Preparing the Way

Day 2 in the DR

I don't know if you're like me, but when I think about missions trips, I don't think about the kind of day I had today.

Up at 6:30am, we got ready, ate breakfast and was told by the missionary's wife that we were to sit still and wait for her to return. She had to run her girls out to a missions job site to work with another team.

About 45 minutes later, we were on our way. We needed to finish our shopping for supplies for the LIFE House. It's the house we have rented here in the DR to serve as our base of operations for the next few months.

First, we're off to La Sirena, the DR's version of Wal-Mart, but we need money first. I enter the currency exchange store with dollars walk away with two pockets full of pesos. The exchange rate is 33.80 pesos for a dollar. I feel rich.

Now, back to La Sirena. We grab our last items and stuff them in the SUV.

Finally, we off to Monte Plata. A long and bumpy drive north through the countryside. Along the way, we see numerous "campos" -- little collections of houses near the ranches and farms where people live in some of the poorest conditions. As we pass campo after campo and a couple of little towns along the way, one can't help but wonder what it would be like to live life like this.

On our way to our targeted mission area, we pass thousands of people. In my heart, I realize that all of these people along the way need us and the message we have to give just like the people of Monte Plata. But who will be the one to share with them?

Up ahead, we see the sign that says, "Bienvenido a Monte Plata" -- Welcome to Monte Plata.
Just as soon as we see the sign and start looking on our city map, we realize we are already into the city center. It's a small town in terms of land, but home to about 40,000 people. The houses and shops are built adjacent to one another, sharing walls and opening their doors to spill people onto the sidewalks all around us.

Using our GPS with marked waypoints from the last team, and also using the old fashioned method of "Hey, Amigo! Donde esta.." we finally arrive at the house. It is a new house with lots of really old houses around it. I take out the keys, open the front gate and then the front door. I can't help but smile. We are here. We are in the heart of one of the largest "barrios" (neighborhoods) in Monte Plata, and I don't have a clue as to what God is going to do with us here, but I'm expecting something.

A quick survey of the house says that if nothing else, we have some cleaning to do. First item of note: there is not any electricity or water coming into the house. That's a problem. Another issue: there are no screens on the windows which my experience in less developed countries tells me that every mosquito in the "barrio" is going to have a feast tonight.

Lilly makes a few phones calls and learns that our landlord and handyman are not available until 2 PM. We learn that getting the electricity turned on is going to take 5 days to process everything. And we leave in 4 days. Not good.

Lilly talks to the handyman to ask about getting the water hooked up and turned on. He says he'll be there "later today." She goes across the street to ask the neighbors how the water works around here. I walk across the street and Lilly introduces me to them. She tells me that they have offered to give us water or anything else that we need while we are here. I think, "That's amazing. We come in here renting the nicest house on the street, bringing in lots of new stuff to set up our house, and they are offering what they have to help us out. Now that's a good neighbor."

When we go back to our house, Lilly tells me that the young lady we were talking to is the daughter of a lady that was in a Bible study that was started in this area almost 3 years ago.

And she told Lilly that she was glad somebody was coming back to their neighborhood. Lilly said that this was God at work -- to bring us to rent a house across the street from a lady who was in a previous Bible study and wanted it to return. Unbelievable.

With nothing more that she could do -- and she did a TON of stuff for us today - Lilly and Charlie hop into the SUV, wave good-bye and tell us to call them if we need them.

I look at Russell and say, "And then there were two."

It's an eery feeling to see your only connection to anything familiar drive away, knowing that your language skills are basic at best, you know only one other person and your contacts are an hour and a half drive away.

We wait until 7PM, but the handyman never shows up. So we pack a backpack with a change of clothes and walk into town to El Toro, the nicer hotel in town. We'll stay the night here where at least we can take a shower, flush a toilet and charge our phones. All of which I totally took for granted until today.

* * * * *

As I reflect back on this day, a ton of questions fill my mind.

"Did we just waste a day of our missions trip?"

"Is this what mission work is all about? I thought it was supposed to be more 'spiritual' than this."

"Is sweeping the floor of the LIFE House what God is pleased with right now?"

"What is going to be started here in this barrio and in Monte Plata because we've made the commitment to be here?"

"What will these walls of the LIFE House see over the next few months as we have teams here ministering and sharing Jesus with people?"

I can't help but feel the weight of being one of the first teams to land on the ground in Monte Plata. I don't feel worthy at all to be one of the first. I feel so unprepared, so inadequate, so much like a terrible fit for the work ahead of us in the next few days.

I can't help but feel that four days is not enough. Russell and I will just get started getting to know our neighbors and some of the folks surrounding us in this barrio when we will have to tell them, "Good-bye - see you in a few months!" Something about that doesn't seem right.

I can't help but feel that a dedicated person or two who was here all the time would make such a huge difference here. To have a constant presence here, someone who could build long term relationships with these people, that would be the best scenario.

* * * * *

One of the last things to happen to us at the LIFE House today is the most incredible moment of the day for me. We walk up the street away from the LIFE House and I see a girl who had been playing in the street in front of the house. I smile at her and say, "Como se llama?" She answers with her name: "Maria Louisa," she says with a beautiful smile. I tell her my name and that we were going to be living in the house for a few days. I'll never forget what she said next.

"Are you the ones who are going to start a church?"

I was taken aback. "Si!" I manage to say. With that, she smiles again and breaks into a run toward a nearby house.

The talk has already started. Someone is coming to this neighborhood to start a church. They are excited and they are already spreading the word.

Now it's our turn. It's our turn to spread the Word.

And I am reminded again -- we're here to prepare the way.