Challenges in Boma

This morning we headed out for our Wednesday morning Bible study in Boma.  For the past 6 months, we have been leading the people through a course that focuses on Christian Education.  It is an excellent course, and one that we will probably teach in all of the church plants.  Having finish this course, we went looking for some new direction.  How can we best use are time and abilities to serve the church in Boma?  Remember, our role is one of an equipper.  We try not to "take over" and rather, we coach the local people into leadership and teaching roles. And so today, we went with a lot of questions, ones with focused on the needs of the church and the community.  From these questions, the leaders in Boma helped us discover where we could focus in the coming months.  Here's what happened:

Every visit begins with some time "catching up".  This is normal all around the world but here in the Dominican Republic, and especially in the campo (rural areas) it can take a bit of time.  Sometimes, I confess, I try to cut it short and get onto the more "important" things but this is often (possibly always) an error.  This time creates the basis for whatever has been prepared and should not be shortened.

And so today we learned who was sick, who was on a trip, and why the road was so bad.  All of this, gives us insights into life in Boma...it's a world much different then Jarabacoa and Jarabacoa is a world much different then anywhere I lived in the United States.

After prayer we asked the question "What are some of the needs in church and community?".  Different challenges were mentioned but they kept coming back to the youth of the community.  They lacked purpose, lacked hope.  Very few really knew what it was like to grow up in a family.  By the age of 12, many are left to fend for themselves.  They live in the same home with whoever raised them but it is felt that they are old enough to take care of themselves and so attention get's given to the younger ones, until they are about the same age.  Literally, this means, they have a place to sleep but they are on their own for food.  If they want to stay in school, they do, but it is difficult to do so.  The reality for them is that they need work and earn money so they can eat.  And by the age of 15, many of these children will have children which are left with the people who raised them...and the cycle continues.

Obviously it isn't this way for all the teenagers of Boma, but this isn't rare.  It's actually quite common.  What is rare is a family with a mother and dad who are really parenting their children up through the teenage years.  Enrique & Blanca, leaders in the community and church are an example of what should be done.  They pushed their 3 boys to finish high school and continue into college.  It wasn't easy to do this.  The High School is about 20 minutes away on an adventurous road and college is further.  Today, Enrique and Blanca are raising two of their grandchildren.  Even though they are in the 60's, their job is far from done.

We explored the needs of teenagers with more questions.  Finally, we asked - "If the church could address one need in the community, what need would give the greatest impact?  It should be a need that almost everyone recognizes.  Is this need of teenagers such a need?"  After some discussion, it was felt that it was the number one need, something that everyone recognized as a need.

The rest of the time we spent asking questions and discussion how the church could address this need.  Even though Boma currently has about 18 teenagers, the church only has 2 regularly attending.  But just the prior week 4 teenagers showed up at church.  We talked about how we could plan some activities that focused on teenagers.  We talked about a domino tournament, special meals, playing baseball by the river, and other ideas.  None of the ideas were fancy, just things they could do with the resources they had.

We decided that we would spend the next week and pray about this.  The leadership of the church would talk about this idea and let us know if they wanted to continue exploring it.  If they do, our next few months will focus on helping them think through ministry to youth.

We ask you to remember Boma and pray for it on a regular basis.  Life is hard there because many times the rain cuts them off from society.  But also there, is a small church.  It's building has been built in just the past 10 years and while the building is one of the most beautiful little church buildings, the real church (the people) struggles to trust God, to have confidence that God can use them, and to dream that God could work to make a real difference in their community.  Please be in prayer for Boma and for us as we continue to minister there.

Dominican Independence Day 2012

Enjoy a short video of Elena and some school friends modeling a traditional Dominican dance!

A little about Dominican Republic History...

Haiti first won independence from France in 1804 and then through a turn of events conquered the Spanish side of the island in 1822.  For the next 22 years, the island was "unified" under Haitian control.  Dominicans call this period the "Haitian Occupation."  The Spanish ruling class resented the occupation and in the 1830's an underground resistance group "La Trinitaria" was organized under the leadership of Juan Pablo Duarte.  After many attacks on the Haitian army, the Haitians eventually retreated.  Independence on the eastern two-thirds of the island was officially declared on February 27, 1944 and the name República Dominicana (Dominican Republic) was adopted.  

Sojourner's Women's Retreat

Each year, on the last weekend of January, hords of women, mostly foreign, pour into a Catholic retreat center just outside of Jarabacoa.  This is wonderful time of worship, personal time with God, and hanging out with women, new friends and old.  And it all happens with no kids, no men and in English!

