Perspective

Our afternoons have been filled with people. This is what we love! Much of the work has been set aside as we've stopped to experience the people of the Dominican Republic.

We've fellowshipped with the body of Christ at the church. We participated in a sweet time of adoration and prayer Wednesday evening and were treated to excellent Dominican food.

One afternoon, Marisol (the Pastor's wife), wanted to take a few of us to the place she works. We first went to a government-run facility that cares for disabled children ages birth to 18. From our perspective, this was very difficult to see. In the U.S. the children with cerebral palsy, encephalitis, down syndrome, paralysis, mental disabilities, and other issues are loved and cared for in their homes. They receive medical care, therapy, and function to the best of their ability. In the Dominican, many of these children are discarded, in part due to the cost of paying for their medical care. As we visited this facility, our hearts were torn in grief. It was, for us, painful to see rooms of children that looked so ill. Yet our Dominican brothers and sisters had a different perspective. They said, "Isn't this wonderful that there is a place like this for the children?" Perspective is everything. It was a beautiful place and the children are so well cared for. We spent a long time in the room with the babies and little ones. We held them and touched them and talked to them and prayed in our hearts for them.

We then went to a privately owned and operated home that houses 6 such children. It is funded by a nearby Lutheran church. Each of these residents is selected to live there. An individual plan is made for them to grow and become more independent. One boy we met was given the name Moses because he was found in the garbage. He has cerebral palsy. Marisol has known him 4 or 5 years. He is becoming independent, using the bathroom, feeding himself and more. In each of these places we've visited, Marisol and Pastor Pedro Juan are met with joy on the children's faces. So very many of the children run to Marisol with hugs and call her mom. These are the hands and feet of Christ. Her words to us were to remember that the things we see are only temporary. Our hope is in the eternal. Earth has no sorrows that heaven can't heal.