The Last Chapter

Dear family and friends,

The last grains of sand have gone through the hour-glass. The day of departure came. The gate shut behind us. We left for the airport. Good-bye's were said. Luggage was stowed and seatbelts fastened. The plane rose into the air. Through the window, through the mist of tears in my eyes, I could see the beautiful green mountains and valleys spread out far below. Then, cloud-covered, they disappeared.

The plane flew north. My heart stubbornly resisted, tried to hold back and stay south. The force was too great and it was torn away. There are times when one is thankful for numbness. That was the feeling of the remainder of the day; the flight to New York City; the long drag through the airport; and finally the 5 hour (+) flight to Arizona. There, seeing the faces of precious family waiting for me,

was healing balm to the heart.

I didn't write about the last two weeks in the Dominican Republic, but there's really not a lot more that I can put into words. The most momentous thing was that Laura came! The days were special. Laura and I took the bus to Sosua and had a little time with Syd and Martha – and the ocean. Laura spent as much time as possible in it! I enjoyed the quieter water in the pool. 

                                                                                     Edward brought Lily and Eileen on Friday, as they are moving to that field and he was showing them the way around. It was so good to see them again! 

We returned on the bus to Santiago where Ruthie and Yocelyn met us, and we continued the rounds of meetings and visits until late Wednesday afternoon. 

In the evening, the friends who could come brought things for supper and to say good-bye. Afterward, we enjoyed the study meeting together.   Our study was I Samuel 13 & 14. Jonathan ate a little of the honey and his eyes were enlightened. He spoke of how much greater victory there might have been if others, too, had eaten! It matters so much that we feed – and what we feed on. It matters naturally – and so much more spiritually! The source of honey is the same now as it was in the beginning. “Yesterday, today, forever – Jesus is the same....”

Thursday, we took Laura to Santo Domingo, and on the way visited friends in Bani. It was special to have lunch there in the batch with Tere and Maritza. In the city, the brothers met us at Rosita's for “tea”, and we went together to see Laura off at the airport.

Friday was my day to leave, and when we were ready, a tire was flat! So....we called a taxi to take us to the Santiago airport. He came quickly and was a good driver, so we arrived in good time.

Now the chapter is finished. I've turned over the hour-glass.                     Priscilla

The Last Day of January, 2013

The last day of January, 2013!

It's been two weeks since I wrote of our doings. Much of our goings have been repeats....over the mountains to Constanza again; to Moca again. The days and the trips and the meetings have all run together like pieces in a puzzle that is finished.

We did have an extra-ordinary weekend in Constanza. This time, we took the two young girls from Bonao with us! This was the first time for each of them to go there. The highway to Constanza curves through beautiful mountain scenery. It is said there are over 300 curves in the 51 kilometers (approximately 40 miles?) to Constanza. These mountains are the highest in the Caribbean. The highest is over 10,000 feet.

We had three Gospel Meetings in three homes on our way. Sunday afternoon, we had another meeting near the city and brought the granddaughter of that lady back with us to get acquainted with the other two girls. Monday was a holiday....and it was decided that we would go to the waterfall. We filled the car – Dominican style – and Waldy drove. The narrow dirt road was full of “washboards” and wash outs. There were plenty of views of the productive valleys below. It grew worse as we went on, with water running over it and rocks to traverse with caution. In places, some of us had to get out and walk. NOT my type of road....but after an hour and a half we did arrive. The waterfall IS worth seeing (just not worth getting to!!). Since it was a holiday, a few other people were there also. Some even dared to jump into the cold pool at the foot of the falls. Yes, the water was very cold and a jacket needed in that valley the sunshine can't quite reach. Some of our group climbed a rough trail to see the two layers of higher falls. They reported it was quite perilous. All did return safely and we had a nice picnic lunch before the trip back.

We took our friends home, gathered our belongings from the apartment and delivered the granddaughter - and were on our way again. Another Gospel meeting on the mountainside....and back to Bonao just before dark.

Now, a building project is going on. Five of the brothers, two Haitian friends and a couple of the neighbor men are working with cement blocks to complete the upper story of one of the buildings. These days are busy with cooking and washing! There are around 12 here for meals. It has been raining a lot....but maybe that is easier on them than the sun beating down.

In the Middle of January

Friday afternoon, and I meant to add this to my post yesterday - but the computer refused to cooperate!

