(warning- it’s a long one)

I know it’s a clique, but there was one moment that changed us. Maybe not a moment, but definitely a day. Dio learned that Ray had a landscaping background and planned to take him and me to a nursery to buy some plants and do some cleanup around the church we had been working at. Those that have done any gardening know that you learn your area and um an island in the Caribbean is a little different than southwest Virginia. So, Dio, Ray, I, and Henry (our driver for the week) loaded up to head back into Santa Domingo to find some plants.

We didn’t know where we were going, what we were doing, or how long it would take (see previous post about island time!).

We made several stops at Jumbo to pick up items for the dinner we hosted and medicines for some people in the villages we were working at (our funds we paid help so much behind the scenes that most ofthe time people don’t even realize). We met up at a local hardware store to get more supplies for the benches we were making. Then we finally have a few hours we made it to the nursery. Ray and Dio spent time picking out plants that at home we consider houseplants.

It wasn’t the errands or the nursery that made it so impactful. It was the conversations on the bus with Dio.

Dio has worked for non-profits for years. He went to school in Antigua and came back home to live and work in the Dominican Republic where his family is. He started out in banking and felt a call to ministries and help his home country. He worked for a mission organization locally for several years as a translator and guide when he felt the calling to begin Pathway Dominica. He wanted something different, instead of just showing up in a village and putting on a VBS or distributing food bags. He had a vision of relationships, where we are looking forward to going back and seeing the friends we helped and they are excited to see our bus pull up, a place where homes are opened and meals are shared. This is what we felt mission work was really about.