I spent my
first five days in the Dominican Republic in the capital city of Santo Domingo.
It seemed to be a city fixed on appearances; a city of extremes with its many
Land Rovers and Porsches racing past its droves of manual laborers. To me, it
was a city with a secret that I was unable to uncover in my short time there.
We stayed
at a Catholic retreat center for our launch which ended up working amazingly well
from a comfort standpoint. It was in a nice neighborhood and the food they
served was great (perfectly flavored chicken for the main dish with a side of
rice and beans, a potato dish, or egg salad, fresh avocadoes, and flan, ice
cream or sweet bread for desert). We were spoiled there but it made the
transition into a year of uncertainties a bit easier. Emerson states, “It is
not in his goals but in his transitions that man is great.” This is going to be a year of
transition filled with many small transitions as my squad moves from country to country.
I am now in the wonderful city of San Juan. It is west of Santo Domingo and quite close to the border with Haiti. I will be working in this medium-sized city surrounded by mountains for the for the rest of the month. While the city itself has a solid church presence, many of the areas nearby do not. My team will be working with a group that provides young people the opportunity to help set up congregations in these areas. The community we visited today, El Corral de los Indios, has a small congregation but like many congregations in communities in this area it is in competition with the local Santeria priest for members. During our time there today we met with many members of the community and prayed with them for their various needs while we collected information about potential core members of a future congregation.
Be sure to check out some of the pictures I uploaded to Picasa and linked below.
As always, thanks for your prayers, and more later!
-Jeff
