This is Papa. He is 6 years old and lives in the Dominican Republic. He is probably one of the smartest children I have ever met. He lives across the street from the house we are staying in while we are in DR. He loves taking close up pictures of random objects and getting everyone together for group pictures.
Our house here is in the richest area of the Dominican Republic. The people in this neighborhood drive Mercedes and some even have air conditioning (an extreme luxury here). I wanted to know why God would put us in a neighborhood like this and have us drive to this village to do our ministry.
God calls everyone, even those on the same World Race team, to minister to someone different. God put me in this city to be friends with Papa. I have sat with him and learned Spanish, taught him some English, attempted to read a Spanish Bible to him, or just sit with him while he takes hundreds of pictures with my camera. I absolutely love looking through the pictures he has taken. It allows me to see the world as he sees it. He takes pleasure in the smallest things. I want Papa to teach me. I want to learn through him how to see beauty in every single little thing. I want to see God's beauty everywhere. It is so easy to see it in a beautiful country in DR but I fail to see how his love works in my own life. Everything is because of Him and nothing on this planet happens by mistake. I am realizing that so much as I am further immersed in this culture. I don't need to worry about ANYTHING. I need to learn from EVERYTHING that happens. I need to become more selfless and put 100% of my focus on Him and serving others.
We have yet to get fully involved with our ministry here due to unforseen circumstances (like maybe God has something different planned). But its ok because a 6 year old boy has shown me that He puts everybody where they are at for a reason.
When I have more time and better internet, I will post some of the pictures Papa took on this blog.
