It has been four years since we stepped onto Dominican soil as missionaries. Some days it has felt like time was flying, and other days seemed like the hours would never end. We have seen, done, experienced, and felt SO MUCH. Four years is a significant amount of time, and then again, it is just a blink. This house is now the house that Blake and I have lived in the longest since we have been married. When we look back on our four years, we see an incredible journey.
We had two babies.
We said goodbye to the first, who waits for us in heaven.
The second one we get to hold in our arms.
We voted in one U.S. presidential election online.
We streamed two LCMS conventions.
We celebrated the second Dominican pastor being installed.
We have rid our house of three rats.
We have had one car accident, two medical evacuations back to the U.S., one Emergency Room visit, and one broken arm.
We have helped build one church, move a second, and open a third.
We have welcomed twenty-five new missionary family units who have joined our region.
We have watched twenty leave.
Blake has traveled to eleven countries.
I started a blog and an etsy store.
Abby began piano lessons.
Rachel has now lived more than half her life here.
We prepared for three hurricanes.
We have felt four earthquakes.
We saw the opening of the seminary and mercy center in the DR, and this past May, we attended its first graduation.
We’ve missed weddings, funerals, holidays, and births.
We’ve witnessed new church member confirmations, baptisms, and ordinations.
We’ve had challenges and successes, ups and downs, good times and bad. We are different people than those four who stepped off that flight in 2015. We have lost innocence and gained insight. We have learned so much, come so far, and yet the farther we come, the more we feel ill-equipped for this life, the more we realize how much we still have to learn. This life is hard, harder than we ever imagined or we could ever honestly tell you. We have failed, and we have succeeded. Life has not gone as we expected or planned, but after four years, we are still here. That is an accomplishment.
So after four years of living in a different country, serving the Lord as missionaries, here are my thoughts on this journey:
Language
We have made great strides in our last four years. Our language, although not where we thought it would be, is still better than it was when we first arrived. That is true of all four of us. It is hard to come to grips with unmet expectations that we set upon ourselves. We didn’t understand learning Spanish would be as difficult as it has been. So in many ways we feel behind with our language learning—and we are, each of us for different reasons. But even though it is easy for us to get discouraged, it is important that we keep pushing forward. We have made progress, and we will continue to make progress.
Food
Our tastes have changed. We have adapted to the different foods offered in the Dominican. Rice, beans, and chicken are staples in our diet. We have learned about new foods and recipes. We love some of the different fruits and veggies that grow on our island, and there are others that are not our favorites. We also miss foods that we aren’t able to find in the DR. Mexican food, berries, and salads are all foods we can’t wait to eat whenever we visit the U.S. I cook more now than I ever have. My culinary expertise has been stretched. I now have signature dishes I bring to large gathering events (thank you, Mom, for your mashed potato recipe). I am comfortable hosting dinner, and I have learned how to get by with a lot less.
Friends
We have had many individuals sit down at our dining room table for dinner. This is one of my favorite parts of mission life—getting to know the different people that God has brought into our lives. We have hosted guests for overnight stays and prepared dinners for groups as large as sixteen. We have made friends from all over the world. Our community has grown exponentially. It has been wonderful to get to know so many members of the body of Christ and hear their stories. One of my biggest regrets is not having a guest book to record all the souls that God has brought through our front door.
Crosses
We began a cross wall when we first moved into our new house with a cross that was donated to a group of missionaries. I can’t remember if after that it was our goal to start a collection, or it just happened. But once our cross wall began, it has been an exciting family activity to watch it grow. Each cross has a story behind it. They have either been gifted to us or Blake has picked them up on one of his trips. It is a beautiful assortment of the diverse styles of culture and art that we have encountered on this journey.
Adventures
We have seen so many sights, set foot in so many new places, and been on so many adventures that we would not have had the privilege of doing if we were not missionaries. The island we live on is a beautiful great backyard to explore. Beach days are our favorite for fun and relaxation. They are even better with friends. We also love day or weekend trips to the mountains. We have swum with dolphins, gone whale watching, taken a cable car to the highest point in the Caribbean, and hiked to waterfalls. I had the joy of accompanying Blake on one of his trips to Spain, and then we took a few days to also explore Portugal. We still have the dream of all taking a trip as a family to another country with Blake to see the work God is doing in other places in Latin America.
Esta Es Mi Iglesia
This is my church! We have three church plants in our city that we have attended over the years. While we sometimes long to hear hymns sung in our own language, we have grown to love the liturgy in Spanish. The Kyrie has never sounded more beautiful and was one of the first songs the girls picked up after we first arrived. Rachel attends Sunday School, and Abby attends confirmation class. Abby also plays piano for part of the service on occasional Sundays. Our church has celebrated new members, baptisms, and weddings. We will often have potluck lunches after church where the adults will chat and the children will play. The body of Christ in some ways looks different in other parts of the world, but in so many more ways, it looks very much the same. What a sweet comfort it is to know that we are still part of the same body no matter how far we are from the familiarity of the church pew we grew up in. This is my church, and it brings me great joy!