I have been able to attend all but one year in our time in Jarabacoa.  It is circled on my calendar months ahead so nothing gets booked on that weekend!  The bed isn't that great (though my roomate always is!) and this year I had a surprise--a hot shower and hot water in the sink.  The food is delicious and this year the weather was great.  January can be rainy and that makes for a cold retreat.

This year the theme was "Trust, Truth and Grace."  I spent a lot of time taking to God about the truth of my poor health.  I have rheumatoid arthritis.  Sometimes it is a shadow in my life and sometimes a monster.  I have little control over it, though I take medication and have a good rheumatologist here.  God really met me this past weekend and the burden feels lighter.

We are placed in small groups for discussions after a large group teaching and personal devotional time.  This year my group was a lot of laughs and tears.  I horrified to realize I was the oldest in my group, in fact 20 years older than the youngest women.  Good grief!  I can't share details of our discussion of personal issues, but I can say that God touched and healed us in unique ways.

The Most Beautiful Beach in the World!

Over the Christmas holiday, we had a chance to take a trip to the Southwest part of the Dominican Republic.  With our vacations, we are trying to visit different parts of the country.  People often ask if we have been to Haiti and at this point we haven't.  For now, we want to get to know this country, the Dominican Republic.

We left on New Years Day.  It was a good day to travel because the roads were empty.  Our goal was to get to Pedernales, a border town with Haiti.  It was amazing to see the country change from a lush forest to what reminded me of Arizona or New Mexico.  The beaches were beautiful but instead of sand, they had white rocks and very rough.  Ben wasn't so impressed, as it wasn't so functional for swimming and boogie boarding!  Some of the road were drove on where incredible, especially at one part where the mountains came right up the sea.

The southwest is dry.  It is desert.  It's hard to believe because live in the mountains were it rains a lot and it's often very green.  But the southwest is nothing like where we live.

We were able to visit Lago Enriquillo, a salt water lake which is below sea level.  At this point, Rick and Ben are able to say they have been to the highest point (Pico Duarte) and the lowest point (Lago Enriquillo) of the Dominican Republic.  At this lake, we saw some Taino drawings in the rock (pictured with Becky) and fed rhinoceros iguanas.  They are big but not big enough to ride (bummer)!

A highlight of the trip for all was when we discovered the most beautiful beach in the world!  Bahia de Aguillas is a national park.  There is a small entrance fee and then a boat taxi to get to the beach.  The boat drops you off on a secluded beach and you can tell him what time he should return.  Imagine spending the day at a beach and hardly anyone else is around (Only those who came the same way you did.  Note, the boat won't drop people at the same spot on the beach).  There were no venders, no stores, just you and the ocean.  The water was a perfect turquise and the snorkeling was excellent.

Ok, maybe it isn't the most beautiful beach in the world but it felt that way!  How did you spend your vacation?

Bibles given in Los Calabazos

Recently Calvary EFC from Rochester, Minnesota sent a team to work in Buenos Aires.  12 people came and when they arrived, they found that NONE of their checked bags had arrived.  They had paid the extra $$$ so they could all bring an extra bag of things to give away.  Thankfully, the next day their bags did arrive.  In those bags were many Bibles that are being given out in the churches we work.  

Los Calabazos was the first church plant to receive Bibles.  Pictured here are some from the church with their new Bibles.  

My Beautiful Wife

Guess we will see if she let's me keep this up here!     - Rick

Building Families in Boma

Each Wednesday morning, we head out to Boma to meet with a few of the key leaders in the church there.  Our goal is to help support them as they lead the church.  One of the needs they have expressed to us, is to learn how to teach their children.  Right now, the church has very little Biblical education directed at the children and they know they need to change that.  We have given many resources and taught on different topics to address this need.  Lately we have been using a course on Christrian Education from a seminary in Uruguay.  Other missionaries from our mission helped start this school.  We have found this course to be excellent.  It lays out important concepts for education to all ages, not just children. 

We hope the tools in this course will help young Jonathan and other kids in the neighborhood.  

On the page the title says "The Home is a place of Instruction."  A regular theme of ours is that parents need to be an example in their home and community.  Children rarely follow someone unless they respect them and so as parents, we need to  be worthy of that respect.  And even when we fail, we can model to our children how we take responsibility and make things right.  

While we would like to think that just teaching a course will make a change, we know it takes much more than that.  Teaching is the first and easiest step.  The second step involves walking with the people, being there for them when they have questions, helping them to build confidence to stand up to the pressures of going against the flow.  We are in a battle.  And we need your prayers.  

In each community, our desire is to strengthen the churches.  These last few years, that has involved focusing on families.  We pray for God to grow families that can be an example to others in the communities.  Please pray with us!