All I have to say is that if every week during the world race is going to be this intense, I’m going to need to go into hibernation for a few months when I get home. This week hasn’t been a lot of ministry. It’s mostly been training on what to expect when you go to a new country and what to do to prepare your team for a new ministry site. But even though we haven’t done a lot of ministry it definitely hasn’t stopped God from moving.
I knew when I came down that spiritual warfare looked a lot different here then in the states. But after seeing what I’ve seen the last few days, I know that I know nothing. Yesterday was definitely a battle. After lunch we went to the park to sit and hang out and just watch people and observe the culture. Well, as soon as we get there Zack comes up and tells us about a guy they ran into in the park that was demon possesed. He said that they gave a boy some food and while he was eatting it the man came up and asked the boy, “Why do you praise your God when you’re going to be dirt in the end?” After that Zack’s team noticed he kept saying devil over and over so they started praying for the man. As soon as they started praying for the guy he started praying curses on them. Dave went up to talk to the guy but as soon as he said the name of Jesus the man laughed and walked away. So our team joined with their team and began praying and then we went in pairs and started walking around the park and praying. About 45 minutes later the man eventually left. We went back to that park the next day to see if he came back but he didn’t. Then that night we found out that a lot of the girls were having trouble sleeping and some were having night terrors. So that night some of us guys gathered and walked around the girls house and prayed protection over it. Almost immediately after we finished some guy walked up and started talking to some of our girls and trying to get them to give him a ride. We took him and told him to leave. But he kept coming back about every 20 minutes giving a different excuse everytime trying to get into the girls house. Finally after he came again at 12:30 a bunch of us pulled our sleeping bags out and slept around the house to make sure he didn’t try to break in. Praise God he didn’t try again after that. But we’ve been having to post guys at the girls house every night because he always comes back. But it’s very obvious that God has come here with us and is stirring things up in the spiritual realm around here. Honestly I kind of prefer this spiritual warfare to whats at home. At least with this stuff you know what you’re dealing with. How do you combat the apathy in the states?
But anyway in case you all are wondering I love the Dominican. It’s a beautiful country with beautiful people and awesome food. The street we’re staying on is like the stuff you see in the movies. Not many people here have TV’s or cars so all the families here know each other and all the kids are friends and play together. It’s the best example of community and simplicity I’ve ever seen. Tuesday night one of our neighbors decided to have a bonfire in the middle of the street for us. We had a big jam session and worshipped out there on the street. And our neighbor cooked some great hot chocolate over the fire with real chocolate, ginger and cinnamon.
My team found out what our ministry is going to be the next 3 weeks. Saturday morning we’ll be going to town up in the mountains that I’m not going to try and spell. But its a very poor and secluded farming town where we’ll be working with a minanite pastor and his church. The pastor, Gregorious, is very young, like in his 20’s. But his father was the pastor so when he passed away last year he took it over. But it was described to us that we’d be helping with some of the farming, working a lot with the kids, and doing some home visitations. Unfortunatley because it’s so secluded I won’t have internet access for a few weeks, along with running water or electricity…so we’ll be roughing it. Some of the things we’ll need prayer about is apparently Catholicism is a huge influence there. Not the catholicism we’re used to in the states but the where they worship Mary and the sainits. There is also a lot of witchcraft where it’s hard for the gospel to penetrate.
