February 21st to 28th
We're back to a regularly scheduled annual work trip. This year, it's Gene Greiner, Ad Boyer, and Fred Bromm.
UPDATE - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd
The trip to the DR was uneventful. We flew JetBlue out of JFK and made it into the country Monday night. It's good to be back on "home soil" again! Tuesday was a typical Dominican day - wait, wait, wait..... The concrete block, sand, and concrete mix that was ordered last week was supposed to be delivered Monday morning......then Tuesday morning........then the truck broke.......then Tuesday afternoon........then they guaranteed it would be there this morning, Wednesday. That held us up a bit, but we were able to fix the video system at Los Girasoles and install some new wireless microphones. We also went up to Pastor Ramon's church at La Yaguita to scope out our projects there and get a shopping list. They've re-done their church building floor and re-painted. It looks nice. We'll be re-installing their video and sound system to make more room for people. There is a pre-school for neighborhood kids run here and they are in need of new tables, so some construction is on the list for the end of the week.
Before dinner, we hit the big hardware store, drooled through the isles, and bought the rest of the material we need to keep us busy. Then it was dinner and dominoes........... Thank you all for your prayers. I'll try to keep updates coming. In His Service!
UPDATE - WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd
Praise the Lord and pass the concrete blocks! The materials arrived today. The concrete mix, block, and sand were at the church when we arrived today so we got to work mixing 'mud' Dominican style - by hand with shovels and on the ground. Today we wanted to raise a security wall on the side of the church at Los Girasoles to match the rear wall. We did get it finished and tomorrow morning we will put razor wire on the top. The water and electricity stayed on all day today, which was rather unusual. The temperature has been in the mid 80's during the day and upper 60's at night - perfect. The snow and frost advisory has been lifted, but we still salted the church steps so no one would fall. Lunch was at the world renowned Chime Jose pollo restaurant. We reminded Richie (a.k.a. "the missionary") that we've been in the country for two days, now and hadn't eaten there yet. There's 'suffering for the Lord on the foreign field' and then there's just plain recklessness. (I think it worked because we're going back tomorrow for lunch again!!!) The average here is 1-2 birds per person! Anyway, we got to meet Chime himself and he promised us hats when we come back.
Home for dinner of sausages, Dominican potato salad, cabbage, cookies, and chewy meet (a.k.a. beef jerky) for snack during Domino's. I won't say who won other than the fact that we played till midnight. Tomorrow is back to church to finish the razor wire and then up to La Yaguita to start projects there. More to come tomorrow. God is good!
UPDATE - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24th
Good weather. Good health. Good food. Good dominoes. And a very good God! We started the day putting up the razor wire on the security wall at Los Girasoles. The tricky part is not becoming a self-test on its effectiveness. While Fred and I worked on that, Ad and Richie built an extension to the sound booth at the back of the church to have a place for a laptop. The projection system is a key part of the ministry here and has so many great uses. They project the words to their songs, the teens use it for their youth nights, and Richie uses lots of pictures during his teaching times. The Dominicans have no real grasp of the culture, place, and time of the Bible and Richie can bring it to life with pictures while he preaches. A few teens came over to the church today to add a fresh coat of paint to the front before a wedding on Friday night.
After we were done there, we overloaded the Jeep with us, tools, a sheet of plywood, and a 20' piece of 4" PVC pipe and headed for La Yaguita where we re-installed their sound system with new shelves in the back of the church. The church there is growing and they recently repainted an re-decorated. They needed more space. Lunch break was Chimi Jose' again with 1 bird per person. Then it was back to the house for showers and dominoes. Thank you again for your support and prayers!
UPDATE - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25th
Today was a typical Dominican day which means that it is frustrating to an American if you are not use to the culture. For example.....we started the day going up to La Yaguita to just do two last things to finish our work on their church building.....run a power cord through a piece of conduit and make sure their projector worked. That would be simple enough, but no. We first purchased two new heavy duty outdoor rated power cords from the hardware store. The fist one didn't work and the second one, on trying to run an electric drill with it, shorted out. Now, it takes more time to return things than it does to fix them. We bought two new ends for the cord, cut the old ends off, put the new ones on and.....nothing. There was a break inside the new cord somewhere....but where? We cut the cord in half, checked each half with a meter, and decided the first half was good....OK Now to remove the old cord ends and put them on the new piece that we have just checked is good......so far so good. Nothing. When you wiggle the cord, there are breaks that don't show up until you twist the cord in the right direction. OK, no problem, cut the bad part out and re-install both plugs again. Great! Now the 50 foot brand new heavy duty outdoor rated power cord that you just bought has two new ends on it that you also had to buy and..........is now only 20 feet long!!! Oh well, it was enough. Ad spend the rest of the day, almost, working to get their projector shelf build and installed....then now power to test, but luckily there was a generator.