Last Monday, I started this post to share with you more of our days here. Now it is Thursday, and our comings and goings, the weather, the food, and the scenery here, seem not even worth mentioning in the face of far greater happenings. My heart aches for the Wostrel family in their loss of 7 year old Rebecca.    Her short life touched so many of us. Then, to think of Inez Kleeb gone home...and John Lambotte....and others I knew. “The young may die and the old must die”. Sometimes we need this reminder to put things into perspective again.

Today is January 17. Along with the fresh reminders of death this week, it was a year ago today that Krista Slawinski died here from injuries in a bus accident. I feel she left a “memorial stone” in the lives of each on this staff. Her memory lives on in the hearts of many here, as well as in her homeland of Canada.

So, I won't write much about the details that fill in the spaces and make up our lives! Be assured they are cheerful details....enjoyment of the scenery; the sound of rain on the roof at night, the smell of fresh laundry from the line; fellowship; companionship.

Thursday, a week ago today, I got up early to have our laundry done before the electricity goes off at 8:00 – or a few minutes before. By 11:00, we were hurrying on our way to Moca, where we joined Edward and Erick for lunch.  In the afternoon, the four of us headed to Santiago, the second largest city in this country. One thing certain – it is way too big for me to ever find my way around in!

Santiago...oh my. We had a Gospel Meeting - which turned out to be in English! and then made one more visit in the city before walking among the streams of people to find a few things in the shopping district. One more visit...oh my. Things ARE worse back through narrow paths that lead between and behind city buildings. But we were so welcome...and the brothers greeted these people as they would have greeted the richest in the city....actually, this dear lady may be “the richest”. I can't describe my feelings -  but then the thought was so clear, “but we CAN give them something for their soul”. We each shared a thought, but then the most beautiful thing was the joy in her voice as she shared what she had been reading, that was a comfort to her – Romans 8:1.

Supper was waiting for all of us in Moca, and afterward Ruthie and I left to spend the night in the apartment (batch). The outside stairs are very steep, but it is a comfortable little place, looking out over the roof-tops. One does have to get used to the endless noise of the city and of the neighbors who are all around us – beside, and below. The sounds and voices carry through open windows and thin walls as though they were in the next room. I don't have much trouble just “tuning it all out”.

Friday, Ruthie and I traveled west – almost to the Haitian border – to visit Divina in Castanueles. Davina is the only friend in that part of the country, and has few privileges of fellowship. The landscape changed the further west we came, and the air felt drier. This is rice growing country, with a mix of flooded plots and ones green with growing rice. It was interesting to visit with Divina's husband about rice, and how it is grown and harvested.

Two former Haitian ladies came in the early afternoon for a Gospel Meeting. At 5:00, we went to another home beyond a town not far away for a meeting with a group there. Some of these people have listened before, but this was the first time for  either of us to meet them.

Saturday morning, after a breakfast of bread, cheese, and hot chocolate, we studied together with Divina before the two hour drive back to Moca. This is a very productive area, famed for “the best yucca”. The soil is black and rich. We passed through the edge of the city, and went on further east over hills to Tenares. After several “askings” we found our friend's house nestled with other homes among the thriving plantations of cocoa, bananas and plantains. Lunch was waiting. One thing is almost certain; lunch will be some form of rice and beans, chicken, a salad plate, and usually avacado. It is also certain to be tasty! A few extended family were there, and after lunch we had a meeting in the tiny front room. We stopped for a couple more visits before we made our way – partly in pouring rain – back to Bonao.

Sunday began a new week. The sun shone, and our three were ready and waiting to go to the fellowship meeting. In the afternoon, a nap was very welcome!   Monday was a quiet day, and Tuesday, we left for another short “round” in the hills in the Moca area. Two visits and meetings, and then we spent Tuesday night in the home of a friend, and her young teenage son - a lovely home with beautiful flowers blooming on the patio. That is the picture at the top of this post.   The morning was pleasant, with a study together and some hymns after breakfast, and then a tour of her garden across the street. All kinds of fruit trees and vegetables and flowers were there – but so were the snails. It showed to me that no matter how favorable the soil and the moisture and sunshine – there is an enemy! That quiet little enemy had multiplied and done a lot of damage to that garden.

