Dominican Republic, June 28, 2012

Last Day in the DR :(


Today was amazing!  We welcomed 26 kiddos to our family...they accepted Jesus for the first time.   Yes...23 at Children With A Hope...read that again!  23!!!  From one group!  Our hearts felt like they were going to burst! It was absolutely incredible.  We taught about God's salvation plan today.  We shared about Jesus and HOW he died for us...WHY he died for us...about WHEN he took our punishment...we taught that Jesus is THE ONE WAY to heaven.  And God knows we can't get there on our own.  He loves each of us...He can heal us from our darkness (sin)...He wants a relationship with us...
"I am the LIGHT of the world...whoever follows me will NEVER walk in darkness, but have the light of life!"  if we follow...HE is the leader, we are not.  23 sweet little faces who want to follow have decided to let GOD lead.  We give GOD all the glory!
Today was our last day with the children. It was sad to walk through those doors the last time this afternoon.  We will pray daily for the center, the people, the kiddos...the dreams and hopes of all who are there!  we ended our day at Children With A Hope with the flashlight skit.  We used the Español version of "Oh how He loves us"...we already performed this skit once on Sunday for a church we attended...but without passing out a light to everyone.  Instead we passed out Bible verse strips of paper ..."the Lord lights up my darkness."  And although on Sunday it went great...today was so cool.  For me anytime kiddos are involved...it's ALWAYS amazing.  Ron and Paul were there and Alexis danced for Linda (she was still with CienFuegos).  WOW.  the children booed satan just like our kids do!  And when we started passing out lights...they were soooo excited and couldn't wait to have one!  I told them "brillar por Cristo!" (Shine for Jesus!)  they were all waving their lights...it was beautiful.  even through lots of tears, it is a moment that will be crystal clear in my heart forever.

The dental team is not just saving teeth...but saving lives!  Pastor Jim was able to have a great conversation with Nick, a translator for the team (lives in the DR)...and because of the time Jim spent talking and sharing (and because of God's divine intervention...) Nick also accepted Jesus for the first time!  a new hermano (brother)!!  YAY!!

The "crew" finished the roof!  They have worked so hard!  They can't tell you how much a nail gun would come in handy!!  We are proud of the guys...they are kinda bruised and all sport a serious farmers tan...but what they have done will be there for years to come and I'm sure they will never forget it!

CienFuegos.  The bus pulls near that little tiny gated space and you see children everywhere!  Today as we pulled up I could hear a few calling "Linda, Linda!"... others were singing...some just chatting away with excitement.  They were climbing on the gates, okay, really they were climbing on anything they could!  Yes, this group has much less structure, much less space, much less of everything...except they had over 100 kiddos!  We were blessed today by the children singing songs for us.  A sweet little girl "Maria"...led the rest of the group.  One of the songs I watched a little girl hold her heart and close her eyes...I asked Dulce what they were saying.
 "I love you more than I love my life."...precious.
More great news!  3 kiddos accepted Jesus after our salvation story!  Dulce did an amazing job leading them through a prayer in spanish...just as beautiful as the one i heard at CWAH!  The little boy who accepted Jesus was Megan's buddy all week!  I went to tell her the news (she was leading games) and she came to give him a big hug with tears in her eyes.  She had to tell him goodbye today...but someday they will meet again! 


So...if you have been counting...that was 27 new family members.  We had 1 on Tuesday and 13 on Sunday.  "bienvenido a mi familia en Cristo!" (welcome to my family in Jesus!)  41 people whose lives have been changed forever...of course they aren't the only ones who have been changed this week...those of us on this journey have been changed forever too.


And don't stop counting.  Tomas, who is our waiter at the restaurant accepted Christ today, too!  He has been serving with us (as a volunteer) all week long at Cien Fuegos and then serves us for dinner every night.  Such a nice guy... and now he is part of our family, too.  


Evan though we are leaving the DR tomorrow, we will all remember our wonderful week of "loving on children." in the Dominican Republic. We are all leaving "un pedacito" of our hearts in the Dominican!