Elder David y Hna. Pam Johnson

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Most little children in the Dominican Republic have literally nothing. Living in poverty is an understatement for them. Many have no education and help support their families by shining shoes or they sell fruit in the street to passing motorist. But in spite of their circumstance, they have an indomitable spirit for fun. I think they are the happiest children on earth. They are living proof that you don’t need money to be happy.

Many times in the past Hna. Johnson has pointed out to me little children playing with homemade toys in the streets all over the Dominican Republic and especially here in Neyba & Duverge. They can find hours of fun playing with the simplest of homemade toys. We’ve seen them everywhere pushing a bicycle rim with a stick or pulling a homemade “car” made from a cardboard box or milk carton. Giggling and squealing with delight they run and play with their toys they’ve made themselves. Maybe they live in poverty but there is no poverty in their character. These kids are the happiest children on earth.

Our weekend treks to Neyba and Duverge always takes us to the far west end of our mission. We are within a few miles of the border with the country of Haiti. There are Military Checkpoints all along the roads where soldiers with machine guns search cars and buses for illegal Haitians sneaking into the Dominican Republic. Usually we cruise past these checkpoints because the soldiers can see who we are and they wave us on by. Today we left Duverge after dark for the first time. When we got to the military check point just outside of town we were stopped for the first time. For a moment you fear for your life as soldiers pointing machine guns at you approach the passenger side of the car. But we knew there was nothing to fear. Hna. Johnson rolled her window down and the soldier asked us to turn on our dome light. When he saw our name tags he said, “Oh missionaries, you can go on through, sorry, go ahead, go ahead! It is really good to be recognized as servants of the Lord and to be protected on our way.