November 21, 2003

Dear Friends,

We finished our second term assigned to the Dominican Evangelical Church in the Dominican Republic this summer. Much has happened in the Dominican Republic since we left in July:

• Top officials at Banniter, a failed bank, were prosecuted for the Enron-like collapse of the bank.
• Government seizure and control of Banniter subsidiaries, including the nation’s largest newspaper and several TV and radio stations.
• Official negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• The Pan American games took place.
• An earthquake (September 22—6.5 on the Richter scale).
• Torrential rains and flooding.
• Rampant inflation and the continued devaluation of the Dominican peso (over 100 percent in the last year).
• Continued governmental borrowing at non-competitive rates, which has doubled the national debt in less than three years.
• Sharp increase in crime.
• The government’s surprise re-purchase of privatized electricity companies.
• Halt to IMF negotiations due to the unauthorized purchase of electric companies.
• Continued rise in the record number of incidents of domestic violence against women.
• Dominican soldiers sent to Iraq.
• Decrease in exports.
• Suspended oil imports from Venezuela because President Chavez of Venezuela suspects the Dominican government of complicity in an assassination plot against him.
• Fear that the DR will not be included in the latest free-trade agreements with the United States.
• Fear about what concessions will be made in order to be included in the agreements.
• Top officials of another bank, Bancredito, are charged with Enron-like practices.
• Unemployment and closure of countless small and medium-sized businesses
• Anxiety as the president’s popularity decreases and his demand for re-election increases.
• Blackouts lasting up to 36 hours.
• National strike that resulted in 6 deaths, over 60 seriously injured, and hundreds of arrests.

We are concerned for the safety and well-being of our friends. We are concerned for the Dominican people as a nation. We are concerned for our pastor who was hospitalized for heart problems; she is only in her thirties. We are concerned for another pastor who underwent surgery for cancer and is not sure how his family will pay the medical bills—he is in his forties with four children. We are concerned for the other missionaries in the DR. We are concerned about the conditions in Haiti if the conditions in the DR are dire. We are concerned because we are here and not there. Why are we here and not there? What can we do from here?

When we read and hear about the conflicts and struggles around the world, it can sometimes be overwhelming. Too many problems, often too complicated to understand much less to resolve. It can seem like every solution creates a new problem. It can seem like with almost every step, we negatively affect someone, somewhere, somehow, no matter how good our intentions may be. It is easier to shut out the troubles of others and concentrate on what is in front of us, often times our own troubles. But it is difficult to shut out the troubles of faces that we know, of families who have fed us at their tables, of strangers who have helped us for no benefit of their own, of people who made us feel apart even though we were different, of people who have allowed space to graciously disagree, of congregations with whom we have worshiped, of friends who have shared tears and laughter with us, of people who call us family even though our language, color of skin, and nationality are not the same. It is hard to shut out their troubles, even when we try really hard. You must know this struggle too. You have seen some of the same faces we have, or you have seen other faces experiencing other troubles that are equally difficult.

I don’t have an upbeat conclusion with a plan of action—just a request and a hope. The request is to pray. Please pray for the people of the Dominican Republic. Pray for other people around the world who seem to be facing impossible situations. Pray for yourself as an individual and for all of us as God’s people that we will have courage and not shut our eyes to what is happening in the world. Pray that we will be listening, watching, and open to receive the direction that God gives us each day. Pray that we will have wisdom and resolve to be God’s faithful people, living on behalf of God’s kingdom. Thank God for God’s mercy and faithfulness. Pray for God’s continued mercies for this world. Thank God for not closing an eye, but for sending the One that shows that God is with us, and that we can have hope.

Grace and peace,

Shannon and Ben Langley

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 242