Arrived in the Dominican

As many of you may already know, we have arrived safely and have begun the process of learning the culture and Dominican Spanish.  We flew into Santiago DR Sunday night and were picked up around 7:00pm.  We were taken to the mission house where we are living until we find permanent housing.  They were holding discipleship classes.  We received a very warm welcome and were welcomed into the family.  An hour later we went to another party where we met a few other Americans who run a school near by.  Needless to say it was a long day, but a good one!

Monday we spent three hours getting our phones activated and it was nearly impossible without our Dominican family.  Tuesday we were finally able to look at housing and furnishings.  I believe we will have to settle for an apartment due to the fact that there are no houses available at this time.  And it will be much safer as well.   We are excited because we need our own space, (this is a very busy mission house. Ministry happenings every day.)

As I write this newsletter I am staring out the window in front of me.  I want to point out a few things to you so you can experience, with us, the culture here and the similarities with Uganda.  First off, notice the iron bars on the window.  This does not mean that Bruce has opened his big mouth and gotten into trouble.  But, similar to Uganda, they have bars on all the windows for safety purposes.

The second thing I would like to point out is just beyond the iron bars.  Look closely and you will see the six-foot high cement wall with broken pieces of glass mortared into the top of the wall.  This too is for protection from intruders, as they will cut themselves as they climb over to break into neighboring homes.  The cement wall is another similarity to the homes in Uganda.

The third and final thing I want to point out is that the building is three feet away from the cement wall.  This is the neighbor to the mission house where we are staying.  The houses seem to be stacked on top of each other.  The closeness might be common to the housing in the city of Jinga where we lived in Uganda, but our home in Uganda had a large yard and room between homes.  This will be new to us and it is something we will have to get used to.

Wednesday night we met with the staff at the Multi-cultural Community Church and we discussed a quote from Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China in the late 1800’s.  To sum up the quote Hudson is saying no matter where God places us or sends us, He goes before us to prepare the way, He goes with us as we journey the way, and gives all the provisions needed throughout the whole process.

I would like to point out one thing about our meeting last night.  The staff, like the Church attendees, is made up of a diverse culture group.  Attending the meeting were Haitians, Dominicans, Americans and a man from Equatorial Guinea, Africa.  The church we are partnering with is not only worshiping with a multi-cultural group they are reaching out to draw these groups together.  (Red and Yellow, Black and White they are precious in His sight)

We realize that God has placed us here and we are not totally sure what His plan will look like as He unfolds it.  But, we will be faithful to trust in Him as things unfold, for He knows the beginning to the end.  A wise man once told me that there are times in our lives where we can look into the rear view mirror and then see what God has done.

As for now and always we will hold to Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and will make your paths straight.  (NIV)

We have only been here 1 week today and found an apartment!  We are excited to have a place we can call home!

We don’t have a car yet, so we have been relying on Amarfry to transport us to the power co., contact office, stores etc.  She has been our little Dominican Angel! Until next month God Bless!

Prayer Requests

*Pray for comfort and peace for our family as we are away 

*Acclimation to this new culture, that all the details will fall into place.

*Pray we grasp their language quickly.  To be effective and to communicate we need to learn Espanol

* Praises! We found an apartment!  Pray for God to lead us in finding the household items needed to set up a home.

*Continued Prayers for our Ugandan Ministries and the families we love and miss.

Leave & Go

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and Go to the land that I will show you.”  Genesis 12:1

Where did the summer go?  Labor Day is already here!!  How can it be??  Labor Day celebrates the social and economic achievements of American workers.  It recognizes the efforts and strengths that have made this country Great.  It is traditionally celebrated with barbecues and time spent with family; marking the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year.  We will be doing just that this weekend; camping, celebrating and enjoying our time here with family, and remembering all God has blessed us with.

With that being said, we are ready to get back to Work!  September 24^th we fly to the Dominican Republic.  We will begin our new life living and working in a new country.  It is time for a new home, a new people group and a new ministry.  We are excited to see what God will do in this next year!

We have loved our summer here with our kids, grandkids, family and friends!  We have been able to catch up on what everyone has been doing in our absence.  We have gotten our fill of all the wonderful foods available here in America  (and our waistlines are proof).  We have done much physical labor helping our kids with remodeling projects on their homes and some on ours as well.  As we write this today, we are without a commode due to a leak in the bathroom.  Water is off for two days for repairs.  God’s humor….just giving us a little reminder of what life was like in Uganda.

 We have studied hard with learning a new language and some educational things we needed to do to prepare for this shift.  We have visited many of our supporting churches sharing what’s next for us.  And, we have diligently worked on fund raising.  But, amongst all the business and work, we did get some much need physical and emotional rest!  Now, we are ready to GO!

To GO we must say our Goodbyes, and The Goodbyes stink!  It never gets easier!  We are always saying “goodbye” or “see you later” to someone here at home, or with people we have come to know and love. It breaks our hearts every time!!  But, we know this is what we are supposed to do.  Knowing God has gone before us and He is leading us each step of the way, gives our hearts some comfort.  And even though we love America and our time here, we do not feel at home here anymore.  Life here seems somehow foreign and different.  We feel like we are caught in two different worlds a bit unsettled and out of place.  Neither here nor abroad feels like home.  We are visitors passing through.  Lives go on with or without us whether we are here or there.  As a missionary, I guess, this is a part of life.  And, it’s OK! We love being Missionaries!  God placed this unsettled feeling in us so we would GO to a foreign land and to the unknowns.  And it is time to GO!

We can’t say “THANK YOU” enough to Everyone that has transferred their financial support to us thru Helps Ministries!  Thank you for being our prayer support and for sharing your time with us!  We are so blessed because of you!  We are Excited and Ready for whatever God has in store for us! 

We pray you enjoy the beautiful fall weather (that has seemed to come early ;) and that you rest in the wonderful provisions God has blessed you with here in America! 

Hasta luego Amigos y Familia, see you later Friends & Family!

Prayer Requests

* Pray we make up the shortage in personal support and raise enough funds to purchase a reliable, safe vehicle

*Safe travel to the D.R. September 24^th

*Pray for comfort for our family as our leaving affects their lives too

*Acclimation to this new culture, that all the details will fall into place, we find a new home and needed items

*Continued Prayers for our Ugandan Ministries and families.