Mixed Feelings of Discovery

In August, Jordan and his mom was brought to our medical team. Jordan is an 11 year old boy, that is the size of a 4 year old. He is very sick and has been his whole life. At this point, Jordan is very thin, his hands and feet are contracted. He sleeps almost all the time.

A month ago, Ivan Rosalia (missionary with Literacy & Evangelism International) called me about Jordan. Jordan was very sick and needed to get to a doctor. I called Doctor Fernando (Dominican missionary doctor who works with Students International) and found out that he would not be able to go to see Jordan until the following week. So, we decided, we had better go get Jordan and his mom and bring them to Dr. Fernando. What I didn't know, was where Jordan lived.
Jordan lives in the mountains in a small mountain community that has 33 homes and only 7 children. Most of the homes are occupied by older folks whose grown children have left the area to find work in Jarabacoa or other places. There isn't a church in this area. There is a school that was built by a group of American's but it sits empty. It would be difficult for a 4x4 vehicle to reach this community, so we made a plan. Alexi, a believer from Nueva Vida Jarabacoa, knows Jordan and where he lives because his wife grew up there. Alexi would take his motorcycle to get Jordan. I would follow with my car and go as far as I dared (Fun!). And when we met up on the road, I would bring Jordan back in my car so that Jordan would be protected from the cold. This worked well, and we soon had Jordan with Dr. Fernando. After a checkup and x-rays, Dr. Fernando gave Jordan some medicine for pneumonia. And we brought Jordan home.

Today, Ivan and I decided to visit Jordan and see how he was doing. We decided to take motorcycles so that we could go all they way to Jordan's house. Alexi and Ivan rode on one bike and I was on my own. I was curious to see where Jordan lived and off we went. The trip to Jordan's house is. . . adventurous! Riding on un-mantained dirt roads/paths/??? is always an adventure. We drove up steep inclines and down them. Down is much more challenging, as when you apply the brakes, the motorcycle slides. We crossed streams and even drove down streams at times. At times, the trail was muddy and slippery, other times dry but it always was filled with deep ruts. After about 35 minutes of bumpy riding, we arrived.


Leaving our motorcycles, we climbed by foot onto a narrow ridge and there we found Jordan's house along with 3 others. Jordan's mom was not there, and Jordan was being cared for by an older man and 76 year old woman. We were warmly welcomed and encouraged to sit in chairs they brought out from a small wood house. As we sat, the woman told her husband to go and get some fruit so she could make some juice. I watched as he hopped off the ridge into the jungle to an orange tree, picked 3 oranges and came back. Very soon after, we were drinking orange juice. We talked with the couple for some time. The lady told me she was born here and she will die here. Alexi and the man had a lot of fun showing me (the American who knows nothing about life here) how they do things. It was fascinating. They lived without electricity and appeared to be completely self-sufficient. They did have running water - Using gravity, tubes brought water from a stream. Chickens were plentiful. Two goats were penned and a huge pig that had given birth to 7 piglets just 21 days earlier. Coffee trees were everywhere and a machine was there to remove the husk from the coffee bean. The man showed me furniture he had made and the tools he used. It was fascinating.

While there, a man arrived with a mule and two sacks of coffee and off the two men went to begin working with the coffee beans. Jordan's mom also arrived with 2 of Jordan's sisters. It was fun time as I was able to understand more about Jordan and where he comes from.

The situation with Jordan is not good. Praise God, it appeared that Jordan's pneumonia was gone. This is a blessing. But Jordan does not seem to be growing. He has little strength and eats little each day. Jordan turns 12 on January 3. I have not been around many kids that have the challenges that Jordan has.

The details are sketchy. When Jordan was young, he did receive care at a good facility in Santiago. While it is difficult to know the reasons, Jordan's family decided to bring him back to the mountain village. Perhaps, had he lived closer to a city, there would have been help.

Today was an emotional day. It was exciting and fascinating to meet people who live a very different life. I experienced the thrill of discovery! At the same time, I felt helpless before a small boy who needed so much help. What could I do to help these people? The distance alone is the most obvious reason that they have not received help.

Probably one of the biggest challenges we face is that day after day, we are bombarded by needs. In the US, I think I was very shielded from needs. Here, there is no shield. It is in your face. And there comes a point where you feel like helping is pointless. Now, I know it isn't, but there are those feelings. God is a God of change and with God, all things are possible!

Today was another day to trust God and may tomorrow be the same. There really is no better way to live.

[I am sorry I did not bring a camera on this trip. Photos came from Ivan who had taken them on a prior trip to see Jordan.]

Seminario Biblico (Biblical Seminary)

Finding qualified pastors is challenging here. Iglesia Nueva Vida of Jarabacoa presently has an American pastor. He will probably retire at some point in the next 5 years. Who will take his place? There are 4 daughter churches located in rural areas. None have pastors. How can we train leaders from the rural communities? There is a need for pastors for existing churches as well as newly established churches.

Fortunately for us, this challenge is not a new challenge. Missionaries all around the world are faced with the challenge of training nationals as pastors and teachers. As a result there are many resources available. Becky and I have evaluated a number of them. We looked for one that met the following criteria:

1. Free or very low cost: Cost alone removes education as a possibility for many people. The larger cities in the DR, have seminaries. But it isn't realistic for a person to go there, particularly after they have a wife and family. So, the study needs to come to the person and allow them to continue at their job so they can provide for their family.

2. Quality and Comprehensive: We wanted a plan that covers the whole Bible and focuses on on practical theology as well as understanding and teaching God's Word.

3. Transferable: A study that Dominicans can reproduce. Dominicans need to able to lead others through the study. And that is our plan. Those who participate are being asked to take others through the same study.

We found a school in Uruguay. Actually, United World Mission has connections with this school and one of our directors worked very closely with it. Its name is "Seminario Biblico de Las Américas." The school has a degree program but also offers certificate program with online courses that can be downloaded at no cost. Right now there are 10 courses available:

1. Doctrine of God
2. History of the Old Testament
3. Poets and Prophets in the Old Testament
4. Pauline Epistles
5. The Life of Christ
6. Homiletics
7. Christian Education
8. Evangelism
9. Sects and Religions
10. World Missions

Presently, Rick meets with six men each Thursday night. They are working through the first course, the Doctrine of God, and expect it to take about 2.5 - 3 months to complete. The courses could be completed on your own, but we feel that much more will be learned as we interact with one another. The men complete a lesson each week and come prepared to discuss the lesson.

While this looks like a good plan, we do have some concerns. Will men be dedicated to do the work? Educationally is this material beyond their ability? Is the reading level of the men sufficient to complete the study?

Dominicans tend to be Oral Learners. By "Oral Learners" we mean those people who learn best and whose lives are most likely to be transformed when instruction comes in oral forms. We are concerned that this curriculum is aimed at Literate Learners (most are). This may be a big challenge for developing those in the rural communities where many dropped out of school at a young age. Knowing this is a challenge, makes are meeting times all the more important since it is at those times that we are able to process and talk about the lessons.

Of course, all of these concerns will vary from person to person. We are excited about this opportunity. Dominicans, also have expressed a lot of interest. Rick's group is for men, and at some point, Becky would like to begin a similar group for women.

