Hola from Los Montacitos!
Its only been one week and I already feel off the grid. Pictures and words cannot do justice to this beautiful little village, but I will try.
Los Montacitos is one of the highest mountain villages in the DR. It is tiny, but spread out. Everywhere we walk is a hike. Although physically exploring this village is exhausting, emotionally and spiritually I am refreshed by my surroundings. We are surrounded by mountains, and at night we are covered in a blanket of stars. The air is so fresh, and although the sun is hot the breezes never stop.
I am also continually refreshed by the beautiful people of Los Montacitos. We spend our days going door to door, and although these people live in humble accommodations, they do whatever possible to make us comfortable. We spend hours talking to them as the make us fresh coffee or juice. I came here to serve, and yet I feel totally spoiled. We don’t have to say much, but at the end of our visit they always tell us how much they loved us being there and how we need to visit again.
In the evenings we teach English to the children. Our translator is fantastic and I think we have been learning more Spanish than we have been teaching English, but something must be happening because the children now greet us with a “hello” and “how are you” which we then usually respond in Spanish “Hola” and “bien”
At night we go to church. The church is in a tiny one room building where people are packed in and hanging outside looking in through the windows. The church meets almost every night. I have never been to church services like these. I love my home church and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but there is such freedom here. Every service (sometimes there is 6 a week) is packed full of people singing and playing hand instruments. Whenever anyone has a song they just go up and sing it. During the children’s service, a child taught and during the teen service a teenager taught, and when I say taught I mean they preached. Everyone in the church quotes bible verses that I haven’t heard in years. You can definitely tell that they are drenched in the word.
So yes, that’s my life in Los Montacitos. The toilet is an outhouse, we don’t have electricity, and we take bucket showers, but we are surrounded by Gods beauty… both in His natural creation and His children.
