Back Home!

WE ARE HOME!!!
But missing our Familia Cristiana in the DR!
Amazingly, we made all our connections this day (which started at 3:50am DR time (EDT)) - even the very tight one through customs & immigration in Miami (our nemesis).  However, all but one piece of checked luggage ended up going to Dallas-Fort Worth out of Memphis!  Because of waiting for the non-available bags, we missed our earlier bus to Brookfield, and were a bit later coming home... tired, glad, and also sad.  Temporary farewells to our northern Wisconsin brothers & sisters: Pastor Chris, Rose, Paul & Sue; we will be in touch & meet again!
...Seeking the Lord for "what next, Lord? - how do we make You large here where You have us?  ...and how do we continue partnering in Your work among our Dominican brothers and sisters?

Palmar Arriba

6-7 people live in this.  The cinder block to the lower right near the green hose is the beginning part of a project by the DR Mission Team to provide appropriate housing for the people with the greatest needs in Palmer Arriba. 

Pastor Ted Krey, lead pastor of the Dominican Team, with children of the Lutheran School in Palmar Arriba.

The upper building is a new house built by youth volunteers for a family of three.  It cost $800 US to build, and will last for about ten years.

This Is The Day - Every Day - To Pray

Please take a moment to pray, to converse heart to heart, with The Lord our Righteousness as we travel today to Santiago to meet with the Dominican leadership team.  We prayed for you this morning, asking God's Word would have Its way with you, with us, and with the Domincanos.  We also prayed His Word, as He sets it before us as a feast, would not be passed by because we're too busy to sit down, enjoy it, and share it with others.  Dios le bendiga!

Rich Hearts

El Senor con ustedes!  The Lord be with you!  He has certainly been with us as we've reached one of our goals - accomplishing three full days of trabajo - work - on the iglesia Luterana - church building for the Las Americas congregation.

The trabajo included: pick-axing, shoveling, wheelbarrowing fill into the chancel area; running buckets of wet cemento and agua to the maestros as they laid cinder blocks; more mudding over PVC conduit and boxes for electrical fixtures; and cutting, fashioning PVC as conduit for wiring through the cinder blocks.  I've become a bit handy with fuego - fire (matches and paper cement mix bags) - when the PVC has needed some adjusting.  What I'd give for a simple propane torch...  I asked Maudry who owns the corner hardware store and a member of the iglesia about having propane torches, and he said matches are much less expensive.  Made me think of Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegon and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery, "If We Don't Have It, You Don't Need It."

Duane was masterful with the children today and the Evang-e-cubes which he let them keep after he had each one read through the directions in Espanol.  As they did, he would talk through the salvation story mostly in English.  Watching Duane served as a reminder that our goal is to be known for more than just being "nice" people who serve without pay.  The goal always is to make sure others know the reason we do what we do - for the love of Christ and His love for us, and especially for those who have yet to learn of His love.

Ultimately it is always about relationships.  A boy about 10 or 11, with the help of a Spanish-English Dictionary, began asking questions: how many autos do you have?   How many bicycles?  How many computers?  For him, nada.  We asked why.  He said his father is poor.  His mother, too, he added.  He wasn't with us to ask for pesos.  He did stick around for lunch - rice, beans, pollo (chicken).  When it was time to give thanks and a volunteer was asked to pray, he led us.  He prayed in his native tongue.  (And a child shall lead them.) We ate together.  He had seconds.  Refused thirds, then went his way.

We have been blessed by Ivay's presence.  She is a widow with three children.  Always smiling, always conversing in Espanol as if we understand every word, and with a countenance which only edifies.  Everyday she asks, "El groupo trabajo mucho?"  (The group works much?)  Word has it that a previous group befriended one or two of her children which impressed her so that she inquired more about the church and is now active.  Ultimately it is always about relationships.

