Have you ever been woken up by dogs howling, and chickens crowing at the same time? Apparently, this is a common occurrence here in San Juan, Dominican Republic. Luckily it was an exciting day to be awakened early. With coffee brewing and muffins laid out, 46 anxious racers hurried around our 4 bedroom house to get ready for 5 pastors and 10 translators to come and debrief us on Dominican culture and our ministry sites. We all crowded around our sunlit patio and while batting the flies away, we soaked up the culture quarks and wisdom the locals had to impart on us.
One of the most interesting tid bits of information presented today was about how Dominicans live. They live by a particular code of ethics that stems from a German tradition called “Kabutz”. Its actually a communist term (they actually got something right ;)) meaning living in true community. You see, most of the people here work long, laborious hours for a very meager salary. Since they don’t really have many tangible things to work for, they put most of their concentration on creating community. For instance, if your neighbor doesn’t have food to eat and you do, you spilt your meager offerings with him. Its a way of life that my mom has always encouraged, and I’m excited to learn more about it from these people.
We met our contact for the D.R, (the person we will be working directly with in ministry)and let me just tell you, my team totally lucked out! His name is Pastor Manuel, he has 7 kids, and has his own business as a mechanic, along with being a Pastor for a little village in the mountains. He knows absolutely no english, and it has been such a treat getting to brush up on my Spanish while getting to know him. He has such a sweet smile and an amazing spirit about him! I am so exited to be working alongside him, not only for the village, but to be an encouragement to him and his ministry. Please pray for Manuel and our team this month; we really feel led to encourage the village to take ownership of the church as their own. We want them to feel a part of it, like its their home too. I know God’s going to do something incredible in these next few weeks and I’m feel so blessed to be a part of it!
PS-Sorry about the last post; the internet here is crazy slow and won’t post pictures. If you would like to see pictures of my humble abode, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2732430&id=4945527&ref=mf
Remember 46 people live here… 🙂
