The sun shines brightly in the sky and in our heart shines the son of God.
It is well with our soul.

Our morning worship thought was brought to us by Jose Naranjo yesterday morning and today it was given by Andy Daum. Both were excellent and spoke to our heart.
This morning seems to hold the promise of being even hotter than yesterday.
The suitcase that was lost or stolen has still not been accounted for. The devil would love to take this situation and use it to hurt. But it has been turned to the glory of God. The suitcase that was lost belonged to me, leaving me with nothing but the clothes on my back. But, the women in our group have rallied around me and supplied me with their own clothes and supplies. This is just another example of Jesus' love in action.

The situation at the medical clinics is completely under control! The two armed government policemen are doing their job perfectly and not a soul stirred out of line or grabbed for glasses. As rough as it sounds, having someone walk around carrying a rifle does have a subduing effect on out of control people. We are trying to minister grace and healing to them and yet the only way we can do that is to subdue them first for their own good. How many times Jesus tries to pour out blessings upon us and we miss the blessing because of our unruliness.
The deal was made last night for the police to help us. All I will say is that nothing comes for free for the Americans!
I drove in to Barahona with Bob and Pastor Ben today. Sandra Mosquera came along to translate and was such a blessing, not only with her translation skills but also with that cute little laugh of hers. When Sandra was 12 years old, Maranatha came to her home town in Venezuela to build a church. The project impressed her so much that right then she decided that someday she was going to do that for someone else. And now her hearts desire has come to past. Sandra has also been impressed by the Holy Spirit to ask our bus driver if he would like to learn about Jesus. He said yes he would and tonight she will start to study the Bible with him. All it took was hearing the Spirit speak and following His direction!
I just had a nice conversation with Chet Parboo M.D. from our medical clinic. He said he has seen about 200 patients between today and yesterday and out of that only 1 or 2 had diabetes or high blood pressure. He attributes this to the fact that they all have to walk everywhere and few of them are overweight. Of course parasites are always a big problem in places like this and they are all given worm medicine. Drugs and smoking are not a problem here either. And that would be do to the fact that when there is no chance of money, no drug dealers bother to come. Chet has said that even though bottles of Rum can be seen in every little hut type stores, that when he has asked his patients about their drinking habits they say they drink only rarely and that none of the Adventist patients drank alcohol.
Bryan Wilson DDS and his wife Kareen were very busy in the dental clinic today but said it was so organized now with the guards there that it went smoothly. Most of our team has commented on the rudeness of the people here. The Wilson's have found the same to be true. Kareen mentioned that it seemed impossible to get a thank you out of them, but did come to one very interesting observation. One woman seemed obviously thankful for the help they had just given her children, and while she kept touching Kareen's arm and smiling at her, she just never said thank you. So part of not saying thank you could come from a cultural thing. But regardless, we have a work to do here for Jesus and we will do it. Thanked or not.
Clara is the woman whose floor we poured first. She is not an Adventist but her daughter is. Clara has decided to come to our evangelistic meetings starting this Monday. Her husband did not want to have anything to do with God at all, but since the floor has been put in, he has decided, on his own, that he would like to come to our meetings. Praise the Lord.
Ashley Wagner and Elyse Dickerson brought us our worship thought tonight in the form of a beautiful song. After sundown we gathered for praise singing and testimony in the straw roofed gazebo in our compound.
The medical clinic saw 420 patients today.
The construction crew put down 365 blocks.
The dental clinic examined 77 patients, extracted 71 teeth and did cleanings on 57 patients
The optical clinic took care of 100 people

To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Because He lives, I continue to smile,

Jennifer Young
Berkshire Mission reporter