Resources & Updates

Our Inspiring Adventures of Faith in El Cercadillo

Written by Madeline Everson

Wow! We’ve done a lot in the past 24 hours on the DR mission trip! First off, yesterday afternoon we did VBS with the kids in the community of El Cercadillo. It was so great to see all the kids’ smiling faces as we played games and did dances with them. Then to see them so eager to learn the story of Jesus walking on water. They then made a craft to represent the story. It was the sweetest thing when one of the kids was so excited to show his mom the craft they did. It really showed how the Lord was working through these kids in the community to spread his word and have a better relationship with him.

We then had a delicious dinner of salami, sausage, mofongo, and yucca. After that, the debrief meeting was great. People talked about how they saw the Lord working through the kids at VBS, God sightings, and much more.

After the debrief, we played some more with the kids and I noticed something amazing about them. These kids live in a community where they don’t have much. They don’t have air conditioning, running water, or other luxurious things that we take for granted. But they always look on the bright side and have a very welcoming community. Their happy, smiling faces show how grateful they are for the things that they have and don’t just focus on the bad things, but instead on the good. They have something that our society in San Antonio, Texas don’t have. We have it much better than them and still focus on the things we don’t have. I can truly see the Lord working through this community in that way.

This morning at devo, we read from Matthew 6:19-34. It talked about how we always are focused on things besides Jesus, like money and clothes. Somebody also brought up that they struggle with comparison and Jesus said that we just need to be ourselves and not compare ourselves to others. That made me think about what I was talking about earlier and how the kids and the rest of the people in the community don’t care too much about clothes or money, or other things that distract us from Jesus. Hopefully, that helps them be closer to the Lord. We then had an amazing breakfast of pancakes with fresh fruit.

After that, we played football, kickball, and baseball with some of the kids at the field and I still could see the Lord working through them as the kids were having fun playing with the materials that they’ve only had for a year but even before that they just played with things they could find in the neighborhood and that again shows how grateful they are for what they have and don’t focus on what they don’t have. They realize that they have each other in the community and that’s enough. 

We then had a magnificent lunch of corn, beef, chicken, and potatoes in some broth. After lunch, we just spent some more time with the kids.  This has been a great trip so far and I’m definitely coming back next year.