Dear friends and family,
April 1, 2011 is a prominent day in our memories. It is the day we wrapped up a year of preparation and packing and drove away from Tequesta, Florida - home to both of us for over 30 years. Over the last four and a half years we have faced many trials, but have had some of the most spiritually enriching times of our lives. Opportunities to serve, teach, and pray; encouraging conversations with outreach participants; watching God at work all around us; working alongside amazing Dominican and American staff - these are just a glimpse of the highlights of these years.
When we made the commitment to leave our lives behind and move to the mission field, we did so without putting an end date on it trusting the Lord’s leading on timing. Our mission organization asks for a minimum 2 year commitment but we really didn’t have a feel at that point of how long we were to serve, instead hearing the Lord say, “go and serve and I will direct your next step.” So that’s what we have done. Our first few years were very hard. Learning to live in a culture with different norms and values was something that we tried to prepare for before arriving in the DR but until our feet actually touched ground there, we didn’t have a clue what we were going to face. So many things were different – from the way that neighbors interact (you are part of their family, you’re never too busy to talk) to the way that people drive (loco doesn’t even begin to describe it), to what to do if you have a fender bender (hand the person who hit you a couple hundred pesos and be on your way) – all of it was so totally different to what we considered “normal.” Add to that our bi-weekly shopping trips in Santiago where we were stood out for miles as the only “gringos” to be seen, and if we had a problem we were flat out of luck because the only English to be heard was the occasional American pop-song blaring from a car radio. But we slowly learned the language, learned the habits of our neighbors, found our way through Santiago shopping trips and adjusted, or even more so, enjoyed living life in the Dominican Republic.
This past year in particular has been an amazing year of ministry. Due to changes in staff, Mary Ellen was able to become more involved in the lives of the women working in the kitchen as well as do some of the cooking – which she loved! Dick was given the opportunity to teach bible lessons on a regular basis to the outreach participants. We were also both able to take part in a worship and prayer night, having the opportunity to pray for outreach participants and were also able to spend many hours sharing our faith and our lives with students and leaders around the table at mealtime and during breaks in our schedule. We seemed to be settling into our roles and responsibilities on the field and felt so blessed to be doing what we were doing.
On May 31 of this year as we were preparing to start a busy summer, Dick was spending time reading in Mark 5. Have you ever had the experience of reading or hearing something that you felt like was written or spoken just for you? How often have you read a verse of scripture that you have read many times before but at that moment it seems to jump off the page at you? As Dick began to read verse 19 of chapter 5, he sensed very strongly that the Lord was speaking to him.
"18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, ‘Go home to your people & report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, & how He had mercy on you.’ 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”
The revelation of the Lord was so strong that Dick wrote these verses in his journal. Wondering if God was beginning to prepare our hearts to return to the US, we began many lengthy discussions about what might be in our future and when we might return to the States.
On August 27th, Dick had stabbing pain in his back. We went to the local clinic (like an Urgent Care Center) and he was admitted and treated for angina. After a week of treatment and no improvement and at the prompting of his son, Jason, we made a hasty trip to Florida. Within 24 hours he was admitted to South Lake Hospital in Clermont, FL, where it was determined that he had 3 blocked arteries in his heart. Over the course of his stay there, he received 4 stents and it was discovered that he had multiple aneurysms that have, in some places, more than doubled the size of his aorta. He will need surgery as soon as his heart is healthy enough – sometime within the next 6-12 months. In the meantime, he is managing his blood pressure through a few different types of medication, keeping it low enough to not cause stress on the aneurysm but high enough that he can function. He has to be careful of the types of activities he does and also needs to take care to not be exposed to illness if at all possible. His doctors have advised him not to travel internationally or to any remote areas of the United States – in other words, to remain close to good emergency care. So it seems as though while we were busy planning our way, God has graciously intervened and ordered our steps. And the verse Dick read in May has taken on a whole new meaning to us - "Go home to your people & report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, & how He had mercy on you."
We can’t even begin to express how much we appreciate the love and support of so many over these past four and a half years. The opportunities to minister and serve the Dominicans and outreach participants were made possible because of your prayers, friendship and financial support. Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough but we do thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Dick and Mary Ellen Meyer
The mind of man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps ~ Proverbs 16:9
