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.........