It has been way
too long since my last blog… As I sit in the front bedroom of an upstairs
apartment, in the middle of San Juan de la Maguana, I find myself reminiscing
over my time in the Dominican Republic thus far. If I am honest, it has been a
hard two and a half weeks. God has been breaking me of self, comfort, and
control. Learning to live by His Spirit has been rather frustrating as I try to
still hold on to my desire to lead my own life. The reality that God knows best
and loves me as a Father is a hard truth to grasp as I pointlessly try to earn
His favor and approval. The reality of His Grace puts to shame my greatest
intentions and actions.
Yesterday, the
second team I had the privilege of working with, left. Both teams spent most of
their time invested in border communities outside the city of San Juan. Most
days included house visits around these communities, which basically meant
small groups of people spending time at different homes, getting to know the families.
Each group had a translator, so I spent a lot of my time trying to remember
random words in Spanish. Besides house visits, the teams held Vacation Bible
School’s wherever they were ministering. A lot of time was devoted to just
getting to know the kids that came each day, and playing whatever games came to
mind with them. Compassion, love, and kindness were shared in the midst of it
all, and in the end, the Kingdom of God was advanced in everyone involved.
If you have read
this far, you may be wondering why the title to this blog is “I thought you
forgot…� The reason has to do with my absence for so long. I haven’t been to
San Juan, the place I grew up, in five years. Consequently, I had lost contact
with most of the people who were extremely dear to me when I lived here. Over
the past few weeks, every time I reconnect with someone I have not seen over
the years, he/she tells me, “I thought you had forgotten about us.� Every
reconnection is thus bittersweet as I realize that I will truly always be
missing someone, somewhere in the world. I guess, on this side of heaven, we
will always, in some way, be forgetting about someone dear to us.
Tomorrow, I leave
to the mountains to hike in with Horlyn, a friend, to a small community named Los Camarones, where we will be
developing relationships with the hope of a future Church plant. We will be
taking some essential food items, in our packs, to bless the families with up
there. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to move through us, that His Kingdom may
advance in that area.
I pray that God
would bless each one of you, and draw you nearer to Him each day!
In Him,
Jon