That was Wednesday.  We – went to the 3:30 study meeting in Moca, giving our friend and her young son a ride and picking up others until we had scrunched in 8 of us. (smile). Reminded me of the way it used to be at home when speeds were slower and seatbelts unheard of. After meeting, we hurried back to Bonao for the 7:00 p.m. meeting here. I Samuel 3 was such a good study!

I've lost track of how many homes, how many visits, how many meetings - that adds up to. It doesn't matter. What matters is if they (and we) received something for the soul. Sometimes just a glimpse we see as we pass by gives a message and forms a “picture” in the heart...the thin figure of an old woman, head bent, a blank look of hopelessness on her face as she stood by the road; the bright little black face of a toddler, looking out at her world through the open window of a poor little house.........

The next chapter

     Wednesday morning again. Outside, it is raining. Inside, all is quiet and I need to be writing. Seven days can hold so much!

Last Thursday afternoon we walked to the river. It is a beautiful river, and really very close – though you cannot see it from where we stay. Our three “special” young neighbors met us at the gate, prompt at the appointed time, and we 5 set out, bags, hats, sunscreen and water bottles in hand. At the corner where our “alley” intersects with another, we turned right.  I won't attempt any descriptions of the dwellings along that lane!  A swarm of children, playing, saw us and fell into step behind us. We felt like the “Pied Piper of Hamlin”!

The river flows fast over it's rocky bed and is fairly clear. The water is 2 or 3 feet deep, sloping gently from the edge. We waded in carefully. The children plunged in joyfully. They wore whatever was convenient...and quickly discarded any garments that impeded. To the two-year-olds, the brown “birthday suits” they had been playing in were very sufficient! Nobody asked permission. Nobody came to check on the children. Here, it is just part of life. Our friend Maria and her two boys joined us a little later, and all had a happy afternoon. I wish I had pictures to share!

Friday, we left before noon and stopped for a quick lunch on the way out of town. We turned off the “auto-pista” and headed up, up, and over the mountains to Constanza. The mountains are high and very beautiful. The two lane highway is steep and a constant round of blind curves with glimpses of a valley far below. In places, houses are wedged in between the road and the drop-off behind. Clean laundry is carefully draped over the guardrail to dry. Actually, laundry is draped over whatever available – be it fence, balcony – or guardrail!  Clothes here are clean and whites are very white!

At the summit, we stopped at the lookout and enjoyed the view, then wound down, down the mountains. We turned off in a village and drove up and around on a rutted dirt trail to a home on the hillside and had a Gospel Meeting on the open “porch” with the couple of the home and a neighbor listening. After the meeting and a cup of sweet herb tea, we went up the hill to visit a young mother (who is usually there to listen) with a brand-new baby boy – Jaciel. At the suggestion of the others, we also stopped to visit an older lady – in her 90's – in a quite nice home below. She didn't know us, nor we her, but she welcomed us in, talked a great deal, and was sorry we were leaving so soon. She assured us we were welcome to spend the night. Several grandchildren of the home continued life in the background, but gave us friendly smiles.

We continued our journey into the late afternoon, and stopped at a home beside the highway for another Gospel Meeting, with only the couple of the home listening. 

 Just at sunset we came to a place where we could park and look out over the lovely, productive valley of Constanza. The view in the setting sun was so beautiful! We had supper with an elderly friend and then in the cool dark found our apartment at the other end of the city – and had a wonderful cool night snuggled under blankets. ;-) The night temperature was in the low 60's, and the wind was blowing! I felt right at home....but I DID put on my jacket for the first time since leaving Nebraska in October.

Saturday, we had lunch with our friend Ramona, and her son and daughter who were home on vacation from the college in Santiago. Later, we visited in the home of a contact where we would have had a meeting, but this holiday weekend was not a good time. Monday, here, is kept as “Three Kings Day” or something like that. This is the day, you know, when those three “wise men” come and bring all the children gifts!!! The stores were filled with people buying toys. (All this and Christmas too!). Later, we had supper with Ruben's family, but tragedy struck in the middle of that meal. Ruben and his wife had taken her father to the clinic earlier, and she had stayed with him. Now when the phone rang it was the news that he had died. Ruthie and I did up the dishes, and later we walked with one of the grandsons to the home where the body...and the  mourners...were. There was no comfort or comforting.

