T. David Beck: The Simple Way of Jesus

Yesterday was one of those days that takes its own path. About 9:00 in the morning, a group of Firefighters for Christ showed up at the door of the guest house. They were there to deliver supplied they had collected – diapers, blankets, etc. It was great to see them! One of our female staff members, who shall remain nameless, wishes we could have the Firefighters for Christ over more often. :-) The firefighters were mostly from Kern County. They talked with Bill and Susette about establishing longer term connections with Maison de Lumiere. After we finished talking with the firefighters, Bill, his brother Tom, and I started walking up to Bill’s house. We were on our way to make a run to the Agape mail center to retrieve incoming packages for the Manasseros. As we passed the boys’ home, we looked up the street and saw a crowd of local folks congregating outside a house where the hosts run a feeding program. Just then a humvee rolled up to the corner, carrying five soldiers in light gree...

This morning started extremely early. Well, let me back up a step. Due to crowded sleeping conditions at the YWAM base in Santo Domingo, I moved outside and slept on a cot beside an old swimming pool and about 20 yards down from a German medical team. For some reason, all the Germans were taller than any other teams. Why is that? Anyway, I really enjoyed sleeping out under a group of palm trees and a full moon. That is, I enjoyed it until I got cold at about 2:00. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much at all last night. Our day started at 3:30 AM, Dominican time. That’s 2:30 AM Haiti time and 11:30 PM the previous day in California time. We roused ourselves and packed up our things for the ride into Haiti. We shared an absurdly early breakfast consisted of ham, cheese, and mayonnaise on white bread. That is officially the earliest in my life that I have ever eaten a ham sandwich. But it tasted great! We rode through the Dominican Republic for about six hours before reaching the border. ...

Our team of four is all here in the YWAM facility in Santo Domingo! I met up with Rod Meadth in the Miami airport, and we flew into SD. We got through customs very quickly. Maybe too quickly. At the customs booth, the man asked if we spoke Espanol. "No espanol." Wanting to help, we offered up English and Creole. No dice. Apparently reaching his threshold of patience, the man just handed us our passports and waved us through. It was one of those precious travel moments. Rod and I then shared a taxi ride to the YWAM base. Our directions included clues like "after the water tanks, turn right." Our driver spoke no English, so we couldn't help him. None of us could find the water tanks in the dark. Finally the driver pulled over and asked directions at a gas station. That got us closer. After asking for directions once more, we finally arrived at the base, relieved and amused by the whole process. Rod and I just ate a late dinner while listening to a group of staff m...