Tuesday, October 20, 2015

4 - Two Months In

Although we have only been in the Dominican Republic for 2 months it seems like so much longer.  We got here and tried to hit the ground running. I told my pastor in PA that we wanted to rent a house, get our cell phones turned on and buy a car in the first three days. Well, I think by most people's reaction we did it pretty fast but we didn't quite reach that goal of three days. We did find a house and get our cell phones turned on in 3 days, go God! On day two Carli started teaching 6th grade in a Christian school with a 98% Dominican student enrollment.  On day 4, as many of you know, I had to return to Pittsburgh to host an FMSC MobilePack that many of you were a part of. Wow, did God show up there or what! After that I went on to MN for some training with Praying Pelican Missions. Meanwhile, Carli was "holding down the fort" in the DR. Not that anyone would expect anything less but in the middle of being a first week teacher, dodging a tropical storm and figuring out how to navigate a new culture she managed to sign up for electricity and buy all the furniture and household items we needed. Much of this would not have been possible without all the awesome people that God has put in our path. People have been so willing to help us by translating or navigating the massive amount of bureaucracy that exist in this country. It did take two weeks, several visits and a few phone calls to finally get the electricity on. Kudos to Carli and the girls for not killing each other in a 100 sq ft hotel room for 2 weeks.
   Shortly after I got back we moved into the house. We were without electricity for a couple days but God was very gracious and sent us some cloud cover both nights so it wasn't too hot. After a couple days we were able to get electricity and plug in our fans. Then it was on to the task of buying a vehicle. Our friend Liony was awesome in helping us navigate the process of buying a vehicle in a foreign country. Thanks to his help we now own a vehicle in the DR. The next challenge was "the attack of the killer mosquitos". After a few nights with the windows open without any screens we realized this was not going to work. So after a few trips to the hardware store (Yes I miss Lowe's and Home Depot) and a few days we figured out how to install some homemade screens. This task like all the others we have learned just takes so much longer here than back in the US. If you want to do anything here take the time it would take in the US and double it. Why you might ask, well it could be the lack of our language skills, the "we don't get in a hurry for anybody" attitude, the heat, the crazy way people drive or the fact that nothing is where you would think it would be in a store.
    Carli has started to get in the swing of things as a teacher and is really blessed by the love her students show her everyday. She comes home many days with a smile on her face telling me about all the hugs she got from her students that day. She sends many nights writing lesson plans, test and curriculum from scratch because she wants the best for her students. She gives her students 100% every day and doesn't settle for being good enough. These kids will all have a greater chance of success down the road because of the English, Math and Science she is teaching them daily.
 The girls are starting to adjust more and more every day. I won't lie and say that everything has gone perfect and they no longer wish they were growing up in Pittsburgh with their friends and living the life they had grown accustomed to but it gets better for them everyday. They have Bible, Spanish and Social Studies every day in Spanish. Being that they don't speak very much Spanish all that work comes home as homework. They are all studying hard, going to tutoring twice a week and wearing Google Translate out. It seems everywhere we have lived our house is the epicenter of adolescent activity. After only 2 months in our house that is true here as well. There was a game of hide and go seek happening before dinner this evening. We had a sleep over the first weekend we were in the house and we all caught a movie with some friends last Friday. There are good days and there are still some bad days where they long for some of the comforts of our previous home but they get fewer and farther between the longer we are here. One awesome thing about the move is that they are reading their Bible more, asking what certain verses mean and singing God's praises daily. Its awesome to see them grow in their relationship with God.
  As for me well I have been busy as well. The first couple weeks back I spent my days trying to take care of as many of the mundane things as possible so Carli and the girls could focus more on school. Meanwhile, I was really wanting to dive head first into ministry back in the bateys. I have been able to get out to the bateys a couple days with Pastor Mede, a local pastor in La Romana. We were able to distribute some FMSC MannaPacks, share the good news of Christ and encourage the people there a little bit. Pastor Mede was giving a word on the first day we were in the bateys from Galatians and he just pitched it over to me. So here I was in front of about 100 people and didn't know the language. Well God was able to summon the words I did know and I was able to share with them that my family loved them, that we were here to help them in any way we can and that they are not alone. I told them that I knew the world was not ok. That they needed more food, work and to hear more about God's word. They were very gracious and welcoming. They said Amen so they either understood some of what I said and liked it or were happy that I was about to shutup and sit down. Either way it seemed to encourage Pastor Mede so much that I got to read Galatians 4 out loud in Spanish at the next batey. After talking with Pastor Mede about how to make a sustainable difference in the bateys he said clearly that we needed to bring some English classes to the bateys so the people there can get jobs in the tourism industry. Well I'm really bad at Spanish and I speak Texan not proper English but we are working on plans to make it happen. For the past few weeks I have been helping  another missionary with an English class in the community that he works in and Lord willing start classes in the bateys in the future. I took part in my helping host my first mission team last week as an official PPM staff member. That was awesome. More on that in another post soon.
   There are a lot of challenges and sometimes they seem insurmountable but we stand firm in our calling to help the people here and are excited that the getting settled period is coming to an end and the ministry chapter is beginning. Please keep us in your prayers.


Scott

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