And so, as the chapter moves on, so did we. Somewhere in the labyrinth of dirt lanes and neighborhoods outside the town, again among the poorest of homes, we came to the place where an elderly lady with one tooth in her smile waited to welcome us. Like magic, a number of children (young teens and a little younger) appeared, unstacked plastic chairs, and sat down in expectancy. So...the Gospel Meeting was mainly directed to the children. When asked if anyone had a hymn, number 1 was chosen without delay and sung with gusto! They also obviously knew “Was it for me?” . This country is full of surprises, and some – like this one – are delightful! The children left promptly after meeting, as with only a couple minutes to spare, someone from somewhere was going to pass out presents!! ;-) Tired and thankful, we wound back over the mountains to Bonao and “home”.

The holidays are over and the year begins.  We pray it will be a year of progress....a year of watching and praying....a year of walking in faith. That prayer extends to every part. The reminders at convention were very, very sober in regard to this need. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2012 has gone and 2013 is here. I suppose these numbers don't mean much to God, to whom “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day”. Interesting though, that in a world where many try to forget that God exists, these dates are still counted from the approximate time Christ was born.

The week since I last wrote was a lovely interlude “between chapters”. Tuesday afternoon five of us - at the invitation of friends vacationing in the seaside resorts – spent a couple days at Sosua and Cabarete on the north coast. Each of us enjoyed the ocean in our own way....diving and swimming, wading, walking along the beach, or just resting within the sound of the surf. To Roslyn from Barbados, the sea has always been part of life. To me, who has lived so far from an ocean, it never ceases to be special. This time I actually got IN the water. I wasn't familiar enough to venture very far in, so mostly I got a good pounding from waves coming in and a sand-bath as they retreated. I'm in awe of the force of the swells that continually come, crest, break on the shore and pull back into the sea. We laughed and enjoyed, and had a wonderful turkey dinner (a day late) on December 26 at Sid and Martha's.

Wednesday afternoon, we all went out into the “other world” in the hills away from the shore for the study meeting at Nicolas and Eusabia's. The verses in our study were so fitting....Micah 6, “What does the Lord require of thee? To do justly; to love mercy; and to walk humbly with thy God”. Things that are possible for the very poorest as well as the richest; the old and the young; for those of every nation and all situations. This couple, among the poorest in this world's goods, felt “rich” that afternoon. Again and again he expressed how thankful and how privileged he felt to have us in his home. Incidentally, neither of them can read or write, but the rejoicing in 

their hearts was evident.

The air is fresh out on that hillside, and the view of the green hills is beautiful. So were their smiles. 

Thursday we returned to our inland city of Bonao, and very early on Friday we were on the road again, to Santo Domingo, and the airport where Roslyn and Marie left for Puerto Rico. It was nice to have a little time in the city with Glen, Derek and Benigno, and we all had lunch in the home of other friends. Before Ruthie and I left the city, we visited a Haitian girl in a ward in a hospital. OH MY... well, it is for the poor, it was clean enough, and I'm told they are given the services of the best doctors.

Now, after many days together with others, Ruthie and I are left to care for those in this area through January. Sunday morning it was special to have our three young neighborhood “teens” waiting at the gate to go with us to the fellowship meeting. This was the first for the two boys, and good to hear 

their parts in the meeting.

After meeting, we invited everyone to come for supper and time together on Monday evening, New Years Eve. Some weren't free to come, but Venecia and Jacqueline came – and “our” three young “neighbors” plus three more. Those six, ages 15, 13, 13, 13, 12 and 7, kept our evening full of fun.

They ate and ate and ate, and when they finally could hold no more, jumped up and found dish towels, broom and dustpan. We played some games, then sang some hymns. The singing sure wouldn't have won any prize as they didn't follow the tune and our 7 year old couldn't really read the words....but they made up for it with their zest and eagerness to choose another. We passed the Bible around and read the story of Noah and discussed it a bit – and then we sent them home. Ohhhhh....the influence around them is so bad! We long that they would reach for and hold on to this that is better.

Today has been a pleasant, quiet holiday. Well....quiet here inside, but plenty of noise drifting in from outside! It is cool and cloudy with a gentle rain falling, which makes us glad that the last of the convention sheets were washed and dried in the bright sunshine yesterday. The city has left the electricity on most of the time through the holidays. Now we'll have to get used to it being off most of the day again.

Tomorrow we'll move on, a little further into this new “chapter”.