Service Week at Doulos

"Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky." Deuteronomy 10:20-22

I remember my first post of the school year--it was after a really rough first day, and I wanted to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I knew it was sooo far away. I want to share a praise with you--the light at the end of the tunnel is coming! At the beginning of the year, I had a class of 20 students, 17 who spoke no English...and I spoke no Spanish. Walking in line to the bathroom was disastrous. Walking into the classroom to sit in a circle left kids with black eyes (not from me!) and things falling off the walls. Praise God for the awesome wonder of how He has enormously provided for our class' ability to communicate. I am learning Spanish (thanks to my awesome kids, my amazing assistant Rosmery, and some tutoring by an wonderful woman Miriam)....and what's more is, my kids are learning English! Lately, I have been trying to speak only in English to see how it goes, and they are really understanding! Many times Ms. Rosmery or I will go to translate what I had said, but the kids will start interrupting us saying that they UNDERSTAND!! They are even translating for each other, and for their parents when I am trying to explain something. AHHhh. Light. He promises to be our Provider. And He is.

Last week was Service Week at Doulos. Its an awesome opportunity for our whole school to get off campus for 3 days and do various types of service in the community. First grade and 11th grade teamed up to visit people in hospitals, bring them cookies and play games, the High School art class painted a mural at the Barrio Blanco public school,  sixth grade spent time serving our cooking, cleaning, and grounds team at school. My class went to visit the Centro Geriátrico (Geriatric Center). Before we went we talked about why we were going to serve these people and how we could serve them. We talked about the story in the Bible where Jesus washed his disciples feet (John 13)...this verse stuck out to me: "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." (John 13 v. 1b) I love this illustration of how Jesus continues serving people until the end of his own life. 

In Dominican culture, elderly are taken care of by family members; it is uncommon for elderly to live in a Geriatric Center. For example, in our city of about 30,000 people, there are about 75 elderly people in the only Geriatric Center. Much of the elderly in this center believe that they are there because their families don't love them or care about them. Our class talked about how we can serve and love the ancianos, and bring them joy and happiness. I was really amazed at how my kids interacted with the ancianos, at first they were a little shy, but they warmed up and became friends with people 80+ years older than them. It was a beautiful thing.

Reading Books Together

The kids made name tags for them and their new friend.

This woman's name is Luz. Her name means "Light"--and she certainly was.
My kids all loved her (you can tell by how many name tags she has!!)

Kids colored pictures and gave them to their new friends.

On Friday, Robbie and my parents were able to join us!

Friday morning we made play-doh in class to bring with us. I had forgotten how much it looks like food, so once we got there I was repeatedly telling my kids to remind their new friends NOT to eat it!! 

On Friday we also brought finger nail polish for the Kindergarten girls to paint the ladies fingers. This woman wanted to paint nails too! :)

 We were so blessed to have my parents come visit from March 2-11. They were a joy to be with, to relax with, and to share our life here with. I am hopeful that this weekend I will make another post about our adventures with them! Thank you for reading our blog!