La Romana Day 5 - A Special Treat

Yesterday I had the unique opportunity to go to Santo Domingo with Raquel Alvarez. Raquel now lives in Providence, RI, but is from the DR. The trip was full of a lot of neat adventures including getting off a bus on the highway, crossing the highway, and riding around Santo Domingo on the back of a motorcycle. It was a great trip and a great way to experience the DR; with a local.

One of the most powerful experiences of the day was when we went to visit one of the hospitals in Santo Domingo. It was not a pretty sight. I want to be clear, the doctors there are very good, the care is as good as it can be, yet I was still shocked. No one had an individual room; everyone was in larger wards (about 8 to 10 in a ward). There was not a lot of machines that went “beep,” or lights, or machines that went, “ping,” only the most basic things that the patients needed. Maybe an IV bag, but most just had to lie on their beds and wait. Some family was there to help.

It did not take long for me to want to do something, and all I can do is pray. I asked Raquel if she could pass the offer on for me, and translate for me. I prayed for one man, I held his hands and I prayed for him and for his family. Someone else asked for prayer, so I held his hand and prayed for him. I went to the next room and Raquel asked who wanted prayer. They all wanted prayer. So I prayed for all of them, standing in the middle of the room, and then I went around to each person and laid hands on them and prayed for them one at a time. We went to another room and did the same thing. Eventually we made it to the children’s ward. Again, everyone wanted prayers, so I started to pray. Then came in the Nun.

The Nun told us to stop, told us to be quiet and to not pray. She did not want us to pray. We finished our prayer and then left with Raquel shouting at the Nun.

What can I say? People needed some sense of hope and peace. People needed to know that God was with them, and for a Pastor to take their hands was a powerful and meaningful thing. It was powerful. I saw tears again and again. It was amazing, I felt the presence of Jesus Christ. Yet then came the Nun. Can we really be so petty as to let doctrinal differences keep us from offering people the love of Jesus Christ? Can we be so small as to let our churches get in the way of ministry?

I wanted to yell at her, “woman, get thee to a nunnery,” but then I thought, “to late.”