My First 6 Months

I just wanted to thank everyone for the support over the last six months. I know you have been praying for me and that means so much. It has been nice to be back in Colorado the last two weeks and be with my family for the holidays. I am so excited to return to the Dominican Republic for another six months in just one week. There are many events coming up in the next stretch and I am so excited to share with you as they happen.

So much happened in my first six months it is hard to share it all. I have created a short video which I posted on youtube that shows a little bit of what has been happening in the Dominican Republic. Here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xJKHT46soI&context=C3917e81ADOEgsToPDskKP3l4B2Ep6gDJ2s0dY0OXC

Here are some of the highlights from the video:

1. With the help from people in the US we were able to construct a Haitian school where about 30 kids are now able to receive and education.

2. There is a new section under construction on the Rails church where they will have classrooms for Sunday school and an after-school program. There will also be a kitchen where they can cook for the kids.

3. Centro Manantial de Vida (Springs of Life Center) church was started and average 50 people each Sunday. I have had the opportunity to preach there once and the pastor wants me to preach again.

4. At La Vega Christian School I have helped teach English to 5th-10th graders. 

5. One Way Ministries is the youth group I started with two friends. We have about 15-30 youth that show up each Friday night. One of the nights we had 12 youth accept Christ! I have been able to preach here twice in Spanish!

6. There was a group from Unlimited Potential Ministries that put on a baseball camp. Over 400 kids came out that day and 72 accepted Christ! In January we are starting a ministry for those kids.

It has been so exciting to see God working the last six months, and I am excited to see what God has planned for the next six months. Thank you all again for your support and prayers. I hope your Christmas season has been blessed and that you have a blessed new year!

Things that may only happen in the Dominican Republic

So I have been thinking about some interesting stuff that I have only seen happen since coming to the Dominican Republic. There are some obvious things that people expect when going to another country with culture changes, but these are things someone that only comes for a week may not realize. The first thing that pops into my mind is the need to look both ways before crossing a one way street. If it is faster to go the wrong way down a street instead of driving around the block, people will do it. You never know where cars or scooters will be coming from. The second thing is slowing down when you come to a green light. There are so many people that run red lights that you actually have to be careful when approaching a green light. There have been times I have had to stop in an intersection so a car could run the light. (Be careful when driving).

One of the funniest things has to do with phone calls. Here in the DR you pay for a certain number of minutes like in the states. However, you only get charged for minutes when you make a phone call, but you don't get charged for receiving one. Many people have cell phones but never put minutes on them. They use other people's phones to make calls but can still receive calls on their phone. One common thing is to call and immediately hang up. The first few times I didn't know what was going on!! When someone does that it means that I don't have any minutes and you need to call me back. (But what if I don't want to use my minutes to call you? haha). There are times where I will call and other times where I don't. Most of the time it is from an unknown number so I'm not fast to call back. For example, I only have 60 minutes a month and most months I don't even use all of that. I usually use 30 minutes. This is because the phone calls are very short. You don't want to use up minutes with normal talk. Phone calls are only to pass information, and that only, nothing more!! Many times there is not even a hello or how are you? Your phone call is answered with "tell me." I respond, "Hello, how are you?" In response, "tell me." That isn't important information and neither is a goodbye. Once I called to order a pizza. They said, "Hello?" (No name of the restaurant or anything). I responded, "Is this Las Palmas?" "Yes, what would you like?" they responded. "I would like to order a pizza," I said. The responded, "Yes I know, what would you like?" There is no small talk and once the information is given you hang up. Many times I haven't even gotten to share my opinion about the information.

Now I find myself doing the same thing. It is interesting how we change with the culture we are living in. No, I have not made a phone call and immediately hung up, but sometimes I do end the call very soon. Now when I call the pizza place, after they say hello, I respond, "I want a medium cheese pizza, no drink, and delivered to this address. I will pay with cash." End call.