HOLA from Monte Cristi!

HOLA from Monte Cristi! The team here has been busy sharing the love of Christ with the beautiful people here. After landing in Santiago (and grabbing some Dominican McDonald’s), we arrived at the church in Monte Cristi around 8:30pm with a warm welcome from Martha and Martin and their family. We had some team time and went to bed. Here’s an overview of what we’ve been doing since:

 

Saturday: To start off our Saturday, half of the team went to beach (a 10 minute walk) to collect seaweed for a skit later that evening and half of the team went to the grocery store to buy food for some events later in the week.  The beach was wonderful, despite the glass on the sand (don’t worry, moms, nobody got hurt) and everyone made it back from the market in time for our children’s event here at the church in Monte Cristi. We were all filled with joy (and panic) as the kids showed up almost an hour early for the VBS. Not only did they show up early (Note to Tom Moen: these warm cultured people like to show up early. Go figure), but they blew us away with their numbers. We were expecting 60 kids and instead were blessed to love on about 100! Monica did an absolutely fantastic job of controlling the chaos through her calm demeanor and leadership skills—she ROCKED it. We had a lot of fun as we put on the skit of Jonah for the kids and were able to love on and worship with them. Yay God!

 

Sunday: On Sunday, our wise trip leaders decided it would be best for half of the team to stay in Monte Cristi and worship with the church here so we could be an encouragement to the leaders who are facing a lot of opposition in their own community. It was an honor and blessing to worship alongside them and Rayona blessed us with using her gifts to sing Hosanna. Beautiful.

The other half of the team went Buenos Aires to worship with a sister church there.

 

On the drive from Monte Cristi to Buenos Aires (only about 10 minutes) we went from well-built houses and communities to tin shacks and barefoot children. It was great for the team to reflect on how resourceful and joyful the people were there, despite extreme poverty. We learned a lot from their spirit and generosity. What we encountered in Buenos Aires was nothing short of the Holy Spirit.

After the service, we led a short children’s VBS program which looked much like the day before, (giant, cloth/PVC pipe whale and all). Then we all took off and learned the first of many, lessons of flexibility:

 

Our original plan was to clean up a baseball/sports facility at a nearby school. Instead, our trip leaders made another wise decision to keep our safety top priority and forego the clean-up. We had expected 150 adults to help us and instead we got about 75 eager children with big eyes staring into our suitcases full of balls, toys, etc. We all took off with children in hand and played games like “throw rocks in a bucket” and soccer. We are proud to announce that 9-square in the air has officially invaded the D.R.  Student ministry take note: These kids are pros already.

 

Some of the men went to the baseball field to see what was up (baseball is HUGE here) and sure enough, the young adults were excited to have some new players (they even let Monica and Sarah take a swing!).

 

After a few hours of play, we went back to Monte Cristi to relax before a prayer walk that evening. Around 8:30pm, we walked around the streets praying silently and enjoying each others’ company. Apparently, a brothel that was open last time when the 2012 team came to visit, has been closed (something they had previously prayed for on their prayer walk)! Praise God—He is binding Satan more and more every day. That night, we prayed that He would close down the bar right across the street that blares loud music just about 24 hours a day. Pray with them to make that happen as it is a huge obstacle to their worship and relaxation here.

 

It was a good day!

 

Monday: Work hard, play hard. This day started out with a hike up the mountain (about .75 mile) and play on the beach. A special praise: Tom’s knee was bothering him a whole lot Sunday and everyone was concerned that he would not make the hike. We prayed for him Sunday night and when he stepped out of bed Monday morning, his strength was renewed and he was ready to hike!! Praise God!!!

 

At the top of the mountain, Andy, Jenny and Melissa were discouraged to find that the cross that used to stand so strongly there had been knocked down. Instead of letting this ruin their experience, however, we chose to gather round and turn to God in prayer. It was a beautiful moment for everyone.

After hiking back down, we all ran to the beach (after soaking in sunscreen, of course). We got to play on the beach for 2.5 hours!! The water here is a beautiful, almost teal color and it could not have been more refreshing.  We laughed a lot that day and enjoyed just celebrating the fact that even though we are gross and sweaty and tired, we are all friends and brothers and sisters under Christ. Yay God! (P.s.- Monica got to play with a really cool sea urchin… Yay God again!)

 

Monday ended in a beautiful, special way as we got the chance to serve the pastors and their families here. The team decorated the fellowship hall beautifully with lights, table settings and seashells. We then cooked them a special dinner of pork and delicious mashed potatoes (Go Jonathan and Michael!) with a dessert that had them asking for seconds—Jenny’s tres leches cake. Mmmmmm!!!!

After eating dinner, we sent them to stations for some time with the Lord. They were able to enjoy communion and self-reflection and then were anointed and commissioned to go out and remain strong in the promise that Christ is doing big things here. It was a beautiful night full of the Spirit and everyone was blessed.

 

Tuesday (today):  Today we woke up early because we had a large task ahead of us. We woke up at 6:30 so that we could be ready to greet the 80ish women who showed up two hours early (Tom Moen—Again, can’t figure that one out)! The team worked hard to make the upstairs area look BEAUTIFUL in purple decorations, crowns, jewels and sparkly tulle so that the ladies could feel like princesses while studying the story of Esther. After Rayona led us once again in spirit-filled worship, Julia led us in a lesson on Esther and it became evident that speaking is a huge gift of hers. It was marvelous to watch and be a part of.

After the lesson, we served them delicious lunch (chicken and rice and plantains—Julia’s recipe) and brownies. We then made bracelets and worshipped again.

 

Now, we are sitting here as many of the women are still waiting for the bus to come pick them up and take them home. It is wonderful to sit in this room and listen to the friendships that surround us. It has been a hard, fast, special day and we were so honored to be able to serve these beautiful women in this way. We all felt like princesses…. And princes! Monica, Sarah and Rayona absolutely fell in love with the cute, chunky little babies we were able to cuddle during this event. (As I was typing this all of the women just jumped up to leave and left us all with kissed cheeks, warm hugs, and full hearts).

 

To wrap it up: Our team verse for this week is Isaiah 40:31, “. . . but those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” This could not have been a more perfect verse for the church here in Monte Cristi. They are experiencing some opposition because GOD IS DOING GREAT THINGS HERE. We are hoping to continue to be an encouragement to the people here and raise them up on wings like eagles so that they can continue to grow and thrive in the love of Christ.

 

We all want to let everyone back home know that we miss them and love them and are constantly praying and thinking about them. We are doing great here and loving every minute with our brothers and sisters in the D.R. and our teammates. God has blessed us. We have been stretched to be flexible just about every minute. But we are all stretching together and learning that when we ask God to show up, He certainly does.

 

Thank you all for your prayers and we want to urge you to continue to pray. Pray for our team’s health (sunburn, bug bites, especially—Sarah’s mom—she’s fine, I promise…, asthma, Michael’s lost toenail, Tom’s healing knee, etc.). Pray for the church here—that God would renew their strength and hope and raise up a congregation that is healthy and thriving in the strength of our Lord. Pray for the community of Monte Cristi (especially that the loud bar will CLOSE!!!). Pray for Martin and Martha as they continue to raise a beautiful family in Christ while at the same time nurturing a church that is doing MARVELOUS works. We love you all and see you soon!!