Day Two in the Dominican Republic
Well, a lot has happened since my last post.
We had an early morning in Grand Rapids on Saturday morning. We were up at 3am for our 6am flight out of Grand Rapids. We arrived in Santo Domingo around 1:30pm. The trip went very smoothly. There were a couple small glitches/misunderstandings while trying to get through immigration at the Santo Domingo airport, but we made it through without any problems.
We were immediately greeted with the heat when we walked out of the airport. We knew that it would be hot and humid, but it’s always different to actually experience it. We’ve been working on adapting to the heat ever since arriving here. I have become the “water nazi” as I do what I can to make sure everyone is well hydrated. We also have a lot of fans in the apartment, which helps.
We spend the rest of the day recovering from traveling. Lack of sleep and heat combined to make a very tired family. We crawled into bed around 8pm. It took a bit for everyone to fall asleep. We are all used to living in the country, so living in the city is an adjustment. Then, living in Santo Domingo is REALLY an adjustment. Not only are the vehicles loud, but there was also a loud party next to the apartment. Yet, we were able to fall asleep and get a decent night’s sleep. However, I’m sure we’ll all be in bed early tonight.
We had a very relaxed morning. We woke to the sounds of multitudes of roosters crowing (not necessarily relaxing). However, we all spent time out on the porch doing devotions as a family. It was still warm and humid this morning, but it was much cooler. It was also nice to spend time doing devotions as a family before we went to church.
Guido, the manager of the Ministry Center, picked us up this morning to bring us to church. We had the opportunity to attend part of Sunday School and then the two-hour long service (yep, two-hours long). It was great. We didn’t understand much, but we were able to see their passion for the Lord. They really love the Lord. The church was small, but seemed to be very healthy. There were people in the church from every age group, from the very young to the very old. They had seven or eight teenagers in their teenage group. They had seven or eight young adults in the church. They also did a great job incorporating all age groups into the service. I love watching a healthy Body of Christ worship together. We also had the great opportunity to partake of the Lord’s Supper with these brothers and sisters in Christ. After church, we went to lunch with Steve and Sandra Brauning (Steve is my supervisor—a missionary through CRWM).
We’ve spent the rest of the afternoon resting, playing games, reading, organizing the apartment—working on making it feel more like home.
There have been many different emotions over the last twenty-four hours. There have been moments of joy and peace. There have been moments of anxiety and feeling overwhelmed. There have been moments when we feel like, “We can do this,” and other moments when we say to ourselves, “What were we thinking?”
Our kids have been real troopers, though. I am extremely proud of them. They have handled their emotions well. Last night one of them was missing home, friends, and family members. They asked me, “Where should I start reading my Bible when I am missing home?” That’s the right question to be asking and the right place to be looking for those answers. Today, a little more “culture shock” set in on the way to church and during the church service. They began to see the poverty surrounding the ministry center. They also sat in a building for a little over two hours without being able to understand anything that was said (or very little). Yet, we were able to process through it as a family. Then, they turned on some music in English (a little respite). They are doing well.
Here are some prayer requests:
Pray for us to stay hydrated and healthy
Pray for our bodies to adapt to the heat
Pray for us to sleep well and get the rest we need
Pray for upcoming ministry assignments to come together
Pray for God to work in our hearts and minds
Pray for God to work in the hearts and minds of those we will be ministering to and with
I continue to remember the quote about helplessness and prayer from a few days ago. Here’s another one I read the morning: “My helpless friend, your helplessness is the most powerful plea which rises up to the tender father-heart of God. He has heard your prayer from the very first moment that you honestly cried to Him in your need, and night and day He inclines His ear toward earth in order to ascertain if there are any helpless mortals turning to Him in their distress” (Ole Hallesby, Prayer, 22). Experiences like this are experiences in learning the reality of our helplessness. They draw us deeper into prayer.
Buenos Noches!