For those interested, the website for Seminario Biblico de las Americas is www.seminariobiblico.com

Men's Bible Study Starts in Buenos Aires

As I entered the village of Buenos Aires, people were going about their normal activities. Many were sitting around the different little house stores [imagine people selling things through a window of their house, one house sells bread, another chicken, etc]. Alex was working in one, butchering and selling chickens. Julio was standing outside the window, most likely waiting to buy food for dinner. They had invited me to come and help them with a Bible study in their village.

Buenos Aires is a village located in the hills, about 15 minutes from our home. It has a Nueva Vida church plant that began in the early 90's. Alex and Julio and another man, Don Chucho, lead the church, which does not have a pastor. In many ways, it seems to be the strongest of the 5 daughter church started by Nueva Vida in Jarabacoa. In March, I had offered to help the church and while we had many conversations, it didn't seem like much progress was being made. But a few weeks ago, Alex approached me about this study and now we were excited to begin.

I went out there, not really knowing what would happen. I prepared a small Bible study, but didn't want to "take over" if they had something going or had ideas. When I arrived, there were a little surprised to see me. They had decided to start the following week, but hadn't told me. But, as they said, since I am here, "let's start!" Within about 10 mintues, we had entered Julio's house and and 8 men had gathered. We sat in a room, around a table. The table almost completely filled the room. To get in, they pushed the table to one side against the wall. I squeezed down to the other end and some of the men sat down on the one side. Then they pushed the table as tight as they could to the other side, where the men were sitting and other men climbed in on the other side. With everyone in the spot, Julio and Alex introduced the men, sharing who was a believe are who was not. This was done very openly. I guess you can be blunt, when people are pretty much stuck in their seats. I laughed to myself about this, but even laughed more when we went to open in prayer. You see, the custom here is to stand when we pray...so you can imagine the commotion that developed as every tried to squeeze their way to their feet and then return to their seats after the prayer.

Julio and Alex shared they a Bible study option that was good for new believers, but they wondered if I had something that would be more fitting for this group. Thankfully I had prepared something. I shared a little about who I am, shared some rules and we began our study looking at 1 Corinthians 10:12-13. We had a good time as we discussed the temptations that man face, God's promises, and our response to temptation.

The groups ages range from 15 to 40. At this point, we have only met twice. At our second meeting we spent a lot of time helping the men understand how to find verses. The level of education really varies in the room. While I think most in the study can read, some are at a very low reading level. And numbers seem to be a challenge. For example, if I ask them to turn to page 1094, some would not be able to find the page. As a result, the table of contents is not as helpful. So we are taking our time, helping each person discover God's Word, how to use it and what it tells us about God.

Our study will focus on stories of the Bible. Most of the stories will be totally new for many of the men and as we read the stories we will focus on "Who God is" and "How God relates to people." Some questions we will consider include "Understanding who God is/Seeing what God has done here, what is your response? Can you trust God with your life, with your daily decisions?"

It is exciting to start this new study. Even more exciting is to be working with Julio and Alex. This is an opportunity to get to know them better and to encourage them to grow in confidence for leading Bible studies and teaching.

Be in prayer...each Saturday at 7 pm (more or less) Atlantic time, you can remember me and a group of men who are swooshed around a table, discovering who God is and how he relates to us.

Ruth, Our Hero

I arrived at El Montaña in the rain, dashing for the nearest porch.  Two women from the Bible study were there, chatting while they waiting for me to arrive.  After passing around cheek kisses and asking after family the following conversation ensued.

Rafaela:  I read the book you told us for this week.

Becky:  Really? And did you like it?

Rafaela:  Oh yes, it was very good and I read it for three days, so I know it.

Nory:   I read it too. I liked it.

Rafaela:  Do you know the story? How this woman goes to another land, see, and she marries and has sons who also marry.....then, I don't know how, her husband dies and then her sons die. (Pause) What could she do? She decided to go home, to her family, to the place where she was born, where she could live. But her two daughters, the wives of her sons... Ruth was one and what was the other?

Nory shrug:  It doesn't matter because she left.

Rafaela:  Yes, she left. At first they wanted to stay with Naomi, but Naomi said go home. What are you going to do, wait for me to have more sons so you can marry them? (Laughs) Imagine that, the old widow having a baby and her daughters-in-law waiting for him to grow up!

Nory:  That is funny!

Rafaela:  So other one left. But Ruth stayed! She was a good girl, see.

Nory:  Yes. She wouldn't leave her old widow mother-in-law. [Note: taking care of family, especially the elderly, is a Dominican cultural value.]

Rafaela:  She fell on her and cried.

Nory:  And she said, can you believe it, Where you go, I will go, where you stay, I will stay, where you die, I will die. And that was enough, so they went.

Rafaela:  Yes, where is a person to go when they are in grief and alone in the world. The only place is to go back home where you came from. Yes, and I am sure it was long, but they went, see.

Nory:  And Ruth, the darling, went with Naomi. How could Naomi go alone? She was an old widow. You can't leave an old widow alone.

Rafaela:  But the other one did. So they got home and they were poor. How could they find food? It was good to be home, but they had to find food, they had to survive. It ain't easy. I even think, what would I do if my husband died, and I have these children to feed. How can I earn a peso and leave them, but how could I send the boys out to get a peso? It gives me chills, so I pray for it not to happen.

Nory:   But it happens. You know how it was with me. You never know when your husband can die. I was so alone when he died suddenly. (Her husband died of lung cancer about 1 1/2 years ago) Only God knows what will happen. But look how he took care of me, just like Ruth. My daughters have good jobs and one is nearby. And now I am past the lonely hard times because of Jesus.  God will take care of you.

Rafaela:  So Naomi and Ruth had to find a way and Ruth went to the fields. You know they gathered the extra little bits, like what falls behind. [In the DR there is a somewhat similar custom, in that produce that hangs over the property line can be gleaned by a neighbor.]

Nory:  And there was a generous man, he was rich...Boaz, who made sure to tell his workers to leave extra for Ruth to pick up. He was part of the family, so he was good to her. So she worked for both (Ruth and Naomi) and they did it. Then Ruth was very clever and went to find him in the night and put his robe over her feet. So Boaz asked another man if he would take Ruth and when he said no, Boaz took her and they were married. Then everything was good. God knew how it would be.

Becky: Yes, God knew how it would be and He provided for them. That is what He did for you too. Your heart was broken and you went through so much when your husband died. But God knew.

We went on to talk about hardships in life and how God knows, how he provides a way. We also talked about one woman's concerns for her teenagers and her hopes that they will be good children like Ruth was. This led to talk about protecting our children, giving them rules and protection from outsiders who try to lure them into drugs and alcohol. I shared some examples of how my parents had taught me Christian values and protected me when I was young. Dominican parents are protective, but sometimes in the rural areas, children are given too much freedom to roam and so aren't supervised as their mothers are working hard at home or outside the home and fathers are either working or often hanging with their buddies drinking.

I have been meeting with these women weekly for most of the year.  Most of them have grown in their faith and Rafaela accepted Christ along the way.   This fall I have changed both the focus of our study and the method of study.   All the women in the study read, it is not their preferred learning style.  They learn much better from interacting and listening.  So I have begun to focus on stories in the Bible that communicate faith lessons.  As illustrated above, the story of Ruth really captured their hearts.  When this happens, they remember the Bible and I believe God brings His story into their hearts.  I have been encouraging the women to share these stories with their children and family.  Only God knows what kind of ripple effect this may have in the community.

Calvary Medical Team, August 2008

12 days, 12 adults and a baby (only 4.5 weeks old!), 4 different ministry sites, and over 450 people seen...all done with the purpose of loving people as God would love them.

