are ALL sinners and God loves us just the same. I have learned so much about myself. I just pray that when I get home that "life" doesn't get in the way. 

I am so proud of Ally. She is such a strong leader. This senior class has tons of strong leaders and I know they are going to do great things this next year and as grown adults. 

She really got out of her comfort zone and did things and said things that I never could have imagined. I was so blessed to go with her and have this experience with her and all of her friends. I LOVE these kids. They took such good care of me. 

Definitely a trip of a lifetime. Don't be afraid to talk about God. Share his love. Do something kind for others. It doesn't have to be a major action-just the smallest gestures are as important as the big ones. I challenge all of us on the trip-adults and "kids" let's keep it up when we get back home! 

Thankful 

Day 4...Running with the Ball!

Started the day off without my diet coke. Ouch! Actually, I'm not sure how, but I've made it pretty good without. We loaded the buses and headed out on our mission. Lots of sleeping on the buses today. Quiet buses. Today we had the option of going wherever you wanted...bathhouse and house building or village children. It didn't matter boy or girl. ally and I went to the village with the kids. We visited another village near Los Fundos (maybe 2 miles away). Let me tell you-our seniors last year did a great job picking out village to "adopt". It is a perfect fit for our school. It was the smallest and poorest and "least glamorous " village. But boy is it perfect! Great, genuine, appreciative,happy, kind, people. I feel like because of the size we can really make a difference in Los Fundos. We felt outnumbered in this village we visited. The people didn't seem as nice. It didn't take us long to fall in love and claim Los Fundos as "ours". 

I'm going to be short on words today. No time to type-I'm using my phone so I'm slow-and I'm fizzling out on the energy. 

This is Alba-we are building her a new home. She is the sweetest grandmother. I took one of the parents who speaks fluent Spanish and asked if I could visit her house. She welcomed me with her hands on her heart, pointed to Heaven and a huge smile...

Like any welcoming Mother/Woman would do, she took us straight to her kitchen. It smelled amazing! She had a huge pot of rice and lentils. She insisted we try it. I begged and pleaded and said we just had lunch but she was so insistent. I looked at my translator , aka, Dr. Toby-I said-please tell her no. I can't. I could tell by her expressions and tone that I would really offend her if I didn't try it. Toby said-God will bless you. So -yep-I did. I ate off of her spoon and out of her pot. It was amazing! 

Then her spouse came in who was 76 and fit as a 30 year old. He says something really excitedly  and points to the pot on the stove. She walks over to a locked cabinet and gets a silver bowl out and fils it with boiled yucca roots. Google that to see exactly what they are...I can't use my data or get it to load from here. 

So ...what did we do? We ate them of course! It was basically like a boiled potato! Not bad at all...some salt pepper and butter and I would have eaten the entire plate! As we were eating one of the kids walked by and saw us through a hole in the wall and ran and grabbed our videographer Ethan and he came and filmed the rest of the story! I can't wait to see my expressions! At this point, Dr Toby and I passed the plate back and forth insisting on the other to finish it! 

This is a plate of yucca before it was cooked. It took hours with a machete to get it ready to cook. So it was a real gift. 

Ethan!

I could say much more. Like how Alba got her best silver dish out of a locked cabinet for us to eat on or how she went and got her two best chairs for us to sit in or how she tried to place a freshly washed piece of clothing on my chair because she was afraid it wasn't clean enough. This is all sort of like Gods grace...we don't deserve it but he has given it to us! She gave us -total strangers-her best! She wasn't worried if we ate all of her food-she would have given it to us and known that the Lord would provide for her and her family. We at home would have been worried about giving all of our "favorite hot meal" away and having to miss a meal. Talk about perspective. 

Ally has been named...Big Al the Builder and Dr Ally ...

One of the biggest lessons learned all week...you can teach so much more with actions rather than words. Whatever we did-they did-kids and adults. We couldn't always communicate with words-but we could with actions. What does that teach us? To lead by example-a good example. Someone is always watching. 

What do you do when you run out of activities? Grab a box of medical gloves, blow them up and draw faces on them! They loved it! They love everything and anything! 

I feel so bad for the teenagers. Teenagers are already so awkward and uncomfortable. The little kids don't have any trouble with us. You can see the pain in the teens eyes-guys and girls. It was harder to work with /on them. But they need Gods love more than anything. 

 

Nino, Marlenis, Aliza, Alaindro, Nicole 

This is our bus driver and one of the strongest make leaders/families in the church. My favorite! These families crave "fotos"...they don't have any pictures of themselves! I am having my pictures printed and shipped back to them!!!! I just wish I could see their faces when they get the package! Wow! 

Ally and I stayed all afternoon at the house when a bus went back early. We were in charge of sunscreen, water, Chapstick, first aid, holding ladders, cleaning up, snacks, etc! 

Our "finished product"! We needed a few more materials that we couldn't get in time. So Nate the SCORE pastor will finish Monday.