Monday, July 14, 2014

A Year in the Dominican Republic

We are quickly coming up on one year of living in the DR. We are truly enjoying our time here and continue to be blessed and honored to be a part of such a great ministry! Here are some highlights of our year.


JOE has learned to drive like a Dominican—which means he will surely be arrested for reckless driving once we return to the US. He has been a total trooper about many things like why we don't get city water when we have paid for city water and now we have to pay for a water truck to come to fill our cistern, having a home phone that doesn't actually call Dominican cell phones, but can call US ones, paying $6/gallon for gas, using pretty play money called 'pesos' and having everyone around him speak Spanish This introvert has also been great about living in a missionary community. He has taught Sarah to headbutt when she is off to bed. (This is more of a prayer request than anything else! :))


LAURIE has grown more comfortable with conducting her life in Spanish. She has learned to roll with disciplining kids to planning for the future of the school to thinking through what to do with the school neighbor who believes the bees that are living in her tree, but stinging our people have chosen her and she doesn't want to disappoint them to trying to explain to Joe why we have to call the water truck to having her heart break because her boys don't want to go to 'panish school and then having her heart leap when they start to love it. She has struggled with the fundraising need, but has learned so much in the process. Incidentally, she has also taught Sarah to blow kisses when she is heading to bed!


SAM, in true boy fashion, has enjoyed exploring our house, yard and gate—a gate he fell from and, while he looked like something out of a horror film, had no lasting wounds or scars. Sam also received a hit to the knee from a foul ball during a professional Dominican baseball game. This earned Mama and Sam their first ambulance ride. Again, Sam walked away unscathed.....wish I could say the same for Mama. :) Sam started his educational career this past year and was an extremely reluctant participant initially. He has grown to love his school and Spanish. He even prays at dinnertime in Spanish. Most significantly, Sam accepted Christ this past year and highly enjoys learning about the Bible.


LEVI, in true boy fashion, has enjoyed exploring our house, yard, and gate—a gate he got stuck in as it closed and the sensor didn't sense him. As awful as it was, he walked away unscathed....wish I could say the same for Mama. She may have suffered two or three heart attacks. Levi mastered potty training this year! He also learned to ride a bike with no training wheels! Levi also started his educational career and was an extremely reluctant participant. So much so, Mama had to pray through the idea that it was Mama's dream alone that was making her sweet boys so miserable Thankfully, that lasted only a season and Levi needs no coaxing to get up and get ready for school—even in the summer.


SARAH celebrated her first birthday here on the island. She learned to walk with tile floors as her cushion, sleep under a mosquito net, throw away dead cockroaches, eat rice and beans and say 'hola' as one of her first words. She is quite particular about who she willingly go to. One of the lucky ones is the night watchman at the Mak house, Miguel. She loves that guy much to the frustration of the many people who would love to hold her! She has proven to be a healthy girl aside from the three-day stay in the hospital after a febrile seizure. Thankfully, she has not suffered any long-term effects from that quite scary event.


We are thankful for the work the Lord has given us, the supporters who have sacrificed for us, the beauty we live in, the community He has called us to, the visitors He has blessed us with, the challenges He has weathered with us, and the profound hope He has allowed us to participate in and share with others. He is so good to us.


As always, please consider partnering with us on this eternal endeavor. You may do so at https://makarios.webconnex.com/missionary. We are presently at 60% funding. This does not include what we are raising for the missionary training on which Makarios places high importance.

Grace and peace to all who took the time to read this. Many thanks to you,


Laurie for the Majcher Fam

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