Thursday, August 30, 2012

Your First Week On the Mission Field - Day 00

Today is our first full day on the mission field. 

Let's be honest, though. Our time in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic is another season of preparation, albeit a critical one.

Marissa and I woke up. We made our way to a local cafe to knock out two goals: practice Spanish and get food! We ordered " dos cafes y un quiche y un croissant con hamon". Our total was "tres cientos y cinco pesos." RD 305 wasn't too bad. Just under $10 USD for a small breakfast. I figure once we start shopping and eating outside of the hotel/resort area we are in that it will get less expensive.

Afterwards, Marissa packed her SCUBA equipment, I grabbed a camera, and we shuffled on down to her SCUBA classroom.

While she was in class, I did my stretch routine on the pristine beach. Fun Fact: since there are nearby all-inclusive resorts, they have employees who rake and bag all of the seaweed off the beach. I asked one hombre if they do it "todos los dias de la semana". He said that they do it every day of the year. Ah, the degrees we go to for vacationers!

That aside, I took some pictures of Marissa setting off to her first dive in years and her first step to being instructor certified.

I read 'We Drink From Our Own Wells' by Gustav Guitirrez. (Great book about liberation theology in action.

I then set my timer (25 minutes of writing, 5 minutes off) and began to write. Not only am I inching my way through my novel (a hero's techno-thriller about AI and nanotechnology), I making decent headway through 'Aegis, Shopper' (an allegory about masculinity's place today), and plowing through my manuscript submission to Zondervan, 'The 90 Day Launch Guide to a Life of Missions'. As I was looking at 'The Guide', I thought that recording this first week on the ground would be useful. I am learning so much. Thinking of other missionaries who may, in the future, read 'The Guide' and be in a similar situation sent me to firing up another small document, 'Your First Week on the Field'.

So, here is a sneak peek at Day 00.

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