Good afternoon! I'm on the web a bit early today, catching up
while we have some down time in the afternoon. I'll be getting
out an update now, and then probably add to it later tonight after we
get home from the baseball game. It's a big sport down here and
we have some great seats behind the home plate. Pastor Ricardo
(Richie, aka. "the missionary") runs a baseball chapel at the league
stadiums and the teams, for the large part, attend a short service
before the games where he can give them the Gospel and other spiritual
encouragement. On the flip side, he's able to score some great
seats from one of the owner's!! If you are interested in his
ministry in this area, you can follow the link
HERE to read more.
There was a new feature to the church service at Los Girasoles today -
adult Sunday school. Rich told me that it's a very new concept to
the Dominicans and he started it today for the first time, knowing that it would take a
long time to catch on. With the big Roman Catholic influence in
this country, the concept of a formal Bible study or teaching time like
this, even for Dominican Christians, is a foreign idea. It was
scheduled for 9:30 am, they stated about 10am (Dominican Time!?!), and had 10 or so folks
show up. Rich was very encouraged as they started a series on
"What we believe and Why" to give them a basis for the doctrines we
believe as Christians.
It was good to see so many families that the crew has begun to know and
love from past year visits. We made a real effort this year to
get a lot of family pictures so that we can write down names, ages,
etc. of the families and children to remember them in our prayers.
The service was a bit smaller than normal today. The teens
are away on a retreat and Holly and Kasandra are still in the States.
Normally Holly would play the keyboard and the teens would
provide a host of other instruments, so we had what you might call a
more traditional service than normal. I've clipped a few videos
below.
It seems that the dates for our trip coincide with the week for the
Lord's Supper and this week was no exception. I have to say that
that part of the service makes me tear up (I know that's hard for those
of you who know me best to believe, but it's true!) Today I was
considering all the ways that we (Americans and Dominicans) are
different in our speech, culture, climate, economic conditions, etc.
Then the smiling face of Jose, one of the church leaders, was in
front of me offering the bread and grape juice, while Elvis offered a
prayer of thanks and Alfonso read Scripture and asked us to eat, drink,
and remember Christ. It all hit me at once that the things that
we have in common - families, jobs, friends, children, an original sin
nature, the grace of God resting on us, our salvation, hope for
eternity, and a righteousness given to us by Christ - all of these
things far outweigh the differences!!! That same smiling face
will be standing next to me in heaven and we will worship the same Lamb
for all eternity - and with the same language and song!!
The next blessing that came from today is when I saw Pastor Rich
sitting in the front of the church with two men in prayer after the
service and found out afterward that they were brothers. One was
already a Christian and had been praying for the other. On this
very morning, God reached out in sovereign mercy, grace, and love and
overcame that heart of stone. His brother now has a heart of
flesh that has been washed in the blood of Christ! Amen!
These and other things made me stop and remind myself that while I'm
here, every wire that I pull, every block that I lay, and every shovel
that I pick up is and should be an act of pure worship to my God
because it is an effort to build His kingdom and not the just
Dominican's church building. I'm very thankful for the resources
God has granted for me/us to be a part of this work, and I pray that He
will grant us many more years of active service in this community.
Please be in prayer for the local church here - that God would be
pleased to move with power through the community and draw many of His
elect to Himself and that He will bless the ministry of the Vallette's
in this place. Please prayer for the Dominican Christians that
they will know the peace, safety, love, and provision of their Heavenly
Father.
Please also prayer for our team. Ad and Fred are struggling with
a cold but it hasn't effected our appetite so we're not worried too
much!
Be back soon.....(D.V.)