Merry Christmas to You All!!!

It is so hard to believe that today is Christmas!!! Time has flown by. Have we really been here in the Dominican Republic since mid-May? Our Blog shares lots of the events, good and bad, during that time. We are healthy, after a 2-3 week fight with the Dengue Fever, and we are praising God for who He is and specifically, the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Christmas here in the Dominican Republic is different than we experienced in Guatemala. And that was different than Christmas in the United States. There is a blog entry about Christmas in Guatemala, but to sum it up, Guatemala was really into the big event. The Catholic church went all out at Christmas, with many processionals and activities. There was always something to go to, something to see. For instance, each evening in Antigua, Guatemala, Mary and Joseph would wander the streets looking for a place to stay. Of course, there was not any room to be found until they enter La Merced (a large Catholic church) on Christmas Eve. Guatemala had a lot of activity and there was always something to do. The Dominican Republic has a different flavor. It is much more relaxed and centered on being with family. Presents aren't actually given on Christmas Eve or Day, but rather Three Kings Day, January 6. We, being good camilleon missionaries tend to do what we want when it suits us. So we claimed our US heritage and open presents on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and yes, we will on Three Kings Day! While we spent the evening at home, we have been told that on Christmas Eve, people tend to visit the homes of friends. Sometimes carolers will go travel the streets, singing from the back of a pickup and one person said this can happen at any time of the night, or morning. It is also typical at Christmas here, for people to go away. For example, on Sunday, December 23, church was pretty empty because people had already left. The beach is a very popular destination. While at other times of the year, we can rent a condo on the beach for at night or two, during Christmas and New Years, the rent is doubled and minimum stay is for a week.

Some might wonder, were we able to buy some fun presents for each other? Yes, we bought many things here in the Dominican Republic, other things where brought with teams that came, and finally, many things were bought over the internet and came with our mail service. We all are having a wonderful Christmas. It is a blessing to give, particularly fun to give to your children and watch them bubble with excitement. Ben and Elena are presently are out in the yard playing on new scooters.

We want to thank you for your letters, in whatever form they come, to us. It is always a blessing to receive news from home. It is fun to hear what has happened in your life this past year. A special thank you to two families in Minnesota that went together and sent a box of fun surprises. Thank you.

We do wish you a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the Lord bless you this coming year as you continue to serve Him in all that He calls you to. May Christ be lifted High!

With Love,
The Mackeys
Rick, Becky, Ben and Elena

Activities you might not consider for Christmas:

*Going to sit in a river and view a beautiful waterfall
*Tubing down a river
*Sunbathing (ok...this isn't really on our list either)
*Campfire in the back yard
*Hiking Mogote, a mountain that we can see from our office window. It keeps calling to Rick.
*Sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, wearing short, short sleeves and reading a book

Common theme...warm weather, being outside. Not your typical Minnesota White Christmas! It's not right or wrong..."It's just DIFFERENT!"

Ben's Getting Married????

A few months ago, one of our friends here asked us if Ben could be in their wedding! There a community of Colombians living in Jarabacoa and they where looking for a Colombian boy to be the ring bearer in the wedding! We asked Ben if he wanted to do it. He said "sure, especially if there will be cake!"


So this past Saturday, December 22, Ben was in his first wedding. He did a great job! The flower girl with Ben is, Priscila, a Colombian girl who is in Ben's class at school.

Dominican Republic Cultural Training

November 9-11, Rick and Becky attended a Cultural Training in Santa Domingo. It was our first visit to Santa Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. The weekend was lead by Carmen Fanas de Sena and Patricia Ebersole de Zwier. Carmen is Dominican, Patricia is from the United States but has lived her for about 20 years.

The weekend focused in five different categories:

1. Understanding Dominican beliefs - Historical Roots, 10 types of families, Gender roles

2. Understanding Dominican values - Being, Time, Destiny, Heredity, Solidarity, Hierarchy, Formality, Communication styles

3. Understanding Dominican perceptions - Temperament, Cleanliness, Driving rules, House staff, Refranes, Reframing frustrating events

4. Building a support system - Greetings/departures, Bonding & Confianza, Protocol, Do's and Don'ts, Setting limits, Styles of family

5. Growing personally - Personal cultural identity, Family values, Anxiety re: health and safety, Dealing with culture shock, Biculturalism

A lot to cover in a weekend! Often I hear people talk about the latin people and their concept of time. During the weekend, this came up and a North American made the statement "you will be on time out of respect for me." Carmen, the Dominican responded "we don't look like it that way, instead, we believe that because we have a relationship, you will understand something made me have to be late."

This weekend helped us tremendously. I, Rick, left having some answers to some of the things that were starting to really frustrate me. I was able to laugh at some of my preconceived ideas about how things "should" be. You know, we all are culturally biased. I have talked with Dominicans that go to the United States and they share that they struggle with the US culture, much in the same way we have struggled here.

Remember, it isn't right or wrong, it is just DIFFERENT!

Who am I? by Casting Crowns

Often we find ourselves looking at the task before us and asking "God, can You really use us? There are so many needs, so many hurting people, and at times, we are the hurting people. How can You use us? We see a mother church that is doing well but has needs. And we see five struggling church plants, each with various needs. We are outsiders. We don't speak right. We don't understand the cultural rules of the land. We know little of who people are and what made them the way they are. God, can You really use us?

Our road these last few years has been filled with questions of inadequacy. We are beginning to understand that it is the person who makes himself available to God in complete humility that God will use. Humility is the raw material out of which God creates the fruits of the Spirit. And humility is the willingness to order our life according to God's scheme. This means truly believing that God is the source of everything we experience. It also means allowing God to regulate what He has given us.

On Tuesday we begin our first training series. We have worked hard to prepare but we are very aware that some of the teaching methods that worked in the US, will not work here. And so, we enter this series expecting to learn as much as we teach, and believing that God will work. We are certain that the success or failure is up to God. (verses to consider - 1 Corinthians 3:4-7, 4:1-5, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

The song Who am I by Casting Crowns has been a favorite of Rick's since he first heard it. It is a song of commitment, saying to God that we recognize that our life is but a vapor, but every part of that vapor will be given to the Lord.



This is a video of a performance by a youth group in Oslo, Norway. We found it on YouTube.

Why are we here?

Every once and a while we get asked the question "Why are you here?" It is a pretty normal question when you are on the mission field. Whenever we meet other missionaries, we ask them the same question. It is a quick way to know their focus. As well, when we meet Dominicans, often they will ask the same question. I imagine they wonder - What would cause someone to leave their homeland and go to some distant land, leaving family and all they know? And it is a great question!

For us, the story of God's calling is exciting to share. We love to share it when people ask. But in this entry, we want to focus on what we feel God has called us to do while we are here.

When we were support raising we shared in our presentations three reasons that we feel God has called us to the Dominican Republic. These reasons have not changed, although we have changed some of the wording.

1. Equipping has been changed to Church Planting. We were asked, "Who do we want to equip and why?" We are here to equip the people of Iglesia Nueva Vida Jarabacoa and the people in the Nueva Vida daughter churches with the purpose of developing strong leaders for their church plants. Pastor Bill Hanson of Iglesia Nueva Vida Jarabacoa has created a plan for discipleship in Jarabacoa that was not there two years ago. As a result, our focus is drawn to the daughter churches. We are working to develop a plan to train nationals within these rural churches.

Present Action Step: We are leading the believers in El Montaña church through a four session workshop. We desire that they learn to share their faith with their neighbors, family and friends. So, our training is focused on Relational Evangelism. In addition, we want to prepare them to join a team that is coming to evangelize in their community. This brings us to #2.

