DR Winter 2024: Day 6 (only two days left!!)

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 Jake-

Hello everyone! Thank you for the support you have shown us on this trip! This morning ShuShu Harp and Abby Wall made us a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes and lots of fruit. Everything was delicious except for the papaya. After that everyone went to Las Brisas to get mattresses that we delivered to people in the area. The first house we went to was the home of a family that was at Las Brisas on Sunday. They were so happy to see us and happy to receive their mattresses. Every house that we went to, the family in them was so nice and invited us into their homes and let us pray for them. 

When we got back from delivering the mattresses we had an amazing lunch which was avocado and cheese sandwiches. I know it might not sound special but the avocados here are very good. Then it was time for Siesta. At around 2:30 we split into groups. The group of Kyro, Joey Yarham, ShuShu, Noah Lowe, Lily Perris, and JieJie Harp went to play volleyball at Las Brisas. While Tyler Reaser, Jake Flinner, Abby Wall, and Emily went to go play basketball with some of the kids we were playing with earlier in the week. The same kids that we invited to church. Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favor today because when we got to the basketball courts we were only able to play one game, which we won, before it started to rain. The people playing basketball got back before the people playing volleyball so we waited until everyone got back to eat dinner. 

For dinner we had rice with corn, coleslaw, and chicken. All of the food we ate was so delicious. After dinner we gifted our new friends, Jeremiah and Matthew, a wiffle ball bat and a ball. But within the first ten minutes of them playing with it they lost the ball. Overall today was an amazing day being able to give the mattresses to the people in need was such a blessing and being able to see them with big smiles when we gifted them the mattresses. 


Joey-

Hello! Today was an amazing day! We started the day off wonderfully and shared a delicious breakfast that was made by Shu Shu and Abby. After the breakfast activities concluded, we got ready and went to a small impoverished city called Brisas del Este. There, we delivered mattresses to some of the children who attend the student ministry at Las Brisas Iglesia (church) and aren’t fortunate enough to have one of their own. 

I was super excited to have this opportunity because it was a great way to show these people Christ-like love in a way that they may not have experienced before. As you might have read yesterday, we were split up into two groups for Sunday morning church service. Because of this, the people in the group that attended Las Brisas were seen as familiar faces when we arrived at a few of the homes. I, however, was not one of those faces because I was in the group that stayed at Kefale. I knew the Lord still wanted me to connect with these people, though. When I arrived at the first home, a little boy, who I was told is a very shy kid, immediately ran up to me and embraced me. His name was Jeremiah and he was no taller than my hip. He held on to me for the entirety of our visit and his affection made it very hard for me to leave.

When we returned, we had a very delicious lunch. While we were eating, we reminisced about all of our individual experiences with the people and it was an amazing conversation. After our meal, we had our siesta. Jake, Tyler and I spent this time together laughing and talking. Though not all of our conversations were about Christ, it was still an amazing time of fellowship with my brothers.

Later in the day, myself along with some others, went to a school to play volleyball. It was very fun because we were able to connect with kids who were closer our age and that was the first time I have had that opportunity while we have been here. I met a 15 year old boy named Miguel. I was able to talk to him about his faith and share a little bit of my testimony. We played for a couple of hours and then concluded with prayer. On our way back, Jie Jie shared with us that she was able to share the gospel with a boy that she met and she invited him to come to Kefale on Sunday. This was super encouraging to me because the boy that she was talking to seemed to have a lot of influence on the group and there is a chance that he will bring others with him.

We ate dinner when we returned to the church. After we finished, it was Jake’s, Tyler’s, and my job to clean up. There are two boys that live across the street from the Church. Their names are Jeremiah and Matthew. Jeremiah is 8 and Matthew is 5. They are some of the happiest boys I have ever met and we all instantly took a liking to them. They were waiting for us to finish cleaning so that we could come out and play with them and when we finally did, we brought a gift with us. Jake, Tyler, and I bought a wiffleball and bat for them because they both really like baseball. They were so grateful and we spent the rest of the night playing with their new toy. Their father came outside and taught us a new game with the toys as well. 

Pray for the students for the Las Brisas church so they can truly understand the significance that Christ can hold in their life. Pray that they don’t just take the gifts from the church selfishly but use them to glorify God and give thanks to Him.

In Christ, 

Jake Flinner and Joey Yarham








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