When the girls were in the hospital, Dave and Beth Stone (pastor of one of our supporting churches, Southeast Christian) entered the NICU with tears in their eyes and prayed over our girls. I will never forget the incredible encouragement we received from them knowing there were 20,000 other members in our church. They have an incredible gift of remaining very personally involved with people in such a large church. In February, they took over 30 people from their Bible study on a trip to the Dominican to open their eyes to what God is doing around the globe.
I (Vicki) had the incredible opportunity to return to the Dominican with them. They helped build a church and nutrition center in Hoyo de Bartola (The Hole) and Hato del Yaque as well as children’s ministry and feeding the kids. I was reminded of God’s love for Israel as I watched them feed the children in the nutrition center; “I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love, I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.” Hosea 11:4
I also had an incredible opportunity to fit a 14-year-old boy named Melvin, with hearing aids. The girls’ audiologist, Dr. Sue Windmill, programmed a pair of donated hearing aids for him and showed me how to fit him. After explaining the process and fitting him with temporary molds, I turned the switch on and the soft spoken teen smiled from ear to ear hearing clearly for the first time. It was an amazing experience and we are looking forward to more opportunities to bring hearing and resources to children in the DR and Haiti with hearing loss.