It was an incredible time. As the team poured their care into Dominicans, we did our best to serve along side them and equip them for this time. What a joy it is to unleash a group of very gifted individuals and see them use their vocation for God.

Also exciting for us is that this is the first time Iglesia Nueva Vida and Students International have worked together. While some of our plans for doing ministry in the waiting rooms weren't realistic, Nueva Vida helped by sending translators and people to keep order among those who were waiting to be seen. The team stayed at Student International's camp and we worked along side SI missionaries Dr. Fernando (medical) and Dr. Vanessa (dental). While Students International acted as the host, we focused on the ministry sites, trying to make the most of this opportunity.

For more specific information, we decided to share in a question/answer format:

What kind of Clinics did you run? We had an eye clinic, a dental clinic, a medical clinic staffed with two doctors (one for adult and one for children), and a prayer clinic. Meaning...we did our best to pray with every person - while they waited to be seen and if possibly while they were seen with the doctor and nurses.
Was this connected with any of the church plants? Yes, in fact all our ministry took place in and around the church plants. In some situations, when the church building was too small, we used other buildings next to the church as well.

How did people get seen? Every day when we came to a church, there were already people waiting to be seen. We made a list under different categories and saw people based on the order of the list.

Did we see everyone? For medical and optometry, we were close. Certainly our desire was to see everyone, but I am sure people saw the lines and decided not to wait. The list for dentistry was always too long so we were not able to see everyone for that list. We also didn't not expect that the local people would invited friends and family from all over. For example, in Montaña, we thought 2 days would be enough time to see everyone from the village. That may have been the case, but on the second and third day we started to see people from surrounding villages. People even came from La Vega, a large city half an hour away. This wasn't a big problem, it just wasn't expect. In summary, there are more people left to be seen....but we did a pretty good job getting through those on the lists!

What kind of sicknesses did you encounter? We saw all kinds of sicknesses. The common cold, high blood pressure, fungal and skin infections, baby wellness checks, broken bones, burns, and on and on. The most serious was a small child who had Dengue Fever and was not doing well at all. We ended up putting her in the hospital and we monitored her until her condition was better. There is much more to the story but I will save that for another time.

Did you have medicine to give them? Yes, the team brought suitcases full of medicine. They came prepared and we set up a little pharmacy there in our clinic. We didn't have everything that was needed, but most. The team brought a pharmacist to help with this process. And at times, we bought medicine depending on the need.

Will there be any follow-up? Yes, we believe so! Dr. Fernando and Dr. Vanessa are talking about returning to each of the locations that we ministered on a regular basis. This will allow for some follow-up of the more severe cases. People also have the opportunity to see Drs. Fernando and Vanessa in their clinics in Jarabacoa at a reduced rate. One of the biggest challenges to follow-up is the cost of medicine. People don't have money for medicine, so they reason "why go to the doctor?"

How has this helped the church plants? In a country with so many needs, it is important for the local church to address some of these needs. This medical team allowed the church plants to do just that. Possibly when people walk past each of the Nueva Vida church plants, they will remember "that is where people helped me." Possibly, when Becky and I enter the community, the people will be more open to us because they know we love them and helped them in a very significant way. Possibly when Students International returns they will have even more opportunities.

It is hard to measure the results of these two weeks. More then the medicine given, we continually prayed that people would experience God's love. We hope that the church plants become instruments of love in their communities.

How do you feel? We ended the two weeks feeling like we had physically and emotionally poured ourselves out. And isn't that the way it should be? We just want to continually give God the glory for anything good that happened. We feel very inadaquate to respond to the needs that we see all around us, but we know we God is more than adequate. He is able and we trust Him. All glory goes to Him!

Beware: Green men have arrived....

August 21, 2008
For the last six weeks or so Jarabacoa residents have been undergoing persecution. It has been very "duro" (hard) to get around town on a motorcycle without being stopped by AMET, the transit police. Yes, in July the green meanies, previously only seen in Santiago and Santo Domingo, showed up and began issuing 500 peso (US$15) tickets and impounding motorcycles. No helmet, no insurance? Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Instead, go directly (on foot) to the Shell station where they have a "special" on insurance and helmets: 500 pesos (US$15). Note: 500 pesos would equal a day's wage for many in this area. There are additional fines for missing lights and people have actually received parking tickets!

But more and more people are traveling with helmets and we no longer feel so out of place. What is funny is that the helmet is sometimes a handlebar ornament so it can be whipped on if AMET is sited. Often the chin strap is flapping in the wind. The guys wear the helmet on top of their baseball caps. Some dominicans are finding alternate routes to avoid checkpoints or "scheduling" their trips during times when AMET seems to be off-duty. They are just waiting for AMET to leave since AMET has visited Jarabacoa in the past and left after a while. But I recently caught this posting on DR1 which makes me think AMET may be here for the long haul.

http://www.dr1.com/forums/government/77661-i-saw-part-gubmint-actually-work-last-night.html

We will wait and see like the rest of Jarabacoa, but we hope our fair city is changing for the better and taking a bite out of crime and motorcycle accident deaths, which is the leading cause of death for men aged 20-44.

Update: September 15, 2008...the Green men have left (all but a few and they don't seem to do give out fines anymore). As one Dominican said to us, they got their money and have gone home. So much for safety!

Loss

Many of our blog entries focus on ministry or fun adventures. Some have dealt with cultural challenges. This entry is written because I don't ever want to forget it. It wasn't fun, but it was real and something that we will have to deal with the longer we stay.

Yesterday afternoon, Becky and I were talking about the situation in one of the church plants, named Boma. All of sudden, Joely arrived and after the typical greetings, shared that Geralda's father had died. We spoke of Geralda in one of our entries in the past (). Geralda and her daughter Danya have become a part of our family.

So we quickly cleared our schedule and asked how we could help. The obvious way for us to help was to help transport family members up to their dad's home in the mountains . For those who have been here, it is close to the town of Manabao. Because it was late in the afternoon and most likely I would be returning in the dark, we decided that I, Rick, would go.

But first, Becky went to Geralda's home to see how she was doing and help get them ready for the trip. She was met with what you would expect in a household in the immediate throes of grief. Many tears, a bit of chaos, cleaning and packing. A friend of Geralda's was there cleaning the house so it would be ready when the family returned. Geralda's was gathering necessary items to take to Manabao. We fell into an embrace of tears for a few minutes and then Geralda continued to pack. Very quickly we were on our way to her sister's house where there were more tears and hugs. Finally we went to the public hospital where her father actually died.

This was VERY emotional as many of the family friends were outside the hospital (there isn't a waiting area inside). Geralda felt she and her sister should go into see her father's body, but fortunately the attending doctor came out and talked with them about his death. Apparently he was brought down from the hospital because he was not feeling well. In the past he has had some type of kidney problem. However, he suffered a heart attack and died as the doctor was attempting to treat him. The doctor discouraged them from trying to see the body and encouraged them to go to the family home in Manabao and await transportation of the body there for burial. So Becky drove the family to our house where they had some lemonade before leaving for Manabao.

We drove about 45 minutes, mostly in silence. A few times, I could not help but comment on the beauty. I was seeing places for the first time. When we reach Manabao, we continued on toward the next town and the end of the road. At some point, we turned off the dirt road down a smaller dirt road and traveled for about a mile. Finally, we came to a small intersection and Geralda told me to park. There was not place to park, so I just stopped my car on the road. If another car came (very unlikely) I would have to move my car.

