Update August 9 2014

  That is another week behind us in the Dominican Republic. It has been a difficult week. We are feeling under the weather and are all quite tired. I think we have all contracted the Chikungunya virus. Thankfully it has not hit us very hard. Aches and pains and over all fatigue and some minor fever, but we have all been able to function to some degree. I have been able to teach my class every day but I did have to sit more than usual. Usually I stand and teach my class the whole time but this past week I just could not do that. Not sleeping well at night and not feeling well during the day has left me feeling very tired.

  My classes have been going well. I have not seen the attendance numbers that I saw last year but the guys that are coming are quite excited and eager to learn. My class is not the only one with poor attendance, they started a wood working class this week and had only 4 people sign up and I have not seen more than 2 students in the class. I am not sure why people are not coming to the classes aside from some being sick. We heard on the news this week that the effects of Chikungunya can last several months and on some days I have had to force myself to go so I can see why some would just not feel up to going to classes.

  On Friday morning when we got up Jacolyn noticed that her iPod was missing. After doing a quick inventory we found that our iPad and approximately $200 cash was also missing from my wallet. I usually do not like to keep that much money in my wallet here but I had forgotten to take money along to get fuel for our vehicle on Thursday so I put the cash into my wallet so I would not forget in the morning. When we checked the house to see where the person may have entered we found that one of the doors that we usually do not use had been left unlocked. The lock can only be unlocked from the inside and it was not broken so it must have been left unlock unintentionally. Usually I go around the whole house checking all doors and windows before I go to bed but this night I had not done that.

  Although we had some thing stolen from us we thank God today that none of us was hurt. This could have turned out very different than it did. Thursday night was the first night since we got here that I slept all night. Every other night so far I have been awakened by some noises several times per night. If I would have heard some one in the house and confronted them things could have been very much different. Only a week or two ago a man was shot in his own house (Approx. 4 miles from here) when he confronted an intruder in his home. So as we are feeling hurt that some of our things were stolen and violated by some one invading our home we are also feeling so much more thankful for the love and protection that we have, are and will be receiving from our God.

Please pray that we will still feel secure here in the aftermath of these events.

Cheryl

As Chris said, this week has been again different for me. With both girls achy because of the chikengunya, I again didn’t spend as much time in the village as I would have liked. We stayed home on Wednesday, but instead went Thursday and Friday mornings. Again I prepared a craft, this week the children will make paper bag puppets, gluing on eyes and a tongue and using crayons to decorate the rest.

We continue to make deeper relationships here. Yesterday morning one of our good friends was given her own house. Through circumstances some tenants vacated one of the homes in Villa Paraiso 2, and our friend, her husband, and her two children now have a home of their own. Until now she and her family have been living with relatives. After she was finished with her morning volunteering job (she helps hand out protein shakes for the elderly and needy from the church kitchen) she led us to the house. It was filthy. She was prepared; she had buckets, went to purchase cleaning supplies, and got to work with a few of her friends immediately. We helped for a while, and then had to leave because we were only staying for the morning with the girls.

This morning (Friday) after we had finished with the Daily Bread Feeding Program that is provided every Friday for lunch, we again went to our friend’s house. She had hung curtains, moved an arm chair in, and has two foam mattresses on the cement floors in the bedrooms for sleeping. There was also one kitchen chair. No kitchen table, no fridge, no stove, no cupboards, but two small shelves to store her utensils. She was so happy.

Again I am humbled. I pray that somehow her family will receive everything they need to complete their home. Again I see the difference between needs and wants. Here it is striking. Many in this world work toward accumulating everything they want, while so many have so little of what they really need. I wish the gap was smaller. In fact, I wish there was no gap.

So ends almost week 6 of being here in the Dominican Republic. I pray that God continues to fulfill His purpose for our time here.

God Bless.