It’s the start of week 2 here on the World Race, and I already regret not having consistent Internet access – there’s so much to talk about! We all arrived safe and sound in the Dominican Republic, where we were bused to a Catholic mission for launch training. I’ve never seen so much peace in one place before. It was wonderful to relax and be refreshed from travel before leaving to our respective mission areas. Our wonderful logistics guys, Jeff and Chris, even arranged for us to spend one afternoon at a nearby beach! Refreshed and prepared, we left Monday to our assignments. We’re all stationed in the province of San Juan, located towards the middle of the country. 4 of the teams are in San Juan (the capital of the province), one is in the city of Azua, and team HIS and team POP have been placed in the mountains!
We’re located in the town of Arroyo Cano, about 45 minutes from San Juan, and team POP is in an even more remote location. Our local ministry contact is pastor Gregorio, a wonderful man of God and one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. He speaks English fairly well, so even those of us who aren’t conversational with Spanish have been able to get to know him. He’s letting us use the church for a place to stay and it is VERY nice to have a roof over our heads the first month of the trip.
One of the first things we were told about the Dominican culturally is the hypersexualization that is so prevalent. Children have their first sexual experience as young as age 8 – so children’s ministry stops there, and these little ones are treated as adults. We have been the recipients of lewd comments (and I am glad those words are not in my Spanish vocabulary!) from little kids who shouldn’t even have heard of these things. The boys in particular lack all discipline and seem to get their guidance from the older boys in town. I’ve seen children from age 3 up to age 16 playing together, and without strong father figures it will be very difficult to effect a change in this culture.
Extreme poverty in many places in the Dominican means that the people live happily in conditions that would be considered quite terrible in the States. Most houses have only a few rooms, and the intense family community means upwards of a dozen people might be living in the same house. Some of the children seem to have only a few sets of clothes, and we’re told drug use is rampant in the community. Compassion International has a school attached to the church, and once a year they hand out toys to all the children they’re taking care of. To see the joy on the faces of these children to receive just one doll, or one car, is so humbling for me. Coming from a culture of excess, where so many people have all this STUFF but don’t have any joy, watching the children playing so happily with so little is uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time, especially since in just a few years so much of their innocence will be gone.
Last night was the first of a a ten-day festival, with dancing and drinking in the streets until morning. The liberal use of car horns (it sometimes seems like the only traffic rule here is ‘he with the loudest horn goes first’) and music blaring at all hours of the day has already been a significant challenge for some of us, but we’re told this festival will be significantly louder than all that. Pastor Gregorio has explained that it will not be particularly safe for us to wander the streets at night, so your prayers will be appreciated for guidance and patience over the next couple of weeks.
We’re starting to make friends among the children and some of the young adults – it’s very encouraging to see the church filled every night with many people earnestly seeking a closer relationship with Jesus. When the Catholic missionaries came here from Spain, instead of replacing their animalistic beliefs with the truth of the Gospel, they simply changed the names of their ‘gods’ – now they pray to saint Peter and saint Mary instead of their old thunder god or harvest god – and so now although nearly everyone will tell you they are Christian if you ask, practically nobody here understands what a relationship with God actually means. It is very comforting to know that we are not the only workers here in Arroyo Cano, and that any seeds we are able to plant will not be neglected. Please pray that our work here will be able to affect many lives positively for Christ, and that we may be able to encourage the Kingdom workers here to boldly step out to impact this town and this generation for God’s glory.
Please pray also for my health – I caught a bit of a bug on our second day here and it’s been very discouraging to have spent half of my ministry time shivering in my sleeping bag. I’m feeling much better now, but I’m certain there are many more surprises awaiting me in the next few months. I’m also still in need of another $9000 to be fully funded for this trip, so please – share my journey with your churches, your friends on facebook, your families! Prayer support is incredibly important to me, and it’s so very very comforting to know there are people at home supporting me with your prayers. Thank you all so much, and may God richly bless you!