Walking down a smaller side road/path, we came to a house. Men, women and children were there. And you could feel the grief. Geralda's father was laying in his casket just inside his house. The casket was closed but had a window so you could see his head. Geralda, her sister and a friend all entered the house and fell by the casket, bursting into tears. Emotions were released as they wailed and screamed in grief. Family members and neighbors tried to comfort them, but how could you comfort someone who has just lost their father?

The men mostly stayed outside the house. Some came bringing big logs. Another had an axe and began to chop the wood so that they could make a fire so they could cook a meal for everyone that was there. Women worked in the kitchen. Some women sat around the casket and held a Mass. People continued to arrive. When I left, there were probably 70 people there. People would continue to arrive. The next morning, they would bury Geralda's dad.

I drove home, bringing back one lady to her home in Jarabacoa. We talked along the way, but my mind couldn't let go of what I had seen. In the United States, we have professionals who help us through times of death. Here, the family and neighbors take care of what needs to be done. I knew this, but to see it first hand, was shocking. And today, I am in shock.

We have come to love these people. To experience this time with them is truly an honor. I am an outsider, not knowing any except Geralda and her daughter Danya. But even in this terrible time of grief, this family seemed conscious to care for me. I didn't want that, I wanted to care for them and help in however I could.

From talking with Geralda, we understand that her dad accept Christ as his Savior at an early age. He was known for carrying his Bible and studying it. We never had the opportunity to meet him here on earth, but look forward to the day when we can meet him in heaven.

It was a good day...

We were up at 7 am and we began the tumultuous routine of getting Ben and Elena off to school. At 7:50 they took off with Rick on the motorcycle as Geralda, our housekeeper, arrived and delighted the dogs with their breakfast. Geralda and I shared a cup of coffee and I scanned the headlines on CNN. Rick returned from dropping the kids off and started his morning session of emails, planning and study.

I looked through some potential training materials on the web and searched for a book in Spanish on women in the Bible. Other miscellaneous office tasks took up some more time. Then it was time to hit the gym at about 9:30. I got a list of house cleaning supplies from Geralda to pick from the colmado (neighborhood grocery store) on my way home. I bravely put on Rick's motorcycle helmet and took off. I am trying to expand my use of the motorcycle beyond picking up the kids from school and running errands in the neighborhood.

A side note: We joined a gym in early May and are really loving it. It is not like any American gym we have ever seen, but it works. The upstairs is for women and the downstairs for men. This is great because I feel stared at enough on the street without having men watch me work out too. The men's section is mostly nautilus equipment as Dominican men like to stay buff. The women's section has two treadmills, a stairclimber that doesn't work, a bunch of exercise bikes, free weights and some machines, and an aerobics area complete with steps, ballet rail, balance balls, and a big Dominican sound system. It also has a sauna which I will never use because it smells funny and saunas bother my asthma.

So I headed off to the gym with The Chronicles of Narnia and Bible stories in Spanish loaded on my mp3 player. I successfully navigated the back streets to the gym!! And parked without making a fool of myself. After doing some weight lifting, I got on the treadmill, intending to put in a good 3 mile hike with my Narnia friends. Yeah, well, exactly 5 minutes into my walk the power went out, so I switched to an exercise bike and biked until the sweat was pouring off me. The gym is pretty comfortable to work out in as long as the ceiling fans are going full tilt, but they went with the treadmill when the power cut. On the way home I stopped at the colmado and acquired half my list of supplies. No store ever has everything on my list at one time. But I said hi to a neighbor and talked to the colmado owner, who's daughter goes to Doulos with my kids.

Once home it was time for a bucket bath...yes the power was out at home too and although our inverter keeps the lights etc running, it does not run the water pump or the water heater. So we have very low pressure with water draining from the tank on the roof. A shower was not an option. Oh well, the cold water cooled me off! By this time it was 11:30 and I checked to see how Geralda was doing before dismissing her and starting lunch.

Rick brought the kids home at noon since this last week of school is all half days. We had a dominican lunch of rice and chicken. After lunch the kids changed and got busy playing (and eventually at loggerheads, which is not typical). The landlady stopped by to pick up the rent and discuss the need to replace the street extension on our driveway. Hopefully it will get done before we have completely pulverized the chunks of concrete that have been breaking up for, like, six months!

After lunch I took the laundry off the line to get it out of the sun. Geralda folds it the next day, so I just lay it in a stack. (Believe me I would love to fold it, but it is definitely her turf so I don't even try.) It is a hot day and so an iced tea on the cool front porch with my Bible and study materials for my 4:00 group is just the ticket. The topic is "What it means to really be a Christian." The material we are studying was written by Pastor Bill Hanson and is really good for clarifying the truths of Scripture versus the religious traditions here.

Each Monday I meet with a couple of women: Yanet accepted Christ last fall and has been faithful reading her Bible, but finds it hard to go to church with three young, active children. Rafaela has recently joined this study and has a strong Catholic background and lots of question. Josefina, Fina for short, has been a believer for over a year and Ramona, one of the leaders in the church, has been discipling her. Fina and I lead the study together as a way of mentoring her into the role of study leader. Just two weeks ago her husband accepted Christ in the Bible study Rick and Damaso (the lay pastor) lead on Wednesdays. Last week we didn't really study because Yanet's two year old was really sick and we spent sometime deciding if he needed to see a doctor and then praying for him. (When I stopped in on Yanet the next day he was doing much better, praise God).

After finishing preparations for Bible study, I once again took off on the motorcycle, making my first two-wheeled trip to my favorite supermarket, the Cofre. I actually bought everything on my list!! It was only six things, but finding everything on my list in one store is a rarity! I packed my bags on the motorcycle, wishing I had brought my backpack, and began the trip home. One bag shifted and I had to stop in front of a school to fix it. Nice to have about 50 kids staring at me while I do this! Off I went again and drove without a mishap until I started bumping up our steep hill. Off went the TP and the floor cleaner. A chivalrous workman picked it up for me and held the back of my bike while I got going up the steep hill again.

Time to hit the shower again and get ready for my bible study. The power was back on! Even though it is still pretty hot here in Jarabacoa, I always wear pants to Bible study in el Montana. First, the bugs will eat me alive if I don't, and second it is always cooler there than here because it is higher.

Now, for the best part of the day......I arrived a little late for Bible study and the ladies (by the way they prefer to be called ladies/damas, not women/mujeres) were waiting for me. "What has happened, Rebecca?" Fina asked as she kissed me on the cheek. You see, they know that as an American I am always on time. (Sort of funny since in the US I am always late.) If I am late something must have gone wrong. As it was I had some tough parenting to do before I left the house. "Ay, Yay, yay my kids were in my hair," I said and they all understood. After the kissing and greeting was done, we settled down to study, What does it really mean to be Christian? Can you be born a Christian, does being baptized make you a Christian? We looked as Scriptures such as John 3, where Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born again, and Romans 10:9-13, where we read that if we believe in our heart and confess with out mouth Jesus as Lord we are saved.

Rafaela, pictured on the far right in black shirt, really identified with the idea of being born again. She said that she really feels new and sees changes in her life since she started praying regularly, reading the Bible, and learning in Bible Study. She shared a few examples of changes and slyly looked at Yanet, her friend and neighbor, saying "You can hear what goes on in my house and what is coming out of my mouth. You must know that the Holy Spirit is changing me!" In this small community you can often spit into your neighbor's house from inside your own. There aren't a lot of secrets kept. I could see the glow and softness on Rafaela's face as she talked. She has accepted Christ as her personal Savior! She wants to give her testimony in church on Sunday.

