What an unforgettable day! I've been told that when you have a day like today to journal about it because you'll want to remember all the details while its fresh on your mind. So here it goes...
The service today was marvelous! I am so thankful for great dominican friends like Euri, one of the elders Wandy and his wife Yamille who helped me in my moment of panic when the church computer wasn't working, the cd that the music was on wasn't working, and Wandy's flash drive wasn't recognized by my computer. Between the four of us we fixed the computer and came up with a solution for the music, and got the words to the song Mighty To Save typed out so I could breathe a little easier.
I went and prayed for awhile as I was sooo nervous, then I decided to get some fresh air. I was met by Jose Luis Castrol, a professional singer friend of Victor's who was also going to be singing at church today. Victor had already told him I was singing so he decided to pick on me for awhile saying that Americans have a different way of singing and it's very "cute" like a child singing or something as apparently to him we all sing very soft and angelic like. I thought that was pretty funny. He gave me one of his cd's and then it was time for the service to start.
The singing was a lot longer today but I truly enjoyed it, at one point they asked Ryan to come up and play drums as we sang, "Celebrate Jesus, Celebrate!" That was great to see Ryan being involved with the worship. After Yamille shared the Announcements, the offering song and the prayer Ricardo came and told me it was time. The first song was "this is my desire" which Ricardo and I sing really well acapella but Omar, Jeffrey and Tony came up too so we had the piano, electric guitar and drums going, so I honestly couldn't tell ya how that went as it was so loud I couldn't hear! hehe.
Today the heavens opened and by some miracle I was able to speak to the congregation in Spanish without stuttering or saying something wrong, Praise be to God! I wanted to share with the congregation what these songs meant to me and to Christians everywhere. I explained the power of God in the second song Mighty to Save as the spanish version simply says "God can save" not "He is Mighty to Save" as it says in English.
The words in Spanish and English were on the screen so I sang part of the song in English and part in Spanish. People started singing along by the end which made me really happy and overall I had a wonderful time praising my Lord in two languages! After I sang Victor came up and said he didn't know he had an artist right here in La Romana but from now on I was going to sing every Sunday (to which I was frantically shaking my head, No Victor, please don't say that!). And if that wasn't enough, Jose came up and imitated me singing and said that There was that sweet little American voice he was talking about! lol. Jose sang half the songs on his album and he was Wonderful. I truly loved a song he did called Me Salvaste (You Save Me) and it was Reggae style so he had us all up on our feet dancing, it was so much fun! As Ryan, Erin, and I were dancing with all the Dominicans I thought... this is what heaven will be like, a huge party where people from all different backgrounds will come together praising God in one voice!
Our theme for the day in music seemed to be God Can Save and it was amazing because that is exactly what Ryan chose to speak about today. I don't know if any of you have ever had the opportunity to hear speaking in English and translated in Spanish but it is quite interesting! As Ryan would pause and Rick would translate, it kept you on the edge of your seat waiting to hear more, and it truly helped me understand the Spanish as it somehow clicked in my brain how Rick was translating what Ryan said. I believe my favorite part of the sermon is when Ryan compared the new church opening to the story in Mark where Jesus was speaking at a house and 4 friends brought their paralized friend to Jesus but the house was so packed and overflowing that they had to go to the roof and dig a hole to lower their friend in to see Jesus. Ryan challenged us saying, "Are you like one of the friends who would stop at Nothing to see their friend come to Jesus because they knew Jesus was Mighty, He could Save and Heal their friend?" or "Are you like one of the people already crowding the house, those who go to church all the time but are so focused on finding Jesus for themselves that they ignore and often push away those who need to Come to Him."
Yes, it was great to have my friends here and to be able to speak to them and understand them, but the greatest moment for me was seeing Ryan up there impacting the hearts of everyone in the room. I truly believe Ryan is an answer to prayer as I've prayed for a year now that the Lord would send someone to light the way. Just as Rick and Suzanne will be teaching Ryan and Erin how to be missionaries here, I believe in my heart that Ryan will one day share that same wisdom with me. I am so excited to see what God will do through Ryan here. He stood there, with tears in his eyes, saying he was looking forward to the day he could walk down the streets of La Romana and share Jesus with people in Spanish, and he spoke the words I've been feeling in my heart for many years now. After church was just another great time of fellowship with lots of hugs and "God Bless You's" going all around.
To finish off a wonderful day, we had a great night at Rick and Suzanne's house (the American missionaries and Ryan's former bible college professor). What an awesome sight to see, a bunch of Americans and Dominicans playing dominoes, trying to communicate, laughing and joking, and having a great time of fellowship. We had a wonderful dinner and celebrated Victor and Yudermy's anniversary as well as Wandy and Yamille's anniversary. Then we did something that my Grandma Hodge would be so proud of... we played BINGO! hehe. It was interesting with about 30 people playing but we had a lot of fun doing it helping each other as Rick would go back and forth from saying the numbers in Spanish to saying them in English. And let me tell you, when chocolates are on the line, they take Bingo very seriously!
It was a long but beautiful day and I couldn't think of a better way to end it than to sit in a circle listening to the elders of the church here pray for Ryan and Erin and ask them different questions. Victor tested Ryan a bit asking, "What if the elders here do not think you are ready and told you not to come here?" and Ryan's perfect response was... "Then we would go back to God in prayer and ask where He wanted us to be."
After that there was a lot of people wondering how old Ryan and Erin are and how long they've been married. (from the expressions I saw, many were surprised at how young they are). I asked if I could share something with the elders and Rick translated for me. I told them that I've known Ryan my whole life and there is no one that has a bigger heart for missions and for the people here than Ryan. When I was young and a camper at BRCC, Ryan was my junior counselor who understood when I said I knew God wanted me to be a missionary. I told them that I have loved living here and that one day I pray God will bring me here as a missionary but I know that right now He is still preparing me but that He has already prepared Ryan and that I believe he is an answer to prayer. Pascual one of my favorite elders here and Victor started clapping and then Victor went over to Ryan and said, "Welcome." Its one of those moments I wish everyone could be a fly on the wall, just to witness the wisdom of this pastor and the elders who trust in God for everything... they just wanted to know more about Ryan and to see if He too would trust God, even if the answer was no.
It made me think of the very first mission trip I was supposed to go on, to Mexico that I unfortunately had to miss. And I remember my dad saying, what will you do if God says No? Just because the answer is No sometimes, does not mean that God is not going to open up a door or a window for you in the future. That very next year, I won a scholarship and so my mother and I were able to go to Mexico, to follow the dream I knew God placed in my heart. It was during that trip that I truly knew I would be a missionary one day and that I was not meant to "settle down" in America. I believe God answers my prayers, not in My time or in My way but He does answer prayers, and I trust in Him to show His power and perfection through answered prayers. I never dreamed I would win a scholarship to go, just as I had no idea I would be blessed with an opportunity to be here at the same time with Ryan and Erin, or that I would be able to teach here, or live here for two months. My tiny little brain thought, a week maybe two but through God, I am here for one more month.
I can't believe it but it's already a month down and a month to go, and I'm already dreading the thought of saying goodbye once again to my family and friends here. The one thing that gives me hope and peace in my soul is knowing that God does answer prayer, that he is bringing Ryan here to do a great work, and it makes me happy to know that another person who has the same desire that I do will be here with our brothers and sisters in Christ. I look forward to the day God has prepared for me to be a missionary, if he says No to the DR then I will go back to him in prayer, because I know with everything that I am that He is the One true God and that He wants me to share his love with people who are different than me.
Dios es Bueno, y El puede mover montes! God is good, and He can move mountains!
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