We arrived at our ministry site in the Dominican Republic last Wednesday morning after a 29-hour travel day. It was honestly a pretty good day – things went smoothly, we were blessed with snacks, none of our luggage was lost, and there were no major sicknesses.
When we arrived in the Santa Domingo airport, our ministry host joyfully greeted us and we shortly found out that they had been waiting in the airport for us since 2 AM, since that’s when our flight was first scheduled to arrive (rather than 8 AM, when we actually arrived).
We bussed to the ministry site, and for the parts I was awake for, the bus ride was amazing. I saw three whale spouts as we rode along the blue Caribbean, we stopped for snacks (y’all, Dominican food is BOMB), and finally arrived to our site on the literal top of a mountain in the jungle.
Our ministry host is amazing. There are three family dogs (and Sandy is such a snuggler), lots of chickens and ducks, a baby goat, and a horse named Dominguez. They’ve prepared meals for us (Dominican hot chocolate is perfect), we’ve gotten to explore the ministry area and the jungle surrounding it, I’ve stepped on a bunch of rotten mangoes, and we’ve rested on a balcony that overlooks the jungle and mountain range. The family includes three children who live on site, including two who are currently sick. The ministry hosts have been focused on their daughters, going to the clinic and hospital for them. Therefore, our ministry the first week was praying over their ministry, the land, interceding for healing for the daughters, and doing work on the grounds here.
Everything has been incredible. Sweaty, hard to adjust to putting toilet paper in a trash can instead of the toilet and living in community with 33 other people, actually great learning to live without Wi-Fi, and a little difficult to remember not to drink the water – but wow, it’s beautiful.
But I initially felt so guilty. I heard missionary guilt could be a thing, but it hit hard. I felt like I should have encountered way more tarantulas and mosquitos (mosquitos are real for sure, but the strangest thing we’ve had is a frog in the toilet every morning and a beetle the size of my hand hanging out near the dorm). I felt like I should be hotter, doing manual labor for 18-hours a day, and scrounging for food instead of having meals prepared for me. I felt like I was letting my supporters down by not struggling through. It was like a, “Jesus had no place to rest His head, why do I get to?” kind of mindset.
Over the last week, I wrestled with this. I was trying to figure out what the Lord was teaching me during this time of rest, and why I was feeling so restless and guilty about it. And then He revealed that it was a root of pride in my heart. I wanted to be doing hard, grueling things so that you guys back home would see that your support and prayers weren’t in vain and so that I could be making a tangible difference I could see here in the DR and show you guys back at home.
And then the other day, I read the passage in Mark where Jesus says, “Peace, be still.” This simple, beautiful command carries so much weight. Just because I wasn’t in the dirt digging trenches or carrying kiddos doesn’t mean I’m not doing what God wants by being here as a daughter, and He’s growing me in how to carry out ministry with humility. Side note, I did get to dig a lot of dirt out of a river the other day and carry rocks up the mountain, and that was so great!
Our ministry for the first week was actually really cool, now that I’m not being a grump about it and seeing it from a Kingdom perspective. We spent a couple of days learning about intercession, prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving, and practiced those things by praying over the grounds here and interceding on behalf of our host family, this ministry, our squad, and the island. The Lord allowed us to spend days of rest preparing our hearts for the rest of our ministry this month, and that is such a beautiful gift.
Yesterday, I started the ministry task that I’ll be doing every day this month, and I’m so very excited about it! I can’t wait to share all about that with you next week. As a little preview, I get to hang out with a couple of middle school girls ALL. MONTH.
Stay tuned! I love you guys!
Here’s a couple photos of where I’m blessed to be living this month:
