My mom and I often "joke" that you shouldn't memorize a verse or pray certain things (for humility, etc.) because then God will really do it. Joking is in quotes because obviously you shouldn't not pray certain things, but at the same time, God really does work on those things in your life. He is so faithful in that! Even after being humbled many times after those kinds of prayers and learning hard lessons through verses I've memorized, I often forget just how much God is willing and will work in my stubborn heart. I wanted to share one instance that is near and dear to my heart right now.
A few months ago, Janna, the lady who is discipling me, asked if I wanted to memorize the "Hall of Faith" chapter, Hebrews 11. Excited about the accountability and the chance to know more of God's word, I said yes. I set out to memorize them, thinking about faith and amazed at how much my forefathers lived in faith. I was (and still am) blown away by all the "By faiths." BY FAITH Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, BY FAITH Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as an inheritance obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going... and so many more! I thought some about how I could be more like them, but never really thought about how God would work in me to make those verses come alive in my life and to teach me to really live by faith.
Sure, I've heard all the stories of missionaries living by faith for food, money, etc. By the grace of God, I have not been tested in that way yet, though God may one day consider me worthy to bear that trial for His name. So I didn't really think about how else He would teach me to live by faith. As many of you know, the last few months have been really hard. Challenge after challenge has come up, and one by one, God has given me the grace to get through each one of them. Some I am still in the midst of, but God is with me holding my hand for all of it. Many of them I have no idea why they have come up. I knew God had a reason, but just in the last two days did I realize that maybe they have come into my life to teach me to live by faith.
Wow. That took awhile to figure that out. I am glad God didn't stop teaching me after I didn't understand the purpose the first couple hundred times. Obviously, I still don't fully comprehend, but maybe He is trying to teach me how to live by faith. I'm sure Abraham and Noah and all the other famous ones from Hebrews 11 weren't like, "Okay God. Of course I will move to a foreign place where I don't know anything or even where because someday I will be in the hall of faith!" They just stepped out and did it! Am I willing to step out in faith and follow Him? Will He be able to one day say, "By Faith Mindy...?" Wow.
I love that it doesn't just stop after all the "by faiths." Just today did I notice something super cool about verse 13. It says "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did NOT receive the things promised. They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth." Cool verse, huh? I just realized that there are so many things in my life that may happen to teach me to live by faith, and I may never see the things promised. I may never see the fruition of so many tears shed, of hours on my knees, of hard situation after situation. I may just see them and welcome them from a distance. I love that it doesn't just say saw them from a distance. It says WELCOMED them froma distance. I can WELCOME the results living by faith. And there are things promised for me! In verse 16 it says, "Instead, they were looking for a better country, a heavenly one." I can look forward to a better country than this one on earth, and there I will see what God was doing on this earth to prepare me to serve Him and worship Him best. I will receive the things promised! I will miss out on so much if I do not live out my "By faiths!" The rest of verse 16 says, "Therefore, God is NOT ASHAMED to be called their God, for He hs prepared a city for them." How cool is that? Having lived most of my life ashamed of this and that, I love that it says God is not ashamed to be called their God. Oh, that I would live in such a way that God can say that of me!
So, my dear readers, that is my ponderings of living by faith and what God can do in this stubborn heart of mine. May I truly live out my "By faiths." For those of you who want to know more of the specifics of the "By faiths" God seems to have been teaching me, email me or leave a comment and I would LOVE to tell you more about the lessons He has been teaching me. This year has contained many of them for me, that's for sure. I am so excited to be able to welcome the things promised and one day see them in heaven, though on this earth I will most likely not receive them. It will all be so worth it! May you learn to live life "by faith." What an incredible journey we are on, and it is all so worth it!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Spring Break Adventures, Part 2
So, here is the rest of my adventures over spring break. This half was much more adventurous than the first half, except for the pig legs :). On Wednesday, I headed out to my church to get on a bus to go to church camp with my church and other young people from all over the country. They said to get there at 12:30 to leave at 1, so of course as the American, I was there at 12:25. And of course, this is not the US, and the whole church was shut. Nobody was around. Since I don't have a car, I was in a taxi. Thankfully, it was the taxi driver I usually take, so he got out and checked the gates. One was open, and the church worker's son was there and came out. I apologized for being early and proceeded to wait. Eventually, everyone got there and we piled on the bus. I was in the first seat and sat there looking lost. My lack of Spanish ability is frustrating sometimes :). The full-time church worker came out and asked if I wanted to go with him instead (I think he noticed how lost I looked or something). So I drove up to camp with his daughter and him.
