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!