http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=533b7cac03b7005655c4db07b&id=d8b7c1c3da

So, we’ve been on a holding pattern in Iowa waiting for Leo’s oath ceremony to officially become a citizen since he passed his citizenship test on Sept. 3, but have decided to head to Minnesota this week.  We’re planning on heading north tomorrow (Tuesday) and being in the Cities at least through Sunday (Bethel Homecoming & 10 year reunion stuff this weekend)

Is there a time that would work to see you? Let us know by email (leoeliescalante@gmail.com) or a text or call to 712-267-0064.

Hope to see all you up north friends soon!

http://eepurl.com/CQ-7v

A Masterpiece by Jesse Gearhart

Well I never know how to start these “reflection” papers, so I guess this is how I will do it! Spending the summer in the Dominican Republic was more than most words in the English language allow, so I’ll do my best to reiterate it onto paper.

I worked in the Social Work Boy’s Club site with the ever famous Leo Escalante. Upon arriving for the first time, I felt slightly out of place. As un unathletic, awkward, loud, English speaking boy I couldn’t have been placed in a more alien world. The world was definitely at odds with me. Of course being the guy that I am, I charged head on. Realizing that I could not keep up with the sports or the Spanish, I began to do what I do best: be super crazy and weird. I’m not sure how the boys in the club took me at first. I imagine a slight sense of awe as I became completely oblivious to any social standard that the Stars and Stripes had taught me. Whether it was dancing on first base, or singing a song with random Spanish sentences as a complete thought, I began to embrace who I was with these boys. Through this, the boys began to accept me for who I was, and even pick me for their team.

Now, time to get a little serious. I came into the summer with deep emotional struggles with masculinity, wanting a girlfriend, and being more insecure than geek at a strongman competition (hey I said a “little” serious). Naturally, I felt because I was bad at sports that I didn’t feel like much a man, and at first, the Dominicans reassured me. In America, everything has to be “politically correct” with “participation trophies” and no “red pens” and “everyone’s a winner” attitudes. Much to my surprise, this didn’t apply here. In the Dominican, they tend to tell things like they are. I was repeatedly mocked and made fun of due to my lack of sports ability. It was very difficult at first, but as I foreshadowed earlier, things became great with the boys. God used the very things I struggled with to grow me and make me into a true man. I became an “acceptable” baseball player, and by Dominican standards, thats not bad at all! I came to love the boys dearly and to my best to speak through the language barrier.

God had provided many strong bonds with Leo and the boys. I’m truly grateful for Leo, Elizabeth, and the ministry they do in Jarabacoa. Working with Leo all summer was so much fun. Seeing Leo’s passion for the boy’s is unlike any. Leo can preach the pants off Mark Driscoll! Seeing him preach to the boys one on one and pour the Gospel into each of their lives. Many boys have come to “confesar a Jesus” as Leo would say! I’m truly blessed to have been a part of this ministry.

Time for some favorite moments!

5. Prayer walks in El Callejon. Spending time praying for the community and worshiping with the boys in club was an awesome way to let the Holy Spirit work. Truly could see hearts transformed and allowed me to show the boys my true talents!

4. Visiting the river. Loved doing this! Hiking to the river and having mango fights, can you ask for more? I had a great time getting out with the boys and doing something different, and not sweating for once!

3. Climbing Mogote. Took an hour and a half, but the view was incredible. Was a great time to hike with the boys and spend personal time with them. Plus hitting golf balls of the summit was such a blast!

2. Leading the site for a couple days. Leo had to leave unexpectedly and left me in charge. The Lord guided me and even led to preach to the boys! I did it all in spanish as well. It was a bit stressful, but got to come alive as a leader and brother amongst them.

1. Earning the boys’ respect. I don’t recall a specific moment in time when it happened, but at some point during the summer, the boys began to love me and really enjoy my company. I’ll never forget that in every town we worked, I would hear my name shouted from all corners from people I never even met sometimes!

At the end of it all, I want to give God the glory for all things. For it is only because of Christ that these things were done, and that I had the privilege of being His chosen instrument of bringing the Gospel to these boys in this specific way. Perhaps the most fitting way to end this paper is with one of my favorite songs, The Doxology:

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Amen.”

Well, just over a week here in my new home! Everything is going fairly well, expectedly so as life ebbs & flows as it does anywhere else. Today, “Thanksgiving Day” for all of my North American friends, is just another normal day here on the island. I’ve been meaning to write earlier, as well as post some new photos, but so it goes that last Friday my computer fell off of my new nightstand as I was taking the plastic off of my new mattress (maybe the most comfortable mattress I’ve ever owned), and Praise the Lord that everything in the hard drive is still working, but the screen is broken, so there’s slight hassle & inconvenience now for me to have to connect to another screen & work that way so I can see what I’m doing.

I’m realizing as I’m here, a completely different world in which I lay down everynight tired, satisfied & with aching cheek muscles from all the laughing we do (no one would ever be correct in saying Dominicans don’t know how to have fun & laugh), that it truly is beyond me why I’m here. What truly do I have to offer or bring? I’m a sinner saved by grace like any other!

I’m reading a great book right now, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. In the second chapter Miller includes a poem written by C.S. Lewis:

All this flashy rhetoric about loving you.I never had a selfless thought since I was born.I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;I talk of love–a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek–But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Miller writes two pages following:

I know now, from experience, that the path to joy winds through this dark valley. I think every well-adjusted human being has dealt squarely with his or her own depravity. I realize this sounds very Christian, very fundamentalist and browbeating, but I want to tell you this part of what the Christians are saying is true. I think Jesus feels strongly about communicating the idea of our brokenness, and I think it is worth reflection. Nothing is going to change in the Congo [or the Dominican Republic or anywhere] until you and I figure out what is wrong with the person in the mirror.

If I may be so bold, I’m in the middle of a battle that each of us has to choose to face or forever run away from. Our purpose, rather, God’s purpose for us, is to be changed by Him, we’re just the broken vessel that by His grace & mercy, as He changes us, the world around us sees Him at work, and so He can touch the world (Congo, Dominican Republic, or USA)! For this I give thanks; if the Lord will change me more into His likeness here in the DR, it’s worth the discomforts of coming & going electricity as the government dictates, a day or two without water & showers, frustration with language as Dominican Spanish is something to adjust to & continue learning, a broken computer screen, and all else that lies ahead to test my patience & character. By His grace may we seek to be faithful to that which the Lord calls us!