Before moving to the Dominican Republic, I thought that I would spend most of my time in the "field," aka three communities where Jackie and Hernando help. When they go to these villages they bring water, clothes, shoes, medicine, the gospel, and anything that would be considered a bare necessity. In short, my role was to assist them in any way possible.
And on the days we weren't in one of the communities, I planned on teaching English classes to Jackie's kids.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Well I've been here just shy of one month and in the past four weeks, I've spent two days at the garbage dump and four days at Jackie's. Yes, that's it. But please hear me when I say that it hasn't been by choice!
You see, Jackie and Hernando have three vehicles. And all three are broken. Jackie's House is way on the other side of town - about the distance from Myrtle Beach to Aynor or North Branch to Davison - so I can't walk there. And taking public transportation isn't an option because 1) it would be very expensive and 2) I don't speak Spanish yet, nor do I have a phone, so if the driver should get lost we'd be in big trouble.
And Jackie has been dealing with her own set or problems like trying to get her nephew enrolled in school and trying to figure out what's wrong with the cars. It seemed like things were getting better until Monday when I was notified that several of Jackie's kids had woken up with a severe case of conjunctivitis and that the doctor recommended no one enter or leave the house for at least two weeks.
Are you getting a better picture on why things have been so difficult? :-)
And so, lately I've been spending my afternoons preparing for my future English classes, completing tasks Beth can't seem to find the time to do, getting my apartment situation figured out, and most importantly, spending some much needed time with God. I've renewed my habit of having a daily quiet time and it's been wonderful. I've been reminded how utterly important it is to seek Him first everyday. The hour or so we spend together in the mornings blesses me with the patience, hope, wisdom, and peace that gets me through the unexpected events each day brings.
So my time is not being wasted.
However, today did contain a much needed chance to get out of the house. I'll save you the details and simply say that apartment progress is coming along nicely and if all goes well tomorrow, I may have the keys in hand by Wednesday! Praise the Lord!!
Who knows, maybe the next post will come from my new home!! adf
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