Dominican Republic Day 3-Saturday

Our third day in DR we headed out to our first village, San Juan for a 3 day/2 night stay. It wasn't a long trip, but for DR, this is considered the "end of the road."

Pastor Craig, a missionary with SCORE had been living at San Juan for 3 years with his family, starting a church, preschool, a small health clinic and also a water project. Most of the community did not have outside jobs. Many are ethnically Haitians. Their families came into the country to work in the sugar cane fields (where they make about $1.50/week), and many have been born in the DR, but don't have the necessary documentation to be Dominican. This leaves them with no access to hospital services and other needed resources like higher education. Craig wanted to work in the most needy area of the country and this was one of the sites which qualified.

Pastor Craig with some San Juan villagers

The government had given young animals at different times to the villagers, and some villagers have successfully raised these animals and become farmers. A gift of calves led to several families now owning 20 cattle each. They milk them and then send the milk into towns to be sold.

A boy getting ready to milk his cow.

A recent gift from the government was young pigs, and so we saw some of these too. These folks made their living from their animals, so it was a great village to minister to.

Roy making friends with a pig.

Once we arrived we went door to door and invited people to come to the church to bring their questions about animal care and we looked at some animals along the way too.

Bonnelyn talking to Pastor Craig about a villager's horse with photosensitivity.

We were thrilled to have 12-15 people show up at the church for our animal health lesson. We found out about how they currently treat their animals if they are sick, and that many of their animals are free-ranged. They do treat on their own with some drugs from a shop locally, and the government has one vaccination program for the pigs. Another problem they have is animal theft. We talked about deworming, mastitis (udder infection) in the dairy cows, and why they might want to spay or neuter their dogs and cats. After visiting about the animals, Jim, our hoof trimmer/pastor shared with them the love of Jesus and that we were there because we cared for them and that Jesus loves them too, and invited them to church which was to be held later that evening.

Bonnelyn and our translator talking with the farmers under the church veranda

Our church service was joyful. Here we are singing together in Spanish, being led by their praise team.

When we arrived that morning the electricity was off, but it came on by the time for church service.  The church is young and growing, and Craig is discipling a couple of young men who have started a new church in a nearby village. It was fun to be a part of where God is working!

After our church service, we transformed the church into our sleeping quarters and turned the benches into beds and hung mosquito nets from the rafters.

Our sleeping quarters in the church were the church benches.

Well, that is the end of our third day. Hope you are enjoying reliving the trip with me!