Pumpkinvine Baptist Church – Friday
Hola…from the Dominican Republic. Well we had some interesting travel yesterday. The flight out of Atlanta was wonderful and on time. Thanks to all the parents for seeing us off yesterday morning. As we were nearing Miami, a thunderstorm diverted us a little further south, where we flew over the Florida Keys, before returning to Miami. We were then delayed flying out of Miami by about an hour because of weather. We finally landed in the Dominican Republic around 7:45 pm last night…the only problem…NONE of our luggage made it to the DR. Many were fretting and worried…but we were all fine. Bob and Anna met us at the airport…by the time we worked everything out with American Airlines about our luggage, it was nearing 10:00PM by the time we arrived at the SCORE Complex.
Everyone seemed to have rested well last night though. We left out after breakfast this morning around 8:30AM. We then traveled to a small remote sugarcane village located just outside of San Pedro. The village is called Molintino. This village was quite small – probably less than 130 people. We went into this village to minister to the children there and to meet the pastor of the village. His name is Pastor Maximo and he has lived in Molintino for approximately 20 years; however, we learned of some sad news concerning Pastor Maximo…and I share it with you now as a matter of prayer for his family and this village.
Most of the sugarcane fields are corporately owned and the Dominicans labor for mere pennys (or pesos, here) to provide the very basic necessities. However, this particular village property and sugarcane fields are owned by one woman…and this woman has just recently asked Pastor Maximo and his family to leave the village and to take “his church” with him. But praise the Lord that “his church” is really “HIS church” and the gates of hell will not prevail. The pastor will be leaving very soon and the church building will used for something else…however, many of the members and families of this village are believers because of the years of service and preaching from this devoted pastor…so the body of Christ is already built within this village. Please be in prayer for Pastor Maximo, this village of Molintino, and let’s pray for the owner of this property.
We then traveled back to SCORE for a quick lunch and … PRAISE GOD… our luggage had arrived!! So most of us 
changed clothes and prepared for lunch. We had a short orientation session after lunch and then left the SCORE Complex to travel to La Romana, to visit a girl’s orphanage that we had been to before. We were unable to go to this orphanage last year…so this was a first time experience for most everyone. The girl’s orphanage in LaRomana houses many orphans that have simply been dropped off…but the orphanage is doing a tremendous job of building structure into their lives and because of many generous donations from different organizations and individuals…some are even having the opportunity to go on to college.
We just got back from LaRomana and we are preparing for dinner at the SCORE Complex. It has been a wonderful day to minister in the name of the Lord. We were teamed with Sadrac today…which is one of the Dominicans we worked a lot with last year…so it was a pleasure to see him again. We also had two SCORE interns to go out with us as well. Please pray that we will be well nourished and hydrated. The humidity was extremely high today (or maybe it’s just because we’re not use to it yet). “Drink plenty of water!” That’s the wisdom for today…that’s in Proverbs somewhere! J
Anyway…we love you all and thank you so much for all of your continued encouragement and prayers. We will keep you posted each day!
