Halfway Point of Summer Program

Wow! What an amazing two-three weeks we have had with our summer program in all of our sites. The summer program has been teaching on the continent of Africa--math, English, geography, and Bible all reflect Africa. I have been a part of our medical intern team helping with vaccines, and screenings for vision, height and weight, along with vital signs. Plus in the afternoon they got the chance to teach some health classes to the kids. Last weekend we had all 17 of our summer interns back in Jarabacoa for the weekend to celebrate Independence Day, reconnect with everyone, and to have fun together. I picked up some of our interns from the bus station, Vic and Leslie picked up some other interns and one of the Dominican drivers brought in other interns for us to be altogether for the weekend.

Friday evening we had supper together and heard some awesome stories of things have been going as the interns were sharing what has been going on the last two weeks. Vic wanted us to watch a movie about a time here in the Dominican Republic called, "In the Time of the Butterflies." It was about the Dominican dictator and a family of sisters who stood up against the dictator. It was a very powerful movie about this era in Dominican history.

Saturday morning the group hiked down to a waterfall while I stayed with Susanna another missionary to help prepare food for our BBQ. In the afternoon, at the ARK children's home we had a race for all age groups, men and women. It was so much fun to see the little kids run as well as the older kids and adults run. There was a small awards ceremony afterwards to congratulate those who came in first, second, and third place in the different group categories. We then had a BBQ for our summer interns to celebrate Fourth of July. It was great to see and hear responses from them of how great to eat "American food." The food was amazing! We played a couple of group games which was fun and hilarious. Finished our time with everyone sharing a surprise about their two weeks, a struggle they had and any prayer requests for the next two weeks. As each one was sharing it was awesome to hear how God has been working in their lives during these two weeks. The majority shared that the struggle(s) they had ended up being their surprise and joy of the two weeks. God is so good in how He works in and through His people to touch the lives of others. We had a time of prayer together before heading back to where everyone was staying.

Sunday part of the group went to the church with our ARK kids and the others went to the church in Jarabacoa where some of our ANIJA kids attend. We met up at the girl interns' apartment for lunch together one last time before everyone headed either to the bus station or me taking them back home up the mountain to Constanza. I really enjoyed this past weekend because of hearing how God is working in the lives of these 17 young people. It was a real special time.

We did celebrate on Monday, the 4th of July with the missionaries and interns in Jarabacoa along with our team, and some other missionaries in the area. It was a lot of fun helping to get ready for the celebration. The tradition here is when you arrive to make a 4th of July hat out of the paper and crafty things supplied. People were talking, eating, playing volleyball, jumping on the trampoline and playing fooseball. I got to meet and talk with some of our missionaries who I either briefly met or hadn't yet met which was great. Just a great time to relax and have fun together and celebrating the freedoms that God has given our great nation.