Team Day #1

God is so good! Today we had a team day which basically means we had time to regroup and do something fun together! Kasi and I spent a large portion of the morning cutting up the huge supply of fresh mangoes we have accumulated in our kitchen. It is mango season in the DR so they are plentiful, cheap, and really sweet right now. First we bought some, and then the people of Cercadillo gave us several more so it was quite a sticky job to core and cut up all the fruit. To add to the fun, the city power wasn't on this morning (it comes and goes so Ina has an inverter that charges batteries when we have city power and provides battery power when the city power goes off, similar to a generator), and we couldn't run the water pump to get water from the cistern under her garage to the roof. Plumbing here is a little different than in the US as water is pumped up to the roof (this can only be done on city power) and then runs down the pipes to be used. All of this is to say that Kasi and I (and the entire kitchen counter) became a sticky, gooey mess from the mangoes, and we had no water to wash our hands :) Another adventure!!! Fortunately, the power came on, and we were able to pump water to the roof shortly after we were done.

Next, our team headed into the central city area of Santo Domingo to track down a missionary doctor from Haiti, (of whom I would love to share about when I return!!!) who through what I believe to be nothing short of a miracle, was able to pick up and deliver two water hand pumps for us to put in Cercadillo. I can't go into all the details of his story now, but he is an amazingly humble man of God who has risen above so many things to bring the Gospel to the people of both Haiti and the DR. Haiti is currently in a very volatile civil war of sorts with prominent people (including pastors and many missionaries) being kidnapped! Please be praying for Haiti and its people!

After we got the pumps we went for a lunch visit (at 4:00pm) to Pizza Hut where we chowed down two pan Meat Lover's pizzas in no time in honor of Kasi's birthday! It was a fun, American way to celebrate!

We are reading through Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper during our time here, and we spent our evening talking about the first chapter. I don't think any of us thought our book discussion would turn into a 2 hour talk, but it was great! I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in supporting or participating in missions.

Please pray for tomorrow as we will be going to Cercadillo in the afternoon with a few people from Ina's church to do a service there. Please pray that people will come, that their ears will be opened, and that above all, God will be glorified!!! Thank you!