2. Teams has been changed to Partnership Development. This change in words really helps to communicate our focus for bringing teams. Partnership speaks of the relationship between the church in the United States and a Dominican church. Our desire is that churches in the United States or elsewhere will make a longterm commitment to building a relationship with local Dominican churches. As each church has a greater understanding and trust of the other, we believe there will be greater impact. Development speaks of our desire to see teams involved in the equipping of the local churches for ministry. This does not always happen. It is very easy for a US team to come and do ministry while the local churches stand by and watch. We desire to use teams to equip and develop the believers of the local churches.

Present Action Step: We have a team coming from California in November. It will be their first mission trip here. They are coming to support Nueva Vida in El Montaña and evangelize its community. As I stated above, we are preparing this community to work side by side with the the evangelism team from the United States.

3. Networking has not been reworded and remains the same. We are very impressed with the many ministries here in Jarabacoa. Many are growing and expanding. We have the heart of a networker. It is our belief and desire that ministries will have a greater impact when they to work together more frequently and effectively.

Present Action Step: Learning who is here and what are they doing. United World Mission (UWM) calls it "mapping." As we get to know people, their ministries and churches, we will be looking for areas of connectedness. How can we work together? What are the things that we could do as a unified body, things that no individual church or ministry could do on its own? So for now, we are learning, praying, and seeking to understand what is necessary to get greater communication in Jarabacoa.

Much of our work is connected with the ministries of Iglesia Nueva Vida. There are currently five daughter churches. Each of the churches struggles in the area of leadership. As we work to equip the believers in the different churches, we are looking for leaders within those communities.

Finally, our mission, UWM has a system where each field develops a Strategic Plan. Missionaries that come to the field, then develop goals and action steps which fall in line with the Strategic Plan. We are the first UWM missionaries here so we get to develop the Strategic Plan as well as our goals and action steps. We are overseen by our directors, Joe Milioni and Paul Pitman. Joe currently serves in Uraguay and Paul lives in Costa Rica but his ministry focus is in Cuba. Recently they visited us. We talked a lot about the ministry here and in the last few days, we began to create a Strategic Plan. This plan is still developing, but what is above is a reflection of that plan.

Our Home Life

Before we were missionaries we were always curious about what life was really like on the field. Obviously it varies widely depending on the exact location, type of work, and living conditions, but we thought we would give you a peak at our routine. We do want to say...there really isn't any "routine" in our life. What we share here, will change in a few weeks as some of our activities will end. But here is our routine...for now!

Each morning Rick takes the kids to school on the motorcycle at about 7:50. Becky then takes off for a half hour to hour walk before the heat really sets in. Geralda, our house help, comes around 8:00 to clean and do the laundry. Mornings are usually devoted to office work.

Currently we are preparing a training seminar for the believers in Montana. In late November, an evangelistic team from California will come to work in this area. We want the church in Montana to be ready to share their faith along side the Americans. Preparing this seminar involves melding some Spanish material with English material we used at Calvary EFC. We will then talk through the material with the church planters. We are praying for God's guidance and wisdom in this our first training event.

Morning is also the time to run errands while it is still cool and not raining. Errands can really take a lot of time. All bills are paid in person with cash. Because we are not very good at communicating on the phone in Spanish, we also go on site to resolve any problems. For example - We spent a week going to the internet office every day until the internet connection they said was working...was really working.

Grocery shopping involves going to the supermarket, the butcher, and the fruit and vegetable market (mercado). At the mercado, Becky may make three or four different purchases depending on what is available and what is needed. It is not uncommon to go to the supermarket or mercado planning to purchase items for a meal, only to find they are out of some essential item or that what is available in fresh produce isn't good. For example, sometimes the lettuce is good and sometimes it is all brown and limp. So shopping involves a number of stops, all coordinated so that the meat is purchased last and driven straight home to the fridge or freezer.

We eat a small, casual lunch. The noon meal is traditionally the main meal of the day here, but since the kids are in school, we eat our main meal at supper. In the afternoon, Rick is currently in language school. This is over in another week. Next week he will be assisting Ivan Rosalia with an evangelistic team from Curasao. Afternoons are often a time to visit with people, an important activity as relationships are so important.

Becky picks the kids up in the truck at 3:00 and may run an errand on the way home as needed. The kids change out of their uniforms and get a snack. Then it is homework time or play time with the neighbors. The neighborhood kids often run all over the neighborhood unsupervised till evening so we have found it best to invite them into our yard to play under our supervision. Ben has soccer three afternoons a week, if it is not raining. Elena has a tumbling class once a week.

We eat between 5 and 6, which is early for Dominicans, but we need to eat at this time as Rick is often off to evening meetings. The kids then begin their nightly routine of baths, packing for school, getting ready for bed and story time. After the kids are in bed, we relax by playing games, watching a DVD, reading, etc. Our evening relaxation is invariably in English since by this time, our Spanish is spent!

Occasionally someone comes by the house to chat and we sit out on the galeria (porch). Here, it is very common to invite people onto your porch. On the weekends, Rick attends youth group Saturday evenings. On Sunday, we worship at Nueva Vida and in the afternoon, Rick heads off to a church plant.

Just a note about having a housekeeper. In the States, Rick worked at church and Becky kept house, cared for the kids and was involved in some ministry at church--no problem. Originally, we wanted house-help so that Becky would be free for working with Dominicans. This is still our main reason, but there are other benefits as well. Geralda has helped understand the culture, problem solve, and adapt to life here. Questions like - "What do you do when..., What is appropriate when...,etc." are questions that Geralda helps us with. Financially, having a housekeeper provides a job in a land of 25% unemployment, and in our case, for one Dominican family. While in the US, house help isn't as common and is more expensive, here house help is very affordable, makes a lot sense, and is very common.

Even with Geralda, keeping a clean house is much more challenging here than we imagined. Our windows are screened, but always open to allow airflow. And the dust from the street as well as little visitors, seem to continually make way into the house. It is very necessary to keep the "critters" (not Ben and Elena) from taking over! There are no vacuum cleaners, swifter's, scrubbing bubbles, or automatic dishwashers here. Water is hard and does not have any chlorine, coming straight out of the well. The house is swept and mopped everyday and the bathrooms are cleaned almost daily. In the kitchen, there aren't a lot of convenience foods, so Becky makes everything from scratch. This is healthy and tasty, but more work!

What is not in this routine are all the problems that crop up and take a lot of time. We spent more than a month this summer trying to increase our water supply with the help of Ramon Vargas, our neighbor and a church elder, and other neighbors. Finally we were able to get the owner to agree to put in a well. This process took almost two weeks and required one of us to be home during the day watching over workmen and overseeing the work. By overseeing, we mean, helping the workmen get whatever is needed to keep things progressing, waiting for the workers to show up or tracking them down when they didn't show up. This became easier after Rick figured out where a few of them lived. Things are different here.

We also spent considerable time having shelves and living room furniture made and delivered to the house. Having the items made to order was less expensive and higher quality than buying them from a store. Most of this is behind us now, and we are very thankful to be settled and on our way to do the work we have come to do!

Well, we hope that gave you a snap shot of our current routine. People continually ask us what life is like here, and hopefully this gives you a better idea of some of the routine things that don't usually make it into prayer letters, but do consume a lot of time. We are thankful for so much. "Getting Settled" and figuring out a "Routine" has been an adventure of new experiences. But we are thankful. The other day as I drove the truck through the pouring rain to pick up the kids, I, Becky, was again thankful for this precious vehicle that keeps us dry and fords the street floods. We are learning more what it means to praise God in all things!

