DR Trip Day 1

The journey was long but we’re finally here. After a couple of flights, a quick shopping trip and fumbling around to find our own way out of the bustling city of Santo Domingo (our first major obstacle), we were able to arrive at the LIFE House on Saturday night around 9 pm.

At the house, we were met by Darlin, a high school guy that was befriended by people from Life Community on the last two trips we’ve taken to the DR. I took the keys for the house out of my backpack and Darlin offered to open up the house for us. We got past the sidewalk gate just fine. But we couldn’t find a key that worked for either of the porch gates – our second obstacle. I called Carlos the missionary in Santo Domingo and he spoke with Darlin. When he hung up the phone, Darlin took off to his house just down the street and came back with a hacksaw that he used to cut through the chain on the porch gate. Finally, we were in the house.

I reached over and flicked a light switch. But nothing happened. “Uh oh. This isn’t good,” I thought. Darlin and I checked every breaker and every switch we could find, but still nothing. By this time, it was almost 10 pm. Time to make a decision. We would spend tonight in the hotel.

In the morning, we were awakened by torrential downpours. Hurricane Ike was passing just to the north of the DR, and we were getting some serious rain. In 10-minute bursts, it would rain so hard you could hardly see one block up the street. We had a break in the weather around 9am, so we packed up and headed back to the house.

Things looked more promising in the daylight – even if it was overcast and rainy. But we still had no luck in figuring out how to get the lights on. And we didn’t have running water either. The house has storage tanks, but they require electrical pumps to get the water into the house. So we set about dipping our water out of the cistern and cleaning the house.

Amanda and Sarah worked hard to mop and clean the house and the kitchen. We worked to put away the supplies that we had bought and to tidy up the house. We were finally starting to feel settled in.

Later that evening, we went out to find some candles and batteries for our electric lantern. We came across a little store that was open – unusual around here for a Sunday. They had what we needed except for oil for our hurricane lamps. The store’s co-owner said that he could send someone around the corner to buy it for us, so I gave him some money. He told us to sit down and wait for her to return.

There on the side of the street, we sat in a makeshift circle with him, his daughter, his grandson and a friend of theirs. I struck up a conversation with them about our situation at the house. They were so hospitable. They were asking what else we needed and what we were here for. I told them that we were working with a church back in the States to start a new church in our neighborhood. They said that was good. In a few minutes, we said good-bye and headed back to the house. With lamp oil and batteries, at least we would have light tonight.

Which reminds me of why we came here in the first place. So that this place might have light. Not the house. But this town. We have come here to spread the Light in a place that has so much darkness.

With God’s help, we will do our best to share Christ with these people. We will start sharing the Bible and the light of God’s truth with these people. They are living in darkness, and we have the Light. Pray that God will use us – those of us here in the DR and all of us who are part of Life Community Church – to reach the people of Monte Plata.

by Micah Ray