“Hola” from the Dominican Republic. We landed safely in Santo Domingo and soon met our ministry contact “Noki.” On the drive from the city to our mountain village home we saw around 20 local people standing on the side of the road yelling and cheering and as we looked closely we saw two roosters in the center and one rooster appeared to be on top of the other. We learned that “cock fighting” is legal and common on the island. Our ministry contact Noki is an amazing man of God. We are truly blessed by every minute we spend with him. This month we are living in a small one story church in the mountain village of Arroyo Cano where Noki is the Pastor. We use our tents to sleep inside the church each night to keep out the friendly spiders, mice, and cockroaches. Our team has begun preaching and leading worship during services and Bekah teaches a dance ministry.
The homes in the town are made of brightly painted wood. They look similar to a small barn or large shed in America. Our church and the surrounding homes have kitchens and bathrooms with no running water; we are able to flush the toilet by pouring water from a bucket into the back of the toilet.
Our ministry this month is working in a Compassion International School here at the church by teaching English to classes of students ages 6-16. Each day our Spanish grows stronger and their English improves as well.
The kids in Arroyo Cano love to yell our names when the see us and they are constantly by our sides at most hours of the day. We are building deep relationships with children and adults and this place feels like home.
The Dominican culture is changing our lives and the way we treat each other. They share everything. If someone walks in as you are in the middle of cooking or eating you say “bien tiempo” and immediately share the portion evenly among everyone present. A few days ago we used someone else’ kitchen to prepare our meal. Our contact didn’t hesitate to ask them if we could prepare our food in their kitchen and they gladly shared their resources. This sense of community is contagious and has made a huge impact on our team. We consider each other in every decision we make and share everything we have with one another.
God is teaching us how little we need to survive. He is more than enough. We are content with having little and focus more on relationships and sharing God’s love. We are far from the distractions of internet, and tv, giving us more time to build relationships than we’ve had in the past. We must be honest that we are detoxing from our delicious American food that we crave everyday; Chic-fil-a, Burgers, fresh salads, and desserts!
Last week we had some free time in the afternoon and set-up a hammock by the river in a nearby village. We placed our backpack directly below our hammock and there was no one nearby. After a while we heard a loud sound directly below us and immediately jumped out of the hammock. We saw a shirtless local man running off with our backpack and he got away after a short pursuit. We had quite a few valuables in the backpack which included our DSLR camera. Although it is disappointing not to have our camera and other belongings but we feel almost unaffected by it because Christ’s joy lives strongly inside us regardless of our circumstances.
“…For I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11-13
Prayer needs: Continually learning and discerning how to connect with each other and nourish our marriage while in a community living environment. For our team to be in step with the Holy Spirit each day and to continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Dominican Republic!
