Day Twenty-Three in the Dominican Republic

Well, we made it back to Santo Domingo and began getting settled in for the evening. This also means that we have internet. So, I plan on posting from my blog once again (as you can obviously tell). I think that I will continue to post additional photos on Facebook apart from my blog each night. That seemed to work pretty well.

The main focus of today was getting packed up in Guymate and getting back to the apartment in Santo Domingo. For the most part things went well. Like every other day, however, we had to be flexible. The van we've been using all week wasn't working  this morning. So, we started a couple hours later than planned. That also meant we ended up missing most of the church service this morning. Following the church service, we toured the city of La Romana and then headed to a mall to hang out and eat lunch. We also met Steve and Sandra at the mall in order to catch our ride back to Santo Domingo. In a basic recap, that was our day.

Many people have asked about pictures of the ministry center in Guymate because they wanted to see where we were staying. I intentionally held off sharing pictures because I wanted everyone to get a better picture of the people and the things we were doing, rather than a picture of the place. In the Dominican Republic, people are always the priority. That's something we've been learning during our time here.

This ministry center is really a testimony to the commitment and hard work of the people in Guymate. They have been slowly building this place up as they have the money and the man-power. It is a testament to the saying, "Slow and steady wins the race." They just keep building and building and building.

I'll give a quick tour of the facility, using the panoramic picture as a guide. The bottom left of the picture, with the arched doorway, is the church. This is where they hold services four times a week. Above the church, you can see the dormitory rooms. We stayed in the ones at the end of the line--the ones that are painted and finished. You can see that they are planning on having three more finished in the future. They are looking forward to hosting more teams of volunteers as they get more finished. Then, the orange room, in the middle of the picture, is the dining hall (or hangout/fellowship hall). They are continuing to improve this space more and more as well. As of right now, they have new windows installed and new tile on the floor. They said that they are planning on installing new doors next. This is where we did all of the crafts for the VBS programs in Guymate.

These were the three areas that we hung out in the most.

You can also see some areas of the ministry center with blue paint. These are small apartments. That was the first thing they built in this ministry center. I didn't get an exact count, but I would guess there were probably five families that live in the apartments at the ministry center. This is why there were always children around the connect with. The girls loved this aspect of staying here. They were always playing games and doing crafts with the kids around the ministry center. By the end of the week, they felt like family.

Here's a little look inside the two rooms that we used during our stay. Rachel, Lauren, Zoe, and I shared the room with the three bunk beds. Olivia and Erin shared the room with two bunk beds.

They're still working on finishing the bathrooms, but they worked well for us.

Here's the view looking out from the dining/fellowship hall.

We continue to thank God for the opportunity to serve alongside the team in Guymate. It was truly a blessing and a gift. We loved watching their passion and commitment to the Lord. My children also loved living in a setting that had such a community/family feel. There were many tears today when we left..........and more tears throughout the rest of the day. The kids repeatedly talked about how much they connected with this group of people in one week. I think it surprised them.

Throughout this week, I continually had a verse running through my mind. “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58, ESV). This was my encouragement for the team in Guymate. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, they are doing a great work in Guymate--they are abounding in the work of the Lord. I'm sure it feels overwhelming at times. Yet, I wanted to remind them that, in the Lord, their labor is never in vain.

Please continue to pray for the team in Guymate and their work in the La Romana area. They are doing a great work with very few resources. The results of their labor should have a similar reaction as those to the work in Nehemiah. “And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.” (Nehemiah 6:16, ESV). God is doing a good work here. Let us continue to pray that this work continue.

Buenos Noches!