Loaded with Benefits

On the very day that my oldest son turned 35, I started my 42nd year of teaching. The students moved into my room like an afternoon thunderstorm period after period typical to the Dominican culture. I talked with one of the new teachers who has come here after teaching in Honduras for eight years. I asked him how he would compare that culture to this culture. After a brief moment of reflection he replied, “The people in Honduras have a talking culture. I would have to say that this is a shouting culture.” Boy, did he hit that nail on the head! It has been about two months since school has started and they are just now learning to be quiet when the bell rings, listen when I talk, and clean up before they leave. Actually, it seems easier each year I am here. My reputation must go before me … for which I am thankful.

If I were asked to rank school year beginnings, I would have to rank the start of this year as the worst in my career. Due to some administrative oversight about 30 freshmen were allowed to enroll above what our school is set up to handle. This was not discovered until the first day when the schedules were handed out. It’s hard to describe the chaos that ensued for that first week while teachers and administration tried to figure out what was happening.

I had to move to a different room this year since I am not teaching biology anymore. My new room was in disarray until the last moment. When school started I found out quickly that most class lists were inaccurate and I had many more students than what my class lists said. My math colleague next door was in a similar situation and we traded 8 to 10 chairs back and forth during certain periods to temporarily handle the overload. The class lists changed daily as students with temporary schedules were shifted around, so I kept all records on loose-leaf sheets written in pencil.

The math department was not the only classes affected, obviously. The science teacher who has been here for 20 years was sitting on the early bus home at 4:00. Since this was unusual for him I asked him how it was going. This experienced teacher who normally seems in control of every situation replied with visible stress on his face, “I have to leave early … I just have to.” With a tacit nod I understood exactly what he meant.

On the weekend before our second week of school Hurricane Irene traced a large slow path that brought it directly over our little island of Hispaniola. It had been classified as an official hurricane by the time it hit us so the country was unsure about what its effect would be. We were instructed to stay home as the brooding monster hovered over the island deciding what to do. I’m not sure of the theological implications of being thankful for a hurricane, but this gift of two days of time gave our school a tremendous benefit. The worst weather we saw, thankfully, was some gusts of wind and some rain, but the new secondary vice-principal used the four-day weekend to get advice from teachers and to create a new schedule which would largely alleviate the overload emergency. It required a new class schedule to be printed for every high school student and the hiring of several new part time teachers, but after eight weeks on the new schedule it appears that the year will be a good one and it has settled into a somewhat normal routine.

Outside of school we experienced a rough start of another kind. On the day that school ended last June we moved into another apartment. So when we came back after our summer “vacation” to Idaho we were faced with the daunting task of settling in. Our daughter-in-law gave some order to the chaos in the few days we had before we left but we were now faced with finishing the move including putting up curtains and shelves and the unending list of projects that accumulate with any move.


The temperature and humidity have been in the 90’s for the three months, and our new apartment, unknown to us at the time we moved, is located in such a position that it does not cool off at night. We have three ceiling fans (with two more ordered) along with several floor fans. We have contemplated getting an air conditioner but since it is a major purchase and it costs a lot for electricity here we have decided to wait for a year to see: 1) are we staying, and 2) are we overreacting. In the meantime, it is quite difficult to concentrate on any kind of disciplined life style like exercising or cooking or studying. When I get home we usually go for a walk where we end up at a local Wal-Mart-style store that has air-conditioning and a place to sit down and talk. The temperature usually becomes almost perfect in another few weeks, so we are living in hope.

This is the first year that my wife and I have decided to stay here in the Dominican Republic because of the ministry itself. For the first three years we had family reasons to be here. So this will be a trial year to see if we feel that this will be the best place to serve the Lord in the last years of our lives. We have never felt like "real" missionaries, but it is the best opportunity we presently have to use our combined skills to share the gospel.

On a professional level I have a heart to help the math department iron out some of the problems which have caused many students to score low. I know that these are English-Language-Learner (ELL) students but I believe they can do much better.

On a spiritual level I want them to see the gospel lived out and discussed on a daily and practical level. We pray about a verse of Scripture every day in each period; we integrate what the Bible teaches with what lesson we learn; I have them memorize six verses during the year on the plan of salvation and have them take a test which explains how a person can become a Christian from what the Bible says. Most of my students come from wealthy, Catholic homes and have been in this Christian school most of their lives. So this is a tough crowd, so to speak. But God calls us to preach, not to convert.

On a family level we are praying about how to keep our family together even though they are scattered half way around the world and it doesn’t look like it will change in our life time. So it behooves us to consider what role we are going to have in our grandchildren’s lives and how we can accomplish that. This school gives a small salary which we have found adequate to live on while we are here if we are careful. So we are considering that this could be a way to save enough money to visit one of our children each year. If they can’t come to us we will go to them! Right?

So we are praying about whether or not to stay beyond this year. I have to let the school know of my intentions by this Christmas so they can begin the recruitment process.

In the meantime the Lord is blessing our family. After many years of ignoring God’s conviction in his life, our oldest son recently gave his life to the Lord. He finally came to the place of surrender to the Lord and told Him that he wanted God’s will for his life. Shortly after that, he was introduced to a girl who had a similar testimony. Within a short time they were engaged and we are planning to attend their wedding in Texas in January.


My second son, the one in Japan, is the proud father of a new little girl. She was born on my wife’s mother’s birthday so her middle name is now the same as her great grandmother which brought tears to my wife's eyes.

And it wasn’t a week later that our youngest, our daughter who lives in Peru, informed us that she was with child again only seven months after her first one was born.

