First of all…I love being a squad leader. I couldn’t be happier right now, certainly
difficult and draining at times but at the same time I love getting to travel
and be with the different teams around the country. Chris, Holli and I have been blessed to have
stayed together most of this month in visiting all of the teams in the 5
different locations. We arrived in the
Dominican Republic on Jan. 13th and spent the first week in San Juan
with the 3 different teams sharing the same house.
The following weekend we visited a team way up in the
mountains in a small village called Los Monticitos and after a few days of
being with them we hiked 3 hours on a road along the ridge of the mountains to
Arroyo Cano to stay with another team.
While in the mountains, I tasted the very best coffee I have EVER had in
my whole life. Grown straight from those
mountains, gathered, dried, roasted, brewed and served hot, without ever
leaving the village. Starbucks ain’t got
nothing on that…
We came back to San Juan for the following week and spent
our days with them in their ministries…some working at a farm and roasting
coffee, some playing with kids, some going on house visits evangelizing and
sharing the love of Christ in an area where there is no church presence. While back at the house we worship,
fellowship, play cards, and contemplate the mysteries of life while in hammocks
or sometimes on top of the roof…
This past weekend, we visited the last 2 teams whom we
hadn’t seen since we dropped them off on the side of the road at night when we
first arrived here in the Dominican. We
met with both teams in Padres las casa in which we followed team Agape to La
Laguana, a small mountain town. Chris
and I ventured with the 2 other men for some male bonding by exploring,
swimming in semi-putrid waters and making fires. The following morning we journeyed with their
team leader for an AWEsome sunrise in which we climbed for 30 minutes up a
small mountain. Only to have a short
breakfast and hike down the mountain to stay with the next team.
During our hike down, we showered in a nice refreshing
mountain river and later caught a ride into town on the back of a truck. That afternoon we met up with team
Monarch. There had been a revival in
town that weekend and just so happened we ventured there on the last night of
it. Over 30 churches from different
denominations and back grounds had come together to put this on and see well over
1000 people get saved that weekend.
We left Padres las Casa and head to Santo Domingo for some
logistical reasons as well as a little R & R for the three of us. While there we took part in the touristy
things and took pictures, got offered multiple deals on paintings that all were
the same and even actually given 2 quality cigars on separate occasions to
smoke while pondering what we would buy.
It was a good break but certainly ready to get back into the swing of
things and looking forward to our last week here in San Juan.
