On Saturday, we decided to take our first Road Trip in the
DR to the capital city, Santo Domingo (a city of about 3.5 Million). We got there no problem and found our first
destination almost like we had been there many times before. We then decided to go to another historic
part of the city and thanks to Google Maps, we plotted our course. It took us to our second destination, but the
way we went was probably not the best.
We drove through the down town area and it was wall to wall people, cars
and everything else. As we meandered
through the streets, I was a little concerned about hitting another car or
being hit, but I was more concerned about hitting someone. There were people everywhere in the streets,
in the middle of traffic. Thank the Lord
we made it through there. I will have to
mark that street on Google Maps as “DO NOT GO HERE EVER AGAIN BOULEVARD”.
After a little time in the Historic part of the city, we
started to head back to Santiago. As we
were taking the on-ramp of the “Interstate”, our new (used) van stalled and we
puttered to a stop. I could not get it
to start again and we were blocking a very busy section of the road. The boys and I tried to push the van out of
the way, but we were on a slight slope and we couldn’t get far. We received many honks of the horn, but no
gestures, just a lot of words we couldn’t quite understand. All we could do is pray, and that we did….a
lot. We also called our friends the
Romano’s and they contacted our friend, the Church president, who lives in the
capital. He would be coming to help as
soon as he could.
Not long after, a man stopped to help and then another
man. One had a tow strap and towed us
out of the way into a gas station about a half mile down the road. The second guy was a mechanic and determined
the problem was with the electronics.
Our Spanish is still a little rough, so getting what they were saying
took a lot of time. They would have to repeat
themselves, point at things and use a lot of gestures. I felt like we were playing charades on the
side of the highway. Those two talked a
bit and then one of them left. It was
the mechanic. I thought, “Ok now what?” The other guy told me his brother is a
mechanic and he was going to come and help.
In the meantime, our friends from Church, Enrique and Violetta, showed
up and brought us a little snack and water.
After about 4 hours, the roadside mechanic figured out a
work around to the problem and it was indeed electrical, but it was only
temporarily fixed. In order to get back
for our Sunday activities, we jumped on a bus and rolled into Santiago about
10:30 that night. The Van would sit at
our friends in Santo Domingo until Monday, when we will go back and get it.
We were very thankful for the Good Samaritan that stopped
and called his brother the mechanic to come and help out. We were also thankful we didn’t stall in a
not so nice part of town. As we look
back on it and think about how it sure is not fun being stranded in a foreign
country, in a city that is a few hours from home, where you don’t speak the
language very well, we have to also realize that God took care of us. He did not leave us or forsake us, but he sent
others to help and care for us. Oh how
amazing and faithful God is!! Thank you
for all your continued prayer for protection and safety. They are being answered.
Well, on Sunday, we had a great Church service with the new
mission team that came in from Seattle, and later that day we got to know them
a little more during our orientation.
Sunday afternoon a pretty heavy storm blew through and the power went on
and off several times, but then finally it came back on just before we went
with the team for dinner. When we came
back home, the power was out again, but all our neighbors had power. At that point we realized it was not a
general problem, but just with our house.
As we sat in the dark, by candle light, Alec asked what can we learn
from this and he had our family devotional in his hand. He read it and it talked about what you do
when a problem arises. Kind of fitting
wouldn’t you say. He continued on and
here is the verse that it had.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though
outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For
our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,
but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I thank God for His word and how the light in a dark
place. I am also thankful for our
children, who many times teach me more than I teach them. Our power is back on and our van is getting
repaired.
Please continue to pray for us as we will pray for you. We love you all!!
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