While Ad worked on the projector at La Yaguita, Fred, Richie, and I went back over to the other church at Los Girasoles where there is a wedding tonight. RIchie and Pastor Ramon will both officiate as the bride is from La Yaguita and the groom from Los Girasoles. In Dominican fashion, Holly spent the day decorating for a very unorganized bridal party. We set up the tables and chairs for the reception and helped them get other jobs done. The wedding was at 7 PM. The first guest arrived and sat down at 7:35 PM and the wedding started at 8:10 PM.....right on time! We had a good time. Many of the people we have known for many years from coming down here and the bride and groom were both not even teen agers when we first met them. For all those ladies out there who want wedding details.....the man version is that there was a wedding and that we ate food. The woman version is in pictures below!
Tomorrow is off to the church to do the clean-up form the wedding and get it ready for church on Sunday. Thank you again for your prayers! All is going well and we are still very happy and very healthy!
UPDATE - SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26th
There was a tragedy in the church family last night. First thing this morning, Rich got a call that a new baby born just this past week had died. It was a good reminder that our missionary is not only a missionary but he is a pastor first and a good and loving shepherd to the people that God has entrusted to him. We re-arranged the day. Ad went to La Yaguita to finish some last minute things. Fred and I went to Los Girasoles to clean up after the wedding (Rich and Holly would have had to do all of it.) so that Rich and Holly could go to the home of the grieving mother.
Fred and I tore down the tables and cleaned the church. Two young people came over to help us. It has been amazing to see that God is raising up a generation of committed believers in the youth of this church. They are active and growing in their faith. Their lives are being transformed and there is no other explanation for it other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Rich and Holly have a busy night on Saturdays with Youth Night and Bible studies. We did a little shopping in the afternoon and Ad & Fred got haircuts while I played dominoes with some locals on the street outside the barber shop. I must have done OK because no one tried to knife me for cheating......dominoes are serious business down here! Anyway, while on the way to the barber shop (which is on the opposite side of town from the Vallette's home) the brakes on Richie's jeep went out. We drove all the way home with no brakes....hit a curb once to stop and ran one red light because we couldn't stop but we made it in one piece. Wayne Lynch who is the director of the local English Speaking Christian School here in Santiago, tried to recruit me for a position there. There is a need for an English speaking pastor to lead a church that meets on their grounds as well as a Bible teacher at the school.....tempting. The more time I spend in this country, the more I realize that the US doesn't need more pastors with our multi-staff churches, but this country desperately ordinary men who are called of God to minister His word....who knows, God can open and close doors. The evening was quite with a walk to Bon (ice cream store) and bed.
UPDATE - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27th
Went to church this morning. One of the young people in the church preached and did very well. It's Independence Day for the DR. After church we drove over to the river for the baptism service. Of the whole church, only 5 families own vehicles so they had to ferry people back and forth with multiple trips. From the parking spot, we then walked across a field of a few hundred yards to get to the river bank. Eight people got baptized, all youth except one. The Vallette's daughter, Kasandra, got baptized which was very special to see. Richie and her grandfather, Wayne Lynch, did the baptism while her GREAT-grandfather, Pastor George Lynch who is 89 watched on. Neat to see 4 generations of believers in one family in one place. After that it was out for lunch and then home to pack for our departure tomorrow. Tonight, a few teens from the church are coming over to challenge us to dominoes so we need to be on our best game.
Again, thank you for your prayers. It has been a joy to be here....hard to go back home again but am missing the family. Each year a bigger piece of my heart gets left in this country and with this people. God is doing amazing things here and it's a privilege that he counts us worthy to participate in His activity. We get so distracted in America with all the THINGS we have and all the ACTIVITIES that we put ourselves through. Don't misunderstand me, we should be extremely grateful for the grace that God has poured out on us and it is a prosperity from Him, the giver of all good things. But, we abuse that grace and make it the object of our desires instead of the object of our attention being the One who gives the grace. Being here is a good reality check because the people have so little in comparison and the need is so great. It makes my heart yearn even greater for pastoral ministry (All in His good timing. D.V.) I have seen men become professional preachers and in doing so forget that a pastor is an under-shepherd who must care for the flock under the Great Shepherd. Being here reminds me how much I want to preach but even more how much I want to shepherd. Sorry for the ramblings.....it's scary all the things that rattle around in this head of mine.
Again, thank you for your prayers and support. We'll see many of you soon!
