Kevin:
Today marked the halfway point of this year’s VBS in Bani and I will definitely admit that the week has been just flying by.  For me, this year has been a great chance to reflect on the growth and change that has taken place in the community.  I have enjoyed seeing familiar faces like Alexander grow and take charge of parts of the Bible School.  Today, he wore a t-shirt from Virginia Theological Seminary that Rachel, our seminarian, sent over with her mom, Deb.   Our painting from two years ago is still holding up well and we can see each of our flowers in the cafeteria.  In addition, this day has marked a great opportunity to evaluate our teamwork and the progress that we are making as a group.  Our group has transitioned extremely smoothly and we have worked well as a team.  Our youth have bountiful energy to take out onto the playground and lead games, our educators have an abundance of creativity to adapt our crafts to the needs of four different age groups, and our musicians take charge in leading the children through a variety of song and dance.  We also have a painting team working on various projects in the parish hall and playground.  In the evenings, the group has kept each other entertained with lots of laughs and thoughtful reflection.  We have also been joined by Emily, a recent Clemson grad, whose learning all about Episcopal mission work in the Dominican Republic.

            For me, the day represented some of the best reasons that I love mission work, especially here in the Dominican Republic.  In the afternoon, I spent time on the playground playing with some of the youngest ones.  It really does not matter what kind of game you play with them, they are so excited and happy to have some attention.  From chalk games to “gato, gato, perro” (the Dominican version of “duck, duck, goose”), the children are eager, smiling, and full of energy.  They talk your ear off as well and it does not matter if you catch every word, they keep on talking.  I could not believe that one of the young girls from the preschool, Rosalba, told me yesterday that she could say something in English and she then proceeded to say “My name is Rosie” in perfect English.  She even told me her mother works in a pharmacy, which as a pharmacy student, was a completely pleasant surprise.  Today, as Rebecca had a conversation with the teacher, she mentioned that Rosalba had even mentioned us to her parents at the end of the day and that her parents mentioned her excitement about our visit when they dropped her off today.  To realize how much our simple games and activities mean to those children is incredibly uplifting and shows us the kind of good things that we are able to accomplish.  Personally, I have considered focusing in pediatrics as I continue in pharmacy and the opportunity to work with the children in this capacity helps to highlight some of what I find most rewarding in this potential opportunity.  A second example of that is in the pride all of the children show in their crafts.  Today, we made a house out of popsicle sticks to go along with today’s Bible story and several of the older children all asked for markers to write out the phrase that went along with the story underneath their house.  The words of the story truly resonated with them and they put them on their crafts to take along with them.

            Mission work can be tough – today was particularly hot and sweltering and the fans/water in the church were not working because the electricity was out, but moments like I’ve described above help to validate the wonderful parts of mission.  These are the reasons I keep coming back.  To work as a part of a team and to reach out to children in the community gives me a terrific sense of giving back.  In addition, I take a lot out of their sheer pleasure and delight in our presence here and it is incredibly uplifting.  This evening, we’ve prayed for a fruitful continuation of our VBS as we go through these last two days with the hopes that they are as successful as our first few have been.  I too am looking forward to these next few days of games and learning as we help to uphold this week’s theme of  “To proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God”.