Presents!

“It’s like Christmas!  There are all these presents out there, and soon we get to find out which ones are ours!”  Our intern Kaylee stood expectantly looking at the group of new students.  And, she was right!  While we get to review their applications and send them emails ahead of time, we don’t get to meet our students until we’re standing with all of the SI site leaders in the chapel at the SI base.

Once again, God has blessed us with enthusiastic, gifted participants.  For these two weeks, we have three young high school aged women and one adult leader.  We’ve had a busy week, including helping the Adult Women with a sewing project, playing and interacting with the little kids from the community, helping the Treces and Pre-teens with projects, and visiting women in their homes.

One of the highlights of the week was when Debbie talked with our Young Women about handling conflicts in their relationships.  She is a counselor who works primarily with youth and women in crisis situations, so she was able to bring a lot of practical suggestions to them. 

As a Christ-follower, she also emphasized the Bibles call for women to respect their spouses, even when they are frustrated with them.  The women really connected with her, and we’re planning to continue the conversation next week. 

Kaylee blowing out her candle...
withMelissa ready to help out!

Debbie doesn’t speak much Spanish, but Daisy and Kimberley were on hand to help translate.  That’s one of the things that typically worries folks before coming – how will I connect when I cannot speak the language?  The Holy Spirit shows us again and again that despite that ‘barrier’ He truly is in our midst. Yes, it’s important that we can help translate, but the sincerity and wisdom and love were all Debbie’s!

We’ve also had the gift of some great food.  On Thursday Kaylee celebrated her 21^st birthday.  Daisy bought iced coffee (one of Kaylee’s favorite things here in Jarabacoa) and bizcocho (cake).  We all enjoyed the yummy treat, and are thankful for Kaylee and God’s work in her life.  We know that as she enters this new year, He will continue to be her guide.


Getting ready to dig in to some amazing food!

Last night Joemny cooked us a wonderful meal.  Moro (rice cooked with beans), Pollo (chicken), Ensalada (a fresh salad with a simple, delicious dressing), and Tostones (friend green plantains).  We ate at the site, as her small home couldn’t fit us all.  We love being able to show off the amazing cooking skills of the women of El Callejon! 

Joemny is one of our young women, and today we visited her home where she shared some of her testimony.  We’ve written about her before, how God used a moto accident to draw her to Himself.  While their lives are not easy, she and her husband continue to look to God to provide for them and their blended family.

Joemny and three of the children

We praise God for another group of amazing outreach participants for this outreach.  Each is different, and each brings something different and wonderful to El Callejon, and to us. 

The summer has flown by.  After this two-week group, we have a one-week group, and then it's vacation time.  While we’re ready for a rest, we’ll be sad not to be meeting new ‘presents’ until later this fall!  God, You are so good!!

Dining Out and Partying In

It’s been another full week in El Callejon.  We welcomed four new outreach participants (3 students and 1 leader) from Hopewell, New York.  This team has been coming down for years – in fact, all three students were here last year, although not at our Site. 

We love when students want to come back, because it shows the impact Students International is having, not just on lives here in the DR, but on them, as well. 

From helping the women cut out fabric, to giving the Treces (13 year olds) advice about obeying their parents, to playing with the kids who stop by, the students have jumped right in.

On Thursday mornings we have our Young Women’s group, along with all of their little ones.  The students did a great job caring for the kids (ages 8 months up to 4). 

That night, they got a yummy reward for all their hard work when we went to Denis’ home for dinner.  It’s one of our favorite parts of the outreaches, as it gives students the opportunity to be in the homes of some of the people of the community… and it means delicious Dominican food! 

When one of the students took a third helping, Denis told her she was going to get a “bebe de comida” (Food Baby).  She has hosted Semester Students for the past three years, and they’ve taught her some English, as well as some of our sayings.  It was wonderful to hear how God has been at work in her life, and yes, the food was amazing! 



Taking pictures of the sunset.

On our way back to the truck, we stopped and looked out at the beauty of the area.  The sun was setting, painting the sky red and pink, and we were surrounded by lush green hills and vibrant flowering trees.  What a creative God we serve!

