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!

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!

Haiti

Yesterday, I took a personal day and went with some friends to an orphanage and school in Haiti. Wow. I don't even know how to begin describing that experience with you. This blog post may end up being very long, so those of you who want to hear about my trip in detail can read it. Those who don't, feel free to just look at the pictures of all the cute kids :).

I have been wanting to go to Haiti and visit an orphanage since I got here. There is one just across the border called Danita's Children. Some people connected to my school here go there pretty much every week. Usually they go on a school day, so I was never able to go. My friend Sarah told me she was going to take a personal day to go, so I decided to do the same and go with her, her friend who was visiting, and the couple who usually goes on Fridays.

To start out with, we took a bus from here in Santiago to the border, which, on a good day with a good bus driver, takes about two and a half hours. Going there, we thankfully had both a good day and a good driver. Once we got to where we got off to walk across the border, it got a little crazy. On Mondays and Fridays, there is a market on both the Haiti and DR sides. Haitians are allowed to freely cross the border and buy things and then return. That of course means many people pushing wheelbarrows full of stuff, carrying stuff on their heads, in their arms... however they can do it. Annie, the lady who goes weekly, said she had never seen it so crazy as it was yesterday. There were people literally everywhere! Many times we were stuck in a sea of dark skin not able to move for minutes or else being pushed along and getting run over by wheelbarrows! I have some pictures, but they don't do the craziness justice! It was this crazy all the way across the bridge and into Haiti. We thankfully got across the border just fine, as they will often charge, but we got permission to go over for the day.This does not even begin to show how crazy it was getting through the hoards of people, but you can see the big bags tied onto wheelbarrows, people carrying things on their head, and a little bit of how the people are super close together. Some people decided NOT to deal with trying to get across the bridge and made their own way across the river!Here are more people trying to get across the border.

Hope for Haiti Children's Home, also known as Danita's Children, is about a 5 minute walk from the border into Haiti. When we arrived, the children were all in school. The ministry has about 75 orphans and 580 kindergarten-eighth graders who go to school there. The ones who are not orphans living there are very poor children from the community. It is amazing what they do with very few supplies. The kindergarteners and other classes meet in the large chapel, where many classes are meeting at once. You could barely hear the teacher, yet the 30 or so kids in the first kindergarten class we saw were sitting quietly listening to them. They learn in Creole and French, so I of course did not understand anything! It totally challenged my view of a classroom, as the first group of kindergarteners we saw were sitting only in chairs, many of which were broken--no crayons, no paper, no nothing. This school has some of that, but obviously not enough to use it all the time like we do. It made me appreciate the resources we have.
The first kindergarten class we visited. Annie is working with them on some French. Notice that many of the chairs have lost the wood that is supposed to be on the back. The kids sang us a song in Creole, French, and English. I have heard that song in English and Swahili, and it was so cute to hear these kids sing it in more languages for us. They were so cute!

Two older boys who came over to watch and see what the white people were doing. Notice the socks and tennis shoes--even the girls all had socks. A lot of the little girls had frilly girly socks like I had when I was little.


We looked around some more, and then it was time for chapel. Annie had asked Sarah, my friend, to do some impromptu Bible story skits for chapel, and Sarah asked me to help. After listening to them sing in Creole, we went up in front of all those kids and did some silent Bible story skits, like David and Goliath, Jesus calming the storm, and Jonah in the Big Fish. It was funny to have Sarah be the big fish and eat me and then spit me back out. Of course, there were some glitches since we didn't practice at all, but the kids loved it. They got to guess what we were acting out, and thankfully they figured out most of them.

The kindergarteners singing in chapel. They have good voices! Notice all the hair ribbons. Many of the girls had bows all over their heads.

I am not quite sure what story we were acting out at this point, or what I am doing with my arms, but you can see our crazy expressions.

Little boys at the back trying to see our skits.

A little girl just checking things out during chapel.


Chapel lasted about an hour, and then it was about lunch time. Another part of their ministry is feeding all those children lunch. With over 600 people, that is a lot of work and a lot of money! For many of these kids who do not live there, that is the only meal they get all day. I think we served for about an hour since they had to eat in shifts so everyone could fit in the cafeteria. Every single kid said thank you to a meal I probably as a child would have looked at and said, "that's it?" Wow. It showed me how blessed I truly am. It was funny because some kids said thank you in Creole, some in Spanish, and some in English, probably to impress us. We never knew which language we would be saying "You're welcome in!" I never got the Creole one down. Oh well :).

Serving Lunch

After we ate, we helped them sort through donated toys and supplies. That took a while. As we were taking some of the supplies and putting them in a crate outside, one of the little girls who was finished with school, as they go in shifts, came up and just put her hand in mine. I had never seen this girl before, nor could I even talk to her. It is amazing what you will do when you are craving love! She was not one of the orphans, but obviously wanting just to be loved. She stayed with me until her dad came. She swung on my lap and just held my hand. We couldn't even get her to say her name, but that didn't matter to her. She enjoyed just getting love. Wow.Some of the donations that we sorted through. The orphanage was features on "Extreme Home Makeover" in November in part of a special on a family who adopted 5 boys from Haiti. The family wanted to give back to Haiti, so the TV show sent two containