Day5 written on day 6

Michele says;
Hey guys, sorry I could not post last night but I did not have one more grain of strength left when we got back.  With a day like yesterday you literally leave all of yourself there.  I have often said to people that you really can't know whay missions are like unless you go.  So if you really want to know what yesterday was like "come and see"{Mother Teresa used to say that and I now understand why}
But since you are not here now I'll try to share as best I can. 
First off I have to tell you all that the D's arrived safely but late and a gain true Dominican style they had only one bed in their room for 4-Ai yi yi!  But on a positive noteTom was well enough to come to the village and I was really thankful for that!  We started off at the church to show Tom and to drop off the rest of the cleats which the D's brought.  Then we went to Maribel's house.  She, Vielka and the twins were there and greeted us warmly.  Their house looked beautiful and so did they.  One thing that really concerned me though was that she still does not have a bathroom.  If any of you on the last build remember their outhouse-this is a real house concern-well possibly a reno project???  She told Blanca that she is praying to find a way to make a bathroom for her kids.  Anyway Papa was there and he went and put on his team shirt which was still in 'like new condition{obviously a treasured possession}  He was talking about the glory of the Lord in his life{he accepted Christ after the house was built}.  Then I went and called on Felix-the other older man who let us use his house to store materials.  He was very happy to see us and we had a big hug.  I wonder sometimes what these old men think about us crazy Canadians that keep showing up but it can only point to the Lord's light-that is what I pray for anyway.  I went to check on the Hatian guys at the end of the street-Michael-father of James was there.  He said that he and Alessi are still looking for work but they haven't been able to get much at all.  It makes me wonder how they are living at all but I did not dare to ask.  We met lots of beautiful little ones and some of them will be available for sponsorship{Yay!!!} 
From here we went to Saman.  Many in the community showed up as the 'Gringos' arrived.  We saw lots of our little friends-Vanessa, Nikauri and her sisters, Los Tres, Roberto, Franf-Jeef, Jason, Moises, and many more-but of course the best was seiing the Tomas family!  Yolanda and her sister and Johnny were there with all of the kids.  Jenny even smiled at me!  Conspicuously absent was Mickelson.  We were told he has moved to Cabarete.  We hope to find him on the beach today.  I was sad about them not being there but can only hope that their move was for their betterment. 

I don’t even know how to describe being there again.  This morning I was listening to one of my fav songs.  Its by Gungor-its called ‘Beautiful Things”.  The lyrics remind us that God makes beautiful things out of the dust.  It says ‘All around hope is springing up from this old ground.  Out of chaos life is being found’ That’s kind of how it is there.  It’s ugly but beautiful.  Those people have broken but ready hearts just like we all do.  They are joyful.  There was as much or more boisterous laughter around the Tomas house yesterday than I have seen anywhere.  The team was talking in devotion the other day and saying that their joy proves that they don’t actually need us.  God has given them everything they need.  We think in terms of material wealth because that is our culture.  It is not theirs, and I hope we NEVER infect them with this.  That is not to say that fixing a leaking roof or building some strong walls is not a blessing to them, surely it is but we just have to remember our place.  We have to remember that we do not have it all sewn up and that our way is not necessarily the best way.  The song I was referring to has a chorus that says this-‘you make me new, you are making me new’.  I was made new again yesterday with fresh perspective and I hope God continues to make me new through missions.

We visited the house for sale that some of us have been praying would be the future Sequoia mission house.  I am going to continue to pray that God will make a way for this to happen.  I am going to stop here and write later about the youth night.  I have also asked the other team members to do some posting today so I am hoping this will happen late afternoon.  Today is family day and we are going to have some much needed down time.  Thanks for following!  M