Summer's Best 2 Semanas

God really worked in the lives of my boys during camp. Their counselors did a great job pouring into them spiritually and they came back eager to tell me all the stories of what happened during their trip. Enjoy a few pictures.



All 6 cabins getting ready to watch a skit. Each cabin has 10 boys and 2 counselors. The first week was for boys 8-12 and the second week for boys 13-17. I sent 5 boys the first week and 10 the second. All the pictures are from the first week.


Jim Welch with two of my boys. Jim is inspiring and I always love when I get to connect with him. He's the founder of SB2W and his son Kyle was in my college small group.


Morning exercises.


Gotta show those teeth if you want your table to get dismissed. The boy in the blue jersey is Luis Miguel, one of my favorite boys from El Callejon.


Back in 2005 these steps were just a river bank. Ryan Joyce (My college small group leader) and I labored hard on creating this river access.


Romans vs Galatians. All the boys are part of one of the two teams and they compete throughout the week in various sports and activities. The Romans one for the first time!


Galatians.


That's a Tarantula. I found it outside my bunk. Definitely the biggest spider I've ever seen.


Have you ever wondered what a pineapple plant looks like?


Gladdeus help clear the land and dig the footer holes for this cabin.


The view from below the spider web. Each boy has to pass through a different hole, but if you touch a rope you've gotta start over.


Learning how to play Ultimate Frisbee.

Dominican Traveling

I had a uniquely Dominican experience today:

I spent the last 2 days in Monte Plata (about 4 hours from Jarabacoa) because I took boys from El Callejon to Summer's Best Two Weeks DR. SB2W has a special place in my heart. My first time in the DR was in 2005 when I came with my small group to help build this camp. Now 6 years later I'm sending 15 campers. More on this in another post.

I awoke this morning to the sound of rain pounding down on the tin roof over my head. It was a pleasant for sleeping but a problem for my morning departure back to Jarabacoa. The heavy rains raised the river about 4 ft and made the gravel road to the camp unpassable...for a car.

So, my journey back to Jarabacoa began with me crossing a fast moving 4 ft deep river on a horse. I rode the horse about 20 minutes out to the highway that happened to pass right by the camp. I dismounted and began walking down the highway waiting for someone to respond to my thumb, which only took about 30 minutes. (check hitch-hiking on my life's todo list).

I rode standing on the last step of the entrance of a bus for about an hour back to Santo Domingo. From there I hopped into a concho along with 7 other people on my way to the bus station. What's a concho? Have you ever wandered what happened to all the Toyota Corollas from the 90's? Answer: they're used as public transportation (conchos) in the DR.

I waited about 2 hours for the next bus to Jarabacoa, where I arrived and then walked about 15 minutes to my house.