Speaking as a friend to Makarios...

I have never blogged before. This is certainly the highlight of my day. I'll give a personal highlight from each of the 3 parts of our August 18-27 trip to the D.R.

Part 1. We were in Santiago for about 3 days. We did some work around a local church/preschool just around the corner from Santiago Christian School, and each morning we helped with a "vacation Bible school" (VBS) affiliated with that church/preschool. On the second day of VBS, the group game was a relay race of sorts, where 2 kids at a time went through a course involving activities such as bouncing a ball and a piggy-back run, that included the following pratfalls: (1) Brian and I having to demonstrate to the group just how exactly two people can jump in the air together 10 times while holding hands, and thank goodness Kate captured it on camera. (2) After watching all the kids go through the course, I realized that there are in fact many variations of a jumping jack. In the VBS universe, it's the effort that counts, not style. (3) Learning that, in a wheelbarrow race, an overzealous runner plus a low-arm-strength wheelbarrower often equals a faceplant. And often numerous faceplants.

Part 2. We went down south for a couple days so that we could visit Jimaní, which was hard hit by a flood back in May. This was a highlight for me because I got a good picture of the hospitality and helpfulness of the Dominicans and Haitians that we met as we were trying to find the right people on that Sunday afternoon. Anyone we spoke to (I say "we" loosely, as my Spanish is muy rusty), whether sitting in the shade on the sidewalk, passing by on a motorbike, or watching Olympics on a small TV at home, dropped whatever they were doing to answer our questions in a very welcoming manner.

Part 3. We spent 3 nights on the north shore in Caberete, so that Sharla and Brian could search for a place to house Brian, his soon-to-be wife, and teams that come down from the States. Personally, this was a trying time of growth and opportunity, as I focused my ministerial gifts on sitting in a beach chair, snorkeling, and reading the theological tome "Holes." Ok, heh heh, so this part of the trip was more of a vacation for me, but I will say that a highlight was visiting the Haitian village (a "bateye") called Rancho Mateo. I had heard Sharla talk about the bateyes and knew that Brian would be working with them, so it was good to see one and to have not only a clear picture of the destitute conditions, but also an encouragement that good work can be done, as I got to see the church building and tiny classroom run by a local pastor and also Brian's rapport with the kids at the village.

My first blog! You might want to hold on to this one, it will probably be worth something someday...