VBS was a success!

If you say that with the correct rhythm, it sounds like a chant!  And chant we did!  The VBS ran Monday through Thursday, and we had so much fun!  Each group of children made up a chant for their team color and showed great team spirit!  Ok, so enough with the exclamation points :)  I just can't help it!  God did the impossible through us this week!!!  We just got to show up, do a little work (ok, at times it felt like a lot of work :) and watch the Lord move.  

Each day of VBS began with a large group time of singing our theme songs (Super Viaje, Dios 

es Bueno, Por Siempre, Hoy es el Dia, among others).  Our 

fearless and very talented song leader, Claudia, was so enthusiastic and fun to watch.  Fortunately, she is one of our regular leaders on Sundays in Cercadillo.  For some reason, I keep accidently calling her "Carmen" so now I affectionately known as "Maria" :)  After that we had a puppet show by our good friends from Massachusetts who traveled all the way to the Caribbean to help put on the VBS.  They are really good at what they do and had several clever puppet shows during the week.  After the large group times we split into the five color groups and the kids rotated through five stations.  As I mentioned before, I manned the snack station along with my traveling partner, Abbey.  The favorite snack was galletas con mantequilla de maní (crackers

 with peanut butter).  Peanut butter is very expensive here so most of them rarely get it.  The best thing for us (and the group leaders) was that it is very hard to be loud while eating peanut butter on crackers :)  

Our station was very quiet those days.  I know some of you teachers are cringing, but they don't seem to have peanut allergies out here in the village.  At the end of each day we had another large group session with more songs, reviewing the verses and themes of the week, and awarding group points.  The groups earned points throughout the week by good behavior at the various stations.  

We all learned a lot about teamwork and letting the Lord work this 

week.  Not everything went exactly as we planned, but everything went as the Lord planned.  The most exciting thing for me to see this week was how God used two of the new believers in Cercadillo.  Carmencita and Elida are two of the six women who were recently baptized.  They both took leadership roles by being group leaders, and I have to say that their groups were by far the most well behaved, yet they were having tons of fun!  I believe that God will continue to use 

them to lead the children of Cercadillo and influence their fellow women for the Lord.  They are awesome examples of lives changed!

Another very exciting thing that happened this week was that the opportunity for pure drinking water arrived in Cercadillo!  One hundred ceramic water filters that sit in 5-gallon buckets 

arrived at Ina's house around noon on Wednesday.  One of the cool things about these filters is that they are made in a village in northern Dominican Republic so by purchasing these filters another village was helped.  Through a Christian organization called Agua Pura (Pure Water) and some very generous people, Ina was able to order 100 filters and bring in a person to educate the people of Cercadillo on how to use the filters in their homes.  The filters are not exactly fast, but they do remove a significant percentage of contaminates and toxins in the water pumped from the well.  So far we have sold 11, but at least 30 people are on a list and making payments towards a filter.  They will receive the filter when it is paid for.   It was great to sit and listen to the teacher because the people who attended the training saw the benefits, listened attentively, and asked some great questions.

Today is Friday which means we begin our day in Cercadillo with a Bible study for the women 

and then a craft time for the women in the business with Ina.  I had the opportunity to teach the women how to make some Christmas balls using styrofoam balls and some beautiful ribbon.  (Just a plug without pressure, if you email me that you want one before July 15, you too can have a handmade ornament for your tree this year.  The great thing is that in adorning your tree you can help support a woman and her family in Cercadillo for only $10! :)  Most of the women caught on right away and purchased supplies from Ina to make several more during this week.  In the afternoon a group from Florida came to Cercadillo and put on a singing program for the kids and a time of sports!  It's awesome to watch the Florida group love on the children!  They were all smiles the whole time and were absolutely run ragged by the end...oh wait, that was us!

Please continue to pray for health, endurance, and for us to continue pouring out the love of Christ on these kids and women!  Gracias!  Hasta Luego!