Day #4

Give us this day our daily bread!!

Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi – the Body and Blood of Christ! While in the United States it’s a special day in the Catholic Church that will be celebrated on Sunday, here in the DR it’s a very special day when most businesses close early – for rest, prayer and reflection. The Gospel today
is Jesus teaching the follower the Lord’s Prayer in which He says (and we pray) give us this day our daily bread. This morning I shared with the group that there were about 15 men hanging around the houses today. They were waiting, and waiting, and waiting…hoping and praying that eventually there
would be some work and they could earn some money. With persistence, and patience, they are waiting…looking..praying..for some work – for some bread. To the group, and to us….imagine if we were so persistent and determined for the Lord. Imagine if we yearned for the Bread of Life – Jesus
Christ. Imagine if we recognized that our hungers can always and only really be satisfied in the Lord.

From this reflective thought, we loaded into our trucks to visit Carlito’s family. You may recall the picture and story from last night. For the group this time seeing where they are living really put the
whole mission experience in perspective. They/we/us are building a home for a family who lives in a tin shack…we really are. We are taking a family with a special needs son and giving them a place to respectfully care for their child. The group was able to see rows of shacks only sixty seconds off the main road. Needless to say, this stirred a bit of a fire in the belly of the group and really ramped up some of the pace of the projects. Our goal is to move in five families on Saturday. Here’s today’s progress:

• Finished painting the interiors of all five homes

• Started moving good soil/dirt around the houses

• Planted some palm trees around the Church/community center

• Baseball Camp Day 2 was an equal success

• English lessons for the kids was also a great success…more students!

• The Bishop came by again to offer his great appreciation for our service to those most in

need in his community.

• The foundation for two more homes was dug (thanks to some of our friends in the

community).

• The concrete footers are now poured for all three homes.

• The first shipment of block arrived so we can start walls of three homes on Friday.

• Plans are in motion for move in day on Saturday.

• Group 2 arrives tomorrow afternoon.

• Life is Good!!!

It was easy to decide to give a new house to Carlito and his family. What is challenging is to figure out who else should get a home. Everyone needs one. That’s not a question or an issue. The challenge is to find families who will make a real contribution to the life of the community so there can be a synergy in the community – a sense of welcome and goodness, a sense of faith and hope, a love for God and for neighbor. We visited ten families today….a few yesterday…more tomorrow. Pray that God’s spirit will
guide and direct us as we discern who best can benefit from these homes and enrich the community.

Today’s Feast is a reminder that though many, we are one in the Lord. You can see this in the mission team working together. They are enjoying their work and time together. They are sharing gifts and talents with the Lord and with those most in need. Our prayer is that for the team and our mission
community we may learn from this time together – so that we can always work to give, share, and become one in the Lord.