The camp is in the mountains, about three hours from here (two and a half by car). It is beautiful! When I first arrived, it was a bit awkward because my church wasn't there yet and I didn't know anyone. A while later, a family I know came, so it was good to see familiar faces. Then, a girl came up to me and started speaking in English. She is Dominican-American. As we were talking, something came up about Emmaus, and I realized I had met her at Iron Sharpens Iron last year! Small world! She had come down with four other friends for the camp. They became my companions since they all spoke both English and Spanish. I should explain that out of over 35o young people, I was the only non-Spanish speaking one! It was quite interesting!
I ended up being in a cabin with my Sunday School teacher for the leader, so that was good. I think the most interesting part of the cabin times was having devotions at 6 in the morning! It was hard for my brain to comprehend Spanish that early! I did better by the end of the time, but the first morning it was almost impossible!
When I hear the word "camp," I think dirty, games, don't care what you look like, etc. NOT so with camps here! The girls wore HIGH HEELS AT CAMP!!! They would go change before dinner every night into their nice outfits and makeup! Some would even miss dinner because they were too busy getting ready for dinner! Being an American, I did not feel the urge to join in this activity, so I stuck out in that too. Oh well. I did dress up for the last night, which was a special dinner. Here is a picture of me with one of the Dominican-Americans next to me and two other girls from my church.
Every morning and night, we had a meeting with singing and a speaker. The speaker was from Argentina and had really clear Spanish, which was good for me. I was able to understand most of what he said. I enjoyed learning more songs in Spanish, and I can now say I know some songs in Spanish better than I know them in English! A couple of times I was a bit tired because we did not sleep much at camp, so those meetings were a little harder, but they were still good.
On two of the days, they had events planned--one day to climb a mountain and the next to go swim in a river. I went to both the activities and had a lot of fun! The mountain was quite the adventure--basically straight up and straight back down! We were SO sweaty when we got to the top, but it was beautiful. I fell down about a hundred times on the way back down because it was so steep! For a while, nobody was around me, so it was good because I had to slide on my bottom several times. Once again, the crazy American! It was so worth it though! Then the next day, we walked to the river that is close to the camp. It was probably a two or two and a half mile walk, but so worth it. We went to a place with a man-made waterfall and spent time just swimming and playing in the water. All of my English speaking friends didn't go, so I spent most of my time by myself, but it was still fun. My friend took pictures for me, and it is fun to look at those now. On the way back, I was walking by myself, and must have looked like the lost American with no friends again because a truck with people from camp drove by and asked if I wanted a ride. It was one of those trucks with a short bed, and there were 11 of us crammed in there! It was funny, especially for those of us right against the hatch when going uphill! It was really cool because I realized that was the first time I had done crazy things like that with people who lived in that country! Usually I do crazy things with other Americans, so it was refreshing to do weird things with others.
On top of the mountain.
Swimming in the river.
The man-made waterfall. If you look closely, you can see the people in the background resting against it. If felt pretty cool!
I was able to meet more people from my church, so that was good! I don't know them super well, but I know names now, and they know mine. I want to go to more services at my church, so it is good to know people now. I found a few more people who speak English, so now when I get totally lost, I can ask them for help.
My new friend Hilma. Her mom is my Sunday School teacher.
