Where We Breathe Right Now

When we step off our street into our temporary home, we enter the large living area of the two-story Genesis House. It has five bedrooms, three baths, a kitchen and a laundry room.

  We have described this assignment as managing a B&B for missionaries-in-training. During our month here, we collaborate meal planning and grocery shopping, preparing meals, and maintaining the house.

Here is the kitchen where we work, beginning at 6 a.m.  

The electricity in our zone shuts down from 7 a.m.-12 p.m., which means if we want coffee and want it while it's hot, then early is defined as scurry pronto!  We have two missionaries-in-training from Mexico and Costa Rica and will probably host several drop-in visitors here on business during this month.   We meal plan with our guests and buy all the ingredients necessary.  For Sunday lunch, we served penne pasta with red meat sauce, salad and fresh, surprisingly acceptable French loaf bread.  They requested that meal again...so, perhaps we can prepare and serve more "Americana" foods than we had expected.  They have volunteered to prepare their traditional plates, too, so we will bring home new recipes.

You may wonder if the electricity returns later in the day.  It does.  It reports for duty again from 12:00-3pm. Yes. Then off again until 8 pitch-dark p.m.   The good news is the Genesis House has a huge generator.   The bad news is diesel is about $5.00 a gallon.  So, wise usage is advised.

This past Saturday, we were invited to join the district youth power group for an all-day visit to a poorer neighborhood  and offer a day of leisure and fun to the children who live there.   There were three teams: medical, yard care, and personal care.

We worked with the personal care team that washed and braided hair and gave hand massages to the girls.  It was fun to see the little girls line up for beauty care and the little boys for hair cuts, which we graciously left to those who had barber skills.

This is a very rewarding assignment despite the normal challenges that hold hands with Central and South American assignments:  jungle-like heat and humidity, can't flush the t p, can't drink the water, and, of course, our limited Spanish skills.  However, all of that is minimized when we see the little boys in our neighborhood playing baseball (It is the DR, after all) and when our neighbors call us the missionaries in the yellow house.  Proud of that label!    Gracias A Dios!

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:  for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth...." (Romans1:16a)

Keep Looking Up and thank you for following our blog!
J:m and L:nda

Random Kindness

The beginning:  On our flight from Dallas to Miami, an elderly woman sat in the aisle seat on our row.   When drinks were served,  she visited with the attendant in Spanish and ordered a Sierra Mist.  We ordered one Sierra Mist and one Cranapple.  We like mixed drinks and blended our two. You see, on long flights, we often look for something to occupy our minds.  We offered our Spanish row mate some Cranapple for her Sierra Mist.  She accepted and liked it.   We chatted a bit in our broken Spanish.  She was on her way to Venezuela to see either a niño or nina of either her son or daughter (When one is learning a language, one often misses the details!).   Soon, as we reclined, (no Knee Defenders behind us) she tapped Jim on the shoulder.  With a smile, she handed us a new bag of Fritos.   That's one reason why we like the Spanish culture.

On Monday night, our first night in the Genesis House, a street dog decided to make his debut and barked his lungs out allllllll night!  Grrrrrrr.   And, a rooster added to the chorus and went on a crowing streak beginning at 3:30 a.m.  Clearly, he can't tell time.  No worries. As fate would have it, this entire situation took a turn for the better. On the following day,  Jim and I were walking home from a meeting when we heard loud, struggling and disagreeable sounds coming from an overgrown vacant lot.   We turned just in time to see a squawking rooster struggling to free itself from the twisted vines.  But, to no avail for right on its tail feathers came a nimble and wild street dog who rapidly advanced and apprehended the flailing rooster by its neck.  Feathers flew.
Tuesday night: totally quiet. Dog full, rooster.....well.....   Unexpected accommodations are yet another reason why we like the Spanish culture.


Today, we went to the market to shop for the Genesis House. While Jim checked out the groceries and paid, I ordered 3 personal pan pizzas from the food court:  one for each of us and one for our wonderful new friend and driver, Jose, who was now on his way to pick us up.  The  order came to a little over 600 pesos (about $12.00 dollars).   Jim had handed me 500 pesos, but now he was deep in the checkout lane and I was deep into an order....in Spanish!  Then,  someone standing beside me said, "Miss. No worries.  I will pay what you owe." (There is something buried there. See it?) I was overwhelmed by his kindness to a Gringo and a stranger. I genuinely thanked him in Spanish, but decided to change the order to 2 pizzas: we would split our personal and still have one for our driver.   Perfect ending.  His kind offer was another reason why we like the Spanish culture.  

Simply put, we have been on the receiving end of random kindness.
You probably have, too.  And doesn't it bless you!

Keep Looking Up and thank you for following our blog.

J:m and L:nda

Adios Once Again, Amigoes!

Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves.    We can't believe we get to do what we do as often as we do and that the do-ing takes place where it does!    We have a new assignment beginning Mid-September until mid-October in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.   Here is what is going on and here is how we fit in.    

We have the privilege of being involved with the Genesis Project, which is an initiative to plant 28 churches right in the middle of large Spanish-speaking cities in Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands


Our assignment is supporting those volunteer missionaries who come to the Dominican Republic for intensive training workshops.    They are young, Spanish-speaking professionals who have accepted the call, " Who will go?" and have raised financial support that allows them to commit to their assigned cities for two years.   They have been preparing;  now, they are moving toward the starting line and entering the race.

Here is where we come in-managing the 5 bedroom, 3 bath household where they will live, study, and learn during this month.   And, our arms are bruised from the pinching because we get to live with them, cook for them, and serve them.   ....And, all in Español!   What a joy to have learned enough Spanish in the last two years to be invited into this mission.    We have been invited to attend some of their training workshops and to tag along on some of their field trips.   We can smell vocabulary enhancement!  

 We have begun the process of packing, referring to our faithful two-page, three-column list of what to take along for this adventure. Our third suitcase contains gifts, educational materials, and favorite foods that are expensive outside of the states.   This suitcase is always compliments of American Airlines, saving us the cost of an extra baggage fee!  We look forward to teaching English as a Foreign Language and for the relationships that have a way of developing when languages and cultures are exchanged.  

We delight in these journeys that call us out headfirst into spiritual submersion and discovery.  In all our assignments, we gain greater insight and sensitivity into the transforming power that belongs only to the church and its fruit.   

We are moving over to let you find a steppingstone              

and take this walk with us.  Pray that we will see the
need before it is visible
and hear the request before it is spoken.

Keep Looking Up
J:m and L:nda