This Wasn't In The Job Description

For those of you that have ever had a job description, there was probably a disclaimer at the bottom that says something along the lines of, “and other duties as assigned.” Well, evidently God has a similar disclaimer. Tonight, I found myself on a city planning committee. That's right a committee. We received a notice that there was going to be a meeting at the City Hall regarding paving and repairing the road that runs along the main school campus in Sosua. I attended this meeting along with one of our school teachers, and we learned of a plan to repave the road; however, the question is how it will be paid for. According to the mayor, the city can only cover 20% and the rest will come from the residents of the road. This includes, our school program, a private school, several hundred private homes, a hotel, and several apartments. In this meeting it was decided that the large group was not going to be an effective way to resolve the issue, so they created a road committee, and wanted representation from our school, since there was not a representative from the other school. We got a call this morning that there was going to be a committee meeting. So tonight, Gloria, the school director, and I went to our first committee meeting. We were there with about eight other committee members, the mayor, and two of his staff. Tasks were delegated out, which we fortunately avoided at the mayors directions, because he didn't want to burden us, and we scheduled another meeting, which we offered to host at the school. They have actually moved the meetings up a few weeks so as not to conflict with my families plan to be on furlough. I really am not sure why I am part of the committee, but it is interesting. There are three primary languages, Spanish, German, and English. There are people on the committee that seem to have a different primary language, but one of these three can serve as a common language. The Mayor has two interpreters, one that translates Spanish & German, and another that translates Spanish & English. It is somewhat comical. Many of the committee members speak two of the languages, so the conversation shifts from Spanish to English to German with no warning. At the conclusion of the meeting we talked in small groups, and one of the guys mentioned the fact that it is interesting that with all the problems in the area we are discussing how to get a better road, which allowed me to share the mission and vision of New Missions and specifically the school affected by the road improvements. Again, I'm not sure why I am part of this committee, except that I don't want us the school to shoulder any unfair burden to have the road fixed. Something, that we have not asked for, and aren't sure we want, because it slows down traffic on the road. But, I want the Mayor to know that we want to be of service and be involved in the community. Missionary life is anything but boring, and with that disclaimer on my job description, it doesn't look like it ever will.

Baptism and Body Surfing

Sunday was a very special day. Aeng Jin Lee, had traveled from Canada to be baptized Mrs. Lee's daughter Kim and her husband Gerry have traveled to the Dominican Republic on several occasions, on their second trip they found New Life Church, the English-speaking ministry of New Missions in the DR. They have made New Life Church a regular stop on their trips to the DR. As they were planning this trip, Kim's mother said that she wanted to be baptized in the ocean. Mrs. Lee is turning 90 soon. She has been a Christian for many years. She had been introduced to Christianity as a child, and remembers a Christian missionary in North Korea encouraging her to sing. However, as an adult, she practiced Buddhism, but converted to Christianity before moving to Canada over 20 years ago. However, she had never been baptized Kim and Gerry contacted Pastor George and Jeanne to discuss the possibility of her mother being baptized in the DR. We have been planning for this day for about a month, but Pastor George and Jeanne had to return home sooner than expected and were unable to officiate the baptism, and the honor came to me. Some of the background to the trip, first of all Mrs. Lee made the robe she was baptized in for this occasion. She bathed for three-hours before their trip, because she did not know that she would have access to a bath or shower during the trip. She had thought she would be sleeping on the floor or in a hut. She came any way, and was determined to be baptized in the DR. Her friends cautioned her fearing for her health and safety. She responded to them, "I'd rather die attempting to get there, than to not even attempt it." Wow, what a message of obedience!!! I decided that I wanted to baptize her in her native language, Mrs. Lee speaks very limited English, so I contacted a Korean Church in the States. The person who I spoke with not only sent me a phonetic pronunciation, but attached a sound file. I was able to say "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" in Korean. I practiced with Kim several times as well. We had a nice beach side service; however, the waves were a little rougher than normal as the aftermath of Tropical Storm Noel. We got out to the water with some splashes in our face, as we turned around for the baptism, one wave went over our heads. As we went backwards for the baptism, the water became very shallow, a sign to what was coming. We came back up and steadied ourselves for a few seconds, but were suddenly toppled by the next wave. Mrs. Lee went under, and Kim was pushed to the shore. Mrs. Lee came up laughing, and once we quickly got to the beach, she was hugging and laughing, and all smiles. She said, that she hopes to live to be 120, and she will never forget her baptism as long as she lives. Gerry tells me after the baptism that neither Kim nor Mrs. Lee can swim, and that they are actually afraid of the water. You would have never known. It was a great honor to be involved in this event, and I believe this is just the first of many baptisms we will participate in here in the DR.

