Well, the summer has finally kicked off! I arrived here May 27th, and I have had an exciting time of ministry so far. We have had three medical clinics, and every one of them have been so incredible!June 3rd, was the arrival of my first medical clinic of the summer. We had this clinic at a church in a area of Santiago called Los Guandules (means "the peas") I'd like to tell you why this place is called "the peas" but nobody knows. What I can tell you is this church is a beautiful place. The property where the church is located, use to be a gambling house and disco. The ministry purchased the property and began building a church in 2004. Not only does the church host Dominican and Haitian church services, we have a feeding center and the church is used for Pastor training as well. We had two days of medical clinic there where we treated about 1,000 people! It was awesome! While these clinics are going on, we encourage the team members to talk with their patients, and to also pray with them. We can give them free medicine, but nothing beats the power of prayer! There was a lady that apparently came on the first day of medical clinic. She had a protruding growth in her throat. As the team members gathered around her, they began to pray. The next day of clinic, the lady came back. She said that she went to the hospital and had xrays done (we had told her that was what she needed to do) and when the doctors ran the tests, THEY COULDN'T FIND THE GROWTH!!
On June 10th, I had my second medical clinic. This team had a pretty unique story. The team started out with 10 people(they were a family) who wanted to go on a missions trip. A member of this family, she was the mother, well her husband died. The mom decided to sell some of the property her husband left her, and helped to fund this mission trip which ended up numbering about 50 people. Half of this team worked on construction, while the other half of this team was stuck with me! They were such a big group, we broke them down into two medical teams. One team went to Los Perez, and the other half worked here in my community of Hoya del Ciamito. In all, we saw about 850 people that week. About 150 of those people were treated by two dentists that came. So, in two weeks time we were able to show the love of Christ to 1,850! Although we have not heard of any conversions yet, thats a lot of seeds planted.
There are so many things that impress me about life here. I suppose that the thing that really touches my heart is how that in so much poverty, you see the beauty of God. That He has not forsaken this place. I call these my "beautiful moments." One day last week, we took the medical team down to "the Hole". The Hole is a land fill where about 650 families live. Raw sewage runs through the streets, live animals relieve them selves where ever they want, it smells, and it is a area where drugs, alcohol, and prostitution is a way of life. As I was leading a team down to the church and feeding center that we are building there, I stopped so that the team could go ahead of me. I stopped to talk with this cute very elderly woman. As we were talking, I heard this little, bitty chirping noise. I looked down and I noticed this stream of sewage running down the path, and in the middle of it was this cute, little, fuzzy baby chick. It was trying to walk upstream, and was getting caught in the current. This sweet, little old lady bends over and fishes the little chick out of the nastiness, and with such gentleness, puts the chick into her house. It was so touching...that in the middle of all this poverty, that this little old lady had any compassion left. I can't imagine growing up in a place like that. Had she been there most of her life? Probably. Was she a Christian? I don't really know. But to me in that moment, she represented the face of God. She was the picture of wisdom and tenderness. And I think about all the times my life gets mucked up, and I get myself in a swirling mass, and God plucks me right out again.
I love going to church here. I love that God understands every language, and that every Sunday, He hears millions of people worship in so many different languages. A few Sundays ago, I was sitting in a Haitian church. Haitian people are so beautiful, and I love to watch their expressive worship. Haitians are really mistreated in this country. They flee to this country, because they see it as a chance for a better life. In Haiti, over two thousand people inhabit each square mile of tillable soil, and what farmers manage to grow, is taxed heavily to and from market. Here in the Dominican Republic, they are considered the inferior race, and they do the labor in this country that no Dominican would ever do. They are refugees here. Their history has been a long one of oppression, deprivation, and suffering. Where we live, it's pretty peaceful, but every now and then we hear stories of the horrible treatment of Haitians, and of the injustice that they have to endure. That's the reason I love to visit their churches. The church that I visit here in Santiago, is a cement building with a HOT tin roof, very little breeze, and the building is packed. You have a people that are strangers in a strange land just so that they can survive. As they begin to sing in Creole, you can feel Gods love and His presence.... I am always awed. I ask my self if I could rise above my circumstances if I were in their shoes. Could you?
