May 9-13th, 2011

Hola Everyone!
The team has been here in Dominican for five days soaking up the sun-and our sweat! Locals inform us that this is hotter than usual weather, which we are glad to know. Maybe the heat will take it easy on us Canadians over the next couple of weeks.
We arrived in Santo Domingo on Monday night after two plane rides worth of laughs and giggles-the staff at the airport here were admiring our conversation and lack of self-control. Shannon met us at the airport and we drove with her into the ‘Zona Colonial’ of the capital. This part of the city is partially surrounded by the remains of a fort built by Christopher Columbus, the oldest European fort in the Caribbean! This part of the city resonates with the history of the past five hundred years, and the look of the buildings heightened our sense of being in a strange place. It was around 11 o’clock at night and the streets were still lively-some of us were surprised at the comparative wealth of the locals compared with other Latin American countries. Shantol noticed the many SUVs in the street! After we got our luggage unpacked, Shannon took the team for a walk to a local restaurant. This made a few of us nervous, especially after the warnings we’ve been given about being out after dark. The reality about the Dominican Republic, which we were to discover over the next few days, is that this country is much more carefree than we had supposed. You need to be careful, yes, but one can travel from place to place without fearing for their life.
Tuesday morning was spent in an orientation tour of the Zona Colonial with Shannon. This helped us to understand how the worldview of Dominicans now is shaped by their past. After lunch, the team travelled to King’s Christian School, where Shannon works as a Bible teacher in grades nine and twelve. We got to sit in on two of her classes and chat with some of the students, who learn in both Spanish and English. Following this, we met with the families with whom we are staying for the duration of our trip. We are still getting to know them better, but so far we have been blessed by their hospitality and their enthusiasm.
That night we had the chance to try some Dominican sushi (which is about 100x better than sushi in Canada) and experienced our first Caribbean rainstorm. Water from the downpour flooded the streets and even rushed into some people’s houses! It is common during these storms to see people swimming in the pools created by the water. The following morning, Shantol and Emily rode a bus and a public car to the team’s meeting place at a local McDonald’s. After some devotional time, we spent the morning with our new friend Jose-David, with whom Josh and Kody are living.

The best day so far was Thursday the 12th when we met Alexander! Alexander is an artist who was deported from the U.S. and now sells drawings to make a living. We had the opportunity to have an awesome conversation and hear his story, while he drew us a team logo. It looks awesome! It was good to have the chance to get to know a person who lives here, who is looked down upon because of his unfortunate condition. In addition, it was an awesome experience because we were able to make him feel valuable because he is valuable to God. After our amazing time with Alexander, the artist, the team split to experience Dominican church. Alex and Britney went with their family and Kody, Emily, Shantol, and Josh went to Shannon´s church. Emily and Josh were asked to bless the church with their testimonies and we all got to experience some great worship in the Spanish language. Shannon and Jose-David were on hand to translate the message. We enjoyed the service very much!

This week has been about getting to know Santo Domingo and the way the culture and language work. Today the team is departing for Boca Chica for some beach ministry. This doesn’t entail lying in the sun all weekend. We will be working, among others, with prostitutes who frequent the area in the evening. This marks the beginning of our intentional service projects here. Praise the Lord, our team unity hasn’t diminished by a hair. We are having so much fun and becoming a real family here together with our new Dominican friends. We also thank Him for time spent with people like Alexander and for the fact that all of us are slowly learning the language.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog-we apologize that it’s so long, but we have limited access to internet here and so updates will be longer and more infrequent than we planned. Please see our list of prayer requests if you’d like to continue helping us in this way!