A Day in the Life of the Dominican Republic

Stephanie and I have been learning some of the ways of the Dominican Republic and we thought in this post we would share some of them with you as well as give an update on some things we’ve been doing.

The day begins at 7 A.M. promptly (though Steph and I are up by about 6:45) with a large blaring siren from the center of the city.  Ffter this the first siren goes off in the morning the daily activities begin.  Men are heading off to work, mopeds are everywhere and of course the roosters are sounding off left and right…Actually I’m positive the roosters start their day much earlier than 7.  More accurately its around 5:30 or so.  It’s not uncommon to see wandering chickens or goats in the neighborhood.

School is divided into two sections.  The little children go to school the first half of the day and the older children in the afternoon.  So as we are getting around in the morning the little kids are being walked to school by their parents.

Steph and I begin our day cooking on our propane top stove.  Usually the pans burn while you cook as you have little control over the size of the flame you are getting.  Steph has oatmeal each morning while I have scrambled eggs.

 

At 8:30 each day of the last week Stephanie and I have helped with the dividing of rice, beans, sugar and milk for the families that come each month to receive support.  We work until noon each day and then the rest of the day is taken with cooking, studying Spanish, prayer and other activities.

Lunch is the big meal of the day in the Dominican and we have rice and beans pretty much every day.  We have also had spaghetti a couple of times as well.  We’ve had no meat for several days now.  You must get chicken from the open air market and its quite frankly gross to both of us to have to take out the innards of the chicken and so on.  I’m sure eventually we will bite the bullet but for now we’re happy with our rice and beans.  We also have gotten to partake of many of the different fruits that grow on the island: Avocados, bananas, plantains, oranges, and guava just to name a few.

On Friday the 21^st Steph and I got to participate in our first monthly meeting that the families have.  Once a month, the Friday before the distribution starts all families must come to a meeting.  During this time the gospel is shared in some way or another and each family receives on a piece of paper the time they are to return the next week to pick up their food.  Here is a photo of all the people crammed into the church.  There are more standing back behind the cement wall.  Currently there are over 200 sponsored families in the program.

Today which is Saturday the 22^nd we are having a special activity for the girls in the sponsorship program.  A team came down a few months ago and brought tons of brand new shoes.  Many of the girls were invited and as you can see they are quite excited to be receiving the nice new shoes.  Stephanie was also able to share a little message with them from the book of Esther.

Stephanie and I must return to the capital next week where we will attempt to complete our Visas.  Please pray for us that we have everything we need and if for some reason we do not that we will be able to quickly get the necessary documents.  Our temporary Visas expire on October 7th so time is beginning to run short. 

Thanks again for all your prayer and support. 

Jared and Steph  

New Beginnings

Well...Today is day 2 of our journey and we thought we would take a few minutes and update everyone on the things that have been going on.  First off and most importantly we want to thank all of you that are praying for us and thinking of us.

Our journey started on the 10th of September at a daunting 2:30 A.M. followed by a quick tossing of the luggage on top of David and Brenda's SUV and a joyful ride to the airport.  Saying good-bye was definately the hardest part of the day.  It's always so difficult to say bye to those that we love so much.  We took comfort in knowing that Jesus has indeed called us into this work and that we know without a shadow of a doubt that this is what he wants for our lives.

We arrived in Santo Domingo around 3 in the afternoon and made our way to the Hotel Napolitano where I (Jared) got to enjoy two Dominican men attempt to smash a moped into the back of a small 4 door sedan.  After a while they figured it out and they used two old shirts as tie downs.  These are a few photos from our hotel room.

This morning (Tuesday) we left around 8 oclock and began our residence process.  Once we finally found the Ministry of Foreign Relations we quickly found out that we were improperly dressed.  A man yelled at our translator that there absolutely no shorts allowed followed by a second shout that my wife had to cover her shoulders to enter the building (she had on a skirt) So then we jumped in the van and quickly changed.

We arrived in the office and were then sent on a mission.  Unfortunately we did not have a letter that we were supposed to have so we had to find an internet cafe to type the letter.  This was quite a journey and at one point I believe we were in reverse on a one way street while other cars were driving towards us.  We made incredible time getting our letter completed.

We praise Jesus for the next thing that happened.  We were originally told that the completed and signed letter from the Ministry of Foreign Relations would not be ready until at least Thursday.  When we dropped it off she asked us to return later in the day.  Much to our surprise she was able to complete it in less than a day.

We have to report to a second building tomorrow and attempt to complete our Residency process.  Overall its been an incredible couple of days.  Loving how incredible the people are.  Amazed that even though their culture can seem a bit disorganized they don't complain about it at all.

Thanks again everyone for your prayers.  We thank our Lord Jesus every time we think of you.  You are such a huge support to us.