Eyes to See

One of my friends, who had prayed for me during the trip, asked me on Sunday if I had "eyes to see" while I was in the DR.  I had asked for prayer before the trip for eyes to see God at work on my trip, because often times, I think I miss that in my busyness.
I shared all of the stories I have on this blog because I see God's work in them.  That God uses Rod and Nancy and the pastor in Bavaro as his hands to reach out in love and  give those people a chance.  And those people are in turn being given the opportunity to be God's hands and feet to other people who cross their path.

One story I forgot to share about our trip down: we were delayed on the ground in Chicago due to lightening, we were certain we would miss our connecting flight.  Sue asked the passing flight attendant, who was walking by with connection information, what the status of our flight was.  The woman turned to us and said, "God must be with you, because honey, we're the crew for that flight!"  So the flight couldn't leave without us because it couldn't leave without them!  And I loved that she put it that way.  God must be with you.  Romans ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

I was working in my garden today.  I have this humungous  butterfly bush that I trim the dead flowers off of every week.  And it gets kind of annoying because there are so many and I start thinking, it would be much easier to cut the whole branch off and forget this.  So why do I trim all the dead flowers off weekly?  Because I'm trimming those off, new ones are growing.  I'm sure Rod and Nancy and all those who are in missions get tired of working to eliminate the ugly stuff that they see, because new ugly stuff pops up every time they're there.  But because they work, one situation at a time, one relationship at a time against that ugly, new beauty appears.  It takes time. 

Some of those kids come from a great family who loves them and provides for them the best they can.  Sponsorship can help them out in providing an education and an opportunity to learn more about Jesus through their school.  But some of the kids, don't know what love is.  They don't know what it means to be loved and have never seen love modeled for them.  God's love can be made complete in you, if you can invest a little time and write them an encouraging letter.  Or a little more time and money and go for a visit.  Sponsorship, is about giving, yes, but it's about giving of yourself as well.  Please invest in these children.  I know translating is hard, I'll help you if you want.  It doesn't even have to be long, just a little note to show there's someone out there that cares.  Someone that thinks they're special.

Karina and Food Sponsors

Karina on her moto.  She cooks the food at home
and brings it in to the school

Karina is a special lady who works at the school.  She has 6 kids, 5 boys and 1 girl that go to the school.  At first she started at the school as a janitor and she sold food on the side.  Rod tried some of it and liked it so they started having her cook homestyle healthy food at the school.  150 kids, those who need it the most, get food each day.  2^nd Mile is looking for food sponsors who want to help the kids, but aren’t interested in writing letters.

Karina is a good mom and a hard worker.  Now she is the social worker for the school, visiting the homes of the students to make sure they are taken care of.

Cintia's Story

Cintia, a young girl living in Monteverde with her parents and 6 siblings, was at the school from the beginning, always smiling, always helpful, always special to Rod and Nancy.  And then they found out her background, and that her father had died.  Some time after that, a new stepdad moved in who didn’t like Cintia.  He picked on her and accused her of stealing things. 

In November, on my trip, she wanted to meet with Rod and Nancy.  She told them that she needed a new place to live because her stepfather was beating her,  because she would not give in to his sexual advances.  She felt unsafe and that he might try something more.  They suggested she live with an older married sister.  They didn’t have anywhere for her to go.

The following week, Cintia was beaten and raped by her stepfather.  Flabia (a friend of 2^nd Mile) found out and took her to the city to a safehouse and helped her press charges against him.  Because of the charges, her mom and stepfather left, but Cintia stayed for 2 or 3 months at the home in the city.  She was afraid to go back to Monteverde. 
When Rod and Nancy were back in March, she came back.  She tried to live with a sister and her husband in a one room house but ended up living with Pascual (the pastor) and his family for several months so she could finish school.  This school year she does not yet have the papers necessary to go to school.  But when she gets them, she’ll attend the adult school.  She is 16.  In the meantime, she’s working at the 2^nd Mile school and living with a different sister and husband.  Cintia was kind of the push for exploring the safehouse/orphanage idea.

Things We Take for Granted

• Open yards and houses not surrounded by gates or bars

• Kleenexes

• Child Protective Services

• Running water all the time

• Clean water you can drink

• Water pressure

• Flushing toilet paper

• Traffic laws

• Laws against grown men sitting on a wall outside of a school watching kids

• School attendance

• Paved roads

Avoiding the Storm

So on Wednesday night we heard the report that a tropical storm was coming our way.  High winds and heavy rain.  We got all worried that we would not be able to get our work done because the kids don’t come to school in the rain.  That night, we went to church and Sue Vercauteren ended up giving the message!  It was great, she had a translator and did very well talking about transformation.  During the service someone also prayed about the storm.  After the service a little girl came up to Sue and wanted to accept Christ.  And Robinson, a friend of 2^nd Mile who translates, just happened be there to be able to translate between them.  It was very special.  And Thursday ended up being a beautiful day, no rain or wind except for the morning and we were able to go to the school and accomplish most of what we came to do.

House of Hope

The church and the school in the distance

The trade school

The high school

2nd Mile has purchased 610 sq. meters of land to build an orphanage.  Today we're going to look at other orphanages in the DR. Pray for wisdom for Nancy and Rod as they make decisions about the future.



The future

More photos for sponsors!

Jeremy remembers you Ross!

Oliver