Day 4 Haitian batay visit

We visited a Haitian batay east of Santo Domingo this afternoon and it was crazy! Usually we have a planned visit and it is fairly structured but this time we arrived unannounced and man was it a mad house.

Our bus driver pulled into the batay and asked where the church was. Immediately the children began yelling and running after the bus. A bus full of missionaries could only mean one thing, gifts.

We contacted the pastor and arranged to use the little church to meet the children and hand out the backpacks we had brought. As soon as the church opened it became a mad house. Kids and adults came from all over and the church was soon full. As you can see in the picture we had to close the doors. There were as many people outside as there was inside.

We heard them sing songs and then shared the gospel with them. Michael, Bailee and Callie sang. With the pastors help we shared the backpacks. They had school supplies, clothing and small gifts in them. We handed out 100 or so but could have handed out double that. It was sad to have to tell those waiting that we had run out but it was fun to watch those who had received one open them up and show each other what was inside. If only we could have brought more with us.

All in all it was a great experience. During our share time this evening we talked about how blessed we felt and challenged to never take those blessings for granted but use them to reach out to those less fortunate.

The sidewalk is moving along. We should complete the pouring of the concrete tomorrow. Bethany Sweeney is going to draw a mural on one of the walls and the team is going to paint it tomorrow afternoon. I think we settled on the bridge illustration that is often used to share the gospel. It will be a great tool for sharing with those who live at and visit Casa de Luz. I will post some pics tomorrow.

Keep praying for us as we wind down our time here. If you have not donated to our OCL #2 offering remember, 50% will help put the roof on the second floor. Find out more here. I will post pictures of that area tomorrow.