No pictures, but we have internet!

I realized something I left at home - our camera cord! We were so excited to be able to download pictures, but now we can't... Unless I can find one around here to borrow.... You'll just have to wait until we get back!

Also, forgive me for rambling in this post...there's so many things in my head and it's hard to type them all out!

This past week there was a tropical storm over the entire country. We were driving through it our first day here and saw the first signs of flooding. Thank God that we got through in our little compact rental car! However, the rain ruined some of the roads that were not paved in Moca. We were able to visit a lot of people but not as many as we would have liked because of the rain. We had church one night, but a lot of people didn't come because it was raining.

On the other hand, Sam was able to visit with many people that he had relationships from years past and I was able to talk to my favorite pastor and his wife on the phone. We also were able to spend a lot of time with Sofi. She is now 16 years old, but we met her when she was 12. She is a little girl that was working on Pastor Quina's farm at the time and was staying with her aunts. Her mom and dad were alcoholics, so she was in a since orphaned. Her mom died a few months ago and her dad is not a part of her life. It's amazing that this girl comes from such a hard home life, but still has a light in her eyes and an amazing smile.

A couple of years ago, Quina invited Sofi to come live with her full-time. She pays for Sofi's school and gives her a chance to earn money by working around her house. She's a girl in need of a lot of love, so it was good to spend so much time with her. She is terribly shy, but will open up to us a little when we're there. I pray that we can continue this relationship we have with her for many years. I look forward to knowing what God has in store for her life!

We are now in San Juan de la Maguana staying in an apartment next door to our friends Miguel and Kristen. It's so fun to live life down here and have a place to ourselves (that has internet by the way...we're crazy spoiled). We were able to buy groceries last night and get unpacked and settled in to stay over the next week. We plan on visiting old friends and pastors as well as spending time in fellowship with Miguel and Kristen and seeing the ministry that they have built here.

Sam left for the capital today to pick up his friend Ryan who is leading worship for a youth group trip about an hour away from here. It's an 8 hour ordeal for him to drive to the capital and back, so I'm at the house about to get started on some of our laundry and I'll be hanging out with Miguel and Kristen this afternoon.

On another note, Michael has slept through the night since we've been here! Thank you God for that! He's able to keep a good attitude even with no air conditioning because he can sleep at night and take his naps! Miguel and Kristen have a little girl about 6 months older than Michael named Samantha. She's been sick the last couple of days, but we're looking forward to her getting better so that she can play with Michael! :)

Thank you for praying for us!! We feel God's hand on us during our trip! We'll update you again soon!