Friday, September 11, 2009

Dominican Republic

This summer I had the chance to go to the Dominican Republic with the Reformed Baptist Church of Louisville on a mission trip. When I heard about that they were going, I got all the information and showed it to my parents, praying that they would let me go and they did!! Words cannot describe how happy I was. I think I should write down some of the things I experienced, just so I will not forget...
So on the Saturday that I was due to leave, My Aunt, Mom, and cousin took me to Louisville Airport. I was terrified. I didn't know anyone that I was going with, I had never even heard of the country we were going to before I had received the E-mail from Pastor Stephen and I had heard scary stories of how people get sick in countries like that. The day before we left I had decided that I was going to rush through that week so it would be over as soon as possible. Even on the plane I was thinking about how happy I would be to get back home. Then I heard the Pilot of the airplane say over the intercom that we were about to land in Santa Domingo! At that moment all my worries vanished. When I got off that plane I felt like I was right where I was supposed to be.
After we had gotten our luggage , we went looking for our bus. A husky Dominican man waited for us with a sign that said Louisville. He led us to our bus and we all proceeded to pack our suitcases in the last to rows of the little vehicle. It is a funny feeling speaking as clearly as you can and the person in front of you looks at you like he has no idea what your saying. For an hour Pastor James and some other people from the group tried to tell our driver where we were going. Finally we arrived at IBSJ around 12 o'clock. From their we all split up with our host families. My friend Liz and I stayed with a lady named Ms. Lyidia. She had a beautiful home. She made us feel at home. Liz and I stayed up really late that night talking. I think we were too excited to sleep.
The next morning we got up and went to Sunday school at IBSJ. When we walked in the room there was an older looking man preaching entirely in Spanish. He had a bible in his hand and was speaking passionately to the crowd. I only wish I knew what he was saying. We sat down and immediately two translators came to our rescue and translated the entire message. It was the coolest thing I'd ever experienced up until then. Sunday school ended and we made our way to the huge sanctuary. It was so pretty. All the windows were open and even birds flew around the ceilings, it felt like God's creation was worshipping with us too. The Pastor welcomed us to his church and invited us to sing. What I'm about to tell you is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my entire life, this takes the cake. The whole church stood up and started sing their hymns. It was so wonderful, they were all singing in an completely different language , I didn't understand a word they were saying but I knew God did. They loved him just as much as I did. It was awesome to get to worship with them. They are my brothers and sisters!
When church was over , we packed all of our things in a different bus and met the church from Florida. We said our good byes and left for San Jaun! I could hardly wait to start VBS the next day. We stopped for lunch at where else , Mickey D's! It took us four hours to get to San Jaun! We drove through miles of gorgeous country side but we also drove through miles of houses that weren't fit for a dog to live in , let alone a entire Family. It broke my heart. I had a feeling that bus ride was only a glimpse of what the week had in store for me.
Everyone was excited when we checked in a Hotel Tantio. Liz and I roomed together. Our room was complete with a T.V. and AC, things I were not expecting. We unpacked and met up with Pastor Widmy and his wife Nalda in the conference room of the hotel for dinner. They thanked us for coming and brought us sandwiches to eat. It was yummy!
The group went down to Grace Christian Baptist Church . There Pastor Marty preached the evening services. Again I felt an overwhelming presence of God like I've never felt before. These people were such an inspiration! Their faith was so strong! That night we all slept good.( sort of) We were tired!
The next morning we got up around 8 and headed down to the church for breakfast. I think I had some really good mango and pineapple. Yum! Once we'd finished eating a bus made for 15 people pulled up to take us to the Barrio. We fit 22 people in that bus so it was a bit squished, but very fun if we hit any bumps! The Barrio hit me like a ton of bricks. All kinds of one roomed houses were stuck side by side. It wasn't a pretty sight. The school we went to for morning classes about the size of my downstairs. It had a concrete floor and 5 doors along the side and front. No windows. No air Conditioning. It looked really depressing until I saw two little girls dressed in what looked like their best clothes, skipping down the aisle of plastic chairs. Their faces were exploding with happiness! I still haven't seen a child smile as big as they did. They sat down right in the front row and smiled at us, waiting for bible school to start. After that a ridiculous amount of children flooded the room. All of them just as excited as the first two. I wanted to hug all of them. I probably did through out the course of the week. It seemed like everyone in the barrio came that first morning. I remember this lady who was standing outside the door with her baby, I invited her to come in but I don't think she understood me. I tried to tell her that I thought her baby was cute but she just handed her to me. She smiled at me while I held her baby. I guess she did understand what I was trying to say.
That afternoon, we went to another barrio for our afternoon classes. There were even more kids there than there were at the morning class! All of them we so cute, but so poor. About half of them didn't even have shoes! Some didn't have but one article of clothing on.( Pants or shirt). We taught them the Wise Man song. They loved that! After the class ended we all went outside to play. This one girl named Natalie came up and hugged me. I picked her up and she said something in Spanish. Her eyes seemed so lonely. I wanted to take her home with me! Through out the week we all fell in love with the kids. There was this only little boy named Pingo that was a bit mischievous. Ha ha ! He was funny though!
One day after the morning class ,we went to the boys orphanage just outside the city. We got there and saw a bunch of boys playing in the front yard. We were able to go on a tour of the whole building. The first thing I noticed was the abnormal amount of flies that fill the rooms and hallways of their home. Most of the boys slept on bunk beds. After we saw where they slept and ate and played, they wanted to show us their school and church facility.It was nice, I thought. I'll never forget those little boys.
Another day, Pastor Marty took us to see the widows house where some of the boys were fixing her roof. She was a sweetie! Her face always had a smile on it. She hugged me right off the bat. I told her my name was Mara but she called me Marla.She took us inside her house and showed us around. I don't think I can describe it enough to give it justice but the moment I walked in her house; I was so thankful that God have given me mine.The walls looked thin and the roof was made of out cheap metal. Her kitchen and bedroom we separated by a cover. Although I think she might have had a little T.V., I cant remember. When I walked out to her outhouse the hinges for her door were the soles of shoes tacked on with nails. She met me and my friend Megan out in her yard with two classes of coke. Later we found out she'd spent her last peso on us. She was so thankful for what she had, it made me feel guilty for every time I've wanted something more than what I already had.
Those were only some of the experiences I had. To write them all down would take days. I loved that trip! I hope I get to go back , if God wills. I met some great friends! The things we saw made us all grow closer that week. My life changed! The people down there will always have an impact on my life. They live for God in a way that really is foreign to a lot of people up here. It was foreign to me when I saw it. I wondered why they were so happy when they had nothing. Then on the plane ride home I realized that they were the ones that had everything!

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Hey everyone! Welcome to my blog page! I'm Mara and I thought it would be awesome to have one!