On Sunday, we headed back to the city. Our bus broke right before we got into the city! Thankfully, they were able to fix it enough for us to get back home. It was a dusty and hot ride, but it was good to hang out with some of my new friends. I came home and went to bed by 7:30. When I say "lack of sleep," I really mean it! I've decided camp to them means dress up and no sleep. I went to bed earlier than most of them and still got only 5 or so hours of sleep every night. On the last two nights, the guys went around seranading their wives and girlfriends in the different cabins, so it's hard to sleep with that too! It was all worth it though, and I am hoping I can go back to camp another time. It was good to start building relationships with people there. I am looking forward to seeing what happens with people at church!
The camp is in the mountains, about three hours from here (two and a half by car). It is beautiful! When I first arrived, it was a bit awkward because my church wasn't there yet and I didn't know anyone. A while later, a family I know came, so it was good to see familiar faces. Then, a girl came up to me and started speaking in English. She is Dominican-American. As we were talking, something came up about Emmaus, and I realized I had met her at Iron Sharpens Iron last year! Small world! She had come down with four other friends for the camp. They became my companions since they all spoke both English and Spanish. I should explain that out of over 35o young people, I was the only non-Spanish speaking one! It was quite interesting!
I ended up being in a cabin with my Sunday School teacher for the leader, so that was good. I think the most interesting part of the cabin times was having devotions at 6 in the morning! It was hard for my brain to comprehend Spanish that early! I did better by the end of the time, but the first morning it was almost impossible!
When I hear the word "camp," I think dirty, games, don't care what you look like, etc. NOT so with camps here! The girls wore HIGH HEELS AT CAMP!!! They would go change before dinner every night into their nice outfits and makeup! Some would even miss dinner because they were too busy getting ready for dinner! Being an American, I did not feel the urge to join in this activity, so I stuck out in that too. Oh well. I did dress up for the last night, which was a special dinner. Here is a picture of me with one of the Dominican-Americans next to me and two other girls from my church.
Every morning and night, we had a meeting with singing and a speaker. The speaker was from Argentina and had really clear Spanish, which was good for me. I was able to understand most of what he said. I enjoyed learning more songs in Spanish, and I can now say I know some songs in Spanish better than I know them in English! A couple of times I was a bit tired because we did not sleep much at camp, so those meetings were a little harder, but they were still good.
On two of the days, they had events planned--one day to climb a mountain and the next to go swim in a river. I went to both the activities and had a lot of fun! The mountain was quite the adventure--basically straight up and straight back down! We were SO sweaty when we got to the top, but it was beautiful. I fell down about a hundred times on the way back down because it was so steep! For a while, nobody was around me, so it was good because I had to slide on my bottom several times. Once again, the crazy American! It was so worth it though! Then the next day, we walked to the river that is close to the camp. It was probably a two or two and a half mile walk, but so worth it. We went to a place with a man-made waterfall and spent time just swimming and playing in the water. All of my English speaking friends didn't go, so I spent most of my time by myself, but it was still fun. My friend took pictures for me, and it is fun to look at those now. On the way back, I was walking by myself, and must have looked like the lost American with no friends again because a truck with people from camp drove by and asked if I wanted a ride. It was one of those trucks with a short bed, and there were 11 of us crammed in there! It was funny, especially for those of us right against the hatch when going uphill! It was really cool because I realized that was the first time I had done crazy things like that with people who lived in that country! Usually I do crazy things with other Americans, so it was refreshing to do weird things with others.
On top of the mountain.
Swimming in the river.
The man-made waterfall. If you look closely, you can see the people in the background resting against it. If felt pretty cool!I was able to meet more people from my church, so that was good! I don't know them super well, but I know names now, and they know mine. I want to go to more services at my church, so it is good to know people now. I found a few more people who speak English, so now when I get totally lost, I can ask them for help.
My new friend Hilma. Her mom is my Sunday School teacher.
