Day Three Recap

Today was a much quieter day, which was a nice break for our team after such an intense Tuesday. After another breakfast within a stones throw of the Caribbean, we boarded the bus and headed toward the town of La Romana on the east side of the island.

On our way we stopped by the Anaheim Angels Dominican Training Camp where 40+ young boys are given the opportunity to show their skills and possibly get signed to a minor league contract. While we were there one young guy had just come and we got to watch his tryout. They are given one week to impress the scouts and either get an invitation from the Angels to stay, or they are cut and go back home. For many of these kids, their families are counting on them making it to provide. A lot of pressure needless to say! We couldn't get Hunter a tryout...he just didn't look Dominican enough.

After the Angels Camp, we drove another 30 mins and had lunch at a Dominican store called Jumbo, which is kind of a cross between a Costco, Target, and Vons. We got a couple of big pizzas and some kids had Burger King. You'll see in one of the pictures what we did after lunch. The kids and parents decided to pool their money and we went shopping for shoes to give away tomorrow when we have our Thanksgiving feast back in El Tamarindo. We've been overwhelmed this year with requests for shoes from kids who have none, and Dr. Stone has even done some medical care for kids who have cuts and other feet issues. On the first day one boy without shoes split his toe open while playing in the street and Dr. Stone did a marvelous job cleaning his wound and making sure it wouldn't get infected. However, we realized that while that fixed his hurting toe, we needed to do more and so we bought about 92 pairs of multi-colored Crocks that we'll bring back and pass out tomorrow.

We ended our day at a small orphanage in La Romana. Our students had playtime, did crafts and painted faces. They then presented all of the children with new backpacks, school supplies, and a bunch of other toys including Angels rally monkeys. We also bought them a cake and served them before having to leave. The children from the orphanage prayed for us and then our kids recited a prayer for them that they had learned in Spanish class (Gracias Senora!) As I type, they've all gone off to the beach (with parents don't worry) for a quick swim before dinner. Tomorrow will be another intense day as we endeavor to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the village of El Tamarindo. Please pray for another fish and loaves miracle as we will be swamped with hundreds and hundreds of hungry children. Thanks for your prayers!