A Starving Nation

Before reading this post just remember that I have only been here a little over a month. I do not claim to have all the answers, this is just my observations, they are allowed to change in the months to come.


From an American observation.


This is a starving country. 

Here people are fed off of rice, plantains, bread, and potatoes. Full carbs with barely any nutrients. Complete with processed meats, mostly salami.

We are eating very much and starving ourselves at the same time. We are eating things that look like food and smell like food but aren't actually good for us. This is the same as America, don't get me wrong McDonalds isn't exactly healthy. But I think as Americans we have a lot of research and studies showing what foods are good and bad for you. Here they just encourage you to eat more. We are starving ourselves by over eating.

Here no one carries around money or minutes. There is no embarrassment with someone asking to use your phone because they ran out of minutes. They usually ask me and I am sure it has something with an American white girl, she has to have minutes. I run out of minutes and money faster when I have it, I have learned its better not to carry it.

Here putting 25 pesos of gas in your tank is perfectly acceptable and no one looks at you like anything is wrong. Sure in America I did that when I was 16 and had no money and wanted to take my friends cruising. But men who should be financially stable doing it? Here people are in so much debt and the interest rates are so high they will also being paying off INTEREST. Here people put on a show like they have much when really they go home to matted one room houses and face reality once again. Here if you have money you spend it, there is no word such as saving here.

I am not telling you anything new, most people all around the world suffer from the same problems with different appearances.

But here just like most places around the world there is a Spiritual Starvation.

I have not found a solid church and don't know if I will ever will for a while. I am on my knees about this everyday. The pentecostal movement has taken the DR by storm and has left false hope and a false God. We are starving ourselves of our salvation.

Oh how desperate we are in need of biblical pastors to feed starving christians.
How desperate we are for shepherds to lead flocks through the bible, study it, preach it and live it.

Right now and for the past ten days there has been a festival going on in Hato Mayor, everyone keeps telling me how bad it is, but I have never gotten an answer as to why it is bad..."lots of drinking" "Someone died once at it" these are the answers I hear.

Christian stay far away and just say things like its bad. (Don't worry Jan I didn't go, doesn't mean I didn't want to)

I think, "Where would Jesus be if this festival was going on back than?"

You think he would be running for his house and locking himself up for 14 days until its over?

I highly doubt it. Aren't we suppose to love the sinners? For what are we? Sinners. Where is grace?

But how will they know they need to go love the least of these if they are not taught? How can they be taught if there is no one to teach?

Where do we start?

We need the Lord desperately in these starving nations.

Be Still and Know That He is God

Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.

- William Carey, May 1792

We are not called to do great things, we are called to attempt great things and lean on God completely through it all.
Apart from him we can do nothing, so why stray from His path?

These past few weeks have been difficult in the DR business world.
I have taken on the Dominican part of financials and accounting for Whitefields Dominican. I thought it was a pretty easy tasks and something that even dominicans admit is not their strong spot, so I was hoping to relief with my skills.
Wow was a wrong, I keep telling Grace and Justin the littlest things here people make hard and confusing. It's very true.
How in the world it is possible to close the cash register at the end of the night with a certain amount and open the next morning with a different amount has me completely stumped. I tried for three weeks straight to figure out the mystery but I can't seem to grasp it. I hate when numbers don't match up

Luciano's explanation is the best we have so far.
He says in his broken english
"Da peoples in America praise (pray) for Cafe del Rey. "Oh Jesus be with dos peoples."And in the morning, God gives us more money!" Him and Justin were going to try and put their wallets in the cash register over night because they have no money and hopefully in the morning there would be some, according to his theory.

I thought about adding a column to my spread sheets for "Money God left us over night"

Although they are all comic relief at the end of the day they are not the ones who need to numbers to match up. I am. Pulling my hair out.

But the other side of my job is my numeric relief. Marketing for the coffee shop is lots of fun. We had a party the one night after church there. We are having one of our friends Mali a very talented musician from our church come and play Sep 28th, which is a day to celebrate the bible all over Hato Mayor, we are sending out flyers and inviting one and all.

After our staff meeting, we all realized how needed they are and decided to have them weekly. To go over things, pray, and share needs with each other. Our employees love the coffeeshop and they really do want to see it grow and they want to teach people the gospel, they just explained to us that they need our help to do this.

