Ever since Peter Stuyvesant visited the Palace of Versailles the world has had a distorted view of itself. 

Peter was the governor of New Amsterdam—later to be renamed New York City—beginning in 1647.  He was visiting France to discuss colonial land agreements.  While at Versailles he was awed by the Hall of Mirrors.

Peter was determined to bring a similarly amazing showcase to his city.  In 1651 he founded the Peter Stuyvesant's House of Mirrors.  He charged one Dutch gulden for admission.

This house of mirrors eventually morphed into what we know as a Fun House of Mirrors seen at many carnivals.  For a few tickets the fun begins by walking into a maze of mirrors, both convex and concave. We amuse ourselves by looking at distorted images of our figure. 

Today you don’t even have to go to the carnival for this experience.  A laptop with a webcam and a silly photo feature will allow you to take a picture of yourself that you can manipulate to look odd.

It’s all fun.  But sometimes distorted pictures can cause trouble.  It did in Israel during the time of the prophet Samuel.  One of the major distortions was found at the Tabernacle, that portable place of praise for God’s people.

It was parked at Shiloh and was meant to be a clear picture of God’s holiness and grace.  A system of sacrifices had been established that foreshadowed the coming sacrifice of the Messiah.  Yet anything but holiness was found there.

Eli the priest had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who dishonored God in their treatment of the sacrifices and also engaged in immoral sexual activity with women at the Tabernacle (1 Samuel 2:16, 22).  Because the picture of God they were giving was distorted, these two were killed in battle against the Philistines.  When news of their death reached Eli, he fell over in his chair, broke his neck, and also died.

Once when my son Kris was three years old we were reading a bedtime Bible story.  He asked, “Daddy, what does God look like?”  Having no idea how to answer I resorted to a good teaching technique.  I threw the question back at him. 

“You tell me.”  He thought for a moment and then said, “He looks like you Daddy.” Talk about a sobering moment!

Just like Eli and his sons we are representatives of God.  We represent Jesus to others.  You may have heard it said that you may be the only Bible those around you will ever ‘read.’  The question is, “Are you giving a clear or distorted picture of the One True God?”

Thursday, March 22

Dear Family,

Greetings from the Caribe Internet Cafe in Sosua, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic!  Currently it's raining lightly outside. We've had anywhere from a light drizzle to absolute deluge since last night.

This morning we picked up the teachers for the morning shift, with the exception of one who was unable to reach the main road because the bridge leading out of her village was swept away.  As we reached the riverbed which we drive through every day on our way to Esperanza - we found the water was rushing over the road, making it impossible to cross.  So we returned home. Currently Juan is in meetings with the Ministry of Education, so I have some time to kill at the internet cafe.

Wow, it's been quite a ride!  Since arriving a week ago today, I have had only a few minutes of internet access.  Living at Juan's house has been amazing, they truly go out of their way every day to make me feel at home. In spite all of Juan's busyness, they still are a tight-knit family in a home with lots of love and laughter, and it's been really good to get this 'up close and personal' view of their reality.

Let me describe it briefly.  They have electricity in their home, but it's off more than it's on (usually 4-6 hours of power per day, somewhat randomly).  When there is no power in the evenings, one kerosene lamp and some candles are usually set up in the house. All food is cooked or fried on a gas stove.  They have no fridge, so food is purchased every day and consumed on the spot.  There is no running water, meaning they bring in water from outside, and it's stored in barrel-sized water vats. Quite often they have to load the vats up in the car and go to the center of town to find a tap to fill them up.  Showering, flushing, washing hands and face all happen by scooping out of a bucket. The whole family sleeps in one room for the duration of my stay, as I have the kid's room.  The neighbours house is about 5 feet away from my room window, meaning my sleep is tied to theirs (which generally isn't a problem because we go to bed late and get up early).  There is no ceiling meaning we're directly under a tin roof.  So when the rain's coming down like it did last night, a guy has a lot of time to pray :)  As you can see, they lack almost everything we take for granted, and yet they are thankful and content.

Let me tell you how an average day 'happens' for Juan.  After a simple breakfast of a starchy casava flatbread dipped in coffee that's sweet enough to hold a spoon upright (slight exaggeration), at around 7:25 we head out in Juan's jeep with his kids. More kids are picked up on the way and they are all delivered at or near their school.  Then we head off to pick up the teachers for the morning shift (4 in all), and once we're all crammed into the little jeep it's off to the rickety bumpy rocky road that leads to Villa Esperanza.  Once there, the students are mostly waiting for us and ready to start classes.  If time permits they have a flag raising ceremony with the national anthem, a bible verse and a reflection on the word.  Then the kids are off to their classes.

At 12PM, the teachers pile back into the car for the ride down, and each one is delivered at their corner on the way back.  Staff meetings happen every day in the car; being Latinos they can get quite the lively conversation going!

