Fruits of the Spirit

A fun surprise was awaiting when Don and our daughter Nella drove me to our church parking lot at 2:45 a.m. My sister Janice and two of her kids, Michelle & Joe, were there to see me off! They stayed through all the loading of over 100 50# bags onto buses, Don and Joey helping with that muscle work. They stayed for our circle of prayer time. They stayed as we drove out of the lot, doing 'The Wave' to bless us on our way. Jan presented me with a package of envelopes. I was to open one on the way and then one each morning. Each held a Bible verse and then encouraging words. A very thoughtful gift from one of my prayer partners!

Two uneventful flights later we landed in rainy Santiago. Hearing predictions of a rainy week to come didn't sit well with the group. John Martinez of G.O. was there to welcome us. A very nice 30 something man from Long Island who has lived and worked as a missionary in the D.R. for eight years now. He told us that as he prayed to prepare himself for our week that God had placed the Galatians verses about The Fruits of the Spirit on his heart. That's what we were all to be focusing on...and the first Fruit would begin then and there as we loaded bags and began our journey...PATIENCE.

The evening started with a lovely welcome in the home of Gabrielle, a gentleman involved with G.O. Ministries. His family hosted our group of almost 60 people, all with wet shoes, allowing us to invade his home and eat his food. Heart warming hospitality! Chicken and rice were the main dishes, and during the week we found out these would be our staples for the most part.

As most of the team continued visiting there, about 15-20 of us were bussed to another location to meet our sponsored G.O. Kid. I had my envelope of gifts for Yonaris, hoping her family was able to be there on this nasty, rainy night.

We were told that the Dominicans do not like the rain. If it's raining, they do not go out. So between that and the fact that our travels got us there late, there was a slim chance.

But as I came up the stairs I saw a little girl sitting on a woman's lap, their backs to me. But the girl's profile was visible. It was Yonaris! And she was lovely. Such a beautiful face!

I was able to enlist the help of a translator to have a conversation with Jasmine, her mother. We learned things about each other, finding out our husbands are both 'laid back', hers is a mechanic, mine sells tools to mechanics...Yonaris is very intelligent and loves to color and read books, exactly how my little girl was as a child...Jasmine was working until she had Yonaris, as a secretary, exactly what I did before having Seth. We had a lot of parallels in our lives as Jasmine said through the translator. Yonaris was shy but smiled a lot as she opened her gifts. She loved the Dora The Explorer book I bought her. Jasmine said she only wants to watch Dora on TV and then pointed to the little buckles on her daughter's shoes - the face of Dora! I guess I picked the right book! Jasmine thanked me for my generosity and said they have an extra room in their home where I am always welcome to stay if I want to visit them. I was very touched and so happy that I was able to connect with our sponsored child.

Then came the end of a long day and the beginning of what will go down in history as the worst walk of my life! Because of all the rain our large bus was not able to travel the last part of the trip to our dorm. So we were dropped at a corner and asked to carry our backpacks about a half mile, staying in groups for safety.

It was dark, luckily not raining, but the muddy, potholed, rocky road was extremely difficult to navigate. I honestly don't know how I never slipped and fell in the mud! It was a slow, careful, uncomfortable walk that seemed to never end. And all the way down the road were people watching us from their doorways, from chairs in front of homes, from groups of motor bikes on corners. We must have been quite a sight!

Arrived in our first dormitory where bunks were stacked three high and set up our mosquito netting on our bed of choice. 33 women sharing one sleeping room, three or four showers, three toilets and three or four sinks...hmmm...recipe for disaster? Fruits...Fruits!

It was a bad night's sleep. No air movement on my bottom bunk. After 12:30 a.m. lights out, it took me over an hour to fall into a restless sleep...and wake up call was at 4:30 a.m.!

Welcome to the world of mission work, Donna! And don't forget your Fruits!