Being Blessed in Santiago

Tim and I took a bus to Santiago on Thursday morning. It was a 2 hour ride and was pretty uneventful other than the taxi driver that took us to the bus station told us he had a better bus than the main one. He said it ran more often (and it did) so we took it instead. The ride was great except it did not go to the main bus station and we did not get off where we should have. We ended up at the final station at the far end of the town. Tim’s friend Pastor Daniel King was picking us up and our change in bus locations made it a little challenging for Daniel to find us. We will take the main bus back to Santo Domingo on Sunday.

Pastor Daniel, his wife Elsa, and his son Daniel Ernesto welcomed us into their beautiful home in Santiago for the night. We shared food, company, and rich conversation. Daniel is the Pastor of his church Christian Church of Santiago and Elsa also works at the church as an administrator. We had a chance to make the short walk over to the church where at 7:00 at night there were many people gathered doing activities, talking, meeting with the Pastor, some where even working out. It was truly a center for community. I had an opportunity to sit with Pastor Daniel King for a while this afternoon and hear a little about the ministry going on at his church. Among the things going on at Christian Church of Santiago are many small grounds as well as camps for men to learn how to be a leader in their family, camps for women to learn to be a leader in the home, and camps for the youth to learn their place in the family and how obedience affects the entire family. The church not only works with the members to become better leaders they also look outside their neighborhood to help with those less fortunate. I was impressed by all that is going on in the church and Pastor Daniel, Elsa, and Ernesto really made me feel welcome and loved. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity to spend time with them.