Read, Read, Read

What does a new missionary do to relax? Well I, Becky (aka Rebeca), read! I love to read and Rick benefits from my reading through many discussions regarding what I am reading. Then, typically, he ends up reading what I think he needs to learn (did I say that?). So, the following are books I have or am still reading since we arrived in the DR:

Money, Possessions and Eternity, by Randy Alcorn. Be prepared to be challenged! I spent a lot of time in the Bible and in prayer while reading this book. I really felt I needed to gain a deeper understanding of how to handle our money and possessions. Although for Americans we live very simply and on low income compared to the States, we have a high income here and desire to use it for His Glory, not just our comfort.

Crisis and Hope in Latin America, an Evangelical Perspective, by Emelio Antonio Nunez and William David Taylor. This book is about 10 years old, so not really current, but it gives a fantastic historical perspective on the social, economic, political, and religious history of Latin America. It gives us some foundational information that we can use as a framework for beginning to understand the spiritual condition of the DR. With this we have begun to make inquiries of our Dominican friends to learn their perspective on God's work in the DR.

Anne of Green Gables and Nicholas Nickleby. I have downloaded these books free on the internet from www.gutenberg.org and www.librivox.org The first site has the written text of many books in the public domain. On librivox the books have been recorded chapter by chapter by volunteer readers.

Spiritual Secrets of Hudson Taylor. I have never really read missionary stories in the past, but somehow they are appealing now! We certainly do not have to brave the kinds of conditions Hudson Taylor did, but it is challenging and encouraging.

Walking with the Poor by Bryant L. Myers. This is my most recent challenging reading! This book, written by a long-time World Vision worker, brings together three pieces, "a biblical framework, a holistic understanding of poverty, and a survey of development thinking" into a proposal for transformational development. What does it mean to "help" the poor, what is a "better future"? Here is one challenging quote: "The poor suffer from marred identities and the belief that they have no meaningful vocation other than serving the powerful. The non-poor, and sometimes development facilitators, suffer from the temptation to play god in the lives of the poor, and believe that what they have in terms of money, knowledge, and position is the result of their own cleverness or the right of their group. Both the poor and the non-poor need to recover their true identity and their true vocation." He states that the goal needs to be changed people and just, peaceful relationships for both poor and non-poor.

For the Kids: Minn of the Mississippi, What if You Lived During the Revolutionary War, Dora the Explorer, A Fish Out of Water, the Burgess Animal Book, the Book of Virtues, The Boxcar Children, Five Children and It, and many, many more. For Mommy and Daddy: Raising Global Nomads, Taking the Grrr out of Anger, and How to Really Parent Your Child.

Both Rick and I have made a point of reading the Bible in Spanish each day.This is not exactly relaxing, but a good learning experience! The other day I was reading aloud on the galeria (front porch) while the kids played with their friends. Janisa, and 8 year old, stopped her play to listen and complimented me on my reading. She then related that her mother liked to read the Bible. I asked if she had a Bible at home, because many Dominicans do. She said they had one, but it got ruined. I told her I had several Spanish Bibles if her mother wanted one. So next time I visit my neighbor, I will ask if she would like one.

We would love to hear what you are reading so we can add books to our wishlist!

Doulos Discovery School

The First Day of School, August 21

Don´t they look smashing! We were excited and nervous to send Ben and Elena off to school. Ben is in second grade and Elena in kindergarten. For Elena this is a big step, her first school experience and kindergarten is a full day. We loaded up in the truck and as you can see, there is a school assembly, and lots of excitement. Ben already had many friends because he had gone to three weeks of soccer camp at school. Elena was nervous, but brave. They took traditional American lunches with them. Although the school has a cafeteria, we thought eating PB&J, an apple, and oreos for lunch might smooth some of the adjustments.

Ironically, the kids soon began to beg us to come and have lunch with them ¨like all the other parents.¨ It seems that a lot of childen get a good hot, dominican meal brought to them and fed to them by their mom or househelp. Lunch is the main meal in this country and a full day of school is not the norm, so it makes sense to use that a big meal is brought to the kids at school. But I guess we are just lazy and will continue to send a cold lunch with Ben and Elena. They will have to be happy with their ¨wierd¨American lunch.

Elena´s school day is mostly in English as kindergarten is designed to be English immersion. Of course, this is very easy for Elena, but challenging to her classmates. Recess is totally in Spanish! Her teacher, Miss Melanie, resorts to Spanish as needed, but the kids seem to absorb the English like sponges. Elena has made friends and now sometimes finds herself getting her card turned for talking with a friend instead of listening to the teacher (Like mother, like daughter!) We pray for Miss Melanie everyday as she teaches 18 wiggle bottoms how to listen, learn and obey.

Ben seems to be sailing through second grade with characteristic energy. His worst week was the second week of school when his teacher, Tara, was sick with Typhoid. He missed her terribly and prayed for her constantly. He earned "Doulos of the Week" that week for helping her substitute, Mark, through the week by translating for him as needed. Mark is his English tutor as Ben does language arts in English while his Dominican classmates study Spanish language arts. Ben is so ¨energetic¨, that he gets in a few scrapes with the other kids, mostly at recess and in soccer. We have been counseling him on ¨when to walk away¨ instead of trying to win every argument!

Having the kids in a safe, quality learning environment is such a blessing to us as we are free to get our work done during the day and have quality time with them after school. We hear all about their day, have a snack, and do any homework they may have. If it is not raining the neighbor kids sometimes come over to play. The neighbor kids have the traditional half day of school, so they are sometimes watching for Ben and Elena to get home at 3:00.

Catching Up on The Blog

My, but it has been a long time since we have been able to post! We waited three months for high speed internet at home and catching emails at other missionaries´homes or an hot internet cafe weren´t conducive to writing a blog somehow. A lot has happened in the last couple of months.

We feel almost settled in our home, just a few more essentials to put in place. We are so thankful for a comfortable, affordable home to rent that has a huge yard for the kids and dogs to play in. Often the yard (called a patio) are small and-or ornamental gardens not meant for soccer playing boys! Our house sits on the tope of hill, so we get a nice breeze. Our road is a pretty bumpy dirt road, which is a trial at times, but it prevents anyone from speeding by our house.

We now have two boxers, Dylan (right) and Kila (left). They were owned by missionaries who returned to the States. They are delightful dogs and yet they scare everyone away and so we don´t worry about things being stolen out of our yard. Of course we lock the house up tight when we are away, but Dylan and Kila are always on guard. They especially resent horses passing by, which is almost a daily occurence. Kila lost her leg as a puppy when she escaped into the street and got hit by a vehicle. I, Becky, have been taking them with me on my morning walks, but Kila is still skiddish of passing vehicles. Dominicans tend to be quite afraid of dogs they don´t know. This is understandable since there are so many dogs running loose. Some are pets and some are street dogs, but you never know which are friendly or aggressive, so it pays to avoid them all. We have told the neighborhood kids that the dogs won´t be mean if we are home, but if we are gone they should stay away because we don´t know if they would bite. Even so, the kid´s friends stand and call at the gate instead of coming in on their own for fear of the dogs. Once we let the kids in, the dogs are great and the kids are comfortable.

There are many major changes that one learns to adjust to when moving to a new country, but here are some little things that are different about our home. At night we keep our motorcycle in the kitchen to prevent it being stolen. However, the brooms, mops and buckets are always kept outside, because the laundry area is outside. Laundry is done often because it takes time to dry on the line and if damp, sweaty clothes are left in the hamper, they will mildew. We used to keep some of our shoes outside, but the dogs like them too much to leave them there.

Grocery shopping is quite a chore here as we cook from scratch and many fresh ingredients don´t keep more than a day or two. Coming home from the store, all fresh produce gets a soak in chlorinated water and all the jars and cans get a dunk too since there is a nasty disease that mice and rats leave behind if they happened to have passed over food items. (Yes, kinda gross, but you should always wash your can lids even in the States). The fun of eating inexpensive fresh fruit has still not worn off. Avacados are cheap, about 30 cents each. Wow!

