Dominican Republic Recap!

This month has been amazing. We’ve been working with 2
pastors in nearby towns supporting them in their ministry as pastors in the
area. We had the chance to develop relationships with some locals, share the
love of Christ and lead a few to Christ. Myself and 2 of my teammates were able
to preach at some of the services in the area which was fun. Preaching with an
interpreter is definitely a different experience as there is a disconnect with
thoughts because you have to pause between each sentence and some things are
lost in translation, but it was awesome to speak life into the community.

      My favorite part
of the Dominican Republic has been the culture here. I love how relational
everyone is here. When we do door to door evangelism everyone(literally
everyone) has chairs somewhere in their house to bring out for when ppl stop by
to chat. And if they don’t have enough for everyone they borrow from a
neighbor. Now we are just walking up to people’s houses at different hours of
the day and it doesn’t matter what they are doing, they stop and talk with us.
It’s just so different from our culture in the US where so many people would
feel like this is an intrusion into their homes and their privacy. If you were
to go to your neighbor’s house in the middle of the day to just chat them up
they would probably think you are weird, and they most likely would not drop
whatever they were doing to have a conversation and offer you whatever food and
drink they had despite maybe not having enough for themselves. It’s just very
humbling to experience this type of culture.

    There were two
people this month(besides our two ministry contacts) that really affected my
heart. One is Raphael, a crippled man who cannot walk and lives in a
wheelchair. He cannot take care of himself and relies on his brother to take
care of him. To wash, bathe, feed and dress him. We visited him a few times and
each time he was so thankful. The first time we visited he didn’t seem very
“aware” of himself, his surroundings and us, but each time we visited
him it seemed like he became more aware of us and engaged with us. I don’t
think he gets many visitors, which made our time with him all the more
important. We brought him his favorite soda, made and helped feed him his
favorite meal, and had a small worship sessions for him since he was unable to
make it to church. He was just so incredibly grateful for us spending time with
him. It was definitely really hard to leave him on our last visit. It’s hard to
see one of God’s children in that type of situation, but it’s in those times
that I need to believe that Raphael is a child of God and that he is in God’s
hands…..it doesn’t make it easy, but it allows me to move on and build up my
faith that God does and will take care of his children and we were able to show
him a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven through the time we were able to spend
with him.

                The
other person who deeply affected me was a lady by the name of Freddy. She was
probably late 8-‘s early 90’s and was FULL of life! She had so much joy and
life inside of her I thought she was going to explode! I don’t think she
stopped passionately talking and ministering to us from the moment we met.
Besides the fact that she was so old and yet had so much energy, her passion
for the Lord is what  impressed me the
most. This lady gets up every morning at 5am to pray and read her bible. She
prays for her family friends, health and whatever else is on her heart, and she
praised God through everything she does. It was such a breath of fresh air to
hear a lady who lives her life through her faith and who was able to preach to
us and fill us up. She was such an encouragement. I would love o have the faith
and devotion and outlook on life that she lives in everyday. I know that I live
in some of it, but I also know that me and God have a ways to go get. She was
just so full of wisdom and love for us and others. I won’t forget her.

The Dominican Republic I think will always hold a special
place in my heart. I absolutely loved it here. I love the culture, the people,
the language(spanish), our contacts who have literally become family and
everything else. God is working in this place, and he has used us to bring his
kingdom down to the DR. I hope to  return
some day, but for now I will be content in the work we have done and the fruit
that will grow because of our work here.