How has this come about? Not through any special effort on my part outside of prayer, I assure you. For sometime her boys, Rafael and Alejandro, have been attending the church's kid's club on Saturdays. They sometimes come to church where they have a hard time sitting still and not stealing hats off their friends. Who knew they were going home and telling their Mom all about what they were learning? In November a evangelistic group of California came and shared the gospel hand in hand with Dominican believers throughout the neighborhood. I know they visited with this family, but my impression was they were just curious to see what all the commotion was about with Americans tramping through the village. Rafaela asked to join the Bible study in April and now she has gone from nominal Catholic to true believer!

After Bible study I stopped and chatted with Rafaela's 8th grade daughter, Zuleika. She is curious about who I am and wants to practice her English with me, but I am praying she sees the change in her Mom and comes to know Jesus as well.

I headed home about 6 o'clock up and down hills, around curves enjoying the mountains all around, praising God. When I arrived home, Ben dashed out to open our driveway gate and Elena appeared at the door having just finished her nightly bath. I whipped up fajitas, cut up a pineapple (they cost about $1.25) and over dinner told the family all about Bible study, how God had healed littly Bernie (Yanet's son who was sick), Rafaela's new faith and my prayers for Zuleika.

After we cleaned up dinner Ben and I played a few hands of cards while Elena beat Rick at a computer game, we read stories and packed the kids off to bed. Now I sit writing this and sipping decaf coffee, which is a rare treat. (To my knowledge, Jarabacoa supermarkets have only recently begun keeping decaf in stock. It is more than twice the price of regular coffee and not nearly as good.)

Tomorrow is mail day, which means a trip down the mountain to the airport and restocking some items we like to buy in Santiago. Then it is back up the mountain and another women's Bible study in El Montana. This one is larger with 6-8 women each week.

A few prayer requests for Montana:

1. Pray that new believers grow and are strengthened so that God can raise them up as lights in their community and leaders in the church.

2. Pray for greater interest and attendance in the men's Bible study.

3. Pray for the many women who are new believers and whose husbands are not interested spiritually. May these women follow the instructions in 1 Peter and allow God to work in their husband's lives in His time.

4. Pray for Damaso as he ministers there faithfully, but is in need of full time employment to support his family. Pray for Ramona, who has led most of the new believers to Christ. She is so faithful and hard working, but longs to see her own husband follow Christ with her.

Whew, what a long entry! Good night...sleep well. You know, God may be all over the world during the day, but he sleeps in Jarabacoa! [a local saying!]

God has you "Covered"

In an earlier post we shared how surprised we have been with the limited Bible knowledge of the Dominicans in the smaller communities (campos). But we need to add - when Dominicans discover God's truth for our lives, they put it to action. For example:

Every week, there is a Bible study at the house of Gladys and Melvin. Melvin has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheel chair. Their house is quite small; Gladys has three other sons. They don't have much but are thankful for what they do have. Unfortunately, when it rains, water comes in through the roof in many places. April and May can be very rainy and so when rain came during Bible study the group had to crush into one of the corners where there are less leaks.

Recently, they were studying the early church, specifically Acts 2:43-47. It says:

43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

A few days later, one of the ladies from the Bible study approached us and said they had decided they needed to collect money and fix Gladys and Melvin's roof. They wanted to know if we would contribute (and of course we would). They had a plan and they were getting quotes on how much the materials when cost when God brought the project to the ears of a politician who needed to buy favor among the people (and votes). The election being right around the corner, he purchased all the materials and had them delivered. Now the church only had to pay someone to install the new roof.

Looking back, it would have been extremely difficult for the church in Montana to raise enough money quickly to fix that roof. God knew this. He knew the need and provided a way to make it happen. And that is what God does!!!

It was exciting for us to study a passage and then a few days later hear of people living out what they had just studied.

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Our Little Princess

This is a very late post, but such is life!  Elena turned 6 on Easter Sunday.  The only time in her lifetime that she will share her birthday with the commemoration of our Lord's resurrection.  Elena invited her friends for a party on Saturday.  Since it was also Spring break, there were a few who couldn't come. Below are pictured the guests: in the back row are Danya, Aliya, and Natalie.   To the left of Elena are Alina and her cousin, Leticia.  The girls had a wonderful time being princesses, taking dominican hot chocolate as tea and birthday cake.  The whole party was in Spanish since some of the girls only spoke Spanish.  (Two of the girls are fellow MKs.)

Politics and the Price of Rice

The CNN headlines have been full of the economic woes in the U.S.  Banks are foreclosing on homes.  Gas, milk, flour, rice, all apparently hitting record prices and hitting people in the pocket book.  We have been out of the States long enough that the economy and way of life are beginning to seem a bit foreign to us.  We have also heard the reports of rising food prices around the world.

Prices in the Dominican Republic have risen also and we have been asked by friends, family and supporters how we are doing.  We are doing fine, thanks to the faithful support of many and our attempts to "dominicanize."  On May 16 the incumbent president, Leonel Fernandez (known simply as Leonel), was re-elected by a good margin.  Everyone was glad that this was accomplished in the first round, eliminating the need for a run off as can happen in a country with about 10 political parties.  Our Dominican friends predict that prices will rise astronomically after the elections as the current administration has kept things under control to get re-elected.  No one is going to vote for you if they don't have enough to eat right?  We have not seen a big price change yet, thankfully.

The price of rice has risen here.  It is now about 65 cents per pound.  The DR produces more rice than it consumes, so we don't face importing rice to supply the demand. However, since most Dominicans eat rice and red beans every day any rise in rice prices is keenly felt.  A couple of other staples have gone up dramatically.  The price of plantains has risen by at least 50% since the hurricanes of November and December destroyed much of the crop.  There have been widespread reports of plantain thefts recently and the farmers are calling for government patrols to prevent the losses.  Table bananas have also risen and are considered outrageously expensive.

Here is a rundown of prices just in case you are curious.  The prices are in US currency:

Rice .65/pound

Boxed Milk 5.34/gallon (long shelf life, boxed, sold by the liter)

Powdered Milk 4.30/gallon (this tastes closest to "real" milk)

Eggs 1.10/dozen 

Plantains  .25 each

Potatoes .45 to $1/pound

Pasta .75/pound

Chicken .60/pound

Steak 4.00/pound

Gasoline 5.75/gallon (the government sets the price)

Since a large percentage of Dominicans spend most of their income on food, any significant rise really hurts.  We know a few single parent families where the cost of feeding their family is now greater than their weekly income; and these are families who are fortunate enough to have steady jobs.  Viewed from another angle, the average income is about 1/6th of the average income in the U.S.  So multiply all those numbers by 6 and think of paying the bill on your income.  Imagine paying $34 per gallon for gas and you may feel the painful reality of life here for most Dominicans.

I realized recently that the "price of rice" was really stressing me out.  As I have prayed and pondered about this I have come to realize that the tension of my faith in God and the reality of a hungry, needy world.  It is one thing when that hungry, needy world appears on the news.  It is another when I personally know and interact with them.  

Nueva Vida Church takes a food offering each week that is distributed to those in need.  The church also fixes a meal every Saturday morning for the elderly and street kids who desperately need a meal.  (The kitchen was built this past summer by the Calvary EFC team.)  Our hope is this communicates the love of Christ where it really counts.