Soccer Camp! July 2007

In July, Doulos Discovery School held a three week soccer camp for ages 8 - 17. Ben was more than ready for the challenge. 5.5 hours a day, Monday through Friday, Ben was at Doulos running, kicking, and playing games.

Being the youngest, he took his share of bruises and gave out a few too. What Ben lacked in skill, he made up for in endurance. He quickly earned the respect of everyone there. At the end of the camp, Ben's team won the trophy and he was voted "Most Valuable Player."

At times, Ben helped translate half time devotionals, at other times, he played to the camera...

Que Pasa? (What's happening?)

On May 15 we moved to the Dominican Republic. On July 4 we moved into our rental house. You might wonder, what happened during that period of time. Here are a few highlights of things that have kept us busy:

The Search for a Car and a Home:
Both of these items took longer than we expected. We did buy a car, fairly quickly, but as you know (if you don't, see earlier blogs) there were some challenges with that. We are happy to say that we have been in a home for almost two weeks now. The search for a home is time consuming and can be frustrating. We looked at many, as an earlier blog shares. While we had hoped to move and be settled in a house before the Minnesota team came, our moving happened while a team was here. This might have been for the best as they rallied and helped us in many ways, including painting almost the entire inside of the house (it needed it!). We are very relieved to finally have a home. For the last year, we have felt "on the move" and now we have a place to make our own. Right now, the house is quite empty, with only the bare essentials. Of course the kitchen is setup and we have beds...but we really want a couch! Someplace comfy to sit would be really nice! But that will come and we are thankful for the things we have found so far.
Where do we buy stuff for our house:
Our most favorite place is to find a missionary family that is leaving and buy things from them. We have done this a lot. Second, we tend to go to Santiago and buy larger items there. In the Dominican Republic services are inexpensive (I get my hair cut for $2.25) but many products are very expensive (some times double the cost in the US). Recently we asked our mission team to purchase and bring a bunch of things with them. Then we purchased those things from them. This saved us a lot of money. We aren't in a rush to fill our house. We are trying to be very practical.

Car Issues:
I was told that with owning a car comes many visits to the mechanic. And yes, I can testify that statement to be true. My car has had it's issues. One day, I switched it to reverse and when I went to go forward, it was stuck in reverse. The cable had broken and it was stuck in neutral or reverse. Because this happened in a rather busy area, I had "fun" driving backwards to the closest safe place and waited for the mechanic to show up. He did, on a motorcycle, crawled under the car to see the broken cable and manually switched the gear. We then spent the day going to Santiago to get the part. Oh, if you didn't catch that...when your car breaks down, you get to help get the parts. I had to find transportation to get there and drive the hour, there and back.

Calvary Evangelical Free Church Mission Team:
46 youth and adults arrived from our home church in Rochester Minnesota for two weeks of ministry June 23 through July 7. For us this was a special time as we were able spend time with so many of our close friends. Of course, before the team came, there was a lot of preparation too. While half the team worked in construction, the other half ran 4 different Vacation Bible Schools. Most of the ministry was held at the church plant sites and people from the mother church, Iglesia Nueva Vida, where there working with us. It was tough to see this team leave and we all felt a great loss which stunned us for a while.

Language Learning and Practice:
After the team left, I, Rick, found a language teacher and began taking classes again. Already I feel it has helped me grow in my confidence. In addition to meeting with a teacher and my study outside of class, I am looking for places to volunteer so that I can practice and "challenge" my Spanish. For example, tonight I will attend the Iglesia Nueva Vida's youth meeting. With just this past week, I feel encouraged and feel my level of confidence growing.

The Internet and Emails:
Well, currently we do not have internet at our house. We have been placed on the "list" to get internet. Hopefully it won't take too long since we use internet a lot for communication as well as financial things. In the meantime, we check email a few times a week at a friends house. Of course, this makes it a little more challenging to keep up on the blog, but with time that will change!

Our role as a LEARNER:
Our mission, United World Mission, gives us assignments that are meant to help us in our transition there. One of them, encouraged us to have the mindset of a learner. This has been great advice to us. We have learned a lot about living here. And we are not done. We have had to do a lot of problem solving in areas that we thought nothing about when we lived in the US. What do you do when you don't have any water and are in the middle of washing clothes? Or what do you do when you don't have any water and you know you won't get any for at least 24 hours? What do you do when you get your car stuck in a river? What do you do when the electricity goes off at any random time? And much worse, what do you do when you realize you realize "you are the one who is out of place, the weird one, the one who doesn't fit?

In our missionary training there was a statement that was pounded into our heads. It is - "It isn't good or bad, it is just different." This statement has helped us greatly as we have learned about life here. Of course life here is different. Our challenge is to look at those differences, accept them and look for the value in those differences.

Our Directors will be visiting:
In mid-September, our United World Mission Directors, Paul and Joe, will visit us here in the Dominican Republic. This will be a special time as they learn about the work here and as we create a plan for our time here. While Rick will most likely continue studying Spanish after this time, our focus will move from language learning to areas of ministry.

Let it Rain!!!!

In the time we are here, we want to be students of the culture here. We believe that understand the culture will help us know how to minister. One VERY small part of this is learning how to live.

Water isn’t always available in the Dominican Republic. The city of Jarabacoa rations water. Our house receives water every other night for about 10 hours. Across the street, the homes receive water every other day for the entire day (sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the street!). We have a cistern (large water container in the ground) and a tinaco (smaller water container on the roof of our house). Our house does not have a well so we are dependent on the city’s water to fill our cistern and tinaco.

To have water, we need to use the same or less water than what is received every other day. If possible, it is best to save the water in the tinaco as it is there for when we do not have any electricity. Electricity is needed to run the pump to move the water from the cistern into our house and the tinaco empties into the house using gravity.

The result is: we are learning to conserve water. The following is a list of things that have become a regular part of life here. If you have more suggestions…please send them.

Our effort to Conserve Water

1. I have always heard, taking a shower uses a lot of water. Instead of showing, take a sponge or bucket bath. This does not mean you get more than one bucket for your bath. In fact, with “skill and planning” you can use only a third of a bucket. Maybe more experienced missionaries can use even less. Of course, when it rains, you can wash up using the water from the roof (as Ben and Luis demonstrate).
2. Laundry uses a lot of water. So don’t do laundry! Well, at least for a few days. Hand washing clothes can save water (use buckets and don’t let the water run). When we feel we have enough water to use the washing machine, save the rinse water for the next load.
3. Fill a tub of water in the kitchen and use it for pre-washing you dishes. Pre-washing dishes is particularly import in the Dominican Republic because if you leave dishes with food on them, uninvited guests (insects and possibly rodents) will come and help clean off your plates for you. And then you get to clean up after them. The good thing is, they use little water.
4. Keep about two inches of water in your bathroom sinks to use for washing hands. This is much better then, letting the water run.
5. Go to the river to cool off. We have only done this a few times. But some days, when living in a different house that had much more water, we took 3 showers a day, just to cool off. Well, those days are gone.
6. As used to be said when Rick was at a boys camp growing up… “If it is yellow, let it mellow. If it is brown, flush it down.” [Ah, the memories of camp] Yup, the toilet is a place where a lot of water is used quickly. Within reason, try to flush less. Add bleach as needed.
7. Place rocks in the toilet’s resevior. This way, less water is used per flush.
8. Catch water off the roof when it rains and divert it into your cistern.
9. Make friends with people who have wells. One day, when we had just a few inches of water left, I saw our neighbor out with her hose watering the grass and flowers. Our need and her abundance, was quite a contrast (humm…possible sermon illustration). That same neighbor gave us a bunch of water.

