8/8/08 and San Pedro

Hello Everyone,

Josh and I have been in the small country town of San Pedro since Friday. We are staying with some friends of friends of friends! It is a small, pretty town-- not as busy or crowded as Santo Domingo. On the map below, you can see some of the places we have visited.



If you first find Santo Domingo on the map, and then follow the coast to the right, you will see Boca Chica, Juan Dolio, and then San Pedro. Boca Chica and Juan Dolio are beach towns. Then from San Pedro, you can go up to Hato Mayor, Sabana del Mar, and El Valle. We visited all of those towns on Saturday. We also visited a small rural town called Consuelo, which is not on the map. It is extremely poor-- the poorest place we have seen yet. Mostly Haitians live there, so that they can work in the Sugar Cane fields, but a few famous baseball players have come out of Consuelo too, like Sammy Sosa.

We visited a pastor's family there and stayed with them for about three hours. I have a few pictures... and unless you guys have seen this kind of utter poverty before, you will be shocked. Basically, the "town" consists of shacks with scrap metal roofs and mud. The mud comes from the streets and ally ways, especially when it rains, which it was during our visit. It poured cats and dogs! The "homes" all have dirt floors and outside plumbing.

It was a great testimony to Josh and I to share and fellowship with these dear people in Consuelo. The two daughters that we were visiting, Luciel and Yina, did not speak any English and did not know a lot about the USA. They also get few visitors. We ended up singing almost the whole time.... because that's what we had in common! They love music! Josh and I would sing one "American" hymn and then they would sing another "Dominican" one. They were just as interested in our weird songs and we were in their beautiful, haunting ones.

I have pictures of them too, and some videos, but I can't post any of them right now. I might have to wait till we get back to the States. Yesterday we visited a new church, Iglesia Cristiana Evagelica de la Gracia or Grace Christian Evangelical Church. This church is a new plant in San Pedro that only has 10 members. I cannot describe to you what a blessing it was to worship with this tiny congregation, but, I have some beautiful pictures and videos which I think will help a little. They are so zealous and joyful in the Lord, and the little kids were really cute too!

They don't have a pastor yet, so all of the men (about 3) in the congregation took turns praying, preaching, and reading the Word. I had to work really hard translating everything for Joshua. It was very difficult, but the worst of it was that they have this phenominal speaker system that nearly drowned out everything I said. Josh told me later that I was either inaudible or yelling in his ear! Because I could understand them almost 100%, it was remarkably edifying and encouraging. I hope that we can come back some day when Josh has learned more Spanish.

Tio Simon and Tia Rosa have taken us everywhere with them the past few days. Besides the family in Consuelo, we have visited numerous Christian brothers and sisters on the side of the road and also in their homes. If any of you ever visit San Pedro or the surrounding countryside, a good number of the streets vendors are Christians, so if you stop, you might get more than just some nice tropical fruit.

Speaking of fruit, I had two cool new fruits: Sapote--- this time fresh, and Limolla... which is like a melon in a round, hard, green shell. The avocadoes, coconuts, chinola and stuff all grow fresh here in their backyards. One of the prettiest things we have seen yet is the Dominican countryside.... and as far as the eye can see all around: sugar cane fields. You can't even imagine how pretty it is! I will post pics soon, DV.

On Saturday, we also visited El Valle, and Los Haitises. These are not pictures, but I got the same exact ones, and this is WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!



WOW!!!




We were literally RIGHT THERE!!!!!!



Anyway.... I better go. It was great updating! I haven't been on the computer for ages cuz the family we were staying with lost their internet connection. I hope to see you guys really soon... a lot of you, NEXT SUNDAY!!!! yay!

Love,

kristin and josh