I believe that God promises to "give us this day our daily bread."  I have never lacked for my basic needs of love, security, food, clothing, and shelter.  I admit I have been discontent with my portion, but that is my immaturity and ungratefulness, not God's lack of love and provision.  But many Dominicans do lack these basics.  Why?  God loves them.  God's promises are trustworthy.  It is true that some spend what little they have on alcohol and women, but many are hardworking, honest folks.   It just isn't fair; evil abounds.  The consequences of sin are not just eternal and they aren't just for the sinner him or herself.   This is painful to witness, much more painful to experience.  

One of the difficult realities we are learning to adjust to is that government and officials are not necessarily motivated to make decisions or use resources to improve the country or the lives of the poor.  I am not so naive as to think that everyone in power in the U.S. seeks those positions for the welfare of others.  But the Dominican Republic has a long, strong history, starting with Christopher Colombus, of people seeking power simply to exploit anyone and everything.  Getting into politics through election or appointment can be a way to get rich quick.

In all this, I return to God's Word and submit myself to His perfect will.  I will never fully understand His purpose in allowing suffering and injustice, but I know His desire is for each of us to cast our cares on Him for there is no other hope in this world apart from the Cross.  I see that it is the suffering from our own wrongdoing or the consequences of others that bring us to the end of our coping and drive us to the Only Answer, Jesus Christ.  I hope that doesn't sound trite, because I find myself continually coming to the Creator of the Universe worn out by the troubles around me to find rest in His presence.  It isn't up to me to solve all the problems in the Dominican Republic (We'd really be in trouble then!).  It's up to God and I believe He will, in His time.

Present Strategy for the Church Plants

This post is a follow-up to the post "A Glimpse at the History of Nueva Vida and its Church Plants". If you not read that post, you may wish to before reading this one.

There are so many opportunities to minister. We could easily fill up our time with many good activities. But what is it that God has called us here to do? We wrote a post on this, titled "Why are we here?", dated October 25, 2007. In that post, we spoke of three areas of focus. This posting, looks at one of those areas - Church Planting.

Church Planting: In October we wrote "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."

Two days each week, Nueva Vida in Jarabacoa has been sending out men who act as pastors to each of the daughter churches. Typically the men go to the villages and a service starts. The music is provided by the local people. Sometimes the young children will lead the singing (we love this). And the pastor sent from Jarabacoa gives the message. Once the service is done, everyone goes home. Over the years, they have tried assigning churches to a specific man and recently they were rotating the men weekly to the different church plants. Currently, they are assigning men to churches so that relationships can deepen.

It isn't easy to go to all the churches. Montana, Salto and Los Calabazos are all about 20 minutes away. Buenos Aires is closer, at 10 minutes and Boma is the furthest at 35 minutes and hardest to get to. All have good paved or dirt roads right to the building, with the exception of Boma.

To get to Boma, you follow a windy, up and down, paved road. Shortly after the pavement turns to gravel, you come to a opening with a little store. Here it seems the main road breaks up into two smaller roads. Take the road to the right and it dead ends into a river. In the past, when the water was low, you could drive threw the river and continue on. Tropical storm Noel, in November, washed out the road on the other side of the river. Presently, only motorcycles and people on foot can continue. After crossing the river, follow a path across some beautiful country. Finally you will come to a steep hill and after climbing the hill, you will arrive in the village of Boma. If it rains, the river may not be passable.

We are impressed that Nueva Vida is doing this and has been doing this for about 20 years. Yes, more needs to be done, but for these men that go, this takes quite a bit of commitment.

The feeling among everyone is that we need to build leaders within the communities. Each of the church plants needs a local leader who is able to pastor the people. Nueva Vida in Jarabacoa would continue in a supporting role, but the local leadership would have more ownership in the small churches.

The question then is, how do we create leaders? Many of the church plants are very small and have some big struggles (as noted in "A Glimpse at the History of Nueva Vida and its Church Plants"). Presently our strategy is to work with the Dominicans to start Bible studies for men and women at each of the church plants. As men and women grow in their knowledge of Scripture, it will strengthen the church. We are praying that leaders will come out of these Bible studies. Of course, our Bible studies study the Bible, but we are also using them to help the people how to study the Bible, how to lead a Bible study, and how to care for one another.

Right now, we are focusing in Montana.

Montana is largely a church of women and children. Two women's Bible studies existed in October. Becky has been working with those studies and helping Ramona equip the other women to lead the studies. In November, Becky and Ramona started a new study as a response to the November outreach. And now, they are looking at starting another. Last week, a lady came to the group and asked why she and her friends hadn't been invited to a Bible study. It seems, going to Bible study is the "in" thing in this small community. So Becky is preparing to help Josefina start one more study for ladies!

Rick and Damaso have started a men's Bible study. It took some time to get this started. Now, every Wednesday, they go out to Montana. While we have had many men come, two men in particular are there every week. One, though not yet a believer, is soaking up every word and reading the Bible between our meetings. Each week Damaso and I remark on the way home, how fun it is to study God's word with people who are discovering it for, what seems to be, the first time. Bible studies aren't the "in" thing for the men of the community. But then, if two men get excited about who God is and start sharing with the other men in the community...what might happen?

We have learned a lot from our time in Montana. We have seen, once again, the value of small group Bible studies. As the men and women interact with God's Word, it is obvious that they are learning. As I said, we pray that leaders will rise up out of the Bible studies. Because of the lack of Biblical knowledge, this may take some time. But we are confident that we are heading the right direction.

In addition, Rick has traveled spent some time with the leaders of Buenos Aires and Los Calabasos. We shared with them about what we are doing in Montana and offered to help them start similar Bible studies in their communities.

Please be in pray for us, for these communities and for these Bible studies.

Kids Say The Darnedest Things....

and so do their parents!

It was hard not to crack up when Ben and Elena were singing the "Rick and Becky, sittin' in a tree" chant and threw in Adam and Eve. It came out "Adam and Even, sittin' in a tree" when Ben started to laugh, Elena declared "It's true they loved each other, I saw the movie!!" Then followed a discussion about who could kiss whom. Boys would never kiss boys, Elena seemed to think only Mommy and Daddys could kiss each other on the lips, but Ben pointed out that he had seen his teacher's boyfriend kiss her. Elena then declared that they were going to get married, right Mom? Well....

One of the kids' teachers recently had a motorcycle accident, severely fracturing his leg. He had surgery in Santiago (about 45 minutes away). As I related this to our housekeeper who attends their church, I said in Spanish, "It sure was a blessing Mark was wearing a basket on his head because he flew off the bike and landed on the ground." Our housekeeper kindly shared with me the difference between a basket (canasta) and a helmet (casco).

The kids understand that our job is to teach others about Jesus. After a few months of regular Bible study in Montana, Ben asked how much longer I, Becky, would be going there. I said, "For a while yet." He frowned and said, "How long is it going to take for them to figure it out!! It says it about Jesus right in the Bible!" Ahh, if only it were so simple.

Elena is learning to read this year. It is fun to sit down with books and watch her sound out the words and read a whole beginner book by herself. One of her favorite big kid books is a World Atlas for kids. She mostly looks at the pictures, but a couple of weeks ago tried to read a page about animals. Suddenly she declared, "Mommy, they put Spanish words in this book!" I went to look and she pointed to "gorilla." She was quite miffed that the writers would do such a thing and I had a hard time convincing her that "gorilla" is spelled the same in both languages but pronounced differently in each. Although Ben added his older brother advice to the discussion, she continued to frown at the page.