Dealing with a lack of water, was not something we thought we would have to deal with when we came here. But it is a reality of living here. And while it can be really frustrating, it has created a great venue for talking with each of my neighbors. All of them know and understand the problem. It has been a regular part of their life for years. And now, we get are part of the club.

Some Blessings....

It seems our first month has been stressful. This we expected, but it hasn't been as fun as our first month in Guatemala. Probably we have forgotten some of the stress of our arrival in Guatemala. Also we felt like tourists at first in Antigua, a tourist town, whereas Jarabacoa feels more like home since we have been here so many times.

Since our arrival we have met many neat people and are getting to know those we have worked with over the last 10 years better. We couldn't have made it through our first month without the help of the Dominicans and missionaries at church. We want to share some of the blessings since our arrival.

First, we are so happy to worship at Iglesia Nueva Vida. Everyone has been welcoming and helpful. Since our last visit in 2005, they have started adult Sunday School in the morning and we love this more informal teaching time. There seems to be a great spirit among the members. All the lay preachers who go to the church plants are preaching through John together. This lends continuity to the church plants and allows for guidance in their study of the Bible as the text is discussed at Wednesday night prayer meeting.

Second, we visited the kid's school, Doulos Discovery School. Ben and Elena met their teachers and saw their classrooms. The school has a great soccer program and Ben will attend soccer camp there in July. Elena is not too thrilled about the prospect of going to this big place for school, but her teacher connected with her by sharing that when she was about Elena's age, she moved to a new country too and knows just how hard it can be. She also asked Elena to be her English helper since kindergarten is immersion English for the Dominican kids.

Third, Rick is a master driver (even though he recently got stuck in a river). He can find his way to just about anywhere. I, Becky, am still trying to figure out how the different sections of town fit together. I have mastered driving to the grocery store and know how to get to about four or five people's homes, the church and school.

Renting a House

Since we arrived a month ago we have been on the hunt for a house to rent. The process is a bit differnt here....like so many things. The day after we arrived, Bill Hansen took us to look at a beautiful house that was rented by missionaries who were leaving the field. The price was great, the house was great, but it was out of town and this would be a problem for ministry. It was also a security concern because there were few neighbors. But we bought some appliances from them!

To find a house to look at we put the word out to the Dominicans at church and every missionary we knew or met. We are looking for a three bedroom house in town with a little bit of yard. We also drove around and looked for "se vende" (for sale) signs and vacant homes. We asked people in the neighborhood about the houses and got the following types of responses: they only rent for weekends, no that house actually isn't finished, the owner is in capital and comes here on weekends, etc. We were hoping to find houses that might be rentable since selling a house is usually wishful thinking on the part of the owners. We looked at a lot of houses and usually heard a high rental price which was very negotiable.

We gave each house a nickname since houses don't have addresses, some streets don't have names, and most houses are white. Just for your entertainment we will list some of them:

The Circle house. So named because is has a circular staircase in the middle of the house to the second floor. All the rooms are off this hub. We nixed it because it came with a live-in caretaker family and the owner only wanted to rent it for weekends.

The Garden House. This house had fabulous grounds, but the house was really old and, well, unlivable. But the owner did a nice job pumping up the features, all outside the house. We could have owned a horse and dogs since it had a horse shack and kennels. The grounds were beautiful and extensive and therefore very expensive to maintain.

The Mansion. Just for kicks Rick looked at a house behind the camp where our teams stay. It was huge, two stories, 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It also had a huge price and we would feel ridiculous living there in this country.

The Cristo Rey house. This house was the first house that we looked at the was a real possibility. It's name comes from the fact that it you turn off the main road at the Cristo Rey Pharmacy. However, it would have needed a lot of TLC for it to feel like home. The agent who showed it to us promised that everything would be fixed up if we wanted it. Even though we had only been here a week, we knew better.

There were others we looked at, or tried to look at like the Chalet, the Hanson's neighbor's house, the Postage stamp house, but let's move on to the two houses we are praying about. Both houses are three bedrooms with two bathrooms and have cisterns, water pumps, roof water tanks, and water heaters. Both are relatively new which hopefully means fewer plumbing, electrical, and leakage issues. Both are currenlty rented by missionaries, so we have gotten the run down on the neighborhoods and the houses' quirks.

The house in Medina: This is a newer three bedroom house. It has some pluses like a back patio area, stairs to the roof, and a double car port. We have negotiated a price with the landlady, but want her to install barred doors on the entrances. We are a bit concerned about the area as other Americans who have lived in this area moved out because it is so noisy.

The house on the hill, also known by our kids as the house with the giant dog. It is closer to the camp where teams will stay and near a couple families in our church. It is said to be a better neighborhood. It has a huge backyard. This is a bonus for soccer-loving Ben, but an extra expense in lawncare. It lacks a few things, like a good laundry area. But it has barred doors. This house we have been praying about since we first looked at it in May, but thought it wouldn't be available till the end of July so we wrote it off. It will now be available at the end of June. We are negotiating a price with the landlady. This house has a giant dog which we could adopt, but it is Fila Brasilera and we don't think this is the breed for us. It is a great guard dog as it scares the daylights out of strangers even though it just lays in the driveway most of the time.

Please pray for God's direction about which house to rent. We are anxious to get settled, but know that a good living situation is essential for our family life.

Life is just a Chair of Bowlies

We are learning the life in the Dominican Republic is a series of problem-solving challenges. Our new motto is "If it's not one thing, it's another." We choose to have a good attitude of about the curve balls most of the time. As we look for help from our Dominican friends and our missionary friends, we get smiles and nods from them as we share our most recent adventures in learning to live here.

Tuesday we moved for the third time in the last month since we have not rented a house yet. (See another entry about this). We are house sitting for some missionaries who have returned to the states for a while. We are so thankful for this as it is a roomy three bedroom house and near our friends Grace and Maria Jose. However, we were hit with a common problem here soon after we moved in: no water!

Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink! When we arrived at the house we had water, but no power. 6 hours later the power returned, but then we had no water. What is going on? Here's a little education for you North Americans: If your house is on city water, that means that the city gives you water one to three times per week. Many houses have cisterns to collect this water so they have running water all week. This requires a pump to then bring the water into the house or, if you are so fortunate, to pump the water up to a huge black water tank on the roof so you have water even when there is no electricity. This house has all three components. In fact it even has a small water heater, a true luxury. Yet in the midst of a deluge of rain outside, we had dry faucets.

Add to the mix that I, Becky, was foolhardy enough to try to do a load of laundry in the afternoon when it is most likely that the power would go out and it would rain. The load made it through the wash cycle but no further. I hung soapy clothes up to dry so they didn't mildew.

In the midst of the deluge, power outage and water strike, a missionary friend stopped by to see if he could help us get the internet working. Since the power outage made this impossible, he gave Rick a lesson in Dominican water supply. When the power came back on late in the evening, Rick checked on the things our friend suggested, but the problem remained a mystery so he dipped buckets of water from the cistern for the house.

The next morning Rick went to the school where this missionary works and brought back the maintence man who was happy to assist. However, he ran into a problem. The water pump is locked up to prevent theft, but we didn't have the keys. Hmmm, you see, if it's not one thing its another. We agreed that the best solution would be to break the lock and put a new one on. He returned later that day and got the water restored. YAYAYAY!

For us newbies this felt like a major crisis, but to experienced missionaries here this is just a bump in the road. For Dominicans, it's all in a day's work. We have so much to learn! Just getting everyday life accomplished takes a lot of time and energy.