Friday afternoon we had our semi-annual birthday party for the three younger girls’ groups (ages 5 up to 13).  All the girls were invited and we celebrated the birthdays of the first six months of the year. 

Birthday girls!

We told them they didn’t need to dress up, but our younger girls (5-10) came in party dresses.  They love the chance to get fancy!  Even though they looked all grown up, they soon dissolved into laughter and screams as we played a variety of games. 

Our Treces explain the next crazy game.

Our Treces helped lead the games, and it was fun to see them taking charge.  Some have been coming to the Site almost all of their lives, and we continue to pray for them as they grow into beautiful young women.

We’re looking forward to next week, when each of the students will lead one of our groups.  We love the opportunity to see their faith in action as they share with our girls, teens and women!  Lives truly can be transformed as people from different countries, cultures, languages, are united in the love of Jesus. 

Serving (Breakfast)

Singing before breakfast

This morning the students helped us serve breakfast to around 20 of the kids of El Callejon.  Along with a few of ‘our girls’ were some of the younger kids of the community.  There were also a few of the boys.  The students cut up ham and cheese and rolls, and served them, along with hot chocolate. 

Although many of us might not consider this the most nutritious breakfast, it’s actually a lot more than most of them usually get.  (A typical breakfast here is a pack of cookies or chips.)

Of course, more than the simple food, we want to show the kids of El Callejon the simple truth – that Jesus loves them!  Keilah (one of our Little Girls, age 9) prayed to begin our time together, and then we all sang some praise songs. 

What a joy to see the kids enthusiastically sing out about Jesus!  After eating, we sang some more, and then Fernando (age 10) prayed to end our time. 

We love the fact that when we ask the little ones to pray, several hands immediately fly into the air.  Yes, we know part of it may be showing off un chin (a little bit) for the American students, but it’s still so wonderful to see them eager to pray. 

We want to continue to encourage them to make prayer a part of their lives.  Both being comfortable praying out loud in front of others, and, of course, a personal life of prayer, as well.

This afternoon our Adult Women came… and kept coming!  The weather has been super hot and muggy, and many of the women walk more than 20 minutes in the heat and humidity, just to spend time at the site learning about Jesus and doing crafts together.  We feel blessed, and a sense of huge responsibility to teach them each week from the Bible. 

We began our time singing praise to God.  As with the little ones, it was a joy to hear voices lifted up in worship of our amazing Father!  During our Bible study we talked about I Corinthians 15:1-10, where Paul tells us that the gospel is that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and was raised again, all according to the Scriptures.

This is the only hope, the only truth, we have, and so each week, we want to help encourage the women to persevere in seeking Jesus, through reading His word, prayer, spending time with other believers.

The women display their hard work

After the Bible study, the women got to display the table cloths they have been carefully painting for the past several weeks.  Not only will this be something lovely for their homes, but we hope it fills them with a sense of accomplishment, too. 

Smiling faces and a job well done!

So often the women are told that they don’t have skills, don’t have value.  We want them to know that they have value as daughters of our King, and that they can create things of beauty as His image-bearers.

The little ones, not-so-little ones, Dominicans, mericans, boys, girls, women...  Each person who came to the Site today is known and beloved by God.  Whether it was serving a ham sandwich to Jafresi or helping Francia find I Corinthians, we praise God for the privilege of serving Him in El Callejon.

Negra & Jeriel

This week we’ve welcomed a new team of students to the El Callejon Social Work site.  We know we have students again, because Gabriel is back.  Gabriel is one of the boys who lives close by, and when we have teams, we can see him peeking around the corner of the front door, checking out what we’re doing. 

Along with playing with kids like Gabriel, and helping with our various groups and activities, we take the students on home visits to help them experience the lives of the women in a more intimate way.  One of the women we visited yesterday was Negra, who has a new son.  Negra is 27 years old, and has five children – 11, 9, 5, 2 and 3 weeks.

