This is day three of our first ministry
location. It is in a town called Azua in
the southern portion of the Dominican Republic. Contrary to what you may think, it´s actually a desert climate here and
very HOT! Which is crazy because it´s actually
winter here right now…I can´t imagine what it feels like in the summer! But I certainly can´t complain, we are quite spoiled at
the moment…well, spoiled by World Race standards. Most of my team is staying with the pastor of
the church we are working with and his family. The rest are spread out between 3 other host families. At pastor Raul´s home, we actually have
access to internet, which is a huge unexpected blessing; we all have an actual
mattress to sleep on; annnd we get three meals prepared for us daily…and of course,
a snack 🙂 It´s such a blessing! There´s no running water here, but it´s
surprisingly easy to do without. In San
Juan, we sometimes had water and sometimes not. So, I´ve learned some new phrases already that I think will be common
vocabulary in my life for the next 11
months…bucket showers and bucket
flushing. (I know that made Crystal
laugh 🙂 We had a little lesson about
bucket flushing by our pastor here…it was awesome watching everyone cram into
the little bathroom to attentively observe the correct technique.
here. Even with the minimal things we
brought with us, only what we could carry on our backs, it still feels so
extravagant in this poor little town. A
good salary for someone in this town is $10 a day…which is incomprehensible to
me! The homes in many areas are shoddy
and falling apart…the architect in me wants to cry! We walked around the inside of a building
they want to use as a second church, and one of the walls actually moves when
you push on it. The children run around
on rocky streets with tattered clothes, if any clothes at all. They flock to us to hold our hands, always want their picture taken, and want
to be hugged constantly. Some are in worse shape than others, but all are in need of someone to love on them. It is jarring that this is now the reality I am living in. What do you do when you have to put down a little boy that was clinging to your neck and tears streaks down his dirty face as he cries while you drive away? I have no words.
of flexibility and patience as we figure stuff out on the fly. Many times we won´t know what we will be
doing until we wake up that morning. Those of us who love control and schedules and order are squirming a
bit…but that´s just life for this next year. As of right now, it looks like for the next three weeks, this will be our
life here in Azua…
most days during the week, we will go up to a school thechurch has established and teach English classes for the children in the area. Later in the day, we teach them sports…volleyball
and basketball…not soccer surprisingly enough. Unfortunately, no racquet sports here, so I have to pick up some new
skills. In the evenings, we will be
leading cell groups at three different homes in Azua, singing some worship, sharing
stories and teaching, then praying with them.
and man it´s a lot to process! The cell
group time at the end was the highlight for me. Although I really don´t like talking in front of people, God put a
few things on my heart to say so I sort of volunteered myself to speak. After sharing very briefly, one guy asked for prayer to
know Jesus!! That was a firlst for me to be a part of!! A-mazing!! God is just so awesome…and
this is just the beginning!