Please continue to pray not so much for us, but for the people of Iglesia Luterana here in Las Americas, for their pastor, Willy Gaspar and his family (wife, Santa, and daughters, Yandra and Estefanie), and more so for those like the boy who wonders about the rico - riches - of others that he and more and more would come to a rico corazon - a heart rich - en Cristo - in Christ.  Dios le bendiga!

Photos - 4/30/11 Day1





Arrival at the Santo Domingo airport...  finally indeed.





David & the guys from the Palmar Arriba congregation hard at work.



Dinner with Danelle Putnam at the Keller's house.





The Palmar Arriba men singing with deep devotion to their Lord Jesus Christ; John, Ariel, Juan Carlos, Eduardo & Vicar Adrien from Argentina.  They sang whenever they had free time... beautiful!

 

May Day The Day After

As the Dominicans took the day off (a national holiday we were told - we think to celebrate May Day), we took our first full day of work at the church building site.  Pastor Willy Gaspar, who has been spending  his weekdays in Haiti as a liason for The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's involvement in providing relief to Haitians suffering from cholera, decided to spend this week with us.

We walked to the site to enjoy a breakfast of empinadas, courtesy of Brian Keller.  It cost Brian $9 for 9 of us, including the two dozen eggs he purchased to be used in the empinadas.  An empinada is a kind of breakfast enchilada which is filled with pollo (chicken), cheese, an egg, and/or ham, and is then deep fried in a kind of turkey fryer.  Delicious! 

From there we finished the walk to the church site.  Pastor Willy and a couple of maestros, including Octavia, were visiting before work began.  As if in mid-conversation with Pastor Willy, Octavia turned to me and said, "Osama bin laden," and then drew his finger across his own neck.  None of us had heard the news.

It was a good day.  It seemed to some of us we were not making much progress, but when the rain came quite generously mid-afternoon and we decided to call it quits, we could tell we had accomplished quite a bit.  David (pronounced, Dah-veed), another maestro, with his helper made great progress with the plastering of the bathrooms.  Duane and Pastor Willy began removing three portions of the cinder block walls at the front of the wall-less sanctuary, to make room for three stained glass windows to be installed.  The rest of us did various other tasks, including "mudding" (plastering with wet cement) around electrical boxes, knocking holes in the cinder block where more electrical boxes will be placed and where PVC conduit for the electric wiring will be inserted, and shoveling sand through screens to refine it as it is mixed to make cemento.

We're all surprised how pleasant the conditions have been - weather-wise.  There's always a breeze, and just when it seems the Dominican sun is about to get the best of us, clouds roll in and at times provide a warm, brief shower.

Make sure you ask any one of the team members when they return to Wisconsin who Monday evening's special guest was...

Among the many blessings is the time we have to sit together and talk and share.  No TVs or phones to isolate us from one another.  No meetings or activities to run off to once we return from the work site.  It makes life simple and relationship focused...as it should be.

The close of this May Day the day after had us looking at Moses, with the help of Aaron and Hur, with hands raised up in the air over a battle which The Lord had said all along would be His for the fighting.  This view left us thinking of prayer, with hands raised high to The One with Whom all things are Possible.  Lifting each other up in prayer, lifting the Dominican people up to YHWH (He Who Makes All Good Things Happen), lifting our hosts up in prayer, and lifting the church militant up in prayer.  It was yet another good day, made better still with the apostle Paul's reminder, "The One Who calls you is Faithful, and He will Do It!" 

Familia Cristiano (Christian Family)

Bueno Domingo! (I think that means Good Sunday, or Good Lord's Day!)  This is the day the Lord has made; we will be glad and rejoice in it!

We were glad to have Pastor Ted Krey, overseer of LCMS missions in Latin America, lead our devotions Saturday evening on the veranda.  We listened to Corinthians, specifically Paul's reminder of being in Christ means the old has gone and there is now a new creation; there is change.  It is not as it used to be.

