DR Update - bienvenido a mi familia en Cristo!

today was amazing!  i welcomed 26 kiddos to my family...they accepted Jesus for the first time.   yes...23 at CWAH...read that again!  23!!!  from one group!  my heart felt like it was going to burst!  it was absolutely incredible.  oh how i wish all of you could have been there.  dulce and i taught about God's salvation plan today.  we shared about Jesus and HOW he died for us...WHY he died for us...about WHEN he took our punishment...we taught that Jesus is THE ONE WAY to heaven.  and God knows we can't get there on our own.  He knows that our sin will separate us from Him.  He loves each of us...He can heal us from our darkness (sin)...He wants a relationship with us...

"I am the LIGHT of the world...whoever follows me will NEVER walk in darkness, but have the light of life!"  if we follow...HE is the leader, we are not.  23 sweet little faces who want to follow have decided to let GOD lead.  I give GOD all the glory!

it was my last day at CWAH.  tomorrow i will go to meet my compassion children! :)  it was sad to walk through those doors the last time this afternoon.  i will pray daily for the center, the people, the kiddos...the dreams and hopes of all who are there!  we ended our day at CWAH with the flashlight skit from FCC VBS.  We used the espanol version of "oh how He loves us"...we already performed this skit once on Sunday for a church we attended...but without passing out a light to everyone.  instead we passed out Bible verse strips of paper ..."the Lord lights up my darkness."  and although on Sunday it went great...(Ron was satan, Paul was Jesus and Linda and i danced with the flashlights...) today was so cool.  for me anytime kiddos are involved...it's ALWAYS amazing.  Ron and Paul were there and Alexis danced for Linda (she was still with CienFuegos).  WOW.  the children booed satan just like our kids world kids!  and when we started passing out lights...they were soooo excited and couldn't wait to have one!  i told them "brillar por Cristo!" (Shine for Jesus!)  they were all waving their lights...it was beautiful.  even through lots of tears, it is a moment that will be crystal clear in my heart forever.

the dental team is not just saving teeth...but saving lives!  Pastor Jim was able to have a great conversation with Nick, a translator for the team (lives in the DR)...and because of the time Jim spent talking and sharing (and because of God's divine intervention...) Nick also accepted Jesus for the first time!  a new hermano (brother)!!  YAY!!

the boys are almost finished with the roof!  they have worked so hard!  they are hoping to be completed tomorrow.  i can't tell you how much a nail gun would come in handy!!  we are proud of the boys...they are kinda bruised and all sport a serious farmers tan...but what they have done will be there for years to come and i'm sure they will never forget it!

CienFuegos.  the bus pulls near that little tiny gated space and you see children everywhere!  today as we pulled up i could hear a few calling "Linda, Linda!"... others were singing...some just chatting away with excitement.  They were climbing on the gates, okay, really they were climbing on anything they could!  yes, this group has much less structure, much less space, much less of everything...except they had over 100 kiddos!  we were blessed today by the children singing songs for us.  a sweet little girl "maria"...led the rest of the group.  one of the songs i watched a little girl hold her heart and close her eyes...i asked dulce what they were saying.

 "i love you more than i love my life."...precious.

more great news!  3 kiddos accepted Jesus after our salvation story!  dulce did an amazing job leading them through a prayer in spanish...just as beautiful as the one i heard at CWAH!  the little boy who accepted Jesus was Megan's buddy all week!  i went to tell her the news (she was leading games) and she came to give him a big hug and i took their picture.  she had to tell him goodbye today...but someday they will meet again! :)

so...if you have been counting...that was 27 new family members.  we had 1 yesterday and 13 on sunday.  "bienvenido a mi familia en Cristo!" (welcome to my family in Jesus!)  41 people whose lives have been changed forever...of course they aren't the only ones who have been changed this week...those of us on this journey have been changed forever too.