On Sunday, we headed back to the city. Our bus broke right before we got into the city! Thankfully, they were able to fix it enough for us to get back home. It was a dusty and hot ride, but it was good to hang out with some of my new friends. I came home and went to bed by 7:30. When I say "lack of sleep," I really mean it! I've decided camp to them means dress up and no sleep. I went to bed earlier than most of them and still got only 5 or so hours of sleep every night. On the last two nights, the guys went around seranading their wives and girlfriends in the different cabins, so it's hard to sleep with that too! It was all worth it though, and I am hoping I can go back to camp another time. It was good to start building relationships with people there. I am looking forward to seeing what happens with people at church!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Spring Break Adventures, Part 1
YAY FOR SPRING BREAK!!! March was a very long and tiring month here in the DR, hence no blog posts after the Haiti one. March was Reading Month, which meant extra activities, Fair Day, where we had booths and such for each class that we had to run, and other little things here and there that just made for a very full month. But, now March is over and it's spring break! I can't believe it's already Wednesday, which means break is half over! And I have a feeling mine is going to get more crazy as the days go on...more about that later.
Let's see...well, I finally found an orphanage (actually a girl's home) to go spend time at and just love on the girls. They have 15 girls, most who are in middle and high school, but also a couple of little ones. Some friends and I have been going there every Thursday. My friends Bryan and Amy have been teaching them English. I either help with that or play with the little ones. I also got to visit another orphanage where a friend works about an hour away on Saturday. That was a lot of fun as well.
Since the title of my blog post is about Spring Break adventures, I should tell you all about my adventures so far this week. As I said earlier, I went to an orphanage on Saturday, and that was really neat. On Sunday, I did the usual: went to a Spanish speaking church all by myself :). Before I explain what happened next, I should give some background. I have some friends about 2 hours away who my mom met at Emmaus last May at Iron Sharpens Iron. They are a Dominican family but they speak English. They had invited me to come to their house Sunday-Wednesday and then go to a church camp Wednesday-Sunday. I was nervous but said I would do it. I didn't know my church was also going to that camp, but I found that out a little later. Anyway, as of Sunday morning, I had not even heard from them again and I was supposed to go with them that day to their house. So after church, a man came up to me and asked if I was going to camp. I tried to explain to him in my limited Spanish the situation. I told him I wanted to go but wasn't sure what was happening. He had me talk to another guy, who said he would call my friends and see what was up. But they told me to just plan on going in a bus with them from here on Wednessday. Anybody confused yet? Anyways, later on the guy from my church got ahold of my friend, and I did as well. He and his wife said just to go with my church on Wednesday, which is what I was already planning on doing. All that to say, I will be leaving in about an hour to go with them to a camp ALL IN SPANISH where I know very few people! It will be quite the adventure!
Sunday afternoon I didn't do too much, but I decided I would go to Sunday night church, which I never had done before because it is late and kind of far away. So I go to church, and it was awesome! People actually were talking to me! Everyone was very excited that I am going to the camp and kept telling all their friends that I was going! This lady who I had seen from far away but never talked to came up and talked to me. She ended up inviting me to go with her on Monday to another girl's house for dinner. They informed me we would be eating pig's legs! I decided to brave it and go anyway!
So on Monday, I went to this lady's house and then to the other girl's house for pig legs. The lady, Marlin, has a three month old little girl, so I finally got to hold a baby in this country! I was a little overwhelmed at the girl's house, but it was good. Let's just say I don't try to talk much! After a couple hours, out came the pig legs! Let's just say they don't look that appetizing, nor do they taste that great! Marlin knew I had never had them, and she thought it was hilarious! Of course, she told many others that I had never had them, so they are chuckling and watching me try to eat this thing! I didn't want to pick it up with my hands, so I was trying to eat it with a plastic fork. Let's just say it was difficult to get off the bone AND difficult to swallow! They of course noticed that I was not fond of it, but I tried to eat as much as I could! I will not be asking for pig legs for my next birthday dinner, that's for sure.
