La Romana 2012 - The Gripping Conclusion!

I’m now back in the States, trying to readjust to the privileged and “normal” life that I left for those seven or eight days (who knows?). I have returned to showering with my mouth open, drinking the water, and throwing my toilet paper into the toilet. Ahh the good life.

I know I am supposed to make one great, final post drawing some kind of reflective conclusion to the whole trip. The strings will begin to play, and you will hear my voice-over as a montage of the trip shows on the video screen. Can you picture it?

“I have been told again and again how lucky I am to be an American, but it isn’t until you leave the country that you…” (sound of record scratching)

I’m not going to do that. It is too happy and neat.

I don’t think there is a happy conclusion. There are still thousands of struggling Haitians in the Dominican Republic living in abject poverty, slavery conditions in the bateyes. There is still a tremendous amount of work to do on the hospital – many, many more piles of sand to move and cement blocks to stack.

 As a side note, the last day I helped to sweep and clear out a lot of rubble from the third floor putting it into a very big rubble pile. To the group that has to clean out that pile – the solitary banana peel is mine. Sorry.

So there still is a lot of work to do – we are not done.

On top of that, one trip does not make me a better, more profound Christian. It does not assure me entrance into heaven (nothin’ but the grace of Jesus). I need to continue to work on finding God in moments of frustration as well as moments of grace. I need to continue to trust that the work I do is a part of something bigger even if I do not see the results. I need to continue to pray, read scripture, and try to make some sense out of my place in the mess we call the world.

There is a lot of work to do – I am not done.

So there will not be a neat voice-over conclusion with strings and a sappy montage. Instead I hope to leave my avid followers somewhat unsettled. We all have work to do. Get up off your lazy a** and get back to work!

Me, I am going to go and stand in a hot shower with my mouth open, drinking in the “safe” water and returning to my “safe” life.

Thanks for following me on this journey and keep coming back. Sometimes I write other posts that are interesting without me traveling out of the country. Remember, go to the La Romana blog to see other reflections, much more serious than mine.