After 2.5 hours on a merengue-infused bus (if you haven't heard merengue music, google it....), we arrived in Villa Tapia to meet Pastor Marino Moreta and his family of six. The first thing I noticed was the cleanliness of the town compared to Santo Domingo, as the streets didn't have much litter and there weren't a lot of perros callejeros (street dogs) to step over as you walked down the sidewalk. Marino's home is the second floor of a store in the heart of the little town, just across the street from a Texaco and beside a motorcycle shop. After a nice "bandera" lunch (rice, beans, fried plantains, fried yuca and concon (which is basically burnt rice)) we headed out to see their church, Iglesia de Dios. The little church was painted bright green on the inside and had wooden pews... as we arrived, little kids from the community started to wander in and sit on the pews, just to see what was going on. The community doesn't have much money (many of the kids we met on our walk through the barrio didn't have pants or clothes on at all), but wow, did they have a huge heart. As we walked from home to home meeting the church members, each family gave us a gift. Over the course of the day we received flowers, cherries, coconut milk, mangos and an avacado. It was awesome. It was also exciting for us to know that a huge shipment of clothes was coming soon from Willow Creek and that a lot of these children could be clothed. I got to know the four little Morino girls quite well over the c
ourse of the day (and I must say, my Spanish is getting better and better! :) and they were incredbly sweet. Pastor Marino and his wife have done an exceptional job raising their girls as they help out with all of the family chores without being asked and have ownership of the house as well. I was very impressed... maybe we'll meet with the Marinos when it's time to start thinking about kids! Here's a photo of me with three of the girls (the fourth, and oldest, wanted to take the photo) in front of the river where many of their church members bathe. Good thing they weren't bathing while we wanted to snap this photo, eh? :) Just for fun, I also thought I'd include a photo of this huge hog we met along the way as well. The littlest girl, Mijersy, just about freaked when the pig started peeing... she was so amazed and had never seen anything like that before. God is really using this family, and their church, to reach out to the community in Villa Tapia... I feel so blessed to now know them and I'm sure we'll keep in touch since we only live the distance from Louisville to Indianapolis from us!
After 2.5 hours on a merengue-infused bus (if you haven't heard merengue music, google it....), we arrived in Villa Tapia to meet Pastor Marino Moreta and his family of six. The first thing I noticed was the cleanliness of the town compared to Santo Domingo, as the streets didn't have much litter and there weren't a lot of perros callejeros (street dogs) to step over as you walked down the sidewalk. Marino's home is the second floor of a store in the heart of the little town, just across the street from a Texaco and beside a motorcycle shop. After a nice "bandera" lunch (rice, beans, fried plantains, fried yuca and concon (which is basically burnt rice)) we headed out to see their church, Iglesia de Dios. The little church was painted bright green on the inside and had wooden pews... as we arrived, little kids from the community started to wander in and sit on the pews, just to see what was going on. The community doesn't have much money (many of the kids we met on our walk through the barrio didn't have pants or clothes on at all), but wow, did they have a huge heart. As we walked from home to home meeting the church members, each family gave us a gift. Over the course of the day we received flowers, cherries, coconut milk, mangos and an avacado. It was awesome. It was also exciting for us to know that a huge shipment of clothes was coming soon from Willow Creek and that a lot of these children could be clothed. I got to know the four little Morino girls quite well over the c
ourse of the day (and I must say, my Spanish is getting better and better! :) and they were incredbly sweet. Pastor Marino and his wife have done an exceptional job raising their girls as they help out with all of the family chores without being asked and have ownership of the house as well. I was very impressed... maybe we'll meet with the Marinos when it's time to start thinking about kids! Here's a photo of me with three of the girls (the fourth, and oldest, wanted to take the photo) in front of the river where many of their church members bathe. Good thing they weren't bathing while we wanted to snap this photo, eh? :) Just for fun, I also thought I'd include a photo of this huge hog we met along the way as well. The littlest girl, Mijersy, just about freaked when the pig started peeing... she was so amazed and had never seen anything like that before. God is really using this family, and their church, to reach out to the community in Villa Tapia... I feel so blessed to now know them and I'm sure we'll keep in touch since we only live the distance from Louisville to Indianapolis from us! 
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