Week 2 is done and gone! Say it isn't so!
I’m going to apologize in advance for the layout of this update; I myself hate reading a play-by-play chronological update of anything. Yet, as much as I would like to make this letter a lot more interesting and artsy, I’m afraid that if I don’t tell you about my week in a day-to-day sequence, then I will forget something J And selfishly, I’m writing these updates as much for myself as for you all—so that I can keep a mock-journal that I would never take the time to write otherwise.
Last week’s update left you with my return from La Vega. It was a great trip despite the tragic number of mosquito bites I received. We also ate at Pica Pollo twice in two days. Blech. It’s like the McDonald’s of the Dominican Republic, and it is a favorite of Carlos! But I digress…
Most of Friday, Kristina and I helped Chappy and Pastor Carlos set up for a pastor’s conference that they held in the church below Carlos’ house. Chappy is launching his program in a new prison in the DR (El Seybo), and he is rallying up pastors to support and carry out the work that needs to be done. This was the inhumane prison Carlos told us about that keeps 1400 men in a very small square of land! By the end of the conference the people had volunteered to do 2 prayer walks before ministry will start in January. On the 8th and 15th of January a large group of people have committed to traveling to El Seybo and doing a prayer walk 7x around the prison ground. It’s just like Joshua in Jericho! They will pray like that for the 2 weeks leading up to their first day of work inside the prison grounds. I am already wishing that I could be around in January to see the beginning of the physical ministry in this prison. Please be praying for the hearts of the men that God wants to touch in El Seybo.
Friday night and Saturday were a lot of fun since there was a triple wedding slated for the 11th at Carlos’ church and my friend Kristin got to participate! Kristin was a bridesmaid—and since it was a triple wedding, there were about 8 couples of bridesmaids and groomsmen. They had to do 6 “practices,” which Kristin and I calculated to be 20+ hours practicing for a 35 minute ceremony. Spanish is my 2nd language and I think I probably could have run a more efficient rehearsal, but it was fun to watch and get to know people. It seems to me that organizing young adults in the Dominican Republic would be very similar to herding cats. The day of the wedding (Saturday) was a beautiful day, the church wasn’t decorated in time so at 4:00 pm that day they decided to push the wedding back a few hours (haha, can you imagine doing that in the US?), and the ceremony was beautiful. Kristin got to go to a salon and get her hair done—it was so pretty and curled, but they used so much hairspray that her hair became a hard, immobile, plastic helmet that they had fastened to her scalp…much like a Mrs. Potato-Head. A really PRETTY Mrs. Potato-Head. We also got to go shoe (and Oreo) shopping with Wascar before the wedding…need I say more on that? Wascar (the big, manly truck driver) helped her pick out the prettiest gold sandals and everything—too funny....
Sundays are always eaten up by the church and the getting to- and from-. This Sunday in particular there was a funeral for one of the members of the congregation. He was the man in the wheelchair who always sat in the front at the services, and he died Saturday night. What was so neat was to see Carlos transport the entire Sunday morning congregation to the funeral and to hear them praising because now this man is WALKING on streets of gold with our Savior. He is in a wheelchair no longer! AMEN. Also, at Sunday night’s service, Kristin and I got to play guitar and sing for everyone and we chose Consuming Fire. It’s so fun to sing with a friend! And since I don’t know any of the songs here (and I’m not a big fan of Dominican shout-singing) I was beginning to forget how much I love music, and that I’m a singer. I think I’m going to start playing guitar instead of piano before prayer services Thursday nights.
Monday was a long-awaited lazy day. Believe it or not, we don’t really have a ton of free-time here, even though it feels as if I only have a set plan for 10% of each day (which usually means a run and a showerJ). That day Kristin got a username and password for a friend’s Netflix account so we got to watch a movie together: Alice in Wonderland (the new one)! As we curled up in her bottom bunk around her laptop screen, I found myself forgetting that I was in a foreign, 3rd world country. Can freezing cold showers and movies like that exist in the same world? I also spent a lot of time Monday working on the Restoration videos that Kristin brought with her from the States. I think I mentioned them last week, but it is a series of videos/workbook all about restoring God’s people from their pasts so that they have a firm foundation for their identity and can heal past hurts that are hindering them in their Christian walks. It’s far too powerful for me to explain in this email, but I can say that God is truly healing my heart from some heavy scars of my past. And I have a notebook FILLED with Scripture written as tiny as my hands can legibly write. I am learning so much and I am thirsty for God’s word. Sometimes I laugh, and think, “Did God really have to take me to the DR to work though my hurts with some DVD’s from some guy in Oregon? To teach me to read the Bible?” But even if that’s the only reason I’m here (which I don’t think is the case), it’s worth it.
Tuesday Kristin and I traveled to Boca Chica to sit in on another meeting Chappy had at the prison in La Victoria. It was our first real “big girl” day, because we got to the station, Boca Chica, and back home again (which, I might add, meant getting dropped off by a bus in the middle of Hato Mayor with no idea where we were!) but we walked our way back to Carlos’ house. The Lord truly showed us the way. Chappy also had some prophetic words for me from Scripture as we said goodbye to him, but I will share that later in this email.
Yesterday was a good day—I called it my “Wife Practice Day.” I decided that I was going to do all of my and Kristin’s laundry from the past week. I’d like to walk you through the practice of laundry here in the DR, because I will never look at my mother’s front-load, high-efficiency, custom-set, laundry machine with disdain EVER again. First I sorted our clothes out into whites, towels, colored clothes and dressy colored clothes. Then I filled the washer with water from a hose, added laundry soap and put in my first load that was basically sloshed around for 15 minutes by a little agitator. Next, I took every article from the washer, wrung it out, rinsed it in the sink, wrung it out, dunked it in fabric softener, wrung it out, and put it in the dryer, which is a glorified centrifuge. After the laundry comes out of the centrifuge, I then took it outside where it needed to be hung on the line to dry. Yep, I did four loads of that. It took me 3 hours and I NEVER STOPPED MOVING. I also think I’m going to have the forearms of a body builder if I have to do this on a regular basis. My little hands are so weak that my fingers cramp from having to wring out so many clothes. I might add the fact that those clothes are STILL out on the line this morning…winter has truly arrived in the Dominican and so many days are cloudy and rainy.
All in all, guys, I am really asking for prayer. Kristin has been here for over 4 months now, and is starting to work on her Mission Statement for when she goes back home to raise more support for fulltime ministry. It’s hard for me to not start feeling panicked because I’m not sure what my purpose for being here is yet. As she is beginning to see her vision I am learning lessons in humility, love, and against jealousy and pride. I am so happy for her! And yet I want God to begin opening my eyes. I trust His timing and know He is perfect, but will you all please pray that my heart would be ready to accept the vision God has for me? I was explaining this situation to Chappy on Tuesday, when he told me to open the book of Luke 24 (specifically verse32). It speaks of the disciples walking on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’ crucifixion and how they didn’t recognize the resurrected Jesus for who He was until they invited Him in for supper that night. Then they said, “Were not our hearts burning within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” That’s how I feel—my heart is burning within me all the time here, but God’s purpose for me has not yet been revealed. In the meantime I am learning the simple things. I am still waiting for the day when I wake up, put on a skirt, and don’t feel like I’m wearing a costume.
Love to you all! “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Cor 12:14
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