Sunday

Today was the last day of painting for us. We kept painting on the church, putting on the final coats of paint. Everyone was painting hard today, trying to get everything done before church that night and we would be heading back to the cold. Today was interesting from the standpoint of watching two different cultures handle the stress of getting everything done on time. The first thing we did was verbalize what needed to be done and organize some kind of a game plan. I sensed a lot of stress from some of the guys on our team. I also sensed a lot of stress from some of the Dominicans, though it didn’t seem to agitate them much, just prompted them to work harder.

Well, we gave her a good attempt today, but alas we ran out of paint again later in the afternoon and had to call it good for now. One of the walls inside still needed another coat of paint, but I’m sure that has probably been taken care of by now. We were really hoping to get in a game of basketball with some of the guys from the church, but never seemed to have to opportunity. I was hoping we might be able to that day, but they weren’t around when we left. I’m not sure how good I would have played in my work boots and shooting at the 11 foot rim they have. It was pretty hot too.

Church that night was good. This was the first time I got to listen to Pasquel preach, though this time we didn’t have a translator and he can get pretty fast and excited when he preaches. I hear there was a really good super bowl on that night, but I wouldn’t have wanted to miss the opportunity to see Pasquel preach and worship with fellow Christians from the Dominican, no matter how good the game might have been. I really enjoyed being able to see the way God is working in the Dominican.

(Good times of fellowship)

Saturday

We painted…again. The mornings are getting pretty unproductive, I must say. It seems like the paint rollers are never clean, or when we do clean them we find them swimming in a bucket of water the next day. No one seems to know what paint goes where, or what paint is in each can. We also always seem to be out of the paint we need. With all this going on, it’s tough getting started in the mornings. A simple task of finding a certain color paint, a bucket, and paint brush can seem to drag on due to a feeling of total lack of organization. The kitchen was done though, and we were all working on the church, one part or another of it.

Eric, one of the guys with us was sick today. This was sad news for me because I bet that he wasn’t going to get sick till Saturday night or after. Me and Matt had made bets on when the food was going to get to him, mostly based on the knowledge that he had never been out of the country before. He kept blaming it on the salsa, but I knew the bet was lost. Oh well, he is still alive though, nothing but his body getting used to the food I suppose, in case you’re wondering about his health. Aside from that short stint, everyone was healthy the rest of the time there, thanks for the prayers!
After we went home and ate that night, we headed back to the church for the youth service. It was good being there and seeing so many young adults there. I must admit that I was getting a little tired at the service though. My brain tends to get tired much faster when I’m trying to keep up with what is being said in another language, even though they did have someone translating the sermon for us that night.

Friday

(PAINTING THE INSIDE OF THE CHURCH)

Today we worked on the kitchen in the morning, and after lunch some of us moved to the church where we also were going to be painting. I really like the way the church is built, though the lack of windows and roof (the roof was like a tent) would make it difficult to heat in the cold Chicago winters. The building itself is a simple one, which is what draws me to it. Not a lot of money thrown into fancy stained glass windows or giant steeples, just a concrete floor, block walls with a lot of window openings, and a canvass roof being held up by poles in the middle. It could be that in my subconscious mind I knew that a church could only be like that in a climate as warm as it was. That could have aided in my appreciation a bit too I suppose.

At lunch we had a discussion with pastor Pasquel about the structuring of his church and the ways they do things. It was really cool to hear Pasquel talk about the church and became quite obvious he doesn’t organize things the way he does because he read it in a book, or copied off another church, he does things the way he does because God told him it should be that way. He is also careful with new believers in the church, by making sure they know what Christianity is about before they are certain they want to be baptized and become Christians. New members go through classes, learning about the church and teaching of Jesus. There seems to be great follow up with the new believers and great encouragement for them to get out there and serve in the community or in the church as Jesus himself showed us.

It was a good experience to hear about Pasquel’s heart for the people in his church and community, and his heart for God and following His will. He is definitely a man that backs up what he says with his actions. It was interesting to hear about the steps of faith that church has made and how they have become what they are. A lot of hard work and sacrifice has happened in the past 3 years to make that church what it is, and I can tell you, God’s not finished growing it yet.

THE CHURCH, INSIDE AND OUT:

Thursday

Today we finished the inside of the kitchen in the morning and were able to start on the outside of the building before lunch. Looking back, the first couple days there were the most productive one’s we had. All the paint was right there for us, including some rollers and brushes. It was easy to get to work on it. I did have to wait a little bit on a ladder though, I needed one to use for cutting in around the ceiling of the kitchen. A couple of the workers build me a heavy wooden ladder to use. They actually build two ladders and then nailed them together, which didn’t seem like a very good idea at the time. But alas, praise God, the ladder was too big for inside and I only ended up using one half of it.

Up top was my ladder... This is Rod laughing at the greatness of his ladder.

