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Today we were privileged to visit an orphanage in Santiago, only 3 blocks from the church, where abandoned children with various conditions such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and others are lovingly cared for and encouraged to use their potential more each day. In a beautiful setting in a very old home with colorful paintings of princesses and cartoon characters on the walls, we met, talked with, and touched many children and youth. Juan had a beautiful smile; with that smile he told us how glad he was to see us though he could not talk.

Today was the last day with the group. We traveled out to the beach to have a relaxing day in cabarette. This week was pretty good. We traveled to Santa Lousia or Cien Fuego and Los Cocos. We finished up some work at the church, including a rock garden. We found out there was 560 people at the celebration service on Sunday! Praise God. Keep the group in your prayers as they head back to 31 inches of snow!!! We will be staying here, Nancy, Sue, and I until the 22nd of Feb. What a great week of celebrating 10 years of construction and seeing the product of God’s hand.

Today started out a little rough. I woke up this morning with stomach pains and immediately took the beloved Cipro. Even with as bad as I felt, I couldn’t stay around the house. We made 300 sandwiches (well they did while I lay in the fetal position) and took them out to Santa Lousia, formerly Cien Fuego. We spent the day with the children there then headed to Los Cocos where we passed out the rest of the sandwiches and sung songs. They loved the puppets and we left two there for a very excited Wendy to use with the children. It was great to be with them and celebrate!!

The glory of the Lord is surely in this place. Today was the dedication of the church. People came in from all over the country to be apart of the celebration; Barahona, Santo Domingo, La Vega and many more. A beautiful building now esists in a city that is over run by drugs and prostitution. A place where no pastor wanted to go and few desired to be apart of. It took 10 years and a pastor dedicated to prayer and a powerful God that can change the impossible. The city of Santiago has seen the glory of the Lord and will never be the same. La gloria es de Dios.

God is good…all the time. Yesterday was a very frustrating day. But after starting the morning reading Isaiah 40, we were reminded how big and how great our God is. Today reinforced that. We are reminded that we are not here to build anything but to spread the word of Christ. Today was the baptism of 15 new members of the church, including Frank- the pastora’s son, Lizabeth- from Los Cocos, Guellermo and Domingo from Cuesta Arena, and many other friends of ours we have watched grow in faith. It truly was a great celebration.

Today started out good. We got a lot accomplished at the church then came back to the pastora’s house for lunch. We have almost all the electricity done upstairs, have finished painting downstairs, and have put in some plants around the outside of the church. We have another service tonight at 730pm.

A long day of work but got a lot accomplished. Heading to the church for the beginning of the celebration

The church is beautiful!! So much has happend in the past few months. The outside is painted and everything is finishing up. I have uploaded pictures to my facebook account. We painted the exterior fence and did half of the electrical work on the second floor. They are expecting over 400 in worship on Sunday for the big celebration. It is fun to be here with other groups and hear the decade worth of stories each has to share about their experiences. Looks like I may be going to Haiti the end of Feb with Kim and Damon and Pastora to help with a medical team coming in to go to Puerta-au-Prince.