Pastor Krey spoke of baptism being the means by which the old is drowned so that the new surfaces and rises again - it is the Easter season!  He reminded us of what Luther said about the old within us, "Though drowned, the old is still a pretty good swimmer!"

There are definitely changes taking place here in the Dominican Republic.  For a church which is five years old, it is inspiring to hear the stories of individuals who have been changed.  There is the 18 year old girl whose parents, in exchange for about 18 months of income, "gave" their daughter to another who would "care for" her.  The "care" amounted to prostitution.  She eventually gave birth to a daughter.  Her mother despises her for having taken the child to be baptized in the church.  This young woman, though the "old" is swimming hard, is one of the "new," changed in the church here.

Speaking of church, they tend to not speak of "church."  Church has the reputation of being instituitionalized.  The "established" church tends to be void of relationship - as in "new," changed relationships.  So, Pastor Krey says they don't speak of themselves as church planters as planting churches, but as planting familia Cristiano, "Christian family."  The "new," changed church of the Dominican Republic is Christian family which is not limited to what we tend to think of as family - our own flesh and blood immediate and extended family.  Familia Cristiano consists of those who once were very lost but now have been found, and in being found have been changed, made new for the first time in Jesus Christ.

On a side note, the church building (perhaps it would be better to refer to what we are constructing as the Center for Familia Cristiano) sits on rock - literally solid rock through and through.  Our host facilitator, Brian Keller, says that the maestros will go three feet deep into the solid rock for the building's footings.  In his opinion, that's 2 feet more than what's really needed.  But they want to make sure the building will stand no matter what (Haiti is the other part of the island, and we know what happened there).  Figuratively, what a powerful witness and reminder to the universal familia Cristiano.  We are built and we stand upon The Rock, which is Christ risen.

And as to familia Cristianos throughout Latin America, Pator Krey says there are some tough times in Guatemala, Bolivia, Panama and other places.  I asked him what he thought is behind the present struggles of these familia.  He said two things - theological education, and planting other familia Cristianos in their own countries.  What he was saying is how these two things are not as prevalent as they once were for these churches.

I hear him saying it all comes down to The Word and Reaching Out.  Our theology as Lutherans is firmly Word-based.  We are educators, or at least have been known as such since we became the second largest parochial system in Norte America (the Roman Catholics being the largest).  Our education has always insisted the tenets of the Reformaton: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and Sola Gratia - by Scripture alone, by faith alone, and by grace alone.  And as it's put in a song I learned years ago in Mexico, "Solamente en Cristo," Only in Christ.

This is what we are seeing and hearing and experiencing today in the Dominican Republic.  We are meeting people who are being theologically educated by The Word Alone so that their footings will be will grounded and established in The Rock upon which they stand as new creations, Jesus The Christ.  And we are seeing and hearing and experiencing familia Cristianos being planted here in Santo Domingo and to the north of us in and around Santiago - all within a mere five years time!

Is this all happening too fast as if it's all but a passing fad?  Not so long as there is all this rock beneath our feet and theirs - "They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."  Again, Corinthians...

 

Building relationships

Although no one on our mission team speaks much Spanish, we have already begun building relationships.  Three little boys helped Dick and I sift sand this afternoon.  We even stopped a couple times to play baseball...well play catch at least.  We are getting to know David and a few other construction workers  afternoon.  Another husband and wife who watch over the neighborhood are quickly becoming familiar to us.

It's evident to us that Brian and Jeanette are committed to the people in their neighborhood.   Brian told us the story about the young mother we met this afternoon around the construction site. She was introduced to the church by young people on the mission team from Oregon a few weeks ago. She recently joined the church.

Here at the Dominican Republic mission, just like it is at home in Wisconsin, making disciples for Christ begins to happen when you build relationships.