The Burglary and The SUV

Monday, May 28, some time while we were out of the house it was broken into. Unfortunately we had a large amount of money and this was taken. Nothing else was touched. The passports, laptop, camera, etc were all there. Most often burglars ransack the house for valuables. We didn't realize the money was missing until the evening when Rick went to get it out in preparation for the next morning when he was going to Santiago with a missionary to purchase an SUV.

We are devastated and have shed many tears of anguish during the night. As is natural we have done the "I wish I would have...." But the fact is this has happened and God is sovereign and loving throughout it all. We are thankful that nothing else was taken and that we were not physically accosted. However, as anyone who has been robbed knows, we feel violated and vulnerable.

Here are some added details. We have been living in a house rented by Kids Alive which they use for teams to stay. They have never had a break-in during the few years they have had the house. The house is quite secure and we were vigilant about locking everything up as break-ins do happen here and foreigners, especially new ones, are easy targets.

Why so much cash in the house? We actually got the cash on Saturday and drove immediately to the dealer with our missionary friend. However we found the vehicle (a 10 year old Toyota 4Runner) to have some minor problems that we wanted the dealer to fix. So we put some money down and agreed to return Tuesday to pay the rest if the repairs had been done.

The money changer we use is very reputable and is used frequently by the missions here to change large amounts of cash into Dominican pesos. We could have been watched, but did not return home with the money directly. Who else knew we had so much money? Our missionary friend, the car dealer in Santiago. Of course, if we were being watched and did not return with a car, someone might guess we still had the money.

We need your prayers at this time as we are jolted by this event. On the advise of our Dominican church member, we have chosen to involve the police. If the police are not involved in the crime, they can be of some help. The police indicated there have been several other robberies in the area. Pray for us in this as the police are corrupt in general and involving them does not add a sense of security.

The purchase of our vehicle is on hold at this point. We called the dealer and told them we could not come today. We need some time to decide what to do. We do not have money to complete the deal and may need to get our down payment back. The money we had to purchase a vehicle was not from support we have raised. It was the money from the sale of our two vehicles in Minnesota.

This leaves us in a difficult spot and we are trusting God that He will provide transportation for us. Because of the terrain and poor road conditions, the work we have come to do is nearly impossible without a hefty four-wheel vehicle. Last week we visited one of the church plants and after we left the paved road drove for some time on muddy dirt road, then forded a river, drove through a rock field, and finally back on steep muddy roads again. (This is Boma for those of you have been to the DR).

Late last night, or early this morning, we remembered some of the words of a dear friend who is now with the Lord. Those who are from Calvary EFC may remember Tammy Orth saying "When adversity enters your life, you can rest in the fact that it has first been filtered through the sovereign hands of God. And those are fingers of love, because God is love." We are so thankful for this reminder. Also, we are well aware that it could be much much worse and we thank God that only money was taken.

Please pray for us. Emotionally we struggle. Pray for our need of transportation. Currently we are renting a car and will continue to do so until we can work out a plan to purchase one.

As we know you will pray, thank you for your prayers.

Update:
What you just read was an email we sent out. Many people responded and asked how they can help. We then sent out information for how to give so we can get a car. In just 3 days, we received pledges for over the amount that had been taken. We now have bought a car - different form the Toyota 4Runner that we had talked about in an ealier post (that is another story). We now own a Susuki Grand Vitara XL7 (pictured above). We feel that it is God's car. Earlier in the week, we were overwhelmed with the loss and wondering how would could buy a vehicle and now, we are overwhelmed with God and His provision.

Praise be to God!

Jarabacoa or Bust!

This was the title of our support raising booklet. We have finally made it to our destination. We feel that we can relax and dig in here. We arrived on the evening of May 15. Bill and Juliana Hanson were at the airport in Santiago to meet us. Bill is the interim pastor at Nueva Vida Church and long time Dominican missionary. God answered a prayer of Ben's in that they had brought their foster son, Rolando, with for the trip. Ben had been so sad to leave his buddies in Rochester and we prayed with him about making new friends in Jarabacoa. What a blessing as Ben and Rolando chattered away in Spanish in the back of the van during our drive up into the mountains to Jarabacoa!

We have been blessed to rent the Kids Alive team house until the end of May. It has lots of space for us to unpack and sort our belongings, some yard for the kids to run in, and hot water every morning when we turn the hot water heater on! It seemed like we had a heat wave the first week as we all were dying of the heat. Now we are more comfortable and we are not sure if we just adjusted or if we really arrived during a heat wave since we don't have a thermometer or a TV to give us the weather.

The kids have enjoyed playing with Kids Alvie missionary kids. This has eased their transition as they won't start school till the fall. It was good for them to hear from other kids who have moved around and gone back to the States for home assignments etc. Ben is impatient to get a bike and REALLY wants a dog. He tends to display his difficulty in adjusting through being rigid about his food choices. Elena is struggling with fears of bugs, darkness at night, and all the Dominicans fawning over her (as they do with all little girls). Having gone through some of these adjustment issues in Guatemala, we trust they will pass and continue to pray for them.

Our first two weeks have been consumed by the hunt for a car and the hunt for a house. Rick visited nearly every car dealer from La Vega to Santiago. He spent a long day practicing his Spanish! He also drove around Jarabacoa with a mechanic to look at possibilities in town. Then he went back to the dealers with Chello, the mechanic, to check out the vehicles he had seen on his solo trip. Used cars hold their value here because labor is inexpensive and there aren't corrosive elements except along the coast. So we gulped many times at the price of 8-10 year old vehicles. We looked at four door pickups and SUV. The test was, can it get us to Boma easily? Boma is the church's newest church plant and to reach it you have to ford a river, bump through a rock field, and make it up and down the muddy roads.

Finally we met Chello at a lot in Santiago for a look at one more car, a ten year old Toyota 4-runner. We are able to drive the price down and stretch our budget for this SUV that is in great condition and has Chello's stamp of approval.

The hunt for a house continues we have looked at dozens, toured 6-8, and called about many more. The process to rent a house is as follows: put the word out to all your Dominican friends and missionaries about what you are looking for. Drive around town and look for vacant houses. If there is a for sale sign, call the number to see if they are willing to rent. If there is no for sale sign, talk to the neighbors to find out who owns it and try to track them down. Our best options so far have been houses that are currently being rented by missionaries or Christian Dominicans who are moving or going to the States.

Some of the difficulty personally in looking for a house is balancing cost, amentities, size, family needs and ministry needs. Most of the house we have looked at are within our budget. The question is, what house will serve our family and ministry needs the best. Most houses have a porches on the front where a lot of entertaining is done. Three bedrooms is a must since we know we will have guests. Older houses sometimes have more grounds and extra rooms but scare us in terms of plumbing and electrical wiring problems. We need to be accessible to everyone, so one beautiful, roomy house we looked at just out of town wouldn't work.

At this point we have a few viable options for houses and a fall back that is less preferable. Our top choices won't be available till the end of June, so we will most likely rent a furnished house for June.

As far as household items, we have so far purchased an inverter, a stove, and a ceiling fan! We have also located a refrigerator and some furniture to purchase used. All these items are from missionaries who are leaving the field. We are very thankful for these used items since buying new always costs a lot more. Once we are in our house we will pick up the smaller household items (kitchenware, towels, etc) that we need.

Overall entering the Dominican Republic feels much easier than when we arrived in Guatemala. This is mainly due to the fact that Jarabacoa is so familiar to us and we have some many friends here already. We are already making it a regular habit to drop in on our Dominican friends in the evening to relax, chat, and seek advise. The other reason entering the D.R. seems easier is that our language skills advanced during our time in Guatemala, which was the whole point of going to Guatemala!

