I haven’t prayed the “sinner’s prayer” with anyone here.

 

Isaiah 61:1-2

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

    to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

 

Did you know that the Dominican Republic is a largely Christian country? If you asked a random Dominican citizen if they believed in God in 2018, the odds of them saying yes are about the same as they are in the US. 

 

When I was placed here by the World Race, I was discouraged by that fact. Before Covid-19, my squad’s route was set to go to Romania, India, and Costa Rica. I thank God that we launched at all and even got to go to Costa Rica! But something I was hoping to do on the Race was to share the gospel with those who have never even heard the name of Jesus in their life. I wanted to be like Paul, going from place to place proclaiming the good news and seeing tons of people’s lives transformed. I know my heart was in the right place, but oh boy, did I have a lot of pride, and a lot to learn about the nature of the Kingdom. 

 

3 Things God has been teaching me in the DR:

 

 You’re not here for you. You’re here for God’s people.

 

Ok, so I wanted to be like the early disciples, going around the world and spreading the good news. Pentecost vibes. Great! Just one problem: the bible is not about Jesus’ disciples. It’s about Jesus. It’s about God and his people and his church. My own pride wants me to be the main character when in reality I’m like, wayyyy on the periphery.  Tons of disciples were called to serve preexisting churches (hello pastors, deacons, Sunday school teachers, cooks, bible study leaders, literally everyone who serves in a preexisting church) No part of the body is more or less important! Part of “making disciples” is discipleship, and a huge part of discipleship is encouragement, and service to those who have already said yes to Jesus. 

 

Isaiah 61:4

 

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

    a planting of the Lord

    for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins

    and restore the places long devastated;

they will renew the ruined cities

    that have been devastated for generations.

 

If my race is about God’s people rather than me, that means I can serve in every single place he puts me with overwhelming joy, because I am peripheral to God’s narrative. He is not peripheral to mine. Thank God. 

 

 

Member of a Christian culture ≠ Jesus follower.

 

How we Americans know this! Yes, the Dominican has one of the highest percentages of self identified Christians in the world. It also has one of the biggest sex trafficking industries in the world. 

 

I’ve been searching for a way to explain what I have experienced regarding sex trafficking in the DR on this blog, but I have no idea how to put a hopeful spin on the girl next door getting raped by her neighbor on a daily basis from the ages of 5-9 because it was the only way her parents could pay the bills. How so many women and girls, in dusty neighborhoods and sparkling resorts find themselves in such desperate situations that they must sell their bodies to men. I have met them. Many of them know the Lord, but they still can’t find a way out. Hope Ministries is coming alongside them to find a way. 

 

The DR knows the name of Jesus, but it does not know freedom. The Lord has so much redemption for them, it’s insane. It turns out my little part in that redemption is writing a science lesson, helping with landscaping, milking a cow. Why did God even let me be a part of this? I have a feeling it’s because my own generation (I’d venture to say the US’s first truly post-Christian generation) is not so different from many of those in the DR who are desperately searching for hope, but have dismissed Jesus as a quirky cultural relic. I have a lot to learn here.

 

Isaiah 61:7-8

Instead of your shame

    you will receive a double portion,

and instead of disgrace

    you will rejoice in your inheritance

And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,

    and everlasting joy will be yours.

“For I, the Lord, love justice;

    I hate robbery and wrongdoing.

In my faithfulness I will reward my people

    and make an everlasting covenant with them.

 

The walls of Jericho did not come down because of a catapult.

 

They came down because the Israelites obeyed God, did a ridiculous and embarrassing march thing, and then God just blew it down because he’s God. 

 

HUMILITY HUMILITY HUMILITY! That is the name of the Kate’s world race game! As much as I wanted to see lives turned around in a ten minute prayer, sometimes that’s just not how God wants to work. 

 

I see lives changing when a man out of work gets a house for his family after we spend three weeks building it in the rain. 

I see lives changing as survivors of sex trafficking receive an alternate source of income for themselves and their kids, in a place that respects them and understands that they are made in the image of God himself. 

I see lives changing when YWAM staff get a kitchen so they can cook meals a little bit easier. 

I see lives changing when Rasta brings another team to the same family to clean up their yard after yet another hurricane, and their friendship gets a little bit stronger. 

I’ll never get to see the seminary students who used the curriculum we helped put online so that a local seminary could go virtual during Covid. 

I’ll never see the future people who will use the pathway we’re building for our base. 

I’ll never see if Raymond, a teenager I was buds with for a few months, will ever embrace the Jesus he’s learned so much about as the King of his life. 

 

And that’s ok. Because God has let me be a small part of the huge narrative of what he is doing in the world. 

 

No, I haven’t gotten to pray the sinner’s prayer with anyone here in the DR. But the Lord is still working here in powerful ways, through every small ministry I am given to do. My job is to obey, to serve and to love, to speak truth. It is God who has redemption for all things, and every day I am clinging to his faithfulness. 

 

Isaiah 61:10-11

I delight greatly in the Lord;

    my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation  . . .

For as the soil makes the sprout come up

    and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness

    and praise spring up before all nations.