God Uses Everyone!

Reflections from the Dominican Republic - Part 3

Out of 28 people, we had people of all ages part of our team. While Paul and I were probably some of the oldest, Dylan, our son was the youngest, two others were just a year older than Dylan. Almost half of the group were teenagers, my favorite age to be a part of. They are my passion in this season of life since I have one too, Abby, who also was part of the trip. The kids were an important part of our team. They brought energy, and life to the kids of the community. They served as group leaders in VBS and were playmates to the kids when they came to the school to visit with us in our times when we weren't working in the community. They also drew in the teenagers of the community to play basketball and dominoes.

Everyone had gifts and talents to contribute. Some of our people were skilled in building and construction. Others knew much about agriculture and were instrumental in sowing plants in the community to teach them how to grow and provide future sources of food for their family. Others worked with the children in VBS in music, crafts or playing games. Each person, using their own unique gifts and talents would be used by God in this community while we were there.

Before we left for the trip, I must admit, I had my reservations about Dylan's age, being the youngest on the team. Dylan is filled with life and energy, but at times doesn't quite know how to contain it. Given people were put together in tight spaces like the airplane, bus rides, many people living in one room, added to it heat, lack of food that they were accustomed to, and tiredness. I was concerned about  the expectations of others.

I was very proud of the young kids on our team. There were so many times they were put in adult environments with adult expectations; a 2 hour church service, multiple meetings that lasted more than an hour. All of the kids showed a great deal of self control and were quite important in gaining the love and trust of the youngest in the community.

Dylan did a fantastic job connecting with four young boys in the community who at times, matched his eagerness for life and also shared his energy. They became his gang from the very first day. At times other kids would leave them out of games, but Dylan always included everyone and they began to look for him and follow us wherever we went.

Another time, it had rained a lot in one afternoon and it created a huge puddle outside of our front gate. Dylan was talking about the puddle with some of our men and when we came back from a morning of activity, Dylan started digging trenches on either side of the puddle to let the water flow downhill with one of our women. Soon, we engaged some young teenage boys to help with the process. The people of the village would walk and drive through it as if it didn't even exist, not knowing that eventually the water wasn't good for their only transportation, their motorcycles.  We are hoping that this will open their eyes that they can do things like dig trenches for themselves, to take ownership and come up with their own solutions. Dylan was an important part in getting kids involved who lack purpose or things to do. It was awesome to watch that God has jobs for even the youngest and He wants to use anyone that has a willing heart and open hands to serve.