Merry Christmas From A Land Where Palm Trees Sway

Merry Christmas!

What a different year this was! We really missed being at home! It isn’t that we don’t want to be here, it’s just that no matter how wonderful a place is, it is the people that signify home. We were once again reminded that we are pilgrims on a journey, a people without a home. Jesus said that we are in the world but not of it and we are very aware that we are living that out in microcosm; we are in a country but not of the country. We are loved here and are honored to have received God’s call to be here but we dearly miss you!

The biggest event day here in the Dominican is Christmas Eve, not Christmas. So, yesterday began (for Kelly) at 7am as she left with a couple of the ladies from the house to go to the public market to buy meat and vegetables for the feast. Then, everyone in the house cooked and cleaned and decorated the entire day. Finally, at 9pm, we sat down to dinner (the 14 of us that live here plus the 8 or so guests). It was beautiful and delicious and over in about 30 minutes! ☺ After dinner, some folks lingered in the living room, some visited friends’ houses, some sat on chairs in the street and talked the night away. We felt so thankful that God replaced our grieving and homesickness with joy and friends yesterday.

Today was a regular day all in all. Everyone did their own thing which was nice for us because we needed some time to decompress from all of the activity from the day before. Kelly and I passed the day by reading the birth narrative to each other, calling family (we love you!) and working going on a long walk. Later tonight (soon in fact) we are going to watch Elf (thank you Fosters!!)

Friday was a VERY encouraging day! Some friends of ours from Seattle, the Boyetts, are in the DR for vacation and came to Barahona to see the mission and we got to spend the day with them. We took off early in the morning for an absolutely stunning beach called Baya de las Aguilas. It is about 4 hours drive plus a 20 minute boat ride from here and, about halfway into the trip, we were definitely wondering if it was going to be worth it because the road was fast, curvy and hilly and most of us were feeling pretty motion sick. But, when we got there, the queasiness went away when we caught a glimpse of the beautiful Caribbean water. When the boat dropped us off, we were 6 of about 14 people on the entire beach and we spent the day snorkeling in the clear blue water seeing various colorful fish, interesting crabs and sea slugs, and tons of beautiful conch shells. Amazing. Once we were sunned and swimmed out, we headed back to their hotel in Barahona and had a wonderful dinner by the pool, AND A HOT SHOWER! It was the first hot running water we have encountered here in the DR. Though, I do have to confess that I took a cold shower anyway because I’ve learned that the cold shower buys me about 30 minutes of not sweating when I get out and that is more valuable than a warm shower. So, I felt the warm water right in the beginning, then, turned it off and showered like normal. It was a wonderful day because not only did we go swimming in the sea for the first time here, we were so deeply encouraged to see friends from home to share our lives with, to laugh with, to decompress with. It was a “soul care” day for us that was deeply needed especially as today we are grieving not being home with family and friends for this blessed day.

I do have to switch gears for a second though to tell you about one of the funnier things that has happened so far. First, you should know that we’ve noticed that many products in the stores are labeled with English, not Spanish labels. Well, on Saturday we helped out with a dinner for all of the teachers, security guards, cleaners, cooks and chauffeurs for the mission. It was a great day of celebrating all that they do. The only bummer was that the mosquitoes were the worst that I’ve seen them so far. They were absolutely terrible. In fact, they were so bad that they were even biting the Dominicans (which does not happen very often!) Thankfully, someone was prepared with bug spray and went around and sprayed everyone’s arms and necks with it to provide some relief. When she was done, I asked if I could use it and as the bottle was handed to me, I glanced at the label and realized that it was not in fact bug repellent but rather, sun block. At that moment I turned around to face the banquet and had a hard time focusing because there was so much movement; people slapping their necks, standing up wiggling their arms and legs, waving towels around their exposed skin, anything that would keep the mosquitoes from landing on them. It was one big rhythmic dance to avoid what had become a full-scale plague of mosquitoes. So I turned to the supplier of sun block and said in Spanish, to her shock and horror, “this isn’t bug repellent, it is sun repellent” which was difficult for her to have known, because the label was in English and if you looked at it with Spanish eyes, you could mistake one for the other. Well, the small circle of us that knew what had happened, busted up into nearly uncontrollable laughter and then hurried the rest of the program along so that people could get home and out of the swarm that had descended upon us. I really wish you could have seen it because I just cannot possibly describe to you how funny it was in that moment.

We love you all so much. If you think of it, send us pictures of your holidays and general life happenings. We would LOVE to see you!!

Love,
M&K