On Monday morning I had only 4 people in my class and in the afternoon I had to cancel my class because only one student showed up. I waited until 1:45 and my class was supposed to start at 1:00. I was told later that the guys in my afternoon class had told my interpretor that most of them could not be there until 2:00 and my interpretor had neglected to tell me. After we left there were several students that showed up between 2:00 and 2:30. So now we are starting the afternoon class at 2:00 to accommodate the majority of the students. Out here if the instructor is not at the school when the students arrive on the first day of classes it can take up to a week to get the people to start coming back.
The classes are going well. We did get an experienced translator for my class. He does not know very much about engines but speaks both English and Spanish fluently. He also has a strong desire to learn all that he can so he will be and excellent fit for what we need. Praise God for an answer to prayer by filling that need for us.
There are very many people here that are sick with chikungunya (a viral disease transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes.). This virus causes extreme head aches, extremely sore muscles and joints and sometimes fever and rash. It is not usually fatal but it can be if there are other health related issues that have weakened the immune system. As a result all the classes in the technical college are experiencing very low attendance.
They are predicting that 60-70% of the population here will get chikungunya before the end of this spread. the majority of the people in the village we are working in either have it or have had it. Please pray that we will all remain healthy as we minister to these people.
On Wednesday evening after church the pastor and his wife asked us to go with them and do some visitations. There are several of the elderly that attend the church that are very sick as a result of this virus and had asked if they would come and see them and pray for them. We visited two homes and prayed over the sick people and were stopped in the street and were asked to pray over one of the leaders in the church who had been at the evening service but left early as he was not feeling well.
On Friday we went to the village to help with the feeding program. There were several of the regular local volunteers that did not come to help because they were at home sick so things got a little hectic for a while. We did manage to serve approx 100 children and 25 adults (mostly elderly) a hot lunch despite the lack of help.
Please pray for the people in the Dominican Republic as they are fighting this virus and caring for others that are sick.
Thank you and God Bless
Chris, Cheryl, Jacolyn and Jennifer Peters
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