I am slowly getting use to the climate, the language, and the culture.
And of course Erin is helping us with supplying us hot showers, the tennis channel and Krispy Kreme doughnuts :) our little America is at Erin's house.

I have decided to start a bible study in the Cafe, and a few other people have come in the Cafe asking if they can start bible studies there as well.

God is good and as I keep close to my bible and read my biographies on real missionaries its encouraging to see that our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has done amazing things and continues to do so. Its in the hard days encouraging verses such as
Psalms 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

At the end of the day He is still reigning on the throne. Thank Him for that!
At the end of the day no matter how frustrated and how ungraceful I was and how sorry I am for being such a wretched sinner, it is comforting to know that He is the faithful one, I am not. And that even the least of these He can use for His glory, of whom I am among. God doesn't use great people as Carey explained, God uses people who attempt, He is the one that has to ultimately and alway  provides.

So I challenge everyone just like William Carey has challenged me, 
Except great things from God, attempt great things for God!

"Walk Humbly With Your God"

"I believe in the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should have never chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reason unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love."

-Charles Spurgeon

God has been good to me. To the me who fails Him daily. To the me who always says the wrong thing. But especially to the me who thought I was going to come down here and save Hato Mayor.

God humbles people, and has all the right to. This is harder than I thought and I am so thankful for that. My purpose was not to come and all of a sudden there be amazing changes and credit completely due to me. My pride got a hold of me, which pride is one of the most deeply rooted sins we have and it is so easy for it to get ahold of your and twist your actions.

But oh how God humbles, while sitting in a church about a week ago I found my mind running to places it shouldn't. To the place of judgement, to saying that this church service is shallow, and asking is their worship genuine or is it more like putting on a show? and this is really different, it can't be real worship. And than a thought crossed my mind and I thought about what would He say while He is hearing my thoughts right now, I thought He would say "These are my people, how dare you question, how dare you judge people who are loving me to the best of their ability?" 

Humbled in the presence of God.

A few days later I found myself in the Cafe shoulders high in dishes. And they just kept coming, but they were throwing them right into the sink that was already over flowing, not on the counter right beside? I found myself getting angry and my actions were speaking louder than my words. At one point Victoria brought over a plate and I just took it and put it on the counter in anger. She quietly picked it up and again put it into the sink the destination she wanted before. I wanted to get angry, but I found myself giving thanks for her, and maybe there was a reason they wanted to put them right into the sink? they told me didn't want all the food to stick to the plates if they sat on the counter and were trying to make it easier for me.... 

Humbled again. 

And as I tried desperately to change how our inventory control was in the first three weeks. Trying to change a system in three weeks that has been going on for three months and yesterday we ran out of almost all the food because of all my "amazing changes"

 I was once again humbled.

I am nothing without Christ. I am certain as Mr. Spurgeon said I would not have chosen Him if He did not chose me, and why He would choose an ugly sinner like myself. I am still uncertain, but thank God He did. 

Who ever said being a missionary would be cool and fun lied to you. 

It is hard, and you cry a lot and everyday I must passionately love my Savior and remember to lean on Him for every single thing in my life. I also am trying to remember to thank Him often. Thank Him for this place, for these beautiful people, for the mind He has given me. For my ability to comprehend, for my health. The list could literally go on forever.

We serve a great God.

And He makes beautiful people.

He makes people with financial problems, family problems, and work problems.

He makes people the same all over though, the Dominican people are the same as the people all over the world, they wake up in the morning, they go to work, they go to the store, they even go to the gym (that was an experience), they eat, they drink, they talk, they go to school, they even run tv programs. they are very smart, and when it rains to hard school is cancelled.

 

He makes people like Victoria, who cries daily because of her husband. He just now returned from Ecuador where he was a missionary. He fell sick there and was even in a coma for a little bit. Victoria who is from Ecuador was at the point where she was selling everything even her house to be able to have the correct papers to get over there. She finally now has peace because he is finally here.

It sounds like a touching story until you see it played out in front of you.
I mean can you even imagine if your spouse of in coma in another country and you had no way to get to them? I couldn't.


People are the same everywhere. And we are all trying to just serve the Lord with all we have.

Sunday we are having a party at the Cafe and I asked Luciano "What is the party for?"

He answer without a pause, "To celebrate Jesus" me and Gracie laughed, but isn't it true? Do we really need another reason than all the reasons He has already given us to celebrate Him?