We speak spanglish. We find that we sometimes say odd things in English like, "That tool won't serve" or "I terminated my homework" These being direct translations of the Spanish words. We do the same in reverse, getting odd looks from our Dominican friends at times. But when you are grasping for a word, sometimes it is expedient to spanishize an English word since there are so many similarities. Occasionally you can get yourself in trouble though. We are thankful for dominicanisms that come from english. For example, "tape" is taypee," mop is "swape" (as in swab the deck), and a lid is "tapa" as in "top." None of these examples are really Spanish words! In Guatemala we had to use the actual Spanish words, but the dominicanisms are far easier for us to remember.

A Glimpse at the history of Nueva Vida and its Church Plants

In 1991 a relationship was formed by Iglesia Nueva Vida of Jarabacoa (NV) and Calvary EFC in Rochester, MN. NV had a vision to plant 1000 churches. They needed help, specifically in the area of building church buildings.
Calvary felt that they could help and a relationship was formed. Over the years, five different church plants were started and since 1991, Calvary sent teams every other summer.

We joined this relationship in 1997. At that time, Rick was a Youth Pastor. From 1997 – 2006, Rick led the mission trips from Calvary to Jarabacoa. Rick worked hard to bring teams that focused on equipping Dominicans, but found that only so much could be done on a short trip. Year after year, we saw the church plants in the same position, with little growth. Nueva Vida in Jarabacoa was doing its best to help the small church plants, but with limited manpower combined with the pastoral changes, they had to place more emphasis in their home church. It was obvious that help was needed. We started praying for someone to fill this need. And slowly God began to call us out of our role in the United States and into this new role.

In recent years, Nueva Vida in Jarabacoa went through a lot of change. They struggled in leadership and while their leaders were good men, things had deteriorated. In 2005, the church was at a crossroads. Numbers were down and people were divided. At the same time, Bill Hansen, one of the founding members of the church, returned to the area. Bill assumed the role of interim pastor. Bill, being a man of integrity and having an excellent reputation in the church and community, was trusted by both sides of the divided church and was able to bring stability to Nueva Vida. Over the last 2.5 years, the Jarabacoa church has grown considerably. When we arrived in May of 2007, we were amazed and praised God for the changes that we saw since our previous visit in 2005.

Nueva Vida doesn’t talk about planting 1000 churches right now. They want to get the five church plants established before others are started. At the same time, it is obvious that Nueva Vida is a church that will continually be planting churches. In the last 10 months, we have seen two new works begun in different locations by members of the church. These are potential new churches. While there are not formal plans to start new churches, it seems to be happening spontaneously.

The biggest challenge we see for Nueva Vida in Jarabacoa is to prepare for the day when Pastor Bill leaves. Bill has brought a lot of stability. Who will be the next pastor? Will things fall apart when he does leave? What can be done now to help prepare? These are all questions that we think and pray about. Naturally, a strong mother church will be better prepared to help the small churches. And while things are going pretty well now, we know that it could change.

Because we see a strengthened church in Jarabacoa, we have turned our focus toward the church plants. In our short time here, we have begun to understand more deeply the changes that face that small church plants. The main areas of struggle are:

1. Bible Knowledge - The people in the small churches have very little Bible knowledge. In our Bible studies we have been surprised by how little is known about some of the more popular stories. Generally, the women know a lot more then the men. While the women may know the stories of the Bible, the men tend to be familiar with Bible characters, but not the stories. For example, their knowledge of Moses may be based on the 1956 film The 10 Commandments (Charlton Heston).

Reasons for this are too complex to share in detail here (Possibly we will do a posting on Dominican learning styles). Most Dominicans are able to read at a functional reading level. But in the rural areas, generally they do not read to learn. Instead, they just follow what a trusted person says. In the church, they rarely question what they are told. We have not seen a lot of emphasis studying and equipping. Below the surface, there are deep historical and cultural beliefs that play into this.

2. Lack of Leaders - The small church plants struggle because in their communities, many of the leaders have left. The villages or campos, have few businesses. So the people who have the drive to make something of themselves. They tend to go to the city, maybe Jarabacoa, or the coast where there is opportunity for them. This makes sense, but for the church, it presents a challenge. The small church plants need leaders with vision that live within the communities.

3. The Social Grip of Catholicism - Being Catholic, speaks of someone's identity. A Catholic may not attend Mass, but there is a strong feeling that the church is your family. It is ok for someone to accept Christ. But newly saved believers, will not come to church. Entering an Evangelical church is like turning your back on your family. This makes it hard for the church to grow in numbers.

Note: These challenges are very specific to the village situations that we are working. If we were working in a large city, the people would be different. We even see a big difference between the village or campo people and those in Jarabacoa.

Men's Bible Study Begins!

Last night was our first Bible study for men in the village of Montana. I left pretty certain that 2 of the men would be there and was hoping for a third. When I arrived at the home of one of the men [Man #1], his wife said told Damaso and I that he left in the morning and had not returned. She wasn't sure when he would be back. Then we yelled to the neighbor [Man #2] who was also supposed to come, and his wife looked out the door to say, she wasn't sure where he was. The third man [Man #3] was there, but I wasn't surprised by that. Damaso and I stood there and while I wondered, what are we going to do now, Damaso carried on in conversation with the first man's wife. Somehow they got talking about music and she walks out with a Micheal Jackson "Thriller" album (yes, the vinyl). [excuse the tangent, but...isn't that a collector's item?].

After a while, Damaso looks at me and says "What do you want to do?" I replied "Let's take some time and talk about our plans for future weeks." As we were doing that, Victor walks up. Now Victor is the only one that said he definitely would not be there this week, because he had to work. So, the 3 men that said they would come, are not there, but the one who said he couldn't come...is there! Maybe we should plan to meet when no one can make it?!?

Victor is a believer and so I explained to him our plan. As we were doing that, Man #3 shows up. At this point, we had been there for 45 minutes and time was running short. I am pleasantly surprised to see Man #3 and wanting to make the best of the remaining time, I suggest we talk a little about why we study the Bible and the format we will use.

I asked the question "Why should anyone study the Bible?" The men started answering right away and the 3rd man said "I don't know anything about the Bible. I haven't really read it, but I think that I should. If I study it, I will start to understand who God is." Ok...stop right there. Will you please pray that this man would discover who God is? Will you please continue to lift us up in your prayers? It is very obvious to us that we are in a war. The men in this country are missing out on the riches of knowing God. Please be in prayer that this man will continue to come to the study and that he will discover who God is.

After more conversation, I then ask "How is it that you can study the Bible?" Various answers were given and then I shared our method of using the questions [we shared these in a previous blog entry]. We then decided to try it with one verse and we looked at 1 Corinthians 10:13.

It was fun and exciting to open God's Word with these 3 men. During our study, the first man arrived home and joined us. He apologized and promised that he would definitely be there next week [but we know that that means!!!!]. Next week, we meet in the home of Man #3. We hope he is there!

Thank you for our prayers!

Are We There Yet?

You know how your kids keep asking "Are we there yet?" when you go on the road? It is a sign of impatience and sometimes a lack of understanding time and distance. We have our own version of this travel game called, "Are we ready to start yet?" We play it with Dominicans on a regular basis. Below is an example.

