Second Day in the DR

March 8^th, 2012

9:30 AM Atlantic Time Zone (1hr ahead of you)

Sitting on my bed at Rebekah’s house listening to Jesus Culture

Some animal out my window won’t shut the frick up and keeps screeching. Motorcycles are whizzing by outside constantly

I don’t know if I ever said that my principal, Rebekah, is from Florida. Her husband is Dominican. She was doing Chapel with the 8 and 9^th graders this morning.  She asked me last night to prepare something for the high-schoolers sometime in the future.  I said I would pray on it.   She sang a few songs and then did a little on Jer 29:11.  I got out of bed to go listen and didn’t shower.  You have to turn on the hot water switch 45mins prior to showering to get the 3-5mins of warm water.  Some people say they brush their teeth with the water, others say no.  I am using water from the 5 gal drum thingy for now.   All the houses have water delivered? Or they go buy a few of those for cooking, drinking, etc. I didn’t plan on staying at the school today anyway, so I just walked to school at 7:55 to go listen.  As soon as she pulled out the guitar last night to practice, I knew I was getting my butt up to go!  J  We live within 1 minute walking distance of the school.  When I get moved into my place, I will be about 2 mins away from the school.    This place reminds me of Honduras.  God so prepared me to come live here by going there the last 2 years. Security men carry guns. The roads are crazy. Nah, the drivers are crazy!!  Everyone has a motorcyle or moped!!  Even grandpa was on a motorcyle yester when I walked to town!   These power outages are strange.  There are many windows at the school, so every time we had the power go out, which was about 3 times, I didn’t even know it was out.  You notice at home bc you cant flush the toilet.  There is some huge drum on my house’s roof, so I will still be able to flush and shower if the power goes out…until that drum empties because I am below the tank...when I move there.  The girls above me wont be able to use the water bc they are on the same level as the drum-tank thingy.  Same with Rebekah’s, they have it on the same level, so we wait for power again…most of the time it is just for a little while.

Anyway, Rebekah’s dad was a pastor, then he left the church ad became a lawyer.  Francis, her hubby, grew up here, then moved to FL and didn’t have much religious background from what I sense.  He actually is a replica of me when it comes to Jesus.  He has been a Christ Follower for about 6 years, maybe 7.  He had total life change.  He is chasing after the Lord.  Every time the 3 of us are at home, it is a JesusFest.  He doesn’t  talk about anything else, and I EAT IT UP!  If we aren’t chatting, their computer is playing US contemp Jesus music and I can hear them all singing along, whistling, or humming to the tune.  I totally fit in here J I think they are about my age, maybe a little younger.  Malachi is 7 and I think he thinks he is my brother, Ill take it.  I love his little face popping in my room all the time to see what I am doing. So, I thought Francis was a pastor bc they are looking to plant a church, but he isn’t here during the day, so he must have something else as a job.  Having one-on-one time living here has been important for His plan.  I know a bit why I am not in my own place yet.

The housekeeper/babysitter just came to talk to me and I DON’T know Spanish, people!  Grrrr.  Dominican Spanish IS NOT THE SAME.  They cut off sounds just because!  Example:  Como estas is said com essah!!  So, although I may know the words they say, the dialect in which they say it, throws me off.    She doesn’t know any English.  All that matters is that she made me coffee.  As for the rest of the convo, she could be using me as a sacrifice to the voodoo gods and I smiled to her!  No one really has money here, yet they have housekeepers.  Odd. 

The one good thing about moving in the house alone is that there are 3 rooms and I can choose mine.  The one I am moving in had a dentist live there last yr and they did work on it, which is good.  The girl I ate dinner with lived there before. She told me to choose the room that is on the right side bc the wind blows in there. The other side of the house has a brick wall and those 2 rooms don’t get the breeze at night.  The room she told me to pick is the one room without a private bathroom!  I decided that I would rather sleep better than have a BR.  Especially if I stay here come summer, I will need the little air that gets in! Ill be drenched if I sleep in the other rooms.  I will be home for at least a week to speak with Timm. Other than that, I am waiting on the Lord.  I don’t know why everyone moves…OFTEN!  Next year, I can pick my place, they say.  I don’t even know what they mean half the time.  I don’t even know what God has in store for me next year.  I am trying my hardest to live for today and ask God what He has for me today.  

Rebekah knows the Lord <--- Not just “Christian,” she lives in the Holy Spirit and says things like “God told me...” “I asked God…” .   If you get this email and you aren’t a Christian, I talk to you guys about this crap all the time, so always read it the way I have taught you in the past.  So, when I got home from dinner with some teachers I met at school, she asked to speak with me.  I was lieing in bed reading Not a Fan.  It was early, like 730.  I told her that I wasn’t busy and she sounded serious, so I closed it and went out to the living room like a good kid should!  Ha!  She  asked me if I understood spiritual warfare and Eph 6.  (Let me go look at that real quick. Hold )  Are you freaking kidding me?? Finding out where the Armor of God verses were has been on my list before I got here!  There it is, frickin love the Lord.  Okay. So, I told her I know about it, experience it, heard sermons on it, read books on it by CStanley, but wasn’t too sure where she was going with it by talking to me right now.  She seemed uncomfortable and said probably 4 times throughout the convo that she didn’t know why she was talking to me about this, that she never sits down new teachers and says this stuff.  I LOVE THAT, ya know it is straight from Big Papa!