A trying few days

Posted by Brian

well the past few days have been a little trying for us. Last week we were thoroughly discouraged with the behavior of the children in Chi Chi Gua, a small sugar cane cutting village that is very isolated. Some new children moved there and they have been a bad influence on the children that were already there. These children moved with their family from Santo Domingo which is a city of 3 million. They seem much harder than the others.
this Monday Bethany was carrying a rowdy 3 year old out of the preschool class to his house and fell in a mud puddle. What you have to realize is that these villages have no sidewalks or pavement so a few days of rain turns them into a swamp with mud and water everywhere. It is hard for anyone to walk let alone with a 3 year old in your arms. So we rode home to get her a shower and a change of clothes before we continued with the days work. When we returned all the children had already heard about it and it was the talk of the village.
The next day two children were fighting and one was about to throw a big rock at the other one. When I reached to stop him he bit me. Don't worry it did not break the skin, but nonetheless it was painful. I tried to walk him to his house but he again tried to bite me. I know this child well. He has participated in our programs for over a year. I don't know what got into him. So I went and found him today because he was getting beat by his parents after they found out what happened yesterday. At first today he was scared to see me but finally he came out of his house and I reassured him that I was not mad and was not going to beat him, I say beat because the parents sometimes abuse their children not discipline them. I gave him an orange and told him he needed to attend his class tomorrow. He didn't say much but it was important for me that he knew that I was not going to be mad at him or hit him.
however today went well and we are returning to Chi Chi Gua to continue working with those children. Please remember these children in prayer they are really in some tough situations.

Letter bingo

Posted by Brian

Another week has passed in the Dominican Republic. The students are really responding well to the class we are having. Most of the children just hang out in front of the little house we use as a school. They sometimes get a little rowdy and loud so we have included in our discipline plan behavior in the vicinity of the house. These children have nothing else to do, they really have no toys or structured activities and their parents have to do some work to earn money often the children are left all day to wander around the village. Needless to say these children sometimes get into trouble. We are trying to provide some structure and accountability for the children.

We played letter bingo with the older children this week, ages 9-13. Playing this game revealed to me how much work needs to be done. Most did not know the letters so I would get to the end of the alphabet cards, having called every letter and we still wouldn't have a winner. Also we were playing hangman with vocabulary from a book we read with the same age group and it was hard for the students to choose a letter. It is hard to imagine a 12 or 13 year old not being able to identify the letter, but in the area we work in and in many area in this country I believe his is the norm and not the exception.

Please pray for these children. They fight so much among each other. One minute they are playing and the next it escalates into a fight and then into rock throwing.

Coming up on week 2 of activities

posted by Bethany
Well, our first week of activities went well. We had a lot of kids come out and they were all excited to be there. We're getting ready for our second week and hope to find kids that couldn't make it last week. It's amazing how concerned the kids were that they might miss class with us b/c they're in school at that time (children here go to school either in the morning until noon, or in the afternoon starting at 2:00). We worked it out though so that we would do activities in the morning and afternoon so all the kids would have an opportunity to come. Since we're doing this Brian and I stay nearby for lunch. One day we brought a lunch and ate it in the classroom. There were about 7 kids outside just playing and waiting for us. I anticipated this would happen so I brought extra leftover pizza that we were eating. We called all the kids in and had them sit down quietly and gave them all some pizza. I'm pretty sure this was the first time they had ever eaten it and they all liked it. We told them that it was called pizza. Later on I asked one of the girls what she ate for lunch and she replied "piscaca".
Besides introducing the kids to new foods we'll be going over things such as number, letters, colors, and other educational basics. We also will be doing a memory verse every week with the kids. The first one, which is actually a review from last year, is Deuteronomy 6:5 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength." We've taught kids motions to help them memorize the verse and they're catching on. Please pray that as they learn these scriptures they will become meaningful to them. Pray for the children as they have so many awful things going against them and pray for Brian and I that God would use us for His glory in this and in their lives.

The Children

Posted by Brian

It is the beginning of the school year and our activities are underway. Beth and I are very excited to be working in the classroom with the children again. Since we have returned we have been doing lots of surveying and information gathering on the children. It is amazing to think that children have no idea what their full name is or when their birthday is, but this is the case for many of the children. They have no records of their birth. One child's mom had the last name of Hernandez, but because I doubt she has ever seen it written she spelled it ernade, which is a semiphonetical spelling of what the name is. It was quite the task collecting info from the villages.
Please continue to pray for the villages, the children and their families. Although these children sometimes act up Beth and I want to always react in love for them and not out of anger. Please pray that we can do this. Here is one reason why we have to be gentle witht he children. One child's mom put the child's foot in a fire and severely burned it over the summer. We want the children to know that they are coming to a safe environment when they are with us.

growth

posted by sharla

over the past few months, the Lord has opened some doors for growth. we have several potential new employees, opportunities to develop our new coffee business, a new jewelry fundraising opportunity, and more. oh it's exciting! we're excited about these new avenues for growth, but we also realize there's a lot of work ahead of us. please pray!

I'll be going back to the great midwest in three weeks to do some recruiting at Cedarville (♥) and Taylor University, Ft. Wayne. Fall in the north is a nice thing, and I'm looking forward to being back up in my old stomping ground. Of course, today I have no love for the Ohio part of those grounds as my Longhorns take on Ohio State tonight in football!!! Yes, this is the time of the year where Makarios news is occasionally interrupted with thoughts on football.

Thanks as always for your prayers and support!