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!
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!
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