"Let’s Go!"

In the immortal words of Rudy, our bus driver for the week...let's go [to the capital]! 

As often as feasible, I try to give mission education teams a taste the DRLM's two vastly different contexts: Santiago and Santo Domingo. In that vein, Friday morning we drove 175 km southeast to "the capital" to be tourists by day and missiologists by night. 

First things first: lunch at a historic restaurant on the corner of Parque Colón. The server complimented my plan of having scoped out the menu beforehand and selected a handful of dishes to share, family style. Not my first rodeo. Be forewarned, though: next time, I might just order the chivo guisado and not tell you what it is. 

With me as your Zona Colonial tour guide, you're almost guaranteed to visit my favorite art gallery and take a picture by this anchor found off the coast of Samana in the 1700s!

Paleta #2/3 for these guys!

Friday night, we paid a visit to Iglesia Luterana Amigos de Cristo to meet Pastor Lucas and get to know the congregation's thriving sports outreach ministry firsthand. 

Coach Rudy (left) sure knew how to rally his team. 

Lucas led a joint devotion for the outgoing volleyball players and incoming basketball players during the break between practices. 

Rooftop devos :)

Saturday, we hit two more of the capital's can't miss sights: The Three Eyes [underground lakes] National Park and the Columbus Lighthouse. 

Pro-tip from Rudy: bus drivers and "tour guides" get in free!

What do you mean there weren't enough seats on the boat to the secret fourth "eye"?

It was back to the Colonial Zone for a Venezuelan lunch at another of my regular haunts before a new-to-me "Chocolate Experience" at Kahkow. 

"Hey, I know you!" We ran into Tirzah, who was graciously hosting an unheard of simultaneous team of volunteers from Medicine in Ministry. 

After a rundown of the bean-to-bar process, we got to try our hand at it, toppings and all. 

Mine's in the middle. Cacao nibs and slivered almonds...mmmmmmm!

Some of the students chose to eat theirs on the spot; I hightailed it back to the hotel to put mine in my minifridge so I could savor it. I have one square left...

A cookout at Iglesia Luterana Pan de Vida with the Maita family and seminarians Kevin and Demetrio was the perfect "last supper" in the Dominican. I tried to ignore those counting down the number of hours until our 3 am airport run and focus on the relationships and conversations happening all around me. 

Three AM came sooner than I wanted it to, but I was home by shortly after 7:30 (decked out in the LuSo T-shirt team leader Joanna gifted me, I might add). 

I'm grateful to have been given the chance to craft an experience like this for students and staff of my alma mater. I quite literally sat where the students sat ____ years ago, and now I'm blogging from my home office in Santiago, so there's the Holy Spirit at work for ya. The tangible aftereffects of COMING and SEEING will continue to manifest themselves over a period of years, but I define success for now in that they're impressionable, and the Dominican left an impression. Ten teenagers saw that life in the third world is defined by a different kind of normal. They saw that the language they're taking because it's better than AP Bio or because it'll look good on a college application is a key to crossing cultures effectively for the sake of the Gospel. And they saw that God is bigger than a brick building on the corner of Gravois & Tesson. One student commented that it was the best trip she's ever taken (I don't know how many trips she's taken...), and the faculty sponsors are already dreaming of a repeat trip in 2025. Lord willing, I'll be here and will do my best to keep up with them!

Until next time, blessings in Christ!