Negra did not want this child.  When she found out she was pregnant, she was furious.  Negra has one of those faces that can look really, really angry – and did she ever!  She marched around the doctor’s office, shaking her head and telling Daisy it wasn’t possible. 

The truth is, it shouldn’t have been.  Negra had had surgery to have her tubes tied some months before.  A pregnancy test was done, coming back Negative.  But, she actually was pregnant at the time.  In His love and mercy, God kept the little one safe.  Three weeks ago, she delivered by Cesarean. 

Pedro, Negra’s ‘husband’, has never had a son.  He’s had several daughters (sadly by several women) but never a son.  Even though we know that’s not how it works, when it looked like Negra was going to have a boy, folks started talking.  Would Pedro accept this child?  Would he reject him, since it couldn’t be his since he only has daughters?

But, again, our God is full of mercy and love!  When he was born, 6 pounds, with a full head of hair, Daisy saw that he had the exact same face as his older sister, Jafresi (age 2).  Instead of rejecting his son, Pedro is proudly telling everyone about him.  For now, this precious little one is named Jeriel, but Negra told us Pedro may want him to be named after him. 

And… the woman who stomped around the doctor’s office now spends her days cuddling her newborn baby.  That may seem like an obvious thing to most of us, but she has not always responded this way with her children.  Her angry face softens, transformed into beauty.  We asked her if she was happy… “Yes, I am happy.” 

We pray for this family, for the lives of each child, for Negra and Pedro.  We know that it’s only been three weeks, and so much in El Callejon changes in an instant, but we praise God for the transformation we are witnessing.  We stand in awe of perfect, tiny ears, silky soft hair, ten fingers and toes, a new life. 

God knows and loves Jeriel, his mom and dad, his sisters and brothers, and has a purpose and plan for his life.  What a blessing, what an honor and privilege, to see our Father at work! 

(PS – we know, we know, you want a picture!  Jeriel was fast asleep on Negra’s lap, so we didn’t want to wake him.  You’ll just have to take our word for it for now… he’s adorable!)

Bastónes & Freedom

Today was Kaylee’s day.  Kaylee, our Summer Intern, took the lead with both our Tuesday morning group of Little Girls (ages 6-10) and our Tuesday afternoon Teens (ages 15-19).

We’re continuing to read through a Children’s Bible with our Little Girls, and so Kaylee read (in Spanish!) the story of the Israelites complaining to Moses for food and water.  She also came up with the most adorable craft… making bastóns (staffs) like Moses had! 

Kaylee helping Keilah decorate her bastón.

Ribbon, stickers, glitter & glue.

After reading the story, we sent the girls outside to find sticks out back, which they did enthusiastically.  Then, we got down to decorating.  And, that meant Glitter!!  Yes, we know Moses didn’t have a staff with stickers, glitter and beads, but, they sure did turn out cute.  It was a lot of fun, and worth all the glitter we’ll be wearing for the next week or so!

In the afternoon Kaylee shared a part of her powerful testimony.  She is just a few years older than our Teens, and struggled with some of what they are facing, and so is able to speak into their lives in ways Daisy and Kimberley cannot.  It was wonderful to see the teens really focused on what she was saying, and asking good questions afterwards. 

Kaylee shared that she used to live for herself, but when God called her, He asked for all of her.  She said she tries to live each day, not her life, but His life in her.  Wanda asked what she felt now that she was living like this. 

“I feel free.  People think that freedom means being in control of your life, but they are wrong.  Freedom means allowing God to be in control.” 

What a powerful reminder for each one of us!  True freedom does not come from grasping for control, but in opening our hands and allowing God to work out His plan, in us and through us.

We praise God for the way He has been at work in Kaylee’s life, bringing her to this place at this time.  We’re excited to see how He continues to use her life to bring Him glory in El Callejon… and beyond!

Organizing

In order to be able to minister well, to be able to welcome our next team of students, this is a different kind of a week for us.  When we moved over from the old site, we kind of gathered everything up and just got it into our new closet, without taking a lot of time to organize. 

