Sad and Happy

Today is our last full day at Casa Betesada. Emotions will run high this evening for all of us. There is a pool party planned this afternoon, a chance for friends to come by and say hi, hang out, get cool in the pool. Then this evening we will have the offical "despedida" or good-bye party, complete with dinner and dessert. I imagine some merengue too. You should see Ellie and Carly dancing, much fun! It brings joy to my heart to see the wonderful friendships we have made here this summer.

Six weeks here has really helped us break some of the language barriers we had last year. Our Spanish is improving. Monique's effort with Rosettta Stone last year really paid off for her. Her ability to communicate has grown leaps and bounds. She really doesn't let the translators speak English to her, so they help with Spanish everyday. Beautiful!

I'll be continuing to write and post pictures so stay tuned. Thanks for your support and prayers.

Love,

Vic for the fam

I LOVE BASEBALL

This week we are hosting two teams from Seattle, 14-16 year olds and 16-18 year olds. They are the Seattle Bombers. Coaches, dads and players are all here to work with the I LOVE BASEBALL program which is part of Children of the Nations. I love the mission of I LOVE BASEBALL.

“Our goal is to help develop young men into leaders and encourage them to pursue an education and spiritual growth while training for a career in baseball.”

These two teams are playing games and conducting baseball clinics in the bateys. Baseball is the national sport here in the Dominican. Everywhere you go, in the late afternoons, you can usually find a pick up game of baseball. The fields are often just sandlots, open spaces where goats are grazing, donkeys wandering and sometimes horses scrounging for something to eat. I even saw some pigs wander out on the field where the players were instructing the kids in basic skills. I'll post that picture next time...too funny.

There are always little kids and sometimes adults checking out the baseball activity. Baseball draws a crowd here. Want to learn more about I LOVE BASEBALL go to: http://www.ilovebaseball.org

Always revealing

I have been reading through John's gospel in The Message while here in Barahona. The Holy Spirit spoke to me this morning and He is causing me to contemplate. Jesus tells his disciples, you and I also, to "ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I've revealed to you". Do I know what He has revealed to me, and am I listening and looking for what He is revealing today? Are you?

John 16 23-24

"This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I've revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he'll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!

"I've used figures of speech in telling you these things. Soon I'll drop the figures and tell you about the Father in plain language. Then you can make your requests directly to him in relation to this life I've revealed to you. I won't continue making requests of the Father on your behalf. I won't need to. Because you've gone out on a limb, committed yourselves to love and trust in me, believing I came directly from the Father, the Father loves you directly. First, I left the Father and arrived in the world; now I leave the world and travel to the Father."

His disciples said, "Finally! You're giving it to us straight, in plain talk—no more figures of speech. Now we know that you know everything—it all comes together in you. You won't have to put up with our questions anymore. We're convinced you came from God."

Jesus answered them, "Do you finally believe? In fact, you're about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I'm not abandoned. The Father is with me. I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world."

Neighbors

How often do you connect with neighbors thousands of miles from home, person to person, face to face? We did yesterday as our "neighbors" the Ellingson family stopped by to visit us here at Casa Betesada. They are here on a brief respite from their work with Samaritans Purse in Port Au Prince, Haiti.

Ellie and Leif found the little kitty who lives here at the Casa and I think Leif wants to adopt it. I'm not sure we will talk his mom and dad into though.

Vic for the fam

Mucha lluvia hoy

Today has been quite a day thus far. We woke up to pouring rain as a tropical storm is hanging in over us. Matt, Andrea, Abby and kids (the Ellingson Family) were going to fly over here to take a break from the work in Haiti, but they couldn't land due to the poor weather conditions. They are driving now. We should see them some time today...yippee!

The Casa is quiet right now. Brandon Bleek's team from Creekside Covenant left this morning as sheets of rain were coming out of the sky. The drive to Santo Domingo for them will be interesting. Keep them in your prayers. The streets in Barahona looked more like rivers than streets. We went down to the coffee factory, Cafe Melitta, stopped by a panaderia (bakery) this morning with them and got a serious shower each time we left the bus.

Have you seen the short video clip I took of them mixing cement in Algodon? Here it is:
http://vimeo.com/13556780


I even got in on the mixing, but needed to lean on the shovel quite a bit....Ha! I learned how to properly lean on a shovel when I worked on the Whittier City School District summer gardening crew...an acquired skill.

This Sunday 32 baseball players and coaches will arrive to do clinics and play games with I Love Baseball, which is a ministry with Children of the Nations. http://www.ilovebaseball.org Please join us in asking God to halt the rain for their week here. Life shuts down pretty much here when it rains and we don't have a Safeco field to host the games.

Vic for the fam

transportation

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I tried to capture the many modes of transportation here in the Dominican. Scooters and small motorcycles are definitely the most popular. Not only do they transport people but they are used to carry water, food (see men who were picking up plantains they dropped in the street) gas, etc. Walking of course is a biggie, see women carrying laundry on their heads.

The cars are small and so are most of the trucks. You can't buy most of them in the U.S., many Toyotas.

Dominoes

When I was in downtown Barahona last week with a team headed to the coffee factory, I saw these older gentlemen sitting around playing dominoes. I had to ask if I could take their picture. No problem...and they invited me to play. I had to decline...but I think part of their enthusiasm is that they saw easy money, as they were playing for dinero.

It looks like a perfect retirement plan to me. Ha! Dominicans love to play dominoes. You can see people playing quite often outside their homes.

Vic for the fam