Anne Marie Miller

Blog

  • Safe with a Drug Lord

    Children in the Hole

    Hola, everyone! I am back on Southern soil in Nashville after a great week in the Dominican.

    Last week, I posted about some time I spent in The Hole — which is a trash dump in Santiago where squatters have taken residence over the last decade or so.

    The story of The Hole is one that is grander than anyone could ever dream up.

    Years ago, the city of Santiago set aside a large area (which is sunken in and dug out, thus creating “the hole”) to be a landfill. The river is filled with trash and raw sewage, and it is here that Santiago’s poorest call home.

    And the mayor of The Hole? A drug lord. It’s his territory, and even in the midst of poverty you see proof of his reign. Nicely dressed young Dominican men with gold jewelry walk along the open sewer with expensive motorbikes, following prostitutes. Children who have no contact with the outside world flash gang signs and chant Dominican rap songs.

    A man named Felix is the pastor of the church and feeding center in The Hole. He’s been around for seven years, getting to know the children and their families.

    (Here is Felix praying with the kids before lunch one day).


    One day, the drug lord requested a meeting with Felix. He saw what he was trying to accomplish in The Hole.

    As long as you are here, the drug lord said, you will be safe. Anyone you bring to help will be safe. And if you have any problems, you tell me, and I will take care of it.

    And it was true. As nervous as I should have been walking around with expensive video equipment in the lair of drugs and prostitution, I felt safe. We Americanos were welcome and loved.

    That’s just like something God would do, isn’t it?

  • Act Now! Get a FREE Autographed Copy of Mad Church Disease!

    So, we have been trying to figure out a good way to get the community here at FlowerDust.net involved in the Dominican trip this week. I have really enjoyed getting to know the staff here at GO Ministries and learning what they are doing to equip local pastors.

    The average Dominican makes $6500/year…so you can guess what the average pastor makes — not a lot! What GO is doing is forming a library for the 44 churches in the area they support.

    Here’s the deal.

    From 7 am CST Monday to 7 am CST Tuesday, if you purchase any book from the list below, I WILL GIVE YOU A FREE AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF MAD CHURCH DISEASE WHEN IT COMES OUT! Simply purchase the book and leave me a comment letting me know. I will email you to get your info this week.

    So, buy a book, or buy fifty (I can only send you one copy of mine either way, but hey, don’t let that stop you!) and get a free autographed copy of Mad Church Disease.

    You guys donated over 100 mosquito nets on World Malaria Day…so let’s show some love to some pastors and get them some study material they would never be able to afford otherwise. By the way, the money that comes through the Amazon Associates referrals also will go directly to GO Ministries!

    Now ready? Set? GO! Don’t eat out today and instead, buy a book for a pastor!! Their Wish List is below!

  • CAPTION PLEASE – DOMINICAN EDITION

    Caption Please

  • Question of the Day

    How can we consistently show those in developed, consumer-driven countries that places like this exist? That, although, these places need clean water, sanitation, food and medical care, we need their hope, simplicity, community, and generosity?

    How can we connect the two? Is there even a way?

    The Hole

  • The Hole : The Hope

    i never can seem to translate what is in my head after visiting a slum. a true, third-world slum. the sights and smells and naked babies and starved dogs and sweat and raw sewage and shacks and the most impacting thing.

    hope.

    Dominican Republic The Hole Dump

  • Dominican Republic – Day 2

    Words cannot do today justice, at least of my own experience. I have a picture which will tell a story I will never forget.

    Sure, everyone worked their tails off, moving thousands (literally) of buckets of sand, water, and concrete up and down stairs…but my own personal highlight included a Dominican Spa Facial.

    I’m waiting for a team member to give me the picture tomorrow….and I will just let that speak for itself.

    Tomorrow I am going to “The Hole” which is a dump where people live. The poorest of the poor. I’m sure I’ll have lots of stories to share tomorrow night.

    Thanks for your prayers!

  • Dominican Republic [Sidebar]

    We are sleeping in the middle of the city of Santiago, in a cement dormitory with 10 foot high, 3 level bunk beds and open air. Our power is battery generated and toilets do not like toilet paper. No hot water (at all, at the moment), but who needs that anyway?

    Outside my slatted window are the constant sounds of Spanish voices, children playing, birds, bikes, and squeaky brakes less than three feet outside where my head is. If I stuck my arm out, I could probably touch one of the children walking by.

    They told me to bring ear plugs to help me sleep since it was loud, but I can honestly not think of a sweeter sound to fall asleep to than the life of this city.

  • Dominican Republic – Day 1

    Sedative drugs are a very good thing.

    I am normally not a nervous traveler, but always the night before a big trip, I get nervous. I downed 20 mg worth of valium last night at 7:30 pm and woke up fuzzy and drugged at 2:45 this morning.

    Nerves, nerves, nerves.

    Safety is always a concern, but normally while I’m on a trip. I don’t take into account the fact I am not graceful at any point in time, and sometime whilst showering, busted my face on a mirror. Blood began pouring out of my nose, on my hands, on the floor…and thirty minutes later with no end in sight, I pondered if it was broken.

    (It is now 6 pm ET and it hasn’t bled since, so I’m going to go ahead and call it good).

    Flying into Miami, and then into Santiago was pretty seamless. A small weather delay and two hours later, we’re in the DR. All of our luggage made it which is a miracle. We were warmly greeted by our hosts from GO Ministries, ate a mid-day meal and are taking advantage of the wifi.

    Luggage Truck

    It’s warm. It’s humid. But the breeze is nice and the sounds of a city yet to be explored surround us.

    I’ve uploaded some photos on our Flickr page here…there aren’t many…the bandwidth isn’t like home, but I hope you’ll stop by and check them out.

    We’ll be heading out for ice cream later, getting a good night’s rest, and then on to a construction site tomorrow.

    Thanks everyone for your prayers!

    Anne in the DR

  • prayer for dominican trip

    it is 3:40 am, also known as the ungodly hour, also known as i need some red bull, also known as five minutes before i am leaving to meet the team from cross point at the airport.

    it is early.

    but, i am excited…i feel privileged to take another out-of-the-country trip into a land which will stretch me far beyond my comfort zone. humbled at the chance to serve some with some amazing people.

    the dominican is not far away. a quick trip to miami, then right into santiago. we’ll be arriving there about the same time you’re eating lunch.

    your prayers are so needed for this trip. we have a pretty large group (26) going and with luggage and some camera equipment and well, just 26 people, logistics can get hairy.

    please pray specifically for…

    –our health & safety.     this one always makes me nervous. especially after my roommate in africa had to go to the hospital in uganda while we were there in february. my asthma has been flaring up lately too…so yes, please cover us and some in this area.

    –logistics. sometimes, luggage gets lost. it’s not the end of the world, but can distract us nonetheless. it was a miracle nobody’s luggage got lost with all the connecting flights we had to africa. please pray for smooth logistics.

    –hearts. most importantly, our hearts. there are a lot of first-timers going on this trip and going to a new country and doing hard work out in the sun, away from comforts and family can do many different things to a person. please pray that we will keep our hearts open and flexible to ministry.

    thanks everyone…i’ll update when we have some down time, and hopefully, i’ll be able to send short updates via twitter…so you can follow me that way too.