Day 2!

We're done with Day 2 and onto Day 3 here in Santo Domingo, the Lord's Day, and we started off our day yesterday with a great laugh - see for yourself:


Betty and her daddy performed a great dance number also (with a nice victory reception by Steve):


Needless to say, our Sunday was off to a good start :) We arrived at Hector's church at around 8:45am for the 9:30 Sunday School. We played one song here and we also served the church in leading worship for the morning and night services. The music went great - what a joy it was seeing and hearing the Dominicans worship God! It was such a neat experience to be singing the songs in English and have the rest of the congregation, who are all singing in Spanish, be the dominant voice in the worship.

Pastor Hector gave an especially great sermon on Mark 14:32-42. I think it struck all of us in a very meaningful way. Hector talked about how Jesus reacted to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, and the awesome grace and mercy that Christ showed them despite their failures and lack of ability to follow Jesus' instructions. Hector preached God's supreme greatness and character in being the one who is abundant in mercy, so freely giving it away. He talked about how Jesus knows our failures and temptations and has bore it all on the cross when He died for our sins - what an amazing display of God's love for us! It was so great to hear about and ponder the grandness of God...

We went out and had a great lunch, and got a chance to talk to Hector and his wife Patricia some more about life in the DR and their family life. They've been married for 17 years! We also got to hear some more about Hector's career as a bass player, which was very fun to listen to. He's played with so many world-renown musicians, but it is so clear he counts it all rubbish for the sake of Christ (Philippians 3:7-10) - what a great model for us! We've bonded so well with their family and we've all been incredibly blown away at their incredible hospitality. Hector is essentially taking his whole week to drive us wherever we need to go, get us anything we need, and he's doing all this as the head pastor of the church! pretty sweet...

We got to spend a few hours back at the hotel and then went back for the night service at the church. We then were driven to Patricia's parents house where they had families over from the church, a few guys playing music for us in the yard, and they cooked a monster of a barbeque for all of us! WAY too much food. And all of it was REALLY good :)


We'd love prayers for Betty - she's been such a trooper but we're concerned for her health that might have an ear infection or just might be sick. We'd also love prayers for our continued focus on the Lord in how we can spread the gospel with our music and how we can serve the people we're around. Thanks!