Juan then hurries home and has only a few minutes to put down some lunch, before the whole process begins over again, this time with the afternoon teachers (three are picked up, as the kindergarten teacher is from the village and doesn't need a ride).   So Juan is the only staff member that works both shifts.  Afternoon classes are from 2-5PM.  So if Juan has anything else to do - like meeting with the ministry of Education or any other business, he delivers the teachers, drives back down, does what he needs to do and then races back up to pick the teachers up to take them back home at the end of their shift.  A number of times in the days I was here, we literally drove that road eight times a day! And for those of you who have ever ridden on it, you can start to imagine the beating that gives the car over time.  His vehicle is showing lots of wear after 5 years of this.

So it's usually about 6PM by the time Juan gets home, and then very often he has some responsibility at an evening church program.  That can go until late into the night.  If there's any personal business to attend to, like shopping or fixing the car, this often has to wait until Saturday.

(Continued on Sunday night, as I had to leave the internet cafe on Thursday before uploading anything)

On Tuesday morning, after getting orientated and spending a few days in the school, we dropped the teachers off and headed into Puerto Plata to go computer shopping.  God lead us to the right place, as we found excellent service at prices that allowed us to purchase everything we needed, still remaining within our budget.  So we were really excited about that! They have been blessed with great quality systems - a notebook and a desktop PC - along with a power inverter with two large batteries that will supply them with power when the electricity is down.  They also now have a Printer/Scanner/Copier and a wireless router, as well as some good speakers for doing presentations for the parents and kids, together with the donated projector I was able to take them last year.  Needless to say they were very excited for the possibilities this provides them in improving communication and getting all their office work done ... well, at the office, as opposed to an internet cafe.

Meanwhile parrellel to getting the equipment all set up, I've been interviewing the teachers individually during the breaks, which has also gone really well.While helping to get this all set up, I've been interviewing the teachers individually during the breaks, which has also gone really well.

Tuesday afternoon we were able to take John & Esther Loewen for a blitz tour of the village. I'm so glad they were able to see the ministry first-hand, and it was great to have someone from 'home' stop in for a visit. :)

As you can see, time has been flying here, and I can hardly believe my two weeks are almost up.  I've been blessed with exceptionally good health considering the drastic change in surroundings, and I've enjoyed every moment.  It hasn't been easy, but it's been good!  God had so much lined up for me every day.  One of the most frustrating things has been being so very limited in connecting to the internet.  Because up until yesterday, the school internet was down (the tech was very evasive), and Juan has no internet in his home.  Now we have borrowed a broadband wireless box to test it until tomorrow.  But with the power constantly going out in Juan's house, it still means no reliable connection.  But we're going to test it tomorrow at the school to see how well it works, and Juan may be switching over to that system then, so I can get the IT related work done at the school.

This evening we were at Juan's church, together with Otoniel Perez and a team he brought with him from Ontario.  Wow, what a great time!  The pastor spoke about being ready - having our lamps burning - for Christ's return.  The Holy Spirit was there in a powerful way, and I was able take part in the personal ministry afterwards.  I love being where the Holy Spirit's moving; there's no better place!

Well, I hope that gives you a glimpse into my trip thus far.  Sorry I haven't blogged anything sooner, but like I said it all depended on how much internet access I had.  Looking forward to seeing you all soon, Wednesday is my flight home!

God bless you all. Thank you for releasing me to follow God's leading in this way.  I could not have done this without you!  Thank you to all who've been praying faithfully for God's work to be done.  So much has been accomplished!

God bless, Jerald.

Two sons, two rounds of college applications.  Most recently our younger son Taylor scoured the literature from several universities, finally narrowing his choices.  You know the routine.  Visit campuses. Choose a few schools to focus on.  Make applications.  Fill out forms.  Write essays. 

For anyone who hasn’t “been there, done that,” the filing of the application and financial aid forms is nothing compared to the waiting.  It’s like the first time you look at your girlfriend or boyfriend and say, ‘I love you.”  You’ve made the first move.  And then you wait.  You wait to see if they respond in turn.   

Finally the waiting was over.  In our mailbox was a letter informing him that he could enroll as a freshman.  Better yet, he received a T-shirt with the word “ACCEPTED!”[1]

We were relieved.  I mean, he was relieved.  We all have a desire to be accepted, don’t we?  In fact, that desire made it into Maslow’s well-known hierarchy of needs.  He theorized that acceptance is basic to our nature and to our psychological health.

Ruth had the same need as we do.  She was a Moabite living in Bethlehem who we meet in The Story.  She ended up there with her mother-in-law Naomi when her husband died.  And she found herself picking up the leftovers after the harvest in a field owned by Boaz.

Boaz discovered she was an outsider—a Moabite—the same people who would oppress his nation for eighteen years.  You’d expect fireworks when they met.  Instead, Boaz tells Ruth, “May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

His acceptance of Ruth goes a step further.  Ruth finds him asleep on the threshing floor and lies down at his feet.  When he awakens, Ruth asks him to “spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a family guardian.”  The word for “garment” is the same Hebrew word for “wings” in the blessing Boaz had pronounced over Ruth.  God’s acceptance came to Ruth through Boaz.

Your acceptance did too.  You see, Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David.  In Matthew’s genealogy the lineage of Jesus is traced through David.  Boaz is there too along with his mother Rahab (Matt. 1:5).   Yes, that Rahab.  The prostitute that lived in Canaan and sheltered the two spies Joshua sent into the land.