Teaming Together in Ministry

Hola a todos de la Republica Dominicana! After a smooth day of travel on Tuesday, LIFT 30 has arrived safely, gracias a Dios (thanks be to God!) We are settled into the base at Jarabacoa, where we are enjoying the warm hospitality of Students International. Over the first few days of our stay in the Dominican Republic, LIFT has experienced quite a cross-section of Dominican life as we spread out each day into the local communities. We are working through Students International with missionaries in multiple professions, such as dentistry, medical clinics, microfinance, sports, education and social work. We are each gaining different insights into the work of the Lord and the nuances of the Dominican culture through working with these various ministries.

Thursday evening, each missionary team was invited to dinner at the home of a family in the community in which we serve. I experienced dinner in El Callejon, where I have the privilege to serve at the social work site along with Elizabeth Perry and Laura Gambrell. El Callejon is a small community which consists of a long, narrow dirt road, with homes and colmados (corner stores) on one side of the street and a wall on the other side. This wall literally divides the rich from the poor. Wealthy vacationers stay in mansions on one side of the wall, ignoring the extreme poverty on the other side.

Our hostess, Tona, welcomed the social work team into her home with a delicious dinner of mangu (mashed plantains), onions, and chicken. The Dominican people take great pride in their delightful cooking and every team came back from dinner exclaiming how tasty their meal was. But it was not just the quality of the food that impressed me, but the generosity of the Dominican people. It is typical for Dominicans to cook very large amounts of food because they expect friends to drop by at any moment and are always prepared to ask them to stay for dinner. In Tona's case, this truly shows a trust in the Lord's provision which I hope to emulate someday. Tona and her husband live in a very small home. Her husband has had several health problems over the years which have often prevented him from working. Neither Tona nor her husband has a steady job with a guaranteed paycheck at the end of the week; they go out looking for work on a day-to-day basis and they do not know for sure where next week's food is coming from. Yet, they trust enough in God to invite strangers into their home and show us their hospitality. I was humbled by this willingness to give without hesitation.

Fellow LIFT Students have also noted how relational the Dominican culture is. The communities are like big families; people will drop everything to take care of one another and are willing to give what they have, whether time or possessions. People are more important than schedules. Experiencing the Dominican culture has inspired many discussions among my LIFT classmates about what it means to trust in God and what it looks like to love others across the language barrier.

As LIFT continues to serve in our various capacities during our stay here, we ask for prayer that we would approach this work with an attitude of humility and willingness to learn, and that we would continue to find new ways to share the love of Christ to a different culture and language. Pray for this weekend to refresh the team- we have a very high energy level right now but it is very easy to become drained by the heat, excitement and hard work! Pray for health for our team, that our immune systems would continue to be strong!

Bendiciones (Blessings),

Anna Dunsworth

 

 Check out this video of sports ministry and education ministry on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/oMbfkEkUvak

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