Settled in Las Americas

   Please continue to pray, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:9b-11: But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.  On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.  Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
  After the ordeal of getting from Miami to Santo Domingo, we thank our Lord that we are safe and intact as a team; mentally, physically, spiritually.  We got to know each other much better through this, and the Spirit led us to bond and care for one another beyond our natural ability.   
   Brian and Jeanette have welcomed us into the palatial home they are renting as a short-term-mission base here  in Las Americas and we have toured the church building complex, which includes a sanctuary, a mini-parsonage, restrooms and a water purification area.
   A few men from the Palmer Arriba area are down, helping on the construction; we watched them tossing thin cement on the ceiling of the mini-parsonage. Brian arranged a late lunch delicious beans & rice con carne) for us at the site, where we met several of the local people (pray for speedy improvement to our lack of Spanish) as well as Danelle, who coordinates the efforts with the Good Shepherd Group home. 
  Amazingly, Paul, Duane & Dick all opted to get to work right after the lunch!  The rest of us chose to get showered & relax or nap.  Tonight we hope to meet Pastor Ted Krey, and learn more... & plan our activities for tomorrow - time to get to work?

Finally We're Here!

Gracias, Jesu!  We are all here in Las Americas (a kind of suburb of Santo Domingo, not far from the ocean), but not without yet another delay back at MIA (Miami International Airport).  There were people who didn't show up for the rescheduled flight, so their baggage had to be identified from beneath the plane and pulled out before leaving.  Finally, at about 9:30 (90 minutes late), we taxied the runaway and left Miami behind.  A smooth flight brought us to breezy Santo Domingo, and a bit of a crazy drive in a local taxi brought us to the Kellers, Brian and Jeanette, from Brookfield and who are presently living here and hosting groups.  You'll have to wait for the photos to appreciate the accomodations - a beautiful two story home with all kinds of room for a group our size.  The best part appears to be the second story veranda which opens to the street below and the ocean breeze.

We had lunch (rice, beans and either marinated beef or chicken) at the site of the church construction.  We are surprised by how much has already been accomplished.  A group of young men mostly from Santiago to the north are here plastering the ceilings of what will be a mini vicarage - actually a parsonage built into the side of the church to be.  Looks like we'll be doing a good share of sifting the sand to be used in the cement mixer, plastering the cinder block walls of the church and parsonage, and fishing electrical wire through the PVC conduits which are all in place throughout the cinder block walls.

Some dove right into working at the site, and others are recouping and trying to catch their breath after the trip here.  Almost all on the plane applauded when it touched down in Santo Domingo.  It's great to be here and even better to now have met Brian, Jeanette and Danielle and to have received their briefings, updates and plans.  God is clearly blessing the efforts of the many phases of this mission outpost.  Dios le bendiga!

Moses and Flight 1901

It's 7am Miami time - that's right, Miami time meaning we're still in Miami.  All was well arriving from Chicago yesterday.  We knew we'd have a bit of a layover before boarding for a 7:50pm flight to Santo Domingo.  7:50 arrived, and still no plane and no update (when updates do come they are usually in Espanol unless English is requested).  8:50pm.  No plane.  9:50.  10:50.  The screen behind the counter then advertised a midnight departure.  Staff had mentioned the delay of our plane in Tampa (or was it Fort Meyers) and that it would take another hour once it arrived to get it ready for our full flight.  The plane arrived, it took at least an hour, it was after midnight, everyone was finally boarded, and then the announcement came, "For reasons of legality, all passengers are asked to exit the plane."  We're still not sure what happened (we weren't told specifically).  My guess is by the time they had us all ready to go the flight crew could no longer legally serve us - their time to be on the job had expired.

And Moses thought he had it bad dealing with the Israelites.  (Mr. Jim Moses is the Miami airport's Customer Service Manager for American Airlines.)  With all of us off the plane, it was now about 1:30am, and the airline staff was still trying to figure out how to get us all bussed to any number of hotels with vacancies.  That really encouraged all - NOT!  We all knew by the time we got to whatever hotel it would be time to return to the rescheduled departure of Flight 1901 to Santo Domingo.