For Valentine's Day, Iglesia Nueva Vida in Jarabacoa planned an outreach. Anyone from church was invited to bring an unbelieving guest, or guests, to a dinner and party. Our friend, Ramona, who leads woman's Bible studies in Montana thought this would be a perfect time to invite the husbands of the women attending the Bible Study. We jumped in on this idea and agreed to help with transportation as Montana is about 15-20 minutes up a good but windy highway from Jarabacoa. Ramona had about 10 people wanting to come. What a great opportunity for the guys to take their wives into Jarabacoa for a free Valentine's Dinner and hear about the origin of love, Jesus Christ! We were all excited.

In true American form, we planned to leave our house at 6:00, round up our guests so we could leave Montana by 6:40 and arrive at the dinner on time. Hehehe. We left our house a bit late, but arrived in Montana "on time" in the pouring rain. With Ramona, we stopped in to let each couple we had arrived. Within 10 minutes a few made the dash through the rain and climbed into our truck. We counted to see who was missing. One man changed his mind, but his wife came anyway. Had anybody seen Alvaro (not his real name)? Rick went to Alvaro's house and found out his wife didn't know the dinner was tonight. She wasn't dressed for the dinner and was relaxing in a chair. She made a call to Alvaro to find out what was going on. Responding quickly, Alvaro came in on his moto, wet from driving home from work. He looked surprised to see us. When is the dinner? Now? Ohoh. I forgot, I'll go see if my wife is ready. Soon he came back under an umbrella to say that since he hadn't told his wife the time, she wasn't ready and didn't think she could go.

Well, we didn't want her to miss out. Firstly, Alvaro's wife isn't a believer. When the November team was here, Rick and some team members shared the gospel in her home, and since then, Rick has talked with her and her mother often. But Becky hadn't met her and we really hoped she would come so that she might feel comfortable to attend a Bible study. So Rick and I walked through the rain and met Alvaro's wife and cajoled her into coming. Then we sat and watched the news with her son while she got ready. There wasn't much to talk about since the rain was deafening on the metal roof. Alvaro changed out of his wet things while his wife went to work prettying up. Then the lights went out. Shoot! Alvaro's son opened his cell phone (handy flash light) and Alvaro lit lanterns and candles. The lights came one, ahhhh! The lights went out again; good thing he didn't jump up and blow out the lights.

Finally all were ready and we picked our way through the puddles back to our truck and took off for Jarabacoa. I didn't even look at my watch to see how "late" we were. When we arrived things were just getting started and a few more people came after we arrived. We had a great time and Alvaro's wife won the drawing for the centerpiece! On the way home Alvaro kept remarking what a wonderful time they had.

I kept thanking God for going with the flow and not rushing off without Alvaro and his wife in order to be "on time." Worse is when we Americans read a Dominican's lack of time consciousness (being late from our perspective) as a lack of commitment, interest, or respect. We understand that it might mean those things in the United States, but we aren't in the US. We are trying to adjust ourselves to the idea that things get started when everyone is ready, not when our watch says everyone should be ready (think about it...isn't it courteous to wait for people?). This isn't to say that timeliness should never be expected.

But out in the rural areas, life takes you through its paces without a stop watch. If you have a job, you show up in the morning and work till the boss says you can go home. Laundry gets done when there is water and electricity at the same time long enough to complete the cycles of the semi-automatic washer and the clothes will only get dry if the sun happens to be shining through the afternoon. Meals are ready when they are done and often it doesn't make sense to start cooking until everyone is home to eat. You get up when the sun wakes you and your kids come home from playing when it gets dark. You go to town to shop when you aren't working, it isn't raining, and you can hitch a ride if you don't have your own motorcycle. So when Bible Study or school, or the odd Valentine's Dinner have a specific start time, it is the exception, not the rule.

Another glimpse into our world!

Montana Bible Studies

Since the Sonrise EFC Evangelism Team visited Montana during Thanksgiving week, we have been working with the local Christians to follow-up with those who made decisions for Christ. There have been many challenges along the way, not the least of which was our bout with Dengue Fever coupled with the Christmas holidays in which everyone is either extremely busy or gone to visit family in other parts of the island.

Previous to this fall's evangelism efforts, there was a women's Bible study meeting, a kid's club (some of the kids are pictured with Rick in front of the church) on Saturdays and regular services on Sunday. There were a few new believers that we began to work with in preparing for the evangelism week. Currently there are two new Bible studies going on in lower Montana. This area is some walking distance on the two lane highway from the church in upper Montana. Both are lead by Ramona, a resident of the area. One Bible study is for the workers of the Racquetball club neighborhood. The other is for those living along the main road and is held at the home of a faithful believer.

The women's Bible study has started trying a new study method which encourages shared leadership through guided discussion of a progression of Scripture passages. We are borrowing this idea from some research we did on the web looking for a group Bible study method that doesn't depend on imported materials or a high reading ability. Basically we read the passage and ask 5 questions:

1. What do you like about the passage?
   
2. What don't you like about the passage?
   
3. What don't you understand about the passage?
   
4. What does the passage teach you about God?
   
5. What can you do this next week, as a result of what you learned about God and His wisdom for our life?
   

These questions have helped start great discussions. They allow for people to participate regardless of their education. Thus far, we have only used it with the women's Bible study in Montana. We plan to use the questions with men and women, literate and illiterate, Dominican and American. In fact, we will be using them with two other American couples that attend Nueva Vida. We are curious to see how they work with people from different education levels.

While Montana had some Bible studies and now has recently started new ones, from what we understand, there has never been a Bible study for men. The most obvious reason for this is the lack of men in the church. Culturally, women are expected to be more "spiritual" and see to the spiritual upbringing of the children. Often, the men are on the sidelines. This is a big area of prayer for all of Latin America. Pray for a revival among the men. The churches need strong believing men and women.

Rick and Damaso, a Dominican who attends the Jarabacoa church, have begun going out to Montana with the desire to start an evangelistic Bible study for men. They have been out there a few times, working to build relationships. What we thought would start on the February 13, is now planned to start in February 20. We feel pretty certain that 3 men will be there for the first study. Two are believers, one of them came to Christ in the fall, and the third is seeking. One of them attends the church every so often and the other two have never attended the church. Our studies will meet each week in a different house (they are all within a blocks distance). Last night, as I sat with all three of them at a Valentines meal, my new friend who is seeking volunteered his house for our meeting. We feel good and thankful to God for the progress so far. Things move slow here, but then, if someone wanted to start a Bible study in your neighborhood with men who don't attend church, it might not be a simple phone call to the different men.

In addition, Rick has been talking with a lady named Ingrid about creating a Bible study for the young people (ages 15-25). Ingrid lives in Montana and has some boys in that age group. Her house is the place in lower Montana in which many of the young people "hang out". In November, she spoke to us about helping her start a Bible study with the young people. So, we plan to help her with this.

In early December, we were somewhat frustrated with our role here. We felt called of God to be here, but didn't feel like we had found our place and we didn't see how we could have any impact. One day, Rick realized that the best thing he can do, is to daily say to God, "I am here, I am yours, take me and work through me however you see fit." It is a simple prayer of availability and dependence for God to work. Since then, we feel God has been shaping our work. We came here with a desire to be a part of equipping Dominicans for ministry. And now, we are seeing some places in which we can do just that. We know it won't be easy but we are faithful that God is bigger and better than any challenge we will face. He knows today what those will be and all we can do is make ourselves available to Him as He walks us through the easy and tough times.