Santo Santo Santo
The melody of the song that I knew and loved so well filled my ears. My arms were wrapped around a petite, elderly Dominican woman. Everywhere I looked, hands were lifted to the Heavens and eyes were filled with tears of love for the Holy of Holies.
My heart swelled as the presence of the Lord filled the candle-lit room. I was surrounded by family. We didn’t need to speak the same language or have the same color of skin, our hearts beat to the same pulse, breathed the same Spirit, and shared the same Love.
Holy Holy Holy
It was the chorus the angels sing in Heaven.
In that room Heaven collided with Earth and I tasted Eternity.
"A great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, stood before the throne and in front of the Lamb…they fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped the Lord."
Revelation 7:9/11
I cherish that moment because I was hit with the impact the Dominican Believers have had on my heart.
She is our translator.
She is 20 years old and was my first Dominican friend.
She weighs 85 lbs and the top of her head barely reaches my shoulder.
In every way, she is the 7th member of our team.
What I love about Mayi is that she has the same heart as we do for this town and for Jesus. She is our passageway into this culture. In Spanish she communicates exactly what we are trying to express (probably better than we do in English). When we are sitting in the park she is constantly sharing the gospel with the teenagers that hang around us. She wants to be a missionary in Africa and often talks about the growing urgency in the Dominican youth to bring the gospel to the world.
I didn’t expect that the first time I would be friends with an actual pastor would be with a humble, elderly Dominican pastor in a mountain town on an island in the Atlantic.
And he is the best Pastor I have ever met.
The first week we were here he was over several times a day fixing something in our apartment- the water, the kitchen lights, the stove, the water again, the flooded floors, the bathroom lights, the shower, and once again the water. (It’s actually a miracle that we sometimes have running water).
We then follow him into church several times a week where he preaches so passionately that tears well up in my eyes. It’s strange how I usually understand exactly what he is talking about even though it’s in Spanish.
In his spare time, Meco runs a grocery store, father’s three children, rescues boys off the streets, is a father figure to the children in Compassion, speaks excellent English, goes to Christian conferences in the States, fixes tables and even sings. And he loves every person in the town that walks into this town.He arranges day trips for us up into mountain towns and welcomes us into his home for incredible Dominican feasts,
I'm pretty sure there is nothing he does not or cannot do.
In the past I have been too afraid to even talk to my pastors, and here I find myself sitting in the pastor’s living room asking him for advice and listening to his story over a cup of Dominican coffee.
Meco didn’t always want to be a pastor. He didn’t like standing up in front of people or teaching, and he loved running his grocery store. But fifteen years ago when the Lord asked him to lead a church of 20 people, he said yes. There is now over 200 regular, devoted believers that meet almost every night because they cant stay away from the church. Every time I walk by there is a group of women circled up and praying over their town. They have embraced us, welcomed us into their homes, cried with us, shared all that they have with us and made us Dominican feasts. (There is a waiting list of who gets to have the Americanas over for dinner).
The Lord has abundantly blessed this man’s faith. The town has been transformed. Truth is spreading like wild fire and it started with one humble man saying yes the Lord.
It’s ironic to me that we came here to pour love into this town and instead have been poured into at a level I have never experienced before. These believers look like the believers that Acts paints. Starting with the pastor, these people exemplify what it means to BE the church. They are constantly inviting strangers over for dinner, praying for the town, serving whoever is in need, sharing what they have, welcoming new comers, in constant prayer and worship.
I guess I didn’t expect to find believers here that are so ALIVE with God’s Spirit. God is shaking the hearts of this town and in this country. Within the last 20 years, the DR has gone from a mission destination to a nation that is sending its youth out into the world.
Pray for this rising generation of Dominicans.
The Holy of Holies is with them.
