Saturday, January 8, 2011

Saturday Happenings

On a warm and sunny day in the DR, we once again tackled the task of helping to build the walls of an addition to the Lighthouse School...many of the guys are becoming quite accomplished at laying block and it is always fun to see the levels of the walls growing as you think about the lives that will be changed inside those walls...we also got a chance to knock the soccer ball around with some guys who enjoy the game at a local field here in the DR...and it's always fun to see and play with children playing on the dirt fields anywhere in the world...this game we love truly does connect and transcend all cultures...Isaac Grotenhuis got a chance to share with the guys about how Christ has changed his life and his love for the people of the DR as He's been involved in God's work for the second year here in this community...

Tonight we reflected on the things we have seen so far here in the DR...we've seen poverty, we've seen community, we've seen obvious needs, and we've seen joy in the children and friends we have made...this morning we looked at a myriad of Scriptures that speak so clearly about God's overwhelming heart for the poor, the oppressed, and for justice...and we talked tonight about the struggle we often face in knowing how to respond to what is going on in our world as we have been made aware in a fresh way of the needs in places outside of our own communities...I often tell students that I actually pray for them to be gripped by this tension...gripped to the point where they have to struggle with God and made a decision to respond and get personally involved in the physical and spiritual needs of the people of the world God has made...we'd love if you would pray and even ask us as we get home about the struggle that we want to produce fruit of change and commitment in our spiritual lives...we want to hear I John 3:18 and not see our brother and sister in need and then choose to not do anything for the long haul...for we want God's love for us and for them to compel us to action and not just words...

Tomorrow will be a bit of a rest day...we actually need it...we'll walk to a Dominican church in the community here and then will welcome our Haitian friends back for a little more futbal later in the afternoon...and we might even need to practice a little baseball...some Dominican kids want to play us Tuesday night...and let me tell ya...Dominican kids can play baseball!

May you enjoy Sunday and we will think of you worshipping back at home as we do the smae in another place in the world!

For all the guys...CHIP

1 comment:

Zylstra said...

Hi! Ian,Isaac Jeremy and soccer team. We continue to pray for you all. Have some fun and get a lot of work done.