Holidays
Holidays have a different feel in a different country. This is partly because the weather is different than what we associate with the holiday and partly because traditions are different. We focus on the traditions of the culture we grew up with that we want to pass down to our children and embrace new traditions that we want to remember for years to come. Holidays can bring feelings of homesickness on more intense levels. Celebrating holidays in a different country has made us really evaluate what each holiday is truly about. And even though we greatly miss some of the fun and sentiment, it isn’t about the gifts, the parties, the food, or the plastic eggs. This journey has re-centered our focus on Jesus. His birth, His death, the life we have because of Him are the reasons we celebrate.
School
I never imagined myself as a homeschool mom. It is not even what we set out to do on this journey, but it became the best option for our family. I couldn’t love it more. I love planning the different subjects we will cover and learn together. I love watching both my girls grasp and master new concepts, ideas, and skills. I love having them with me all day. This also gives our family more flexibility to participate in projects and events that come up in our mission work. My favorite part of homeschool is that is focuses on the family unit over the individual child. We all work together to accomplish our work, and that is true of schoolwork, mission work, and housework. If one child has a project that needs extra time, others pick up household chores. If someone needs more of my time to understand a new subject, the other sister will work independently or watch the little one. If we have guests coming over for dinner, we break from school and prepare food and the home. We work together, and everyone gets their needs fulfilled and their tasks accomplished. Our day is never “me” focused but rather us focused.
Home
We are still living in the same bright yellow house we moved into on day one. The house has been good to us, and we have come to live with or embrace all of its quirks. We know that when we have heavy rains, the windows will leak, and we have towels always on hand to place in the appropriate places. We have flashlights ready for power outages. We have learned where water shut-off switches are located. We have filled gas tanks. We have fixed faucets. We have replaced the battery backup. The house has been good to us but at the same time we have come to understand one very important rule: something will always be broken. And once you fix that broken thing (whatever it may be), something new will break. So often if it is something you can live with like a faucet that drips or a doorbell that only rings half the time, you leave it alone because the next thing that breaks could be much worse.
Changes
We have seen many changes in the Dominican Republic over the last four years. We have seen a new president take office and put a lot of money and resources into education, highways, and disaster preparedness. We have seen a new mayor of Santiago step in and focus on cleaning up our city. We have new parks, new cultural attractions, and walking trails. We now have ambulances and a 9-1-1 system. There are now lines drawn on the roads to create lanes and seatbelt laws. Roads have been paved and our commute to many of our mission sites has been cut in half. It has been exciting to watch and be a part of the changes happening around us.
Cultural Insights
We have all had a different journey as we have experienced cultural adaptation. We will never be done learning or adapting to a new culture. We will also always be outsiders. It has been a valuable experience to live as a minority in a culture. We have taken a hard look at a lot of our beliefs and prejudices that we didn’t even realize we had. We know what it is like to be the only white people in the room. It is uncomfortable and often puts us on edge, but we are fortunate that we moved to a country that respects Americans and American culture. This is not the case in many parts of the world.
Expectations
One of the biggest challenges we have faced (and I believe this to be true for all missionaries) is coming to grips with unmet expectations. Missionaries have expectations of this new life, of fellow missionaries, and of themselves. Most unmet expectations are because there is no way for anyone to truly understand the life of a missionary before deploying. Expectations were unrealistic—and that is often a difficult realization to accept. Church workers are human, are often trying to do the work of many, and will fall short. We’ve been disheartened, we’ve disappointed others, and we’ve let ourselves down. We expected more of ourselves. We had hoped to learn the language faster, we wanted to adapt better, and we didn’t expect it to take so long to become effective in our work. On top of our unmet expectations, life has been rough, and it is often easy to believe this just isn’t working. Often we fight hard against this feeling.
Accomplishments
We have each made strides and overcome challenges while living in a foreign country. Sometimes these accomplishments seem small and insignificant. A simple conversation in Spanish, calling the colmado (local market) and ordering water, attending classes in Spanish and (actually!) understanding what is being taught—all small victories are worth noting and celebrating. But even more important and exciting are the accomplishments we have witnessed and played a small part in across the mission field while we have been here. The most notable is the opening of the seminary in the Dominican Republic and the first graduation of eight men from four different countries. We can’t take credit for these accomplishments. They are all the work of the Holy Spirit, but it is a joy and blessing to be able to witness His magnificent work, whether it be the opening of a new church building or the confirmation of a new member.
So what is next for our family?
We will continue to serve the Lord in the Dominican Republic until He calls us elsewhere. Sometimes we wish that day would come tomorrow, and sometimes we have dreams and glimpses of what life may be like if we were to continue here for many years. Only He knows how and when this chapter will end. In the meantime, Blake will continue his work as the regional business manager. We will continue to learn both inside our home and outside in our culture. We will continue to have failures and successes. We will continue to walk, crawl, or sometimes lie exhausted on the road while someone else drags us along on this journey. No matter how painful or discouraging the bumps and bruises may be, we take comfort in knowing that we are always safe in His hands and covered by His grace.
Thank you always for your support and love along the way.
