Hey there.
I’m not feeling anything pressing that I feel I need to blog about, maybe it’s because I can’t fathom why anyone would want to hear what goes on in my head. I’ll just try to catch you up on what my team and I have been doing for the past two weeks. We’re in San Juan, a city in the west of the Dominican, one side of the island of Hispanola. My team lives in San Juan, but our assigned ministry location is about a 40 minute walk from our house. We make this walk at about 8:15 each morning to get to the farm, and again in the afternoon to return home.
The farming community we visit each day is a collection of about 25 houses and lots of families. Crops include rice, different types of beans, fruit, and corn, depending on the time of year. We helped harvest a bean known as abichuela early Saturday morning. Mornings are spent eating a quick breakfast, walking and talking, and helping in the community/trying to stay out of people’s way. We help fetch water for people who need it, play with kids for hours on end, and try to form relationships with the people there. Hanging out “Dominican style” is one way we get to know the people, basically just sitting with them in front of their houses on plastic chairs and sometimes not even talking. With our limited Spanish it is sometimes hard to go deeper in our conversation, although we have been able to speak about Christ with some of our new friends, and pray for and encourage a few of the believers there.
The sun is hot and the day is long, and by the time we get home, usually around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, there are usually kids waiting on our doorstep to be played with and held. Some of them have homes, parents, and a decent place to sleep, but others live in the street and are in need of food, water, and love. It is an emotional journey trying to find the best way to love these children.
Some of them need food, others are well fed. Some need water, others have their thirst quenched. Some have beds in houses, some have cardboard and cement. Even though they may have different physical needs, they all need the love that is available in Christ, as do we. God, who was without sin, became man and suffered and died so that we may be free from sin and death, and our relationship with him could be restored. That is why we are here and that is the message we bring. Even though we may experience pain and hurt, Jesus loves us with an unconditional and unrelenting love. Even while we were still his enemy he came and died so we could be with him! This truth will never cease to amaze me.
