D.R. Trip 2018 – Day 3

Written by student, Hannah Khoury

“Why has God called me here?” was the question from our devotion. Maybe to make a kid’s day or help make someone feel better emotionally by loving on them or physically with the help of the doctors. God might’ve called us here to make the kids feel special by painting nails or have them braid our hair, to play baseball with a boy or give a piggy back ride, which they love .

Today was all about showing God’s love towards these people. Even if you have that one special child that you connect with you still share large amount of love towards all of the other kids. You can feel that God is stretching our ability to love and care for them. We aren’t here to just do a good deed. We are here to reflect God’s love and blessings to others . He loves us so much and blessed us abundantly that He wants us to share that.

Today we got to see bright genuine smile. Smiles that will last with us a lifetime.

Yesterday we got the opportunity to go to two schools and sing songs for them and do crafts with them. The cast of Madagascar got to perform as well and the kids were more interested in that even than the Spanish songs maybe we had a strong accent ;). Then we went back to the foundation where the clinic was full of people that needed medical help. Also, we served the elderly a special lunch where they received lunches and little gift bags full of donated items. Then once again the cast of Madagascar performed for the elderly and it was so wonderful to see all of there bright smiles watching us perform for them. After that we went to another small school and performed for the kids again. We were performing in the middle of the street and had to pause at least 10 times so a car or motorcycle could pass by (talk about a culture shock!) Afterwards the students and their principle had a performance for us too which was so much fun to watch.

Today was a day full of God’s grace and love!

Written by FCS parent and NICU Nurse, Shawn Carlson

Today was a long, hot day of organized chaos that I would not change for the world. I worked in the medical clinic where we saw 98 patients. To put this in perspective, Dr. Khedia normally sees 22 patients a day at his office. I have ventured even further out of my comfort zone by administering my first adult IM injection in over 20 years (which I would not let Mr. Gaines Facebook live video), giving respiratory treatments, cleaning wounds and speaking more Spanish than I thought I remembered from high school. My favorite part of today was when I got to snuggle a little baby while momma was getting checked out. I have also loved watching Ella interact with the little girls. She has painted nails, played games, done crafts and carries little kids all over the place. The students served lunch to the kids today and were able to bless a few children by distributing shoes and clothes, including school uniforms which they must have to attend school. We ended the day with a quick visit to the Dodgers training facility here which is home to many 16-19 year old boys from the DR and other countries who show baseball potential. They are trained and given classes in English and other things. It was pretty cool. The night ended with another tribal council where the kids talked about what a great day they have had. This is an amazing experience. My heart is full.