Tuesday passed with much fewer adventures. I spent the afternoon with my roommate and her friend that is here, so that was good. I went to school in the morning so I could be ready for school next week, as I don't get back from the camp until Sunday and I have heard that sleep is a scarce commodity! So...if you think about, please pray that I can understand at least some things and don't make too many cultural blunders! I heard it's a great week, so I am looking forward to it! I will definitely post pictures and stories when I get back!
I love Easter, as we get to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. May you also rejoice in this wonderful event that gives us so much hope! As my kids memorized last week, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24). Oh, that you may cross over! Have a wonderful Easter!
Let's see...well, I finally found an orphanage (actually a girl's home) to go spend time at and just love on the girls. They have 15 girls, most who are in middle and high school, but also a couple of little ones. Some friends and I have been going there every Thursday. My friends Bryan and Amy have been teaching them English. I either help with that or play with the little ones. I also got to visit another orphanage where a friend works about an hour away on Saturday. That was a lot of fun as well.
Since the title of my blog post is about Spring Break adventures, I should tell you all about my adventures so far this week. As I said earlier, I went to an orphanage on Saturday, and that was really neat. On Sunday, I did the usual: went to a Spanish speaking church all by myself :). Before I explain what happened next, I should give some background. I have some friends about 2 hours away who my mom met at Emmaus last May at Iron Sharpens Iron. They are a Dominican family but they speak English. They had invited me to come to their house Sunday-Wednesday and then go to a church camp Wednesday-Sunday. I was nervous but said I would do it. I didn't know my church was also going to that camp, but I found that out a little later. Anyway, as of Sunday morning, I had not even heard from them again and I was supposed to go with them that day to their house. So after church, a man came up to me and asked if I was going to camp. I tried to explain to him in my limited Spanish the situation. I told him I wanted to go but wasn't sure what was happening. He had me talk to another guy, who said he would call my friends and see what was up. But they told me to just plan on going in a bus with them from here on Wednessday. Anybody confused yet? Anyways, later on the guy from my church got ahold of my friend, and I did as well. He and his wife said just to go with my church on Wednesday, which is what I was already planning on doing. All that to say, I will be leaving in about an hour to go with them to a camp ALL IN SPANISH where I know very few people! It will be quite the adventure!
Sunday afternoon I didn't do too much, but I decided I would go to Sunday night church, which I never had done before because it is late and kind of far away. So I go to church, and it was awesome! People actually were talking to me! Everyone was very excited that I am going to the camp and kept telling all their friends that I was going! This lady who I had seen from far away but never talked to came up and talked to me. She ended up inviting me to go with her on Monday to another girl's house for dinner. They informed me we would be eating pig's legs! I decided to brave it and go anyway!
So on Monday, I went to this lady's house and then to the other girl's house for pig legs. The lady, Marlin, has a three month old little girl, so I finally got to hold a baby in this country! I was a little overwhelmed at the girl's house, but it was good. Let's just say I don't try to talk much! After a couple hours, out came the pig legs! Let's just say they don't look that appetizing, nor do they taste that great! Marlin knew I had never had them, and she thought it was hilarious! Of course, she told many others that I had never had them, so they are chuckling and watching me try to eat this thing! I didn't want to pick it up with my hands, so I was trying to eat it with a plastic fork. Let's just say it was difficult to get off the bone AND difficult to swallow! They of course noticed that I was not fond of it, but I tried to eat as much as I could! I will not be asking for pig legs for my next birthday dinner, that's for sure.
Tuesday passed with much fewer adventures. I spent the afternoon with my roommate and her friend that is here, so that was good. I went to school in the morning so I could be ready for school next week, as I don't get back from the camp until Sunday and I have heard that sleep is a scarce commodity! So...if you think about, please pray that I can understand at least some things and don't make too many cultural blunders! I heard it's a great week, so I am looking forward to it! I will definitely post pictures and stories when I get back!
I love Easter, as we get to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. May you also rejoice in this wonderful event that gives us so much hope! As my kids memorized last week, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24). Oh, that you may cross over! Have a wonderful Easter!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
