For a long time we debate on whether or not we should blog about this but have carefully come to the conclusion that it happened, the Lord has allowed it and used it to grow us, and also what would the name "Dominican Life Unleashed" be without a little disclosure on the not so great things as well...
Last month, on a normal Monday night, we headed to our weekly meeting in Playa Laguna where our Haitian friend Henry teaches to men and women from his community. This night, though it began normal, would not end that way. After we finished, we went for a quick late bite to eat. Once we were full and ready to sleep we headed home. This is where it got interesting. We pulled up to our house, unlocked the door and walked in. To our surprise all of our doors to the rooms in our house were left wide open and the back sliding door was slid slightly open. A shot of adrenaline flew through my body as my FIGHT or flight triggers set in. If you know me at all you might be able to guess which one was given to me. Someone had broken into our house, my question was were they still here. I ran around as quickly as possible blasting through doors and racing around all corners of the house. After we realized no one was there, we could calm down and assess the situation. Ironically there were only a few things stolen and an odd collection of things at that. Our modem for the internet was still in place, all of our kitchen supplies were there as well.
Before we moved into the house, our Realtor put bars on the windows and doors to one of the back rooms which is the one I had been sleeping in. Any time we leave the house we put our computers and other valuable in that room and lock it up. This was our saving grace for most of our things. Sadly though, Brad set his computer a little too close to the door and the thieves were some how able to reach in and pull it out of the wall and through the bars. He also had a shirt stolen out of his room, His blanket off his bed, a pair of dress shoes and his electric razor charger. We praise the Lord, however, that he didn't get his passport or money stolen from his closet. Along with those things, our large first aid kit was taken as well.
Not knowing what else to do we went next door to our neighbors house and told them what happened. Before we knew it we had the whole community out in front of our house discussing what to do and informing each other as to what had happen. The government and police force is so corrupt here that when they were called they came and walked around our house then asked for money... nothing more.
Since then Brad and I now share a room... the room with bars on it. It has brought us much closer together that's for sure! (pun intended) We are grateful that no one was hurt, including my dog Zoe, who apparently is a little too friendly to everyone and not the greatest "guard" dog. God is sovereign and we know that we live in a fallen world with sinful people. One day He will take his revenge but until then we are praying for our enemy that they come to know the Lord in a mighty way. We also got to use this as a great discipleship/teaching moment for our Haitian brothers and ask them to pray for the thief as well.
I had a wise man once tell me, "You are always the safest where the Lord has you at that time." Whether we are in the middle east, United states, or the Dominican Republic, there will be sin and evil until our great Father comes again to set up His Kingdom. We long for that day but until then "...it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body" as Paul states in Philippians. We continue the work that God has called us to do, dying to our selves daily and our desires.
Please join with us in praying for our enemies and for our trust in the Lord for safety and knowing in our hearts that He is control of all situations good and bad.
*The First Evangelical church has recently provided brad with another computer to use in his time here and that was a huge blessing. Special thanks to them for providing in a time of need.
Humbly,
Parker and Brad.
