Tonawanda Indian Baptist Church - Sunday
Sunday followed a long night of much needed sleep. We rolled out of bed at 7 am (some of even before 6 am) today to get ready & head downstairs for breakfast. After that we headed back to our rooms to prepare for church. The buses arrived to take us to Quisqueya, a small town approx. 20 minutes from the SCORE Complex. This was our first “official” trip into the country to minister to (& with) the people of the Dominican. Quisqueya is the hometown of Major League Baseball All-Star, Alfonso Soriano. (Coincidentally, Pastor John’s favorite player!)
We were informed that despite some of the professional (baseball) success of a few of its natives, the town is greatly oppressed & deep into Satanic ritual & practice. The church was located right in the middle of the neighborhood & was nothing more than a concrete building. Even though we were obviously outsiders & couldn’t speak their language, few of us have ever been so welcomed as we were at this church. The people were very warm & excepting, but it was the children of the church that especially touched our hearts (& our cameras…just ask us to show you when we return!) Afterwards most of us went back to the Complex for lunch while Jeff & Andres (our “Missionary for the Week”) led Jake, John, & Eric to another village to take estimates & measurements for a work project we’ll be doing on Tuesday. While riding in the back of the pick-up truck, we were able to get a clearer picture of what “Third World” meant while traveling through the heart of the sugarcane villages.
The rest of the day was ours to catch-up on some much needed rest. While some napped, others took the time to fellowship & “fry” on the beach. Later on, Heaven, Samantha, Theresa, Amy, Katie, & Eric went for a horseback ride around the neighborhood. We then met back up for dinner, had a time of devotions (from Luke Chapter 9), & practiced our skits for the week. (We also took the time to sort through an assortment of donated goods that we brought to distribute to the people. So far, the Dominican is hard to explain: the sun is so much hotter, the people so much warmer, & the moths are so much LARGER! But how many of the thousands of tourists who come through here will ever see the world that we have only yet begun to see? Beyond the beaches & resorts are a loving people who need Christ in their lives. Pray for them & us.
P.S., Thanks for your continued prayer support…Heaven is feeling 110% better today!