With our wonderful and action-packed outreach, which included activities like the Open House and Mothers’ Day Fiesta, the closet got worse and worse.  In fact, by the end of last week, we were having a difficult time putting our hands on a pair of scissors!  So, this week, it was time to pull everything back out of the closet, and start organizing! 

How’s it going?  Kaylee (our awesome summer intern) said it best.  We’re in that in-between stage of growing out your hair.  You ladies will likely know that stage when hair is not short enough to be cute and sassy, but not yet long enough to really style. 

That’s what the site looks like right now.  Everything is spread out on tables, counters, the floor, and while it’s looking a bit of a mess, we know we’re getting closer to something really nice.  Because of the mess, we’re not holding all of our classes this week.  We’re still doing some one-on-one discipling and visiting, but for the most part, we’re tackling the stuff. 

Angie (center in blue) helping with our Little Girls

We have to take this time to say a special thank you to Angie.  Angie has a passion for El Callejon, and has come down for the past several summers, on outreaches, as a summer intern, and as a volunteer.  She’s on ‘vacation’ this month.  It’s in quotations, because her vacation has meant spending long, hot days helping us minister in El Callejon! 

We know she loves the community… and the community loves her, too!  We feel so blessed by Angie, and pray confidently that her new job in the U.S., working with abused women, will extend that blessing to many more hurting people.  Dios te bendiga!!

Important

We walk up to the Site, unlock the main fence, then the front door.  We walk in, put our lunch cooler, backpacks, and water bottles down.  We open the back door and the window blinds.  We pull out our schedules and sit around the table. 

As we pray for the new day and share testimonies, we start to hear giggles.  Standing in the doorway, poking heads up by the windows, little ones come.  Another day has started in El Callejon.

Frani, one of our daily visitors

Why do these kids come day after day?  We don’t have video games or television.  We aren’t giving them money or other stuff.  We aren’t feeding them.  Okay, the last one isn’t exactly true.  A bit of chocolate, a piece of gum, or a lollypop sometimes finds its way into their hands (and mouths!).  But, that’s not the reason they want to spend the whole day with us.

Why then? 

Because, the students pay attention to them.  Even without a lot of Spanish, the students try and talk with them, they play with them, they pick them up and swing them around, they cuddle, they laugh, they are happy to see them.  Such small, simple things. 

But, for kids whose moms don’t understand parenting beyond giving some food and clothes, whose dads are either absent or ignore them, this love and attention draws them to come, day after day.  

Sometimes people look at the cost of a short-term mission trip and think that the money would be better invested if it was just sent on.  There may be ministries where this is appropriate.  But, for us, it’s impossible to show the love Jesus without being here.

God showed us how important we are to Him by sending His Son to live among us. His feet got dirty walking dusting roads.  His hands full of germs touching diseased and leprous people.  The sun beat down on His head, He became tired and thirsty.  He moved from place to place, reaching out, teaching, loving, present with those He came to save. 

Immanuel.  God-with-us.  In His coming, in His being not just FOR us, but WITH us, we are transformed.  In our transformation, we are able to reach out with His love.  Watching the faces of the little ones of El Callejon light up as the students play with them, we see the possibility of transformation.  In the students’ love, we see the love of God-with-us.    

When Jesus left, He commanded us to go out into the world.  To be a part of God-with-us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are humbled and blessed that these young women accepted God’s invitation, God’s command, to come and share God-with-us in El Callejon.

As we said goodbye to Charity, Sarah and Shelby last night, we paraphrased the familiar Forest Whitcraft quote:

A hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of car you drove, the house you lived in, how big your bank account was, even what your major was.  But, El Callejon, the Dominican Republic, and maybe even the world, may be different, may be a little better, because you were important in the life of Vanessa and Katherine and Gabriel and Frani.

We praise God for bringing students willing to come and be important in the lives of the people of El Callejon.  When students come and play with the little ones, share their stories, their love for Jesus, they let the precious people of El Callejon know that they, too, are important.  Important to us, but most of all, important and beloved of God.  And that has the potential to change the world.