Women of Gentle Spirit

I, along with two other women from my congregation, had the blessing of traveling together and teaching. Brother Tol Burk and his wife Dana, who are located out of Puerto Rico, have been going to this village to teach VBS for five years now. They organized the trip along with an amazing week of teaching, activities, crafts, and songs of praise.

The flight to Dominica brought many firsts for me. It was the first time I had ever been on a plane where passengers were asked to move in order to balance the plane. It was the first time that I ever felt like I could touch a mountain as the plain dipped between its peaks to land. It was the first time I was on a runway that stretched to the ocean shore. From the first day, I knew Dominica would be an adventure.

Largely undeveloped, Dominica is a small island in the middle of the Caribbean. Because it is very mountainous and rugged terrain, most of their 75,000 people live along the coast. Vieille Case, where we taught, is located on the northeast tip of the island on the Atlantic. Recently the village has gained Hollywood fame, as it was one of the locations for the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean II and III.

The dominant religion is Catholicism along with touches of mysticism from ancient tribes. Other denominations have a presence as well. False teaching has already influenced many of the children who attended our classes. One of my six-year-old students believed we were allowed to pray to Mary. Another believed in witches and spells. With gentleness we were able to plant the seeds of truth in these young hearts.

The worship of the saints in Vieille Case inspired me. Uninhibited, their praise truly felt like a sweet smelling savor to the Lord.

The church in the village has been without a located preacher for more than eleven years. Unfortunately, from what I was told, the Lord’s church there has been diminishing. That is why the planting and watering that can be done during Vacation Bible School is so vital. Many of the children come back year after year allowing God’s word to be reinforced more and more in their hearts.

Although the church there is only about 25 Christians, the attendance of VBS was 44, 70, 72, 73 and 65 Monday through Friday. The church building there is not able to house all of the children so the Burk’s have arranged to rent the local school building each year.

Along with the other ladies from Chillicothe, I taught the youngest age class with children as young as two up to six years old. The children arrived at 9:00 am where we greeted them with songs in the auditorium. As classes divided, the children buzzed with excitement. Our theme for the week was discovering Bible treasures. We put on our archeologist hats, grabbed our buckets and shovels and started digging. We dug our way to treasures of the heart.

One of the boys in my class came to me quite timid. I was having a difficult time engaging him in activities and connecting with him. I later found out that his mother died, his father is unable to care for him so his abusive Grandmother is now raising him and his brother. With some extra love in my heart for little Jonathon I was able to get a big hug from him on the last day. This was a major victory for me.

After the last day of class the children and a few of the Christian men led us on a nearly ten-mile hike into the bush. One of our young men fell from a narrow path down onto a rock three meters below. Thankfully, he survived relatively unharmed. We pressed on to an amazing waterfall that spilled into a swimming hole. The kids splashed and laughed. God blessed us with the perfect ending to a great week of work, teaching, and learning.

I felt such remarkable joy to share the love of Christ with children that may otherwise never hear it. We were able to imprint there little hearts with the truth of God’s strength and victory, how to praise, and how to obey a merciful Creator. I hope to be able to return to the island with my family and continue our relationship with the church and the children of the village.

Visit the congregation's website where Serena works and worships: Chillicothe church of Christ