Our Month in the US

Well, it has been a while since we posted! We had a whirlwind visit to Minnesota as we transitioned from Guatemala to the Dominican Republic. We visited with as many people as we could, dividing our time between Minneapolis and Rochester. It was great to reconnect with family, friends, and supporters. We are thankful for all the hospitality extended to us during the time. You are all welcome to visit us in the D.R., but not until we are settled!

We found the U.S. a bit of an adjustment from living in a 300 year old city for 7 months. Everything seemed HUGE and spread out. We had gotten used to walking everywhere in Antigua and so every time we left the houses we stayed in Minnesota our kids would ask, are we walking? No, we are driving, driving, driving everywhere. We did some shopping for things we found were hard to find in Latin America or very expensive. New shoes were top on the list for example. In the U.S. products are cheap and labor is expensive. In Guatemala and the Dominican Republic the reverse is true. So it is cheap to get a haircut, get your car fixed or hire someone to do your lawn, but shoes, plastic food containers, games/toys, are expensive since they are typically imported.

We were so eager to get to the D.R. and see our Dominican friends at church and set up our home. We had so many unanswered questions about the future and we felt like we had been nomads for over a year already. See our next entry for an update on the D.R.

Doulos Discovery School

Where will your kids go to school? Are you going to homeschool? We often hear these questions and decided to add our answer to our blog because we are excited about the school Ben and Elena will be attending this fall. This past year in Guatemala and Minnesota we did homeschool since we were not in one location for a full school year and in Guatemala "summer break" is from mid October to mid January. However our preference in the D.R. is a Christian bilingual school.

Doulos Discovery School was founded several years ago by long time missionaries to the D.R. "Doulos" means slave to Christ; it is the school aim to raise up children who are slaves to Christ--pretty radical! In 2005 we had the opportunity to tour the school and were impressed. It has a unique vision for sharing the gospel in the Jarabacoa area and providing a quality education to children who would not otherwise have the opportunity. Using U.S. curriculum, the students are taught in both English and Spanish. They have a focus on experiential learning that includes outdoor education. The students are also involved in community service projects.

We believe this is a place where our kids will thrive educationally, socially, and spiritually. For more information and great photos see the Doulos website: www.doulosdiscovery.org

Since being here, we have visited Doulos a few times. We want to do everything we can to help Ben and Elena make an easy transition into school. Ben, who is very social, played in the playground while we talked with the director of the school. Unknown to us, he was playing on the playground with this year's First Grade Class, the class he will be a part of next year. And after a few minutes, he had made friends and figured this out. Ben was also excited to learn that there is a soccer camp in July. Doulos has a very strong soccer team. For Elena, who is quieter, she was able to meet her teacher, an American from South Carolina. And they seemed to bond, especially when the teacher told Elena she could help teach the other children English. The transition for Elena will be a little harder. We know it would have been in the United States as well. But we are looking for ways to help ease that.

Mi Maestra (my teacher) Elena de Aragon

You may wonder, who was my teacher? Elena de Aragon! For six months, 4 hours a day, Elena had the ______________ (insert your own word here, possibly "joy" or "challenge") of helping me learn Spanish.

Class was in a beautiful setting. Christian Spanish Academy (CSA), located in Antigua Guatemala, has about 70 teachers. The school has a great reputation, to the point that they are full for this coming summer.
The school is well run. When students arrive they are tested, assigned a teacher and a table. On Thursday of each week each student is able to shared his/her schedule for the next week, and request a new teacher or a new table. I did change tables a few times, when I felt that my "learning ability" had dried up in that particular location. On the other hand, I never did change teachers. Elena was excellent. Very quickly she "learned" to appreciate my humor and but even more important than that, she was an excellent teacher.

What happened in class?
In the first few months, we spent a lot of time working through CSA's grammar book and workbook. Even though I entered the school with a little bit of Spanish, I failed the entrance exam and needed to start at the very beginning. As I progressed through the grammar books, less and less time was spent in them and more time was given to conversation. Sometimes we would read the Bible, sometimes the newspaper, and sometimes we would go to the market and learn the names of things there. The more I learned, the less Elena would speak English. Many times in class, the first part was spent with me telling what had happened since our last class. Since class was one on one, there was no one to hide behind and the pressure was on. Of course, Elena was very patient and gracious. She continually corrected me and many times my stories would be interrupted when I wanted to know "why is it said that way?"

Elena deserves an award in Patience. Many times there were words that I had switched in my mind and needed to relearn. For example, the word for hair is "cabello" and the word for horse is "caballo." Elena particularly enjoy when I went to get my "caballo" for a haircut. And her patience was demonstrated when it took me weeks to get it straight in my mind.

Elena, if you ever read this, muchas gracias Elena por tu trabajo. Tu trabajo es un regalo de Dios. Muchas gracias.

Back in the States

Well, we are back in Minnesota for four weeks to make the transition to the Dominican Republic. Many of our friends and family have asked how it is to be back...well it is great. We are enjoying seeing so many friends and visiting familiar places. We aren't really having re-entry issues, but we have noticed some things about life in the USA that non-expats may not.

First our kids noticed right away that there are bilingual signs in the U.S. "Mom, why did they write "wet floor" in Spanish, don't people speak English here?" They were also initially fascinated that almost all the TV stations were in English and without subtitles. After 7 months of showers, they actually ask to take baths every night!

Brrr, it's cold here! We have now missed two Minnesota winters and we notice the chill of spring. The kids were shocked that the water is Ouchy cold from the tap and the rain is even cold.

Some funny things we have noticed are: music in stores is very distracting. In Guatemala any music is stores was in Spanish and pretty easy to ignore, unless it was blaring at mega-volume for a sales promotion. We are also getting used to shopping primarily by credit card instead of cash. Rick actually had to tell me, "Remember, Becky you have your credit card" after we divyed up the U.S. cash between ourselves.

After living in a small two bedroom apartment for 6 months, actual houses with yards seem huge! In fact every thing seems big: the aisles in the stores, the roads, the stores. The kids are loving playing outside in the yard where we are staying.

Foods we have missed: SALADS which we had infrequently, licorice, pickles, grilled hamburgers, hmmm not too many things. The kids are guzzling US milk. By the way, we definitely have lost our taste for U.S. oranges, processed orange juice, bananas, and imported tropical fruits. They all taste woody, pungent, or fake.

Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala

Easter week is called Semana Santa (Holy Week) in the Hispanic world. It represents the peak of the season in which we remember Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. On each Sunday of Lent, the five weeks before Easter, processionals are held through the streets of town. It draws crowds to Antigua that make it the largest Easter celebration in the Americas.

It is hard to describe what happens because we are experiencing it for the first time and don't know exactly what is done when and why it is done. But here is our experience, broken down into a few categories.

Processionals
In the weeks preceding Good Friday different villages close to Antigua are given a Sunday to plan a processional which is a remembrance of Jesus and His walk to the cross. Hundreds of people take part in each processional. Each one is a little different as they are decorated differently, but there are many similarities.

The procession begins at a Catholic church with Roman Soldiers, some with trumpets or flutes and drums to announce the processional. Following the soldiers are about 200 men dressed in purple gowns leading the way for the Anda. The Anda is a wooden structure dedicated to carry religious sculptures. Each procession will have 4-5 different Andas.

The first carries Jesus. It is quite large, and can weigh up to 7000 lbs. It will be carried by up to 80 men in purple. These men will carry it for a few blocks at which point a new group of men will take over. Behind the first Anda will be more men in purple and a band playing funeral marches. Interspersed in the processional are men in purple carrying pots of burning tree resin. The procession route gets quite smoky. Behind that will be another Anda which carries Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is carried by women who are dressed in white clothes with black lace head scarves. In front and in back of this Anda will be other women who will also trade off carrying the Anda. Behind them might be some other Anda's with saints, possibly another band. Finally, behind all will be men with shovels and buckets, as well as a dump-truck to clean up the remnants of the Alfombras.