When we started to paint the outside of the building, that’s when things got confusing. We had a 5 gallon bucked of yellow paint that we were told to use on the outside of the kitchen. Cool. We were eating lunch and looking at the building which had 1 coat on about a quarter of the outside when one of the engineers (yes, there were several engineers and also a couple architects working on this thing) told us that we had the wrong color. A trip to the hardware store after lunch yielded some more paint. I wouldn’t say the colors were ugly, I’m sure they have their place, but I don’t’ know if they really highlighted the true inner beauty of the kitchen. I’ll leave it at that.
This day marked the start of us using several different colors of paint, a couple different types of primer, and a lot more confusion as to what was to be painted with what color, and where in the world are the good brushes and rollers.

Our first attempt at painting the kitchen

Second attempt at the kitchen.

Wednesday

Today we started with devotions at 6:30am. It was encouraging to be able to start the day with a little bible study together. Renaldo, the pastor’s brother, picked us up at the hotel around 8am. Surprisingly, he was early picking us up. Being on time isn’t as emphasized in the Dominican culture as it is in ours…so I’m told. Renaldo drove us to the church where we met his mother who had some coffee made for us. Coffee is a big part of their culture. We would have coffee when we arrived and then after lunch in the afternoons, sometimes a couple times in between also. They didn’t serve the big cups that we do though, just some small 4 oz cups of coffee or so.

Renaldo had spent some time living in Europe and traveled the states a bit, but it was still a bit surprising that the first thing he wanted to do when we got there was to write out a schedule for the week. Maybe he was just trying accommodate our culture a bit, maybe he really did like being on time and having schedules. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the times we got to spend with him.

We started painting the kitchen that they had been working on for the last few months. The kitchen is a separate building on the church property that they are going to be using to provide cheap meals to the poorer people living around the church. It is a great idea and the people in the community are excited for it to open in another month or so.

Ramond helped us with the painting during the day. He was a great guy to get to know. He is 18 years old and one of the members of the church. It was great for us to work alongside him, practicing our Spanish while he practiced his English. I think we met about 200 people named Ramond, Raymon, Ramone, or some other variation of the name that week…must be popular.

At night we went to church. They have 3 services, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday is a youth service, so it’s only the people that are generally below 30 yrs old. The other services are attended by everyone that can make it. The church has about 400 members and is the largest church in the area. The building itself is made of block walls, concrete floor, and a tent roof. The walls had several window openings, but no windows in them, letting a nice breeze through the church. It was nice to be in a climate that made it possible to worship in an open building like this one.
The service was all in Spanish, but I have retained enough of my Spanish over the years to be able to understand what was going on. The church did have someone translating the message for us too, which was helped a lot too.

This is the inside of the kitchen we were painting, well, some of us were painting.

This is the church where it all goes down

Tuesday

We left Chicago this morning around 6 am. Our flight flew to Miami and then we connected on a flight to Punta Cana, in the Dominican. I think the time we arrived was around 3 pm local time. The flights all worked out great and no luggage was lost! I love it when that works out. Even if they had lost my luggage, I don’t think I would have cared for at least a couple days, I was just happy to be out of the cold and into some warm weather and sunshine.

Pasquel, the pastor of the church we worked at, and his brother Renaldo picked us up at the airport. The ride to the hotel took a while because Renaldo’s truck, which was converted into propane, kept breaking down. Turns out that one of the wires was corroded or had a bad connection. After stopping on the side of the road several times we all crammed into Pasquel’s car with our necessary bags and headed to the hotel. With six of us and our bags crammed into the ride, we almost looked like true Dominicans…almost.

We got to the hotel and I was taken aback a little at the luxury of the place. I’ve lived pretty simple on my trips overseas, but here we are staying at a resort for the week. But hey, if called to, I’ll suffer for a week.

The resort was all-inclusive which had its pluses and minuses. Since the trip is only 8 days, staying at a place where we don’t have to plan our dinners or worry about the sleeping arrangements at night definitely makes it easier on Rod when he’s planning the trip out. He can spend more time focusing on the work that we are doing and the relationships we’ll be building. It also makes it easier on Pasquel, since he can get us in the morning and take us back in the evening, without feeling any extra pressure to watch out for us during the evening and night.

On the flip side, the Dominicans see the resorts as the place that the rich tourists go, and not much of a place for a Christian. I don’t know if that hindered their perception of us since they know Rod pretty good from all the times he’s been down there. Some of the guys from the church also work at the resorts and we are able to get the rooms pretty cheap. I wasn’t able to feel that we were actually experiencing the same life as the people that we were there to serve. We were around European tourists that dressed nicer and probably had more money than any of us, rather than living with the Dominican people we were serving.
Rod has been talking about changing the living arrangements while we’re over there, which could be good. The resort wasn’t all bad, nor was it all good, I came away indifferent on it, seeing as though we were only there for a week and I’m not a hundred percent sure how it’s perceived through the eyes of the culture down there. It was nice to be able to come home at night and jump into the ocean for a few minutes before the sun went down though!

\i'm here, i'm alive, it's amazing. the relationship we're helping to build with the pastor and his church here is really good and i can't wait till i get back home to write about the stories from the dominican. we're almost halfway through the work here, but the internet here is not looking too well. the stories and pictures will have to wait till i get back. i miss you guys and thanks a ton for the support. God is moving here! i will write when i get back, until then, know that i'm alive and well and everything is going just fine. God bless!

Jeff