Day Twenty-Five in the Dominican Republic
I want to start off my clarifying one thing. I have NOT been pressuring my daughter into writing a blog post............only encouraging :-)
We had another good day today. Steve and Sandra had to spend the day renewing their residency visas, which meant we had another free day. So, the girls all requested that we head back to the Colonial Zone to do some souvenir shopping. Last time we only looked. This time we did some shopping. After a relaxed morning, we called a taxi and took off for the Colonial Zone. He dropped us off in an areas we weren't as familiar with, which resulted in us getting lost for the first part of our morning. Eventually we caught our bearings and asked for directions enough that we arrived at the Market. The girls had a lot of fun looking at all of the stuff in the market and watching me barter prices. They all walked away with the things they wanted to buy. So, that was successful.
We also spent quite a bit of time walking around and seeing some more of the sites. We make a quick stop at Christopher Columbus' son's mansion (the above picture). We decided we didn't want to go into the museum but enjoyed looking around outside for a bit.
We also had a bit of a ruckus at one point this morning, when this "little" guy came crawling up the bathroom wall while one of the girls was in there. There was a loud scream and then some running.
We also had another treat this evening (one that everyone has come to LOVE). These are called Dominican French Fries or Fried Plantains. The kids have really enjoyed making this dish occasionally. They are even requesting them for their birthday meals for the next year. They are also making plans to share these with their classmates at the beginning of school next year.
Now, onto Part Two of last night's post. Once again, I have to preface this by saying that I'm no expert in some of this history, but I've been told a few really good stories that I want to relay. However, I just finished having a conversation with someone who is an expert on the history of the Christian Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic. His name is Neal Hegeman. He and his wife were the second missionaries in the Dominican Republic. Along with Ray and Gladys Brinks, they really helped get everything up and going. I had the opportunity to talk with him because he's back, visiting the DR, and is staying in the apartment with us. He also pointed me to his Doctoral Dissertation on the first ten years of the church in the Dominican Republic. So, after I'm done reading that, I may have to make some corrections :-)
Back to the story. Last night, I wrote a little information about how the Bateys developed and how they functioned. I left out one important detail. Many of the Haitian immigrants were Christians when they entered the Dominican Republic. They came from many different denominational backgrounds. Then, as they lived in a the close knit community of the Bateys, churches would start.
As this was happening, Back to God Ministries was also sending out programming in Spanish across Latin America. I can't remember his name, but there was a very well-known Spanish speaking pastor who had a program with Back to God. Many people listened to it and it had a major impact in the Bateys. They really liked what they were hearing.
Eventually, a man in one of the Bateys wrote a letter and sent it to Back to God Ministries. He wrote it requesting that the Christian Reformed Church send a missionary to them to help them in establishing churches in the Bateys. By the grace of God, and a miracle of God, that letter made it out of secluded, rural Batey, and across the ocean, to the Back to God offices. They forwarded the letter onto Synod to take action.
As things typically go in churches (and church boards), there were hoops to jump through in order to officially send missionaries into this country. Ray and Gladys Brinks were unwilling to wait for the red tape to be finished. They heard someone requesting missionaries and left, trusting that the "official" business would work itself out eventually. They arrived in the Dominican Republic in 1980 and, by another act of God's grace, they found the small, secluded Batey from which the letter came. When they arrived in the Batey, they found the church and saw "Iglesia Christiana Reformada" (Christian Reformed Church) written on the front of the building. What a way to begin their work in this country!
After doing some more scouting around, they were able to locate six small congregations that had affiliated themselves with the Christian Reformed Church, with about 80 members, and 150 children and visitors--totaling 230 people. Now, 37 years later, there are almost 200 congregations and over 12,000 members. Because of its beginnings in the Bateys, the ICRRD (Christian Reformed Church of the Dominican Republic) is primarily a church of Bateys and Haitian immigrants. They continue to be doing powerful work with the least and disenfranchised in the Dominican Republic.
I love this story for a number of reasons, but I primarily love it because it powerfully shows how God is working and preparing a way before we are doing any work. God had prepared the ground and did the work before any missionaries stepped foot in the DR. Then, when they faithfully followed His call, the work exploded and continues to have a tremendous impact. Just goes to show that being in step with God and His plans is the only way to go. We would do well to slow down and see where He is already working, rather than trying to plow our own paths.
I think that's it for tonight. Continue to pray for the work of the church here in the Dominican Republic and that God would continue to receive glory for what He has done and continues to do on this island.
Buenos Noches!