A typical day during our time in the Dominican Republic has consisted of teaching Vacation Bible School, digging a canal that will keep houses from flooding, playing with children, and making house visits in the afternoon to build relationships in Guatchupita.
Vacation Bible School has proven to be both exhausting and rewarding. Each week of VBS has had a theme; love, faith, and healing. We chose stories that illustrated these characteristics of Jesus, acted them out, and then encouraged the children to act them out. We also attempted to sing songs in Spanish and taught the kids silly dances.
Last week, we taught the story of the paralytic man being healed because his friends had faith and persevered to lower him through the roof. While we were explaining the story, a man in a wheelchair passed by where we were gathered. We knew it wasn’t by chance that we were teaching about the healing powers of Jesus and a paralyzed man appeared. We introduced ourselves and learned his name was Ricardo, then after asking permission, asked the children if they would like to join us and pray over him.
We returned to visit Ricardo later that afternoon and learned the story of how he became paralyzed. Several years ago, Ricardo was riding into town on his motorcyle when he was shot. The man that shot him then proceeded to rob him, steal his motorcycle, and leave him for dead. We knew that Guatchupita was a dangerous place to live, but didn’t realize the depth of the danger until meeting Ricardo.
We asked Ricardo what was going through his mind while he was lying in the road, basically waiting to die. Ricardo told us that He felt a strong sense of God’s peace and was confident that someone would soon stop to aide him. About an hour after lying in the road, he yelled out to someone driving by, who happened to be his brother.
Ricardo spent three months in the hospital in rehabilitation and lost his family because of his disability. He told us about his desire to be a good father and teach his children how to be men of God. Ricardo is discouraged on some days, but his unwaivering faith is what keeps him going.
Some days Ricardo doesn’t have food, nor does he have pain medicine, but I was humbled beyond belief while I sat listening to him speak about how God has blessed him by keeping him alive and healed him to the point of being able to maneuver a wheelchair.
It’s conversations like these that have shown me that God is covering us with His presence. Ricardo maintained his confidence as his eyes filled with tears as he told us most of his story, which is a testament to the fact that the people of Guatchupita are opening their hearts and ears to us.
We have one week left in the Dominican Republic, which is sure to be a blessing. Please continue to pray for hearts to be opened as we love on the people of Guatchupita for the rest of our time here 🙂
