Dengue, Construction, and Heat

We flew through Friday night and arrived Saturday at 10:30 am. The temperature is at least 10 to 15 degrees cooler than our home in Rancho Cucamonga, but because of the humidity, nonstop sweat pours from our skin. But, it is great to be back with our close friends and church family.

Before we made this journey, we were alerted of a large Dengue fever outbreak (transmitable by blood only... i.e. mosquitoes), the largest in 10 years. After a few minutes of conversation with Pastor Natividad, we learned how severe the outbreak is, as fairly large numbers of church members and friends are in the hospital, bedridden, or just feeling under the weather. In addition to the Dengue outbreak there are a number of other sicknesses going around, so we will be extra cautious with mosquitoes and germ transmission. As Nati said, getting sick "está de moda ahora" or "is in style right now."

It has been a year and a half since we last visited, and the advancements on the church construction projects have been incredible. Once we get an opportunity to take some pictures, we will upload them as soon as possible so you can see how far the construction has advanced.

Keep us and the people here in the Dominican Republic in prayer as we battle the mosquito onslaught.

Peace and love.