Day 8 - Tuesday

When I woke up today, Chita told me I was all hers, and that I could not go over to the Pastor’s because they were cleaning the house for me… I was very excited to see it and the new parts! While I hung out at Wendy’s for the morning, Johnny came over to hang out, and talked to me a lot about his story, and how he came to know Christ. He told me that he is great friends with Cheito, and when Cheito was saved, he noticed such a difference in his life. He wanted to know more. He said he got talking to the Pastor, and that the Pastor had confidence in him when nobody else did. He started to cry, and although I didn’t understand everything he was saying, I understood his tears and how he felt about his relationship with God, and the radical change it caused in his life. It was a really special time we had together. He had me videotape it so that I could share it when I get home, which I am glad about. We then went to an “Oracion” or a prayer gathering of all the younger members in the church, such as Melody, Melanie, Estelle, Saday, Ezekiel, Raphalito, Kika, Genesis, and more. It was cool to see how eager they are to grow in their faith and support one another at such a young age. Most of them are only 15 years old, and I was really moved by that. The girls needed to practice their dance for the Camboya game, so we went to the church. While we were there it started to downpour like I have never seen in my life, and continued for about two hours. I watched as a bunch of kids had a fight throwing tennis balls at one another in the street, while other people were bathing out in the rain. It was crazy! We were stuck in the church, and finally Estelle and I decided to leave. We ran to her house in the rain. I showered in Wendy’s backyard in the rain (first time for everything), and then some people came over to the house. I talked for a long while with Raphalito and one of his friends about the differences between the US and the DR. He told me how badly he wants to move to the US and go to school at PBA. It really hit home how lucky I am to live where I do and have the opportunity to study at a Christian University. I want to talk with Mark a bit about the posibillity of Raphalito coming to the US. Overall, it was an amazing day, and I never could have anticipated so many events!