Day One Recap

Well we just said goodnight to the students down by the beach and sent them off to their rooms after an amazing first day of work in the DR. Here's a few highlights...

After a much needed full night of sleep, we headed for the Manny Mota Foundation on the "Party Bus" where we began the day with a walking tour of the small village of El Tamarindo. The kids learned very quickly that they were a long, long way from the San Gabriel Valley. I heard story after story tonight at our debriefing session of how they were majorly impacted just by walking the streets and passing out candy and toys to the hundreds of children that came out and followed us along the way. They said they wished every 8th grader at FCS could have taken that walk with them.

While walking we got a chance to visit a small Christian school that was in session and our kids got to walk through a rundown, small room about the size of an FCS classroom that was housing K-3rd grade with very little resources. The 3rd grade class was meeting behind the building under a blue tarp. When we showed up they sang for us and were so excited to have visitors. Tomorrow we are going to return with school supplies and a brand new 23' X 29' blue tarp!

Back at the MMF, we served lunch to hundreds of children and then the games began! The kids were bombarded with children wanting piggy back rides, wanting to play soccer, football, tag, or whatever else they could come up with. The rest of us sorted out 2,000lbs of FCS uniforms and more. Later we sent every child that came home with a couple sets of uniforms and even shoes for some kids who didn't own a pair. I would estimate that probably 25-30% of the kids had no shoes!

After a nice lunch provided by the Mota's we headed back to the hotel where the kids quickly got into their swim gear and headed for the beach. They had fun playing soccer and volleyball on the beach before they all ended up in the Caribbean until dark.

Tomorrow we'll head back to the MMF for another day of fun in the hot and humid sun! I'm so proud of the kids and their parents. They made me proud to be their teacher as they loved and served kids they had barely met with the kindness and compassion of Christ. They can fill in all the specifics later!