So, word got out that in another terminal there was a fourth floor auditorium with cots, blankets, and pillows.  By the time we found this sought out "oasis," it was fully occupied with people under blankets, some on cots, others on the floor, still others sleeping upright in chairs.  We managed to find in a storage closet a couple of large plastic bags filled with blankets and pillows - the kind you might get while flying.

I figured we got about 3 hours sleep on the floor minus the time spent awake dealing with the air conditioning blowing on us.  Oh, and the group of Latinos who came through the same hallway we were calling our bedroom to retrieve blankets and pillows for themselves, talking loudly and about to be chewed out by me - until I realized, from the very little Espanol I know, that they weren't talking but praying and thanking Jesus (Gracias, Jesu, Alleluia!  Mucho gracias!).  At this, I got some peaceful rest, if only for 90 minutes.

We all agreed the American Airlines "gift" food vouchers supplied us with manna from heaven and quail for our wilderness wandering.  It was, as someone said, an Easter breakfast, as a new person was resurrected within all of us as we ate and drank - thanks to God's man, Moses...

Delayed in Miami

Just a tired note - our flight out of Miami, originally scheduled for 7:50pm, is currently slated for 10:10 pm... and God alone knows what may really happen!  We are all tired and trusting God for endurance and patience.  This will definitely be a late night!  But we praise God for providing more connecting time for our team; we have been making good use of the delay so far... but now I just want to get to bed.
Must keep my eyes fixed on Jesus...
~Nancy

From Frost to FLA

We've made it to Miami FLA - 78 degrees!  This morning in Waukesha WI a hard frost covered the car.  My feet didn't thaw out until we were walking the concourses of O'Hare.  In about 90 minutes we'll board for Santo Domingo.  As we were exiting the plane in Miami, a woman tugged on the sleeves of another woman who had left her passport and boarding ticket behind her in her seat.  A very kind gesture.  As I sit here, a gentleman just gave up the table he was sitting at alone to a group of four.  Another kind gesture.  It made me think of something I had just read, "If we don't follow our actions with words, they will only know that we are nice people, not that God loves them.  Good deeds create goodwill.  But goodwill is not yet the good news." (Rusaw and Swanson)  The language barrier for us who do not speak Espanol is still no reason for us to back away from the "intersections" God will direct us to with the people of Las Americas.  It doesn't take much, once the deed is done.  Following up with a simple, authentic "Dios le bendiga," we trust will be backed by God's promise that His Word never returns empty.

Departure Day

Catching the bus to O'hare pictures.

Catching the bus to O'hare pictures.

Chi-Town

We're all here at O'Hare - Paul and Sue from Wausau came on their own and we found them already checked in and secure.  It was the smoothest ticketing and security check I've experienced at O'Hare.  The xray and pat down wasn't nearly as rough as some have made it (though I'm told I got the more thorough pat down - must be due to the sombrero I'm wearing).  We're checked in with all our belongings and supplies all the way to Santo Domingo via Miami.  We'll arrive sometime this evening and stay with our hosts, Brian and Jeanette Keller.  Dios le bendiga!

Dinner and Prayer

I arrived at the home of Brookfield Lutheran members, Tim and Cheryl, who hosted our Dominican Republic team with supper and prayer.  Our team sat on chairs facing one another as a number of couples from Brookfield Lutheran prayed over us and with us.  Pray without ceasing, the apostle Paul says.  The apostle James says, “You don’t have because you don’t ask God.”  We are asking Him for health and strength, safe travels and success, and for this mission to flourish.  My prayer is, with all the planning, that we remember He will direct our steps, and that, whatever is before us, especially the unknown, we can do all things through Christ who always gives us strength.  PC

Ready to go!!

