Family Time I was recently back stateside from June 20th until July 13th! It was a great time spent with family, friends, and fundraising. I went to a family reunion, housewarming party at my brothers new house, and the last week that I was home I was able to spend time with my entire extended family up north! Bonfires, boat rides, family dinners, and simply relaxing out on the water. It was a much-needed break before I came back to work.
Many of you know that we had a T-shirt fundraiser for the clinic.Well my family surprised me one evening! They all put on their shirts, and we were able to get a family photo. It was great to see their support for the clinic!
The main reason that I was home was because I had the opportunity to speak at a couple of churches about the work that we are doing in the Dominican. This year Building Bridges of Hope was chosen for the Grand Rapids Mission Appeal. Two of the three weekends that I was home I spent time talking at different churches, St Patrick’s in Portland Michigan, Christ the King in Howard city, and St. Francis de Sales in Lakeview. I am not a public speaker but some how God helped me through it. The day before I was supposed to talk at one of the Churches, I got a phone call from the Dominican Republic letting me know that three of the children that we had brought down the mountain were not doing well and were being sent to the hospital. I prayed all day long that God would help heal them. That night I got the phone call that two of the three children had died and the third was not doing good. My heart was crushed yet again. Being so far away and not being able to do anything, I sat and cried. In
that moment I decided to rewrite my speech and incorporate the recent events to show that this is a problem today, not some statistic from 5 years ago. It is hard for me to wrap my head around the reasons why a child dies. These cases of children who die far too young is what motivates us to continue working towards this permanent medical clinic in Rosa La Piedra.
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