These processionals will last 12 hours. Yes...12 hours, they start around noon and will continue until mid-night when they return to the church from which they started. Our apartment is just down a side street from one of the main routes of the processionals. It is quite handy for us, as we don't need to fight the crowds to catch a view. We have become used to the music and smell (from incense) of the processionals.

Alfombras
An Alfombra is a carpet-like design made from saw-dust and/or flowers to decorate the streets. If a processional is in front of your house or business, you and your neighbors will work, many times all night, to create an Alfombra in front of your house. Many times the Alfombras are finished just before the processional comes. While the Alfombra is beautiful, it is short-lived and will soon be trampled by the processional.

Each Alfombra is totally unique and each year the family works to create a new plan for this year's Alfombra. People have a lot of fun working together to make them, but they are also a serious task. They are an offering for Jesus as He goes to His death. No one steps on the alfombra until the Anda carrying Jesus marches over it. Sometimes small gifts, like a basket of flowers or figures, are placed on the Alfombra. These are picked up by the Anda carriers as an offering.

Often the Alfombras have biblical themes such as the miracles of Jesus, the last supper, and of course the cross. Sometimes they have Guatemalan themes depicting indigenous life and textile weavings.

When Rick and Elena when to view the processional from Jocatenango (nearby town), Elena was able to join in the making of an Alfombra!

Activities
During Samana Santa there are events going on all the time. The closer it gets to Easter, there are more processionals, and more activity. For example, on Good Friday, there are 4 different processionals going on in Antigua. Each church has velaciones at different times. These are vigils for Jesus or the virgin Mary. The focus on the suffering and death of Christ is powerful. Saturday night our nearby Catholic church, La Merced, has an all-night prayer vigil.

What we miss, is the focus on the resurrection. There is a small processional on Sunday, but nothing compared to all build-up that is given for remembering the death of our Lord Jesus. We are told that in other areas of Guatemala, there are great processionals on Sunday that begin at 4 AM from the cemetery and leads to the Catholic church. They are processionals of joy, to celebrate our Lord's resurrection from the dead. He is alive, for He has Risen!

The following video was not taken by us, but it is really good, showing different sights from Semana Santa 2006.

A YouTube Video taken at Samana Santa 2006

Rick's Shopping Road Rally!

With our departure date approaching, we realized that we need to weigh our suit-cases so that we do not get hit with extra charges at the airport for suit-cases that are over the 50 lb. limit. We each have two suit-cases to check and it could be expensive if they are over weight. We asked around and didn't find anyone with a scale (pesa in Spanish) in Antigua. One person was pretty certain "La Pradera" in a nearby city called Chimaltenango would have it. So, yesterday afternoon, Rick set off in search of a Pesa.

The ride to Chimaltenango was on a chicken bus. I was happy to get a seat, although I was the third person in the seat, which meant I was half on, half off the seat. The seat next to us had the same, so basically it was window to window people. Fortunately, the ride was only about 35 minutes long and it wasn't too hot. Roads in Guatemala are windy and you have to hold on or centrifugal force will take over and the people with the window seats (best seats) will be squished against the windows "enjoying" the weight of the entire row on the steep turns. Other than that, the ride was beautiful and uneventful.

When I arrived in Chimaltenango, I asked a person on the street where "La Pradera" was. It was about 8 blocks away, not too far, so I walked. La Pradera, is almost a mall. It has a large store, maybe the size of a supermarket. I was hopeful...but it they didnt' have a Pesa. One worker thought that one of the other stores in the row of stores had it, so I left for that store. Unfortunately, they didn't have it either, but suggested another store about 7 blocks away, in the same direction from which I had just come. After finding the store, I asked for a Pesa and you guessed it, they didn't have it, but fortunately they knew where I could find it. Just 5 blocks further down the road was a store that would have it. After walking to the next store, I was disappointed to find out that they didn't have it, but just 3-4 blocks from there was a store that hopefully would have it. Once again I walked and eventually found the store and wasn't surprised when they didn't have it. Of course, they had a suggestion for a store that "would" have a Pesa. While at this point I felt like I was searching for something that just didn't exist in Chimaltenango, I started on my way to the store. I walked onward for another 10 blocks, with a few turns in there and after asking a few people, finally found the store. And believe it or not, they had a PESA!

At this point, I was a little turned around. I needed to find the chicken bus back for Antigua. At first glance, it may not be obvious but buses here do have a route, they do leave from a certain spot and either I needed stand along the route or even better, find where the route begins. I asked the clerk in the store "where is a bus to Antigua?" and to my surprise, it was a a little more than a block down the road. I had walked all over, visited about 10 different stores (in my story, I didn't tell about all of them), been sent different directions over and over again, and finally found what I wanted within 1.5 blocks of where I was originally dropped off.

I was a youth pastor for many years...planned a few "road rallies" in those years. Typically I would send out the youth from one location and they would eventually return to that location. Yesterday, the guatemaltecos sent me on their own "road rally."

This kind of thing isn't uncommon. We miss the days of one store shopping and being pretty certain a store really will have what you are looking for.

Jesus Made Coleslaw!

Did you know that Jesus made coleslaw? We had a hard time not laughing when Elena told us this at dinner one night. It all started when I had gotten cabbage out to make coleslaw before dinner. The kids were not at all sure they wanted any part of a vegetable that was bigger than their head. Yes, cabbages are large here. They are also cheap. At dinner Ben commented that he didn't like the coleslaw here. It didn't taste as good as at home. (Funny since I used the same recipe with the same ingredients.) He also commented that I don't make bijol rice (bright yellow seasoned rice) as good as Jack, the chef and owner of Ben's favorite restaurant.

We have had a lot of discussions about how things are different from place to place. Our emphasis is usually on avoiding judgment. So when Ben began to degrade "Guatemalan " coleslaw, Elena jumped in with her insight: "Jesus made coleslaw." Can you picture Jesus in the kitchen making coleslaw? I stifled my giggle and asked Elena to explain.

"Well," she said, "Jesus made everything in the whole world. So Jesus made coleslaw and I guess he made it different here than in Rochester. Jesus makes things different sometimes." Bless her little heart! Jesus did make everything and he was pretty creative about it.

By the way, Elena gave us permission to share this story. We haven't commented too much on the kids experiences because we don't want all their childhood ups and downs out in public. But we do think the kids are doing great overall.

4000 words in pictures!

A picture is worth 1000 words...

A view of Antigua!
Every day at 3 pm the tourist police guide people up to the cross to get a wonderful view of Antigua as well as Volcan Agua. Antigua is a small city of cobblestone streets, rich in history as it was Guatemalas 3rd capital. This has been our home since September 2006.

Ben graduating!!!
When Rick's school had less students, we enrolled Ben for 2 hours a day for two weeks. Ben learned so much during those weeks. Lieza, Ben's teacher, made learning fun with a variety of activities.

She is growing up!
Yes, Elena will be 5 in just a few days (March 23). Elena loves to "go places" and when either mom and dad are getting ready to go on an errand, Elena can often be heard saying "Daddy [or mommy], I want to go see places." It is hard to say no!

Easter is coming!
Each weekend in March leading up to "Semana Santa" or Easter, there are processionals. Similar to Palm Sunday, in which the Jewish people laid palms for Jesus to walk over as he entered Jerusalem, here in Guatemala, people build fombras in the street. The above fombra is one of 200 that we saw in the processional from Jocatenango. We will write more about Easter and the processionals in another blog entry.