FBC of Palm Bay - Tuesday & Wednesday
Tuesday, July 1 - Day 3 began a little earlier then the previous 2 days. We left SCORE at 8:30AM with another group, that is staying here with us, for the town of LaRomana. After an hour bus ride we arrived at an orphanage where we were ready to love on the kids. The orphanage we visited was mostly a home for young girls, but there were a few boys. We were quickly welcomed by the kids who grabbed us by the hands and led us to play the second we walked in the gate. We played many games with them including jump rope, “keep it up”, volleyball, spoons and coloring pictures. When then did some of our program for them by singing some songs and Aaron told the story of Jonah using balloon animals. We were then entertained by some of the girls, who sang a song for us. We continued to love on the kids by playing with them after we finished our program. We also started a game of baseball, and let me tell you, those girls can hit. We were very sad when it came time to leave but we felt like we had made an impact on the kids. We got back on the bus and headed back to SCORE. On the way back we stopped at JUMBO, which is a Dominican version of Wal-Mart. There we bought food to give to a village later in the day. We also got a chance to do a little shopping for ourselves while we were there. When then continued back to SCORE where we ate lunch and relaxed a little before we left for our afternoon ministry. We left the SCORE Complex again around 3:00PM for a sugarcane village about 30 minutes away. We were excited because it was the home of some Dominican friends we had made on Sunday. We arrived at the village and we were welcomed by the people. Some of us started a game of kick ball while others played games with the kids. After playing for a little while, we did our program for the people. We were unable to do our puppet skit because we experienced problems with our CD player during the songs. We were able to continue on with the program by singing some songs with the guitar and doing a craft with the kids. We then got an awesome chace to distribute food to families in the village and to pray individually with each family. We all agreed that it was a great experience. We finished our time in the village by playing some baseball and different games with the kids. We returned to the SCORE Complex and ate dinner and then enjoyed some much needed relaxation. We finished the day with an awesome time of reflection on the last couple of days and a great time of prayer for the next few days. We are ready to get out again and love on the people tomorrow as we travel to Santo Domingo!! We miss you all and can’t wait to tell you all of our great experiences. Keep us in your prayers and pray for open doors. - John
Wednesday, July 2 - Today was a wonderful and exciting day. This morning we had an adventure at the “Straw Market”, haggling and buying souvenirs. Then, we went sightseeing in the city of Santo Domingo and saw lots of old buildings. We had a ton of fun feeding and messing with the pigeons, and while we were playing with the pigeons, Luke decided to be himself and went and visited a local without a translator. It was interesting because the guy he was talking to did not speak English. We had lunch at an American restaurant in Santo Domingo. It was delicious - arguably the best meal so far. After walking all around the city and having fun, it was time to go to the orphanage in the city. We went to a place called “Jackie’s House”. It was an amazing experience. The kids were so sweet and happy to see us. We did some of our program but the puppets were a struggle because the CD player was not working well again. Also, Aaron had trouble with the Jonah story because the balloons kept popping!! The kids actually thought it was quite hilarious!! At this orphanage many of the kids spoke English and about 4 were in wheelchairs. It was really sad but the joy the kids had was amazing. They actually sang a few songs in English and danced for us and they even prayed for us before we left. We were there for about an hour and a half and we were all sad to leave. After we left the orphanage we came back to SCORE and some of us went in the swimming pool while others played a game that Danny and Aaron came up with called “Walley-Volleyball” that didn’t go very well. You see what happened was David threw the ball, it bounced off the wall and broke a water pipe!! They temporarily fixed the pipe and let’s just say, they are not playing that game anymore!! So, as you can tell, we have had an interesting and fun filled day!! - Mindy
