So I am ten days into this life-changing journey and let me tell you, you have not lived until you have lived out of a backpack. I will give you a quick synopsis of the trip so far. We arrived in Santa Domingo, where we caught a bus that ran along the coast and then headed north in San Juan. What I saw from the bus contrasted greatly from what I experienced back in 2007 when I visited the Dominican Republic. I only drove about 20 minutes from the airport to my resort but all I saw was extreme poverty and no formal infrastructure. However, this is not fully what I have experienced thus far. The island is much bigger than I thought. Flying over you could see extensive fields for farming and there is a lot of produce here. Just about everyone owns a motorcycle and it serves as the main form of transportation. Within the cities there is rudimentary infrastructure. For example electricity runs about 60 percent of the day, drinking water is sold on the street and there are a few Internet cafes, which function if there is electricity.
We are currently living at one of AIM’s global bases in San Juan. We are occupying a house for the girls and an apartment for the guys. Five of the teams are based here while the other teams have traveled to their ministry around the island. It’s a very interesting time to observe our little community because the first foundations are forming on multiple levels including the overall community, at the team level, pairs of people and teams interacting with other teams. Some are handling it better than others. Typically I love to observe these details; however, I have been busy with leadership duties, especially the first couple days.
The First week consisted of us meeting with the coaches and continued what we started at training, which was working on our hearts and minds. I will probably send out a separate blog on this because I found it very enlightening. From there we were introduced to our ministries. Our team was selected to minister to a slum called Quija Quieta. Pastor Zelanda, a woman of about 70 has dedicated her life to this community. This area was the one of the wealthiest in San Juan until 1998 when a hurricane hit and wiped out everything. The people took this as judgment from God and therefore have been hesitant to hear the message until now. Pastor Zelanda’s house was caught in this storm so she moved a few blocks away but rebuilt her home and made it the church. She has spent 10 years encouraging those to not only rebuild their homes but their faith as well.
The six of us Americono’s have been met with mixed results. The people and especially the children of the community love us. It’s the drug dealers and the mischievous that would like us gone but they don’t dare say anything because of Pastor Zelanda. The first day we arrived in Quija Quieta there was a cockfight in the street right in front of the church. Pastor Zelanda emerged from the church and walked right up to them and start to preach the gospel, within ten minutes everyone of those men were in a pew with their heads held low.
The kids here really enjoy baseball. The three guys spent half the day playing old fashion stickball with a piece of wood and a ball made of tape. We played in the street, which has numerous hazards including major intersection traffic, filthy sewer water, all forms of glass objects and barbed wire. Most of the kids don’t wear shoes and some are lucky to have clothes. The church is the size of a large bedroom in the States. The first night we had about 150 people attend the church not including the 15-piece band that showed up. It was cramped and many people were standing including a couple 90+ people. This community takes its worship seriously; loud fast music and intense prayer basically sum it up.
I was asked to preach the first night, so I thought where better to start than Genesis 1
and creation (I asked myself what would Gavin Long preach?). My thought was to lay the foundation and have my fellow teammates follow up with Jesus. The last two nights both Miles and Cameron have preach and people have accepted Christ into their lives. The things I have witnessed in these first few day I have heard of happening but didn’t believe happened. That is quickly changing. This trip is about change and as hard as it is I am embracing it. I know this is my calling and I am so thankful that God has brought me on this journey. Thank you to all that have supported me in this effort. I will follow up shortly.
