Our trip to the Dominican Republic

The Group of Hatians that we shared the van with

A view from the Balcony at La Vega Christian School

A 4th grade class at La Vega Christian School

A street View of La Vega

another view of La Vega Christian School from the balcony

Our trip was amazing. There are so many thoughts going through my mind as I think about our trip that I needed to get it out on paper. The trip certainly fulfilled its purpose. We were really able to see the Dominican Republic, and many different facets of Dominican Life.
In Santiago (the biggest northern city) we were able to walk around and see what the city was like. Randy also interviewed at the Christian School there. The first morning that we were there Randy and I just walked around the city for three hours. We stumbled upon a baseball field while we were walking and saw kids practicing baseball. There was a sign in front of the field that said, "Baseball El Ensueno" This means Baseball the Dream/Fantasy.  For me this made my heart go out to the Dominican children. There is so much striving for this far off goal of making money playing baseball. Randy and I so want to reach out to these kids and show them how Jesus' is far better than anything else. The dream of baseball can still be there but there is so much more to life.
In the afternoon we went over to Santiago Christian School (SCS) to interview. The school was great and we can see ourselves easily fitting in there. The student population is the top 1% of the Dominican population, the rich kids. The school is the best school in northern Dominican republic. There are also about 150 students who are MK's or their parents teach at the school.  The school is also taught in English so our kids would be able to attend no problem.
After leaving SCS we took a bus to La Vega. La Vega is a small town about 25 minutes out of Santiago. Here we stayed with a wonderful missionary couple named Mitch and Debbie Martinez. We had an amazing time in La Vega. We were able to meet and see some of the Hatian ministry that they do. The Hatians are the poorest of the poor in the DR and they estimate there are about 2,000,000 Hatians living in the DR but only about one million of them are legal. This is a huge area of ministry in the DR. We had a great time of piling 17 adults, 3 kids, and a whole bunch of music and sound equipment into a van (by the way this was not a 15 passenger van. We would maybe consider it about an 8 passenger van in the US) They Hatian Church was doing an outdoor Evangelism service and we were driving them there.  As we were all in the van the Hatians started singing their hearts out, it was amazing and beautiful to say the least.
We spent the evening hanging out with some of the other missionaries that live in La Vega and learning lots about Dominican Culture and the needs of the people who live in the country. We also learned that in La Vega only 1% of the population are Evangelicals in the entire Northern part of the Dominican Republic only 2% of the population are evangelicals. To say there is need there is an understatement.
In the morning we went to school with Debbie.  We were able to spend the entire day at La Vega Christian school helping out in the classes. It was great for us to see exactly how the school worked. The students at La Vega Christian School are much different than those in Santiago Christian School. There are some wealthier kids who attend the school but many of the children are there on scholarship. The Martinezes have said up a fund for the poorer kids to be able to go to school. Many of the kids have a half scholarship but several of them have a scholarship that covers tuition, uniforms, and food while they are at school. The kids at La Vega Christian school are substantially poorer than those at Santiago Christian School.
We had hoped that after visiting schools we would have a clear cut decision. Unfortunately we really don't. The hard thing is that the schools are vastly different. I mean besides being schools that exist to teach kids about Jesus  you really can't even put them in the same category.
You have Santiago Christian School where rich kids go, would pay significantly more, and our kids would go to school there. La Vega Christian School where much poorer kids attend, pays $300 (a good Dominican salary) a month, has more of a need for teachers, and I would more than likely have to do some homeschooling for my kids.
One of the hard things is that Randy and I feel passionate that whatever school we want to be doing other ministries. We don't plan on making the school our bubble of influence and fellowship.  So while the school we end up at is important it is not going to be our only ministry. With that in mind we have to decide whether we want to be primarily located in La Vega or Santiago. They arn't that far part. Anyways... needless to say we have a lot to think about and consider. We would covet your prayers as we make our decision. We hope to start raising support the first of the year so the goal is to make our decision in the next couple weeks.
On a personal note Randy and I both fell in love with the Dominican Republic. As I rode back on the plane I was excited for our family to be together again but I felt such a sadness about leaving the country knowing that it would be at least seven months before we returned. I felt a connection and burden for the people there. I also felt such a peace knowing that God has planted such strong desire to minister to the people in the DR. I was afraid that going there I would hate it and decide that we didn't want to be there but the opposite happened.  I more than ever know that God has laid the Dominican people on our hearts and that we cannot wait to return.
I will write more later about our time at the beach because that is a whole different story but this is all I have time for now.