And life will go on. There will probably be more births and more hot weather and uncomfortable apartments and poor starts to school years. But one thing that I know for sure … behind everything is a God who daily loadeth us with benefits.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits,
Even the God of our salvation. Selah. Psalm 68:19

Playa de Cabarete

David Blossom, the principal at the Christian school where I am planning to teach for the next two years in the Dominican Republic, has been here for only the last eight months. So in some respects he is new to this in the same way that I am. Since he has been a teacher and administrator in the public schools for many years as well as a pastor for a few years, I believe he sincerely wants to see the new teachers succeed. Some young teachers come here fresh out of college with a heart for missions and end up becoming disillusioned after two years and go back home discouraged. No statistics are before me so I am only recording my impressions.

A lot of time has been spent trying to get us accustomed to the culture. We are facing a different language, trying to set up a home in a place where nothing seems to work, or at least takes a long time to get it to work, unfamiliar geography, and a host of circumstances presenting themselves quite rapidly that we have no experience in handling. One small experience may serve as an example.

After spending a week trying to do laundry by hand we realized that we either had to hire a maid (a common practice in this country) or purchase a washing machine. We decided on the latter but had no clue where to go, how much was a fair price to charge a “gringo” (the prices are sometimes different), and how to communicate once we got to where we were going. A young teacher who has been here a couple of years volunteered to guide us through this maze of hurdles along with her Dominican boy friend. It took a whole evening after school but by bedtime we had purchased a small Dominican-style washing machine which was promised to be delivered two days later.

On the night it was supposed to arrive, my wife and I rode home on the bus for teachers and waited at our apartment. Soon a poorly dressed man appeared at our livingroom window. Since we live on the first floor and as yet have no curtains, he was able to get our attention by tapping on the window. For the next 15 minutes we tried our best to understand what he was trying to say with no success. He finally left in frustration. A few minutes later he showed up again with an attractive well-dressed Dominican lady who lives in the next apartment. She could speak only a few words of English because she has an American boyfriend and is trying to learn, but it was enough to figure out what was going on.

Evidently the appliance truck had shown up a few minutes before we got home and decided to make another delivery until we got home, and then come back in an hour. They left a message with this poor young man to give to us. The language barrier is definitely a major problem and a reason that most of us new teachers are feeling quite a culture shock.

Our principal knew this would happen and so he wants very much to lessen the impact. As a result he scheduled a week of orientation and classes in the States for all the new teachers, another week of orientation with the entire staff this past week, and then this weekend he took us to a very beautiful beach about two hours away. It takes a bit of an effort on less than perfect roads to find a beach which is only 45 miles from Santiago. The beach that he took us to is called Playa de Cabarete. With a little Googling I’m sure that you can come up with more interesting information about this place than I have time to share, but it appears to be a playground for a certain circle of jet-setters and also well-to-do Dominicans.

From the windows of the bus we had chartered we could see mansions on the top of small hills and drove past many entrances leading to breathtakingly beautiful resorts. All of us teachers stayed at a modest hotel directly on the beach called the Sans Souchi. The temperature must have been 99 degrees with a humidity close to that. Since I am not acclimated to the climate yet I’m sure I am exaggerating at this point. We were surprised at the good weather because the night before and the morning of our departure to the beach we experienced the tropical storm Fay which you may have seen on the news. It wasn’t a hurricane but we certainly had our share of wind and rain.

Our room led directly to the beach where a person could swim or simply sit under a native gazebo-type structure with a thatched roof. Carol and I aren’t too much into sun worshipping so we tended to stay in the shade most of the time. At supper time we followed the group to a beachside restaurant and had chicken wings and pizza sitting at a table under a coconut tree while a band played so loud that our chest was vibrating and conversation was impossible. Have I mentioned that this is a very loud country?

After a time of group devotions and some structured individual prayer back at the hotel we went to bed while the young people stayed up late to continue singing. On Sunday morning we attended a church service at an English speaking church out in the country. It was on the missionary compound of an organization that has an extensive ministry in the DR and also in Haiti with feeding and educating the poor. The name of the organization is New Missions and its founder, Pastor George DeTellis, died a few weeks ago.

After the service where this man’s wife preached a sermon using the Message translation we bounced to the next town on the back of an open bus that looked like it came from a jungle safari. We ate a delicious meal of pollo (chicken) and beans and rice at a small restaurant that opened on Sunday only as a favor to feed the whole group of us. The owner is a friend of the late Pastor DeTellis. On the way back to the beach we did a little sightseeing to get an idea of places that people could stay if they visited us. We saw a hotel overlooking the sea that had to have been hundreds of dollars a night … right off a picture postcard. The other was a small bungalow called "The Secret Garden" close to the beach for only $44 per night. After another hour on the beach for a last dip while dozens of kite-surfers and wind-surfers dotted the water behind us we boarded the bus and made the two hour journey back home. I recorded these few thoughts while the apartment next door played loud latin music and a car driving by with music so loud that it set off car alarms in the parking lot. I stayed up a little later than normal to wait for our washing machine to finish its very first cycle of its mechanical life. The weather is so muggy that we have to shower just before bed and also when we get up … and get this, I use cold water only because it is so refreshing.

Does this make you feel out of breath to read this? If it doesn’t then I haven’t described my feelings very well. With six classes to teach for the first time this week, I needed more time preparing than vacationing. I struggled a bit with my attitude about having to go to a beach when I have so much work to do, but I realize that the principal has a good and generous heart and underneath my fleshly reactions I truly appreciated this trip. Right now it was an activity overload, but someday I will go to this same beach on my own terms and most likely record my experiences with a very different attitude. Right now I have only calculus and biology on my mind and tomorrow is my first day of school. This year will be something that will be possible only by faith on a day-to-day basis … even when one of our activities is a pleasure trip to Playa de Cabarete.