Day 4

Today was the first day of real work with the team. With delays in the flight schedule, most of the team didn't go to bed until around 1 am, some later even. Including the lack of sleep and long, dreadful flights, the team woke up, a little groggy, but ready to start their day with a devotional and dive in to work on what was planned for the day.

It is awesome to see these teens, college students and parents come together and work on digging ditches for the upcoming building that will become the preschool and kindergarten school in a small community of around 330 families called Villa Gonzales in the town San Pablo.

Due to the fact that I do not have camera opportunities this internship around, I will be receiving photos from this group's leader when he returns home on Monday, so I will try to go back and add photos when I get the chance, or I may just post a bunch of pictures on one post of a recap of what all went on this week. Not sure yet...

One thing that really stuck out to me was the commitment that these teens had. Project Manana gives the opportunity to whomever to sponsor a kid for them to get 5 hot meals a week with a vitamin supplement for $30 a month or the opportunity to sponsor a kid for the nutritional factor and the chance for them to go to the Private school that they have set up in the community stated earlier for $60 a month. There are a few teens here in this group of 22 that sponsor a kid on their own, without the help of their parents. I thought it was great that these kids take money that they earn to help another kid get nutrition and an education of the Gospel.

I highly suggest to those reading to think and pray about sponsoring a child here for the opportunity for a child to go to school and get food and a vitamin supplement for their health. The link will be added, but I think it is a great opportunity to help even if you cannot come down here. Brian was telling the team today that they really need to sponsor more kids before August since that will be the beginning of school, so this might be something that could touch you and make you feel like you are making a difference in the world, and it makes it better since you are!

Sponsor Me Here!

These kids here are at the nutrition center within the Villa Gonzales community. There are over 100 kids who get a hot meal and they have to come in shifts due to the amount of kids there are. This is just a snap shot I was able to take earlier. Even though it was hot and the room was full of bodies, the team still served food and sat with these kids to talk to them ( as much Spanish that each team member knows) and to just be there for them. 

After a long and hard day of work, the team came back to the guest house to get refreshed and washed up for dinner where we went to a local treat called "Bon" which is an ice-cream/frozen yogurt treat here that I have only found to be in the Dominican since 1987 to be exact. This is always one of my favorite things about coming here, besides the work we do for the community itself. Most of the flavors are similar to those from home, but this ice-cream is a lot more creamier than from home. 

With unlimited ice cream and chocolate options, I decided to do something good for my body and get frozen yogurt with fruit rather than chocolate. With help from Brian, my supervisor, I was able to receive a strawberry, mango and pineapple fro-yo concoction that was both good for my body and good for my sweet tooth.

Tonight though, after ice-cream, was the icing on the cake. Each night, there is a time to 'de-brief' all of what everyone was thinking of the day's activities and different aspects of what they saw or experienced touched them. Brian made the point of sort of challenging everyone in the group to figure out if they were a fan versus a follower of Jesus from Kyle Idleman's study on fan vs follower. With the definitions of the two words as so -- a fan is an enthusiastic admirer where a follower is someone who is a fan, but physically does something about it, like sharing the gospel.

This made me thinking and I wanted to share with you some of the questions that were asked.

Am I a fan or a follower?

What is my purpose in life? 

What is it that I am supposed to do?

How do I pick up my cross daily and follow him like He asked in Luke 7?

What do I need to change in my life to be a follower and not a fan?

Selah. Food for thought.