DR Day 2

Today we went to a village called Aleman where we joined with another group to do medical missions.  We saw 230 patients in all, and most of the things we diagnosed were fixable sicknesses.  Most of the things we saw were worms, muscular pains, reflux, and feminine problems. That’s one thing that gets me- the fact that if I have heartburn or a strained muscle, I can just take a small pill that I have plenty of in my drawer, and by morning I should be fine.  These people don’t have that luxury.  Also, many things that kill them come from their contaminated water.  We use water to shower, water our plants, play in during the summer when it’s hot, and wash our car if we want to. The Dominicans don’t even have clean water to drink. Just imagine being so thirsty and not having clean water to drink. Man, I was shocked.  On a lighter note, I had a connection with a sweet boy, Johon and his two sisters, Alicia and Yurines. I taught them the slap game, head, shoulders, knees, and toes in Spanish, and we danced around for a good bit.  Our group was using the Evangecube, so one of the translators helped me teach Johon that, and he shared it with his sister and her friend. I don’t even know if he was a believer, and yet he was sharing the Gospel with them.

One thing I noticed today is that there are many interstates in the DR, and even though there are too many poor people to count, you will never see someone living under the interstates.  The Hispanic culture is so close, that they will always take in a family member if they are in need.  I think this really exemplifies what the body of Christ is supposed to be like.  Maybe if we worried less about how it would affect our family dynamics or comfortable lifestyle and more about the well-being of others, we would be more hospitable and really care for the orphans and widows and the least of these in need. 

I don’t mean to sound so cynical about the American lifestyle, and please don’t think that I hate my life or anything, but these are things that really struck me this week. I absolutely think that they have the weight to at least be considered, and for me, to be implemented in my daily lifestyle.  I believe there were several definite purposes of me going to the Dominican last week, and it would just be purely wasteful of me to ignore anything I noticed or learned simply because I’m proud to be an American. I thank God for the blessing of being born in this country, because it could have been me starving in an 8x8 hut in the DR, but as a believer we are called to daily challenge the way we live. We have to try as hard as we can to be in this world, but not of this world, and I know this trip was definitely a stepping stone in my process.