This past Sunday, two girls on my team and I were invited to head into Padre las Casas with the pastor of Las Lagunas and some others for the final night of an evangelistic revival/crusade. Turns out there were about 4 dozen others that were going and we were all to fit in two pick-up trucks. No one considers maybe getting a third driver to take people into town; we would just find a way to fit everyone. Needless to say it was a tight squeeze. 16 people in the back of each truck – that’s a sight you don’t see too often in Canada but that you could see a few times a day here in the Dominican Republic.
On the way into town and on the way home Grace, Rebecca and I were sitting next to some young guys. We spent a lot of time just trying to stay in the truck during the ride there and, I suppose, the same on the way back. However, on the way back we all loaded on the truck and before getting out of Padre one of the trucks blew a tire. Yes, we were stuck in a town around 11pm in a truck full of Spanish speaking people with no translator and not really a clue what was going on. What else can you do but laugh? So that’s what we did.
We tried to figure out what was happening but were unsuccessful; so we laughed.
The guys tried having a conversation with us but I couldn’t understand lots of it; so I laughed.
I almost fell off the side of the truck and onto my face; so we laughed.
When we weren’t sure if we could hold on any longer up the steep hills (with a girl on my lap); we laughed.
It took an hour and a half to go the distance of a normal 30 min truck ride; so we laughed.
We were having fun; so we laughed.
We were joyful and having an adventure; so we laughed.
Sometimes laughing is about as much as you can do in certain situations.
To us it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for life in the Dominican Republic but to others it was a genuine expression of joy. The guys who were with us in the truck didn’t understand half of the things we said but wanted us to keep talking since they loved watching us laugh and have a good time. Over the last few days they’ve said over and over, “You are so happy and it makes us happy.” And then I realized that our laughter and joy was contagious. What a blessing that we could pass that gift on to others and that they noticed it was something not everyone has; something that differentiates us from other people in the town who might not know what they live for, where joy can come from and what blessings the Lord will give to His children who love Him.
Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:2-3
