So this month, we are in San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic. There are four teams here (27 people) all living in one house. The house we are in is a house that AIM is renting for the summer. It’s in the nicer and more affluent neighborhood of San Juan. It’s rumored that the governor of San Juan lives across the street from us. Anyways, it’s a nice setup. Sleeping inside in beds. Running water. A kitchen to cook in. No A/C but we have fans, and actually, compared to Haiti, Dominican Republic is pretty comfortable. No internet but the Pollo Rey (Chicken King, a fast food restaurant) has wifi so I’ll probably be on the internet once or twice a week. I’ll try to take pictures of the house later. I took a couple pictures from the first week so far, which can be found here. On the topic of pictures, I probably won’t be able to take many pictures of ministry, at least the first couple weeks. Our ministry contacts are real cautious about us taking pictures of the people that we don’t really know. Makes sense. But I’ll take pictures of what I can and will post them.
I definitely love this town. The people are friendly. We get to walk everywhere. I love just walking down the streets seeing the people and everything. This city is so full of life. Also, it’s cool to be able to somewhat speak the language. It’s amazing how much vocabulary I can remember from those Spanish classes in school; however, my listening comprehension is still pretty rusty. But I think it’s improving so perhaps by the end of the month, I’ll be much better at communicating to the people.
I definitely love this town. The people are friendly. We get to walk everywhere. I love just walking down the streets seeing the people and everything. This city is so full of life. Also, it’s cool to be able to somewhat speak the language. It’s amazing how much vocabulary I can remember from those Spanish classes in school; however, my listening comprehension is still pretty rusty. But I think it’s improving so perhaps by the end of the month, I’ll be much better at communicating to the people.
So as far as ministry, my team and another team,Team S.O.A.R., are working together in a community called Guachupita. Guachupita is basically the slums of San Juan. It is actually a squatter community. The government owns the land, and technically, no one is supposed to live on it. There are a couple rivers nearby, and about every five to ten years, the entire community floods, and everything is washed away. We were told that the crime is actually pretty rough, but so far, the people have seemed quite friendly. Of course, we haven’t been there after dark, which I’m sure can make a difference.
Anyways, a quick overview of the ministry for the month and our first week there. We are going to Guachupita twice a day every day (except Sundays and Wednesdays, which are our days off). We get there at about 9 A.M. and stay until about 11:30 A.M. We then return to the house for lunch and siesta. After siesta, we return to Guachupita at about 4:30 P.M. and stay until about 7 P.M. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings, we will be doing VBS for the children. On Monday mornings and afternoons, as well as Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons, and I think Saturday mornings, we will be doing community development (mainly canal clean-up and construction) and house visits/evangelism. On Saturday afternoons, we will be playing sports with the kids.
The first week has been great. The kids have had a lot of fun at VBS (we’ve sung songs, played games, and had Bible story time), and it has been an awesome opportunity to love on them. In the afternoons, it has been great to get to meet the different people of the community. Two kids in particular have stuck out to me, and I hope to be able to build a relationship with them. One is Frances, a 13-year old boy. Frances is kind of a punk and definitely a pervert to the girls. He’s a challenge, but he definitely needs love and attention. Within the past couple months, his dad committed suicide by drinking old battery acid, and it is thought that Frances was present to witness it. Also, his mom is in the hospital with an illness so he is currently living with his grandma. Obviously, he acts out and acts the way he does in an attempt to receive attention. We haven’t had a lot of opportunity to spend time with him, but I am praying for more opportunities and am hoping to build a friendship with him. The other kid is Jose, an 11-year old boy. Jose is definitely a good, sweet kid. I don’t really know why, but for some reason, God has put him on my heart. It’s been cool to hang out with him and build a friendship with him so far. Yesterday (Friday, August 6),Stacey and I began to teach him how to read in Spanish in the afternoon. Afterwards, we were all hanging out and Jose asked me to pray with him. I prayed in English, and Phil, the leader of the other team who is majoring in Spanish in school, translated in Spanish. What an awesome opportunity that God provided.
So anyways, that about sums up the first week in Guachupita and the Dominican Republic. It’s been an awesome week, and I am so excited about the rest of the month! Continue to pray for my team and me. We have an exhausting schedule, even with our siesta in the afternoon, and I think we could all use some supernatural strength and energy from God. Also, pray for the people of Guachupita and our time there. They need the love and hope of Christ.
Alright, until next time, hasta luego!
