Random Thoughts

I'm not sure where to start, and I'm even more at a loss for where to end.  I know this isn't going to be about today; however, it really is!  So, instead of my normal logical essay, walking through a specific point step by step, here are a few random thoughts about the past three days.

First, this is Don, and I'm a first-time traveler with Fifty-five Five.  I've been a part of the organization for a few years, but never a traveler.  That was a mistake.  I can not believe how much I have been blessed by God's grace since the day we left. Oh the worship!  I have been so blessed by a group of local young ladies who are assisting with the songs.  Each has a beautiful voice, and a heart for the Lord!  The enthusiasm they have is indescribable.  You have to experience it to understand it.  In Ephesians chapter 3, it talks about knowing the unknowable.

On Monday, we visited the first of two Bateys.  The first thing that jumped out at me was the riot of color.  I took one picture of a young boy leaning against the side of a dwelling.  He was dressed in a brilliant red shirt, leaning against the bright green siding of the dwelling.  In the background, hanging on a line, were clothes in purples, yellows, and pinks.  Nearly everyone there dresses in very bright clothing.  At one point, I turned to another in the group and commented that one pink shirt being worn could easily have acted as a traffic safety shirt while riding a bicycle.

Not long after getting off the bus, a young boy of 3 or 4 came up to me and wanted to hold my hand.  Even at that young age, tough callouses on his hands reminded me of an adult who has been doing construction work for years!  And then he looked up at me, and he was one of the most beautiful children I have ever seen.  I started looking around, and noticed that something about the features of the Dominican people is striking.  The children are truly beautiful.  As they age, that beauty seems to sink below the surface and disappear as a result of a lifetime of hardship and trials ... at least that is what I thought.  And then they smile, and regardless of age, or hardship, it's back.

Speaking of which, I have been getting up between 4:30 and 5:00 every morning.  Coffee, fellowship with the security people, and preparing for our morning devotion time.  Every morning between 5:30 and 6:00 one of the kitchen staff comes to work, and greets me ,, along with everyone else ... with a smile.  She works 14 or so hours a day, and yet she always has a ready smile.  That smile is enough of a reason for me to wake up every day.

OK Don, you are starting to sound like a girl ... time to man up!  I know, lets talk about baseball. Baseball seems to be a favorite pastime here.  This morning, as we were driving into the Batey, there was a baseball diamond.  The people have little, however, it's obvious that baseball is an important part of their lives.

Today, we had a small group.  Well, at first it was small.  Over the first hour more and more children came.  There was an excitement that was evident, and it was drawing others in.

Sadly, I think my heart was broken today.  Childhood ends early here.  The boys head off to the cane fields long before manhood, and the girls become mothers.  In the group today, there were three young mothers. I'm guessing  under the age of 16.  One not only had a young child, but was obviously pregnant with another.  The one that broke my heart though looked to be 13 or so.  She was more of a child than the 6 month old on her hip.  I had the opportunity to watch her intently listening  to the message.  I'm sure she really heard.  I pray she has the opportunity to apply it in her life.  I also watched her during craft time, which is when I noticed she was a child at heart ... playing with and creating the craft we were working on.  During one of the activities, I held her baby so she could play.  Again, it broke my heart!  At 62, I am about to become a grandfather.  She will probably be a grandmother in her 20's!  What she really needs is to be a child.

And then, there's the "young bucks."  And know, I don't use that term in a positive way.  Some of  the adolescent boy's were marking there territory.   The darkness was obvious!

Angel and devil.  One of  the skits we do is an angel puppet and a devil puppet both trying to convince someone that it's OK to sin.  Today we saw life imitating art.  A blow-up beach ball, a soccer ball, and a blow-up globe disappeared during an activity, obviously the objects of theft.  The pastor we were with talked to them, and by the end of the day, all were returned!  What a lesson for them and for me.

Have I been blessed?  Would I come back?  Would I recommend it for others?  If you have to ask, you haven't been listening.