Day 3 - Tuesday
Vulnerability is stronger
than invulnerability
Our morning began in two parts. Jim and Deron went into Algodon and played baseball with the boys there. Yes, they actually got to play this time! The girls in our group stayed at the casa. We invited a group of 13-18 year old girls to come over so our group could lead a few sessions on Godly women of the Bible. Busload by busload the girls, from the nearby villages, came to hear. This morning was Becky’s turn. She planned a remarkable lesson on Mary, the mother of Jesus. Through the help of the translation by Betsy and our COTN friend, Malu Becky read through the story with the girls. Becky surfaced the bold points of the story like Mary’s obedience, and willingness to submit to God. We talked about the importance of making yourself available to God and what can happen when you do that. Becky asked this question to the girls, “Can you think of a time when you didn’t obey God? What was the outcome?” Cue the crickets... For a few moments the girls sat in pure silence disinclined to answer and articulate any sort of relation. But, the Holy Spirit moves when it needs to. Angela, one of our friends from Coronado that came with us on our trip, shared about a moment in her young life when she felt like God wasn’t necessarily a huge importance in her life. However, she found herself very alone and realized that even when we feel alone God is always there. Her openness and willing to be vulnerable in that place opened the door for many of the girls, in attendance, to start sharing their own stories, and we heard some inconceivable ones. Angela is 16 years old but because she made herself available to God and open to vulnerability she unlocked the door for girls to be willing to share. That wouldn’t have likely been possible in any other way. Because the girls are in similar age as her, it showed them that someone from a different culture could still relate. You should know that Angela is an introvert. She isn’t an outgoing girl who shares a lot. Her readiness to share her experience was I’m sure a real chore for her to do. It’s such proof of God’s power to be able to allow opportunities like this to occur. Many times in life, we expereince that in Jesus we can find vulnerability is stronger than vulnerability. Angela had an open door opportunity, and she didn’t just walk in… she hopped through.
Connectedness
In the second half of our day we toured a nearby batey called Pueblo Nuevo. We felt like it is important to have some context of what other villages are like compared to Algodon. We met the principal of Pueblo Nuevo while we were there. He helped us tour the COTN school site and the village. You can see from pictures that they have some very nice classroom set-ups. They have large rooms for many children and bathrooms in each class. One of the buildings we saw was called the “worm”. Inside was computers and technology to assist education for their children. In another room we found a salon complete with hair dryers and sinks like you would find in the states. We also saw a kitchen stock piled with cooking pans, a toaster, and an industrial mixer. It was quite encouraging to see some of the advancements they have available in Pueblo Nuevo. It also helped us understand how far behind Algodon is. When you walk through the batey of Algodon they have no such things. Although they have made quite a few developments it helped our team connect us to Algodon’s continuing need.
After our tour of Pueblo Nuevo we went to our beloved Algodon. This was the first time our entire team got to go to the batey together. Many of us were reunited with our dear sponsored children. A couple of our sponsored kids were missing however. Becky noticed her little guy, Alexander has been missing and went to his grandmothers house to see if he might be home. His grandmother recognized Becky immediately. The grandmother explained that he was in Santo Domingo for the week. She then stopped herself, went into the house and grabbed a picture of Becky and Alexander together. Becky remembered the picture as one she took and sent to him, some time after their initial introduction, a few years ago. Alexander had a made a frame for the picture and decorated it with colored rice and beads. Talk about your tear-jerker’s! Sponsorship and relationship makes all the difference to these kids. It just does. This is proof of that.
(Re) united and it Feels so Good!
Our team spent the remaining time connecting with kids. We attached ourselves with our kids who consider us their “madrina” or “padrino” (Meaning godmother or godfather in Spanish). We also connected with kids we don’t sponsor. We made intentional time writing down their stories and facts about them to inspire others to sponsor these sweet souls. Additionally, we’ve spent a lot of time connecting with one another in our team. During our post lunch afternoon break, you couldn’t dynamite a group of us talking with each other - just sharing life. At the same time, another group was talking with some of our new translators - joining and sharing life stories with them. To make the time even sweeter, we were once again reunited with our good friend Franklin. Franklin was a translator we bonded with immensely last time we were in country.
Immediate Prayer Requests:
Betsy gives her lesson on Esther tomorrow morning for the same group of girls as today. Pray that the nerves from Betsy and the upcoming teachers would subside. Pray that the girls would take away something of value from our time together. Pray that the Holy Spirit moves once again and blows us away with something incredible.
Pray for our sponsored children that we haven’t met yet. Deron, Annette, Becky and Noma still have some kids to meet and see again. Pray that they are reunited before we need to leave!
Franklin (our previous translator) and his wife are pregnant are ready to give birth any day. Pray that they have a safe delivery for their son, Johannon.
