Friday is always exciting on a DR mission trip. We were hoping to get a lot of work done at Dora's house and we were anxious to provide every child at VBS with a goodie bag.
Following a good breakfast at the hotel we got in our van for the ride to Yaguita del Pastor. The streets were busy, honking cars, motorcycles weaving across lanes, pedestrians seeming to take their lives into their hands while crossing the street. We crossed the bridge and started up the hill.
The door was open to the children´s shelter when we arrived. First on the agenda was to finish filling the goodie bags with their cookies, candies, pencils, stickers and a couple other items. Quality checkers folded tops, staplers clicked, someone counted and we stuffed 253 goodie bags into big plastic bags. Then we were off to Dora's!
The main roof was finished and the extension over the new kitchen was underway when we arrived at Dora's. Some of us handed nails to the workmen, some hauled fill dirt and some - well, Martha - played cards and talked with Dora. Martha's biggest success of the day was getting to see the book others have talked about over the years. It´s a book of photographs taken more than 10 years ago in the barrio. What a treat to see photos taken by someone who cares deeply about the people we have worked with. Too quickly it was time to leave Dora´s house. We took photos, shared hugs and trudged up the hill.
The Friday VBS session was PACKED! Not that we were surprised. We sang, we colored pictures, we took pictures, we hugged a lot. Because of the crowd, we had closed the gate and had left some children in the street looking through the gate. We passed them coloring sheets and crayons. And, too soon, it was time to distribute goodie bags. With prayers for a loaves and fishes miracle we started to dismiss children pew by pew. And when we finished... there was just one bag left! Miracle, indeed.
We left with heavy hearts. Goodbyes for a year. We´ll see some of the kids at church on Sunday for one last hug.
Our final celebration of the day was to welcome Bob's wife Lisa! She will be here for a baptism on Sunday and we are excited to share with her our love and wonder for this place.
Thank you for your prayers. We will be home soon. We might even write again before we head home to Virginia. But, for all of us, home is also Cristo Salvador and Santiago.
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