A day in the bateys

Greetings friends and family - Buenas tardes - Good afternoon!

This is Vic for the team.

Today was our first full day of basketball clinics for the young men and recreation games for the children. We started the day with rain showers during breakfast but the rain stopped and we weren´t bothered by it during the day. Instead, the rain amped up the humidity, Wow! and it was smokin hot on the basketball court this afternoon. I sweat like a proverbial pig.

The Haitian young men ( high school age and a little older) have some raw talent and they played the game a little better than expected. We focused on basic fundamental skills and for the most part they were all attentive and were having fun. We are blessed with two incredible great translators, Juanchi and Reynoldo. They do an excellent job of transfering my crazy passion for teaching the game to the guys.

Getting the word out to the bateys that we are coming to do basketball has it challenges. COTN staff usually go out to the bateys to let them know we are coming, but some times communication is sketchy. We had around 25 guys in our morning session but only around 15 guys from a different batey came to play in the afternoon. We stop by the different bateys to pick up the young men in a school bus. We are on the bus and they join us. You should see the excitment in their faces when the get on board. The recieve many ¨HOLA´s from each of us when they get on the bus.

Darlene, Sarah, Carly and Maggie went to a different batey to do recreation today. They had a rough time this morning. Please pray for Ellie as when we got there she did not feel well and didn´t go back in the afternoon. She is laying low and hopefully we feel better with a good nights rest. The experience the rec. group had as I mentioned, was difficult. The kids were very pushy, agressive with each other and out of control. They are starved for attention.

In the afternoon we sent Steve, Erin and Austin with the group and it was much much better for everyone. Steve and Austin played basketball with some of the children and had a great time. Steve said at one point he counted five little ones hanging on him at one time. You should have seen Steve when he entered the bus at the end of the day, covered with sweat and dirt.

Just having two guys along with our females helped out immensly.

The poverty in the bateys in pretty indescribable. People live in shacks with dirt floors, tin or thatched roofs. Two of the bateys have water available to them but one of the others still haven´t take the intiative to do the paper work to apply for water. Water is available here but there are a couple of governmental hoops to jump through that people in the bateys have to take action on, as COTN can help but can´t make the application. It is hard to imagine not taking the step to access water, as the alternative is hauling it from a river. They could have it piped in but have not made the effort to do the papers.

COTN has schools in each batey, some better than others. One batey, Algodon, has a K-8 schools sponsored by COTN. There is a need for teachers in the other bateys as they don´t offer as many grade levels.

The COTN national team is incredibly hospitable and gracious.This is a grassroots missions organization, that builds up the Dominican nationals so that they might serve the people in their country for Christ. Both Monique and I are so very blessed to be here with these amazing people. Seeing their hearts for God and for people is so encouraging. I´m resurrecting my Spanish and getting so much help from my new Dominican friends, friends who know God, his love and compassion for the poorest of the poor.

This morning Darlene shared a devotional with our team from a book titled ¨A Hole in the Gospel¨ by Richard Stearns. Richard is the president of World Vision. Amazing story and one that I will read when I get home.

On Wed. and Thurs. night, Monique and I would cherish your prayers. We are going to share Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage, The Tale of Two Brains with a church family here in Baharona. We met the pastor Julio and su esposa Marisa. Wonderful people, who are so excited we are coming.

At our basketball clinics tomorrow, the COTN staff will distribute shoes to the young men in need. We will see how that goes and report back to you. We didn´t see anyone playing basketball in their barefeet today, but some shoes were pretty darn shabby looking. Thanks for all your donations.

Buenas Noches! Thanks for your prayers and support.