Sunday was the last day the group was together ministering through drama and song. Claire Reinhart left early that morning to fly home and it was sad losing one more teammate. Claire had been the key orchestrator and director for all the dramas. She did a fantastic job of making sure everyone was in place and had the needed props. Thanks, Claire for all you did! So, I don't think it would be fair to go any further without explaining what took place the night before. Allow me to regress for a moment.
Saturday night the group was gathered around relaxing, laughing, and reminiscing about the weeks activities. Suddenly, someone got an idea that we should pull a prank on Joe because of the shenanigans he'd pulled while driving with the group (Joe and Shannon run the guest house and Joe drives us around town). We thought and thought until someone finally came up with an idea. Joe just recently purchased a new scooter for him and his wife to ride around town. The group had been giving him a hard time saying, pasolas (scooters) are for girls; real men ride motors (motorcycles). The plan was to kidnap Joe's pasola, hide it from him, and give him clues to find the missing pasola. At this point you must also know that Joe and Shannon have been watching the TV series "LOST" and are midway through the 4th season. Joe has been talking non stop about it and he seems to be slightly "obsessed" with the show. So, we hid clues around the compound a with "LOST" theme that would eventually lead him to his missing pasola. Around 1:00am the team was scurrying about the guesthouse hiding clues. We even made a life-size doll (complete with a jean jumper) and set it on his pasola! The next morning when Joe woke up he saw the clues and had a blast on the scavenger hunt for his missing pasola!
Sunday morning we headed out to another local church in San Juan where we performed our dramas for the last time. It was a sad yet relieving moment when the congregation applauded at the end of our fourth drama. God has taught the team so much through the dramas and it was sad to see them end. Who would have thought a year ago that we would have been doing dramas in the DR and now we've finished up our second year of non stop schedule for dramas. The exciting thing about the dramas this year was the opportunity for everyone on the team who wanted to have a part in the dramas to be involved. God allowed the team to jell together nicely and everyone knew their parts. Once again, Juan Ernesto did a fabulous job of explaining the dramas afterward. The dramas wouldn't have been nearly as effective had it not been for Juan!
Following the dramas the pastor gave a message regarding the dangers of Roman Catholicism in Latin America. He explained many of the false doctrines they have implemented into their worship serves. He didn't condemn all Catholic but did give a strong admonishment to guard what we've been taught though careful study of the scriptures in order to test what we've been taught. Also, while we are all as Christians catholics (an word used in the early church to describe the unity of those who follow Christ) there is a big difference between Roman Catholics and catholics. after the sermon the team got to hear a special musical guest at the church. He was a touring Latin musician who'd stopped by the church to perform some traditional Dominican style music. Everyone (except Joe) really seemed to like the different style and a couple youth even bought his CD. Sing along team: En Puerto Rico -- se alaba a Cristo, en Barahona -- se alaba a Cristo. Yes, Sam was particularly touched and excited by the music. Dominicans could buy the CD for $100 pesos; American price $5 U.S. Hmmmm, the exchange rate was a bit off.
The rest of the day was spend packing and fellowshipping at the guesthouse. The activities went on late into the evening as we also celebrated Daniel's birthday with the team since no one will be here on his real birthday (Sept. 18). Somewhere along the line somebody found left over part balloons which got made into swords. Needless to say there were several "sword fights" that occurred throughout the evening. Even Cindy and Justina got persuaded to make a balloon sword attack on Peter and John's room as they packed their bags. It was so sad saying goodbye to the rest of the team, realizing this was our last night together in the DR. Their were plenty of laughs and smiles to be shared as the team retired to their rooms and prepared for Monday's departure. More to come sometime soon... depends on when I can find Internet again.
Peter (for the team)
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