Tuesday, September 05, 2006
All Around the World
Sunday morning, we went to church. It was the first time since we've been here that we have had the opportunity to go to church. Ines, the lady who hired us, goes to a Southern Baptist church here in Santo Domingo, believe it or not. 98 % of the population is Catholic. So, on Friday at school, I had to wait for quite a while to be able to get into her office to ask her about churches. She had mentioned before that there are three English speaking churches within walking distance from the school. When I asked her about them, she invited us to come to church with her!
On Sunday morning, she picked us up and we went to a school where the church meets (they grew out of their building). It was SO WONDERFUL to be in a room full of people praising God!! The entire service was in Spanish, but we had translator devices provided for us for the sermon. It almost made me (Claire) want to cry (happy tears) when we walked in becuase I knew that the people in that room wanted the same things I wanted and love the same God I love. We felt at home - in the eternal sense of the word.
John didn't really catch much of what was said in Spanish before the translators started working, but during worship, I recognized some songs I had sung before in Spanish during my various mission trips to various countries. It was just so wonderful!
Some time during the service, it dawned on me that all around the world, in every nation and language, praising God with other people is at its very core the same. I've realized this fact at various times during my life, always when I'm in another country and culture, and this time, the realization was just as comforting. That's what heaven is going to be like...
We don't know if we want to go back to Ines' church or if we would like to try a real English speaking church here in Santo Domingo. I think it's pretty important to John to go to a service that is really in English and not just transalted. I certainly learned a lot of new words during the service since I had the translator in one ear and I was listening to the Spanish with the other.
All things considered, it was a great break from the perpetual headache of life here in the DR.
On Sunday morning, she picked us up and we went to a school where the church meets (they grew out of their building). It was SO WONDERFUL to be in a room full of people praising God!! The entire service was in Spanish, but we had translator devices provided for us for the sermon. It almost made me (Claire) want to cry (happy tears) when we walked in becuase I knew that the people in that room wanted the same things I wanted and love the same God I love. We felt at home - in the eternal sense of the word.
John didn't really catch much of what was said in Spanish before the translators started working, but during worship, I recognized some songs I had sung before in Spanish during my various mission trips to various countries. It was just so wonderful!
Some time during the service, it dawned on me that all around the world, in every nation and language, praising God with other people is at its very core the same. I've realized this fact at various times during my life, always when I'm in another country and culture, and this time, the realization was just as comforting. That's what heaven is going to be like...
We don't know if we want to go back to Ines' church or if we would like to try a real English speaking church here in Santo Domingo. I think it's pretty important to John to go to a service that is really in English and not just transalted. I certainly learned a lot of new words during the service since I had the translator in one ear and I was listening to the Spanish with the other.
All things considered, it was a great break from the perpetual headache of life here in the DR.
// posted by The Roths @ 6:50 PM 
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I absolutely love the feeling of experiencing this very thing...everywhere around the world people are praising ONE God. It's incredible to be in that place where you described, Claire. It brought happy memories back to me. Thanks!
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