Now that I am finally home, I have some time to process the trip. My plan is to post a blog that goes into greater detailer of what we did each day. As I blog about it, I pray that it will allow me to process this trip on a deeper level, and that the Lord will uncover some truths to me that I am still trying to comprehend.
Today, I’ll start by covering the day we came into Puerto Plata, the day before we went into the community. Here is an excerpt I wrote in my journal:
“Eddie, our bus driver, and Sondra, the pastor of the church that DCC partners with down here, just picked us up from the airport. Sondra is such a beautiful and kind woman! She is all smiles and welcomed each one of us with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I am excited to see what the Lord has for us here.
I must say one of my concerns is that I speak little Spanish (well, none really), and they speak it predominantly here. I hope that God will still use me and help me to be effective regardless of this barrier…
After being picked up from the airport, we went to get lunch at a local pizzeria. There was a young girl at the pizzeria, probably only 4 or 5 years old. She wore a green dress and had these huge, deep, beautiful brown eyes. She sat outside on the street with her younger brother and mother.
I saw her mother whisper something to her, and she then walked over to us. She looked deep into our eyes, and extended her hand out towards us, a gesture asking us to give her money. We had not yet exchanged any of our money, and told her we had none. Immediately after getting back into our bus, I felt a huge sense of guilt overcome me. Why didn’t I show more compassion in that situation? Why didn’t I take that opportunity to embrace her and pray over her family?”
I spent some time thinking about it, so that I could learn from my mistake, and then shared my experience and thoughts with my team members. As we started to talk about it, we explored the idea of what it looks likes to live a life of service, rather than just to do service. What does that look like? I don’t want to just serve in the days that we are in the community here, but I want to serve wherever the Lord puts me, at any time, and in every opportunity. How do we take these experiences that we learn here and bring them back to Colorado? How can we be better servants in our local community? There are plenty of people in our own community that need love and compassion and help. Yes, there is a great need for help and missions work here in the DR, but there is also a need in Colorado, and there is a huge need for us to serve where we live, too. So how do we embrace those opportunities? I encourage you to think about this question—where can you serve? How can we transform our lives into a life of service, rather than just doing service
