It has been over a week since I have been down in the Dominican Republic, and I will be the first to say that it has been full of suffering and surprises. Suffering in such a way that has made me lean on God more than ever and surprises to hear God speak. As I mentioned before, the week was full of suffering, suffering that I couldn't understand.
I don't know what hit me earlier in the week. It was almost like I had a feeling of unworthy. I didn't know what to do, and I just felt like I was a chicken with it's head cut off running around the Orphanage. I believe the main problem that I had was the lack of spanish that I speak. It is very hard for myself to talk to the children without a translator and even harder to listen to a child speak in spanish and not be able to understand them, while they are getting frustrated about the fact that you can not understand any of the words they tell you.
Along with the lack of spanish, I definetly had culture shock to the max. I went from having air conditioning in every building that I would enter in America, to thinking something is wrong if I stop sweating. I came from America at which a broom is something that you buy at a store like wal-mart or any other superstore to a place where the broom is a stick with a bush taped to the end of it. It is little stuff like that, that made me start thinking and feeling worse. Almost like I was here but I couldn't do anything about it because of the lack of spanish that I speak.
Those were mostly the problems that I encountered while fighting through the first few days of the first week. At the same time they were the reasons that I stuck around. As I read through the first few days of my journal I see the heartache that I endured but through alot of prayer and prayer from others I can see a change from the first couple days to the end of the week. One of the best things about the journal that I am journaling in is the verse on the outside of the cover. Joshua 1:9. That verse really describes this trip in a nut shell.
"Be Strong and Courageous. The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go"
-Joshua 1:9
I felt weak every night that I fought through the suffering. I was a very easy target for satan to hit. Which he did. He through a lot on my plate that I will have to share when I get back to the States. I never could let it get me to down because of the verse on the top of the journal. After reading that and reading that I got stronger and stronger to the point where I was finding ways around the language problem. God actually provided a child from the first camp that we ran last week that was from Rhode Island who spoke english and was used as my translator through out the day. Sometimes I sit back and think "wow, we serve a God who provides in the most beautiful unexpected ways".
As each day passed I found myself searching for more and more. After a night of just playing around on the guitar, I quickly found out that we were lacking the time of worship. After confuring with a couple of the leaders down here, we now have set aside a time of worship of which I will have the privledge to lead along with some great people.
Also after hanging out in the with the boys, I am taking the role of teaching english to two children that speak spanish and creole which is similar to french of which I can speak a little of. Here english is very essential for the children to succeed and without it they almost dont have anything to succeed with.
As my time is nearing to an end on the Computer, I just wanted to say that the first week is down and three more to go. 20 days and I will be back in the states ready to tell all the stories that has happened to me in the D.R. I would like to throw a shout out to Lindsay for picking the perfect journal, like you knew what I was going to go through before I did. I thank you and appreciate that more than you will ever know! Miss you guys and I will soon be back.
P.S. Russ - They do have Mcdonald ice cream cones here!
Mom, Kaitlyn and Lindsay - 22 days till an amazing night of worship with hillsong
-Love all you guys,
Jacob
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