Thank you to Tim and Cheryl for hosting the dinner this evening for us.  And thank you to all who came to pray for us.  We know we are in God's hands and He will be with us every step of the way.  Pray for John, Nancy, Paul, Sue, Dick Duane, Chris and Rose as they begin their journey.
God's blessings to you all!!
Rose

Jeanette landed in DR

Thanking our Lord Jesus for Jeanette's safe travel.  She flew down today, and I just received this email from her:

Hello All,
    I arrived safe and sound in the DR this afternoon. Flights were decent...one delay, a bit of turbulence now and again....but nothing too bad. :)
It was warm and sunny when I arrived...absolutely beautiful. It remains warm this evening...gentle breeze flowing thru the house. Very pleasant.
    Brian is well...says "hi" to everyone back in the States. It is good to be back together. :)
    The construction site looks amazing...it has changed dramatically since I left. The same goes for our home....we are ready to "host" all who wish to join us for a week or two! Come on down...the beds are made, the towels ready....and the cupboards stocked! No mints on the pillows.....they'd only encourage the ants!  We'd love to see all of you!

Time for bed....this traveler is one tuckered cookie. Been running full throttle since 2:30 AM...on about 3 hours of sleep. :)

Smiling in the DR,
    Jeanette

54 hours & counting...

    We are in the final days.  Suitcases are being packed, weighed, repacked...
But truly, we are in the final days; Christ told us that His return would be unexpected, sudden, and soon.  So we are urgently seeking to make Him known to a dying world that desperately needs His redeeming resurrection forgiveness!
   Jeanette stopped by to drop off some items that wouldn't fit in her luggage (will it fit in ours???).  She will be flying out of Milwaukee Wednesday morning, due in Santo Domingo by early afternoon.  One big concern for prayer is new/dependable transportation.  Brian has been borrowing a vehicle that is not reliable... but it has been building his faith -!
Check out the Daily Prayer list that Duane put together!
~Nancy

He is Risen!

Joyous Easter to all in the name of Jesus, our risen redeemer!
We leave this Friday!
As we come down to the wire, please pray for each member to wrap up the details we need to go; things to take, things settled for leaving behind. 
 - Pray for Jeanette & for Duane in particular, as their days prior to DR are SO packed.  Duane has travels with family to  northern Minnesota to fit in.  Jeanette will wrap & pack up before her departure early Wednesday, so she can be settled to receive our group in Las Americas.
- Just heard that there is cholera in the DR area where we will be working.  Pray that our group stays safe from any contamination, for quick containment of the sources, for healing of those infected, and for our witness of trust in our all-sufficient God in health, sickness, every trial, and even through death.
Pray for us to "not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:6,7)

Building Christ's Church in Las Americas

We will be working on building a church facility for the congregation under newly-ordained Pastor Willie Gaspar in Las America (see more at this site http://mercyforever.lcms.org/2011/04/first-lutheran-pastor-ordained-in-dominican-republic ).  Brian Keller has been working with visiting teams and congregation members to place footings and supports for the building.  We expect to be putting up trusses for the roof on our segment of work.

PRAY! Departure in 10 days!

Please pray for our team - to be prepared in body & spirit - with unity in Christ to do His work.  Pray for Jeanette and Brian for the logistics, like a undependable truck, and health; for Danelle (field worker with the Mission and outreach to disabled people in the DR) who is recovering from appendicitis; for the people we will be helping & serving & working alongside, to be Christ-bearers for them; for the joy of our sacrificed and risen Lord Jesus - Who is our strength and hope - in all we are and say and do! 

Welcome

Brian and Jeanette Keller are members of BLC who coordinate and lead construction projects in the Dominican Republic to support the growing DR churches and continuing mission work.  BLC is focusing on this mission, long-term, to deepen our involvement and commitment to building Christ's kingdom.  We have a team going down April 29 to May 7 to assist local church members construct a church building in Las Americas, DR.  A new pastor there, a Dominican national, has been ministering to a congregation that is currently meeting in a tent.