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.JPG "Children sing songs at La Anunciacion Church in Santiago, as part of VBS")
.JPG "VBS in the banana plantation in Mao")
.JPG "One of the classes heads into the fields for a quiet discussion at Mao")
.JPG "Olga Almonte's nephew who had open-heart surgery in US last year")
.JPG "VBS in the banana plantation in Mao")
.JPG "Children playing outside La Anunciacion church")
.JPG "We love to color! VBS in Mao")
.JPG "Dominican children, with MI8 Team Leader Andi Gorton, display their \"I can\" craft projects in Mao")
.JPG "Inside the La Anunciacion church in Santiago. Home")
.JPG "In the sleeping area above La Anunciacion church in Santiago")
.JPG "MI8 team members painting the yellow chairs at La Anunciacion")
.JPG "Painting one of the classrooms of the school at La Anunciacion")
.JPG "Teaching the kids at the banana plantation at Mao")
.JPG "VBS at the banana plantation at Mao")
.JPG "La Anunciacion church in Santiago. Home for the week")
.JPG "VBS in Mao")
.JPG "A rooster at Mao")
.JPG "MI8 team member demonstrates how to blow bubble during a break at VBS in Mao")
.JPG "On the road to Mao")
.JPG "Sunday morning service at San Lucas church in Santiago")
.JPG "Painting the chairs. Way to go Deacon Kathy")
.JPG "VBS at Mao")
.JPG)
.JPG "MI8 Team")
.JPG "Sleeping area above La Anunciation church in Santiago")
.JPG "Two Dominican boys enjoy VBS at the banana plantation")
.JPG "The Dominican children recreate \"The Prodigal Son\" parable in Mao")
.JPG "VBS in the banana plantation in Mao")
.JPG "Time to eat again. The MI8 team enjoys dinner at a resort in Juan Dolio with Fr. Salvador Almonte and his family")
.JPG "\"Hogar\" in Boca Chica will be a 32 bed elder care facility which hopes to open in August 2006")
.JPG "“Hogar”, in Boca Chica, will be a 32-bed elder care facility, managed by the Episcopal Church.")
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.JPG "Children sing songs at La Anunciacion Church in Santiago, as part of VBS")
Children sing songs at La Anunciacion Church in Santiago, as part of VBS
Photos by Andi Gorton and Gail MacAulay
MI8 -- Mission Incredible 8 Summary
For the eighth consecutive year, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, located in St. Petersburg and the head church of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, sent a mission team to the Dominican Republic. For the first time ever, the team included two members from St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal church, located in Lakewood Ranch. The Dominican Republic has been the focus of mission work, as it is the companion diocese to the Diocese of Southwest Florida.
In preparation for the annual trip, curriculum for Vacation Bible School (VBS) was written and translated into Spanish. Accompanying craft projects were developed for each of the Bible lessons.
Parishioners from St. Peter’s and St. Mary Magdalene heartily supported the
mission trip with donations of craft supplies (crayons, scissors, glue sticks, etc.) and money to purchase paint and supplies. In addition, parishioners purchased Spanish Bibles to be given to the Dominican children. Each Bible includes a photograph of the donor and a salutation in Spanish.Armed with six giant suitcases of supplies, the eight-member, all-women, mission team provided the resources for VBS in three locations in the Dominican Republic. Two locations were in Santiago, at La Anunciacion and San Lucas churches. Each church had approximately 75 children participating. The site of the third location, in the town of Mao, was a bit less conventional – a banana plantation. Believe it or not, 112 Dominican children showed up for a week of VBS in the middle of a banana plantation!
It was a totally awesome week! We slept on air mattresses in a room above La Anunciacion church, eight women sharing 1 ˝ baths, with no hot water. We’d head out every morning to our three locations — 4 team members to Mao, 2 to San Lucas, and 2 to La Anunciacion. We’d do the best we could with our Spanish, and then share stories of our adventures when the team was back together for lunch. In the afternoons, we donned our old clothes and headed over to help paint the La Anunciacion church school.
One of the most memorable moments (and there are many!) was the night we went to someone’s home for Bible study. My first reaction was that the home was unfinished. Although it was of sturdy, block construction, there was no stucco or paint on the exterior, nor wallboard or paint on the interior -- just the concrete block. The windows were just openings, as if they hadn’t gotten to the step when they actually install the windows. And yet this was clearly their home. I was touched by the flower beds around the exterior and the blue lace curtains that were affixed to the left-hand side of the window (without the benefit of a curtain rod). We sang songs and listened to a Bible reading from Revelations – all in Spanish, of course. As Father Salvador Almonte, (the very busy Dominican priest who splits his time between the churches of La Anunciacion and San Lucas in Santiago, and also holds a Sunday afternoon service at the banana plantation in Mao), discussed the reading, he noted that the date was an important date in the history of the United States -- it was the 4th of July, our Independence Day. We prayed for liberty and peace throughout the world, and, standing in the middle of the most modest home that I have ever been in, we prayed for the poor and others who were less fortunate than ourselves. No doubt, a poignant moment.
Our week was filled with smiling faces and hugs from children that are of a different skin color and language than we are. But clearly, we are all of the one Body of Christ. Yeah, I’m going back next year …
Gail McGarry MacAulay
St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church
July 19, 2006