Placas y Revistas

I've had a Dominican week. We were told several times before moving here that things take longer to accomplish, and if you accomplish one thing in a day, it has been a great day. With all the warnings it really has not been as bad as it seemed, but this week made up for it. The National Government announced early October that vehicle stickers would be available throughout October. Well, October was full of two short-term teams and several events which prevented following up on the vehicle stickers. This week, I finally had some time to devote to the stickers, and we started the process of renewing our Revistas. Well, come to find out, revistas are like vehicle inspections stickers. Heather and Lisselotte purchased the necessary paperwork to renew the stickers. You have to have a Dominican cedula (residency) to purchase the form to get a revista. Ponder the fact that a cedula is not required to purchase a car, and that might shed some light on the week. This took several trips to the bank (yes the bank, not just any bank, one specific bank) because you can only purchase two at a time. We were renewing seven vehicles including both personal and ministry vehicles. Fortunately, Lisselotte knew the person (a phrase I will be using often in the story, so let's call this #1) and we were able to purchase all of them in two trips. So, the next day, Lisselotte and I head to the tax collectors office in Sosua where Lisselotte knows the person (#2) and were told we had to go to Puerto Plata, twenty minutes away for the stickers. We head to Puerto Plata, turn into a very DMV looking building and are stopped by a man at the front desk. He follows us out to my personal truck, and then asks where the other vehicles are, because he needs to check them, by the way, this is when I found out revistas are inspection stickers, I thought I was just paying a tax. Did I say this is October 30th and we have been informed that all the stickers expire on October 31st, and you can be fined our have your vehicle impounded. There is no way that I can get all seven vehicles to Puerta Plata before the office closes. The guy informs us that for a special handling fee (read that however you would like) he will process all of the paperwork. Lisellotte handles the details, we go back to the table, the paperwork starts being processed. So, my assumption is that after the paperwork is finished I will go in the office and pay the per vehicle tax, but they hand us the Revistas, and we head to the car with our new friend, and pay the special handling fee. We don't have to pay the tax? Wow, that saved a significant amount of money, WRONG!! We head back to Sosua thinking we have accomplished our task with great success, and go about our day. The next morning Heather calls and she had learned this morning, that the tax is paid at a second bank, and we need to get that taken care of. So, keep in mind, this is the last day we can pay the tax. The line in Sosua is out of the bank on to the street, so we head to Puerto Plata, again, where we have been told the lines are shorter. We got to Puerto Plata, and the line is no longer shorter. It is know about 12:00, and the bank closes at 3. This line will not be gone by three. I call Heather, she goes to the bank in Sosua to wait in line until we get there. We stand and wait, and they close off the line, because they are out of forms. WHAT???? They tell us there has been a fifteen day extension, whew. Lisellotte talks to someone that she knows that is standing outside (#3), and is informed that this process is only for personal vehicles, that vehicles owned by an organization have a simpler process, they just go straight to the tax office. Great!!! We head to the tax office, and are informed it can only be handled at the regional office in . . . Puerto Plata!!! Well, the adventure is going to have to wait until the next day, and so will the story. More to Come!!

I forgot I've got avocadoes in my purse

We were getting ready for bed last night, and when Melissa finished brushing her teeth she said, "I forgot, I've got avocoadoes in my purse." She heads out of the room, to put the avocadoes in a place they will ripen. Now, why am I writting about avocadoes, it is just another part of our life here I wanted to share. Most every week we are given gifts from members of the Spanish-speaking church. Mainly fruit, often avocadoes, chinola (passion fruit), or mangoes when they were in season. These are great gifts from people that have very little to give. It reminds me of the widow's mite. Many of the ladies in the church that give us these gifts are caring for their children, and their children's children. I don't see how they have enough for themsevles, let alone to think to share with us. Melissa and I have been touched by the giving-spirit of many of the people here. We are blessed each time we receive these precious gifts.

Using Your Gifts on the Mission Field

When Elizabeth Vasquez signed up to go on a short-term mission trip to the Dominican Republic, she asked her friends coordinating the trip, what she should put down as skills, since she did not feel she had any skills appropriate for the mission field. Elizabeth is an Epidemiologist with a Master Degree in Public Health working in New York, completing her dissertation for her PhD.. Little did she know that she had the exact skills we have been looking for to start an outreach to local doctors on the North Coast, providing them access to professionals able to provide seminars on their field of expertise. We were able to invite the local doctors to hear Elizabeth, a Dominican-born, Spanish-speaking, health professional present information pertinent to their local practices. The physicians enjoyed a wonderful evening of professional camaraderie. While I was talking to one of the physicians, he stated, you never see even five physicians in one room together. He shared that they are rarely able to meet together and share information with one another. He said that a lot of good information was provided during the evening and he was grateful for the opportunity to meet with his colleagues. Not only, did they receive som3 great information, they had a wonderful Italian dinner to top off the evening. All of the doctors that attended are looking forward to our next gathering.

Making Change

Mom and Dad are in town. We spent the day with a short-term team that is here for a week. This morning we went to Policlinica and this afternoon we spent the day at Pastor Domingo's house just enjoying time with his family and letting the team get to know him and his family. They have a river behind their home that we splashed in, and hung out playing dominoes and eating guacamole. But, that's not today's story.

Hanley Wiki:

Policlinica - a neighborhood near the Iglesia Nueva Vida tent where a large number of church members live. At one point it was going to be a Clinic, a small hospital, but it was never completed. Following a natural disaster in which many peoples homes were flooded, the government moved them to this area. Thus the neighborhood of Policlinica was born.


After dropping the team off at the hotel we decided to get pico pollo, grilled/rotisserie chicken sold at little stands throughout town. One of our favorites we call "Poli-Chicken" because it is near Policlinica. Unfortunately, the only denomination of peso we had was a 1000 peso bill, about 30 dollars. Well, a whole chicken with yuca is only $200 pesos (about $7). I knew breaking a 1000 was going to be trouble, so when I ordered I asked, "Can you change 1000", they checked and decided they couldn't. However, there was a white truck parked down the street that sales bottled cokes and water to the little restaurants, and the chicken vendor say, "Go ask him, he has money." So I walked down the street, waited for him to finish a conversation, and asked, "Can you change 1000". He checked and said no, but he told me that he needed to collect a bill from a restaurant, and if they paid he would have change. So, I waited for him to go collect his bill. When he returned he told me that they didn't pay today. I returned to Poli-chicken with my 1000 pesos. The vendor suggested the grocery store, the other direction. I went to the grocery store, and they told me that they could give me to 500 peso bills. So, with my two 500 peso bills I returned to Poli-chicken. The assistant chicken vendor, pulled all the bills out to change my 500, and had to take some coins from her back pocket to change my $500 for the chicken. So now, having worked up an appetite we went home to enjoy some tasty chicken!!!

For more pictures of the day, click on the album below:

Day with team at Domingos

Day Trip to Jarabacoa

We took a day trip to Jarabacoa (Hair-uh-buh-coa) with two other families. This town is about three hours south of Sosua, and is in the mountains. We started the day at 8:00, when we all met, and left around 8:40. We got to Jarabacoa around 11:30. We did not have directions to the place we were going, but stopped at a small gas station and called the number we had. A one-eyed motorconcho driver met us at the gas station and led us to Rancho Jarabacoa, and recreational area owned by the cousin of church members. This Rancho had an area to swim in the river, horses, ping-pong table, pool table, dominoes, and a restaurant. For a set price we were able to eat, be driven to a waterfall, and take a horse ride, as well as use all of the equipment on site. We played a few games of ping-pong, pool, and dominoes as we waited for lunch to be ready. We had a typical Dominican Lunch of salad, rice and beans, and either chicken or pork. After lunch we were driven to the waterfall. We spent close to two hours climbing rocks, swimming in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, and exploring the river. When we got back to the Rancho, there was a small thunderstorm, unfortunately it did not clear up in time for us to ride the horses. We just played games and drank coffee at the Rancho until it was time to get on the road. We really enjoyed the day. It was nice to see a different part of the island. It was also, very cool, a nice break from the heat of the coast. You should be able to see more pictures of our day here.