Barahona 2022

We had a great trip yesterday from home to all the way here in Barahona. We are called to be fruitful and spread God's love.  We had a great time of devotions this morning and got on the bus to head to the church where we will be building a kitchen. We took some time again to pray for and over the project for the week.

We are having a great day. We have been working on building the roof of the kitchen while some of the ladies were doing some clean-up. It's amazing what we can do together!

Kids from all over the community welcomed us to start the 3 Kings Day celebration! We played games, sang, and danced together. Laurie read John 3:16 (Juan 3:16) to everyone. We are eager to begin connecting with the youth in Barahona!

Today we had the opportunity to go to a local orphanage and hang out with some beautiful kids. We played with bubbles and shared some of God's word with the future of the Dominican Republic and the world.

This experience was very eye-opening to many of us and has made us realize God has a plan for every one of these kids. It has been an honor to help them in any way we can!

We are called to share God's love with the least of these. Today we got to live that by spending time with young children at the orphanage. We got to show them love, but we could also see God in the way they played with one another and the way they played with us. It was beautiful to see and be a part of. 

This morning we met with the women of the church to talk about what it means to be women of God. Each of us shared our favorite Bible verses and what they mean to us. After, we worked together to make bracelets that tell the story of the gospel! The local women left the ministry with nail polish to take home as a sign of our love that we have been talking about all week.

In front of the church steps, many of the men in the group helped to sift the concrete mixture for the kitchen walls. The children were happy to help and spent hours trying to shovel so they could be like their new friends!

It was a hot day, but everyone was committed to getting as much done on the kitchen as possible. 

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

At Praying Pelican Mission we value long-term relationships since those are truly the ones that last. 

It's so wonderful to see how everything has come together this week. God has been faithful to us during the week and we are more than happy to share some of what He has blessed us with. 

This is what we call a true partnership and this is what we stand for as an organization. The last day of our trip this week has been epic in many ways. The team received a certificate of appreciation for what they mean to the local church. The team gave a clock to the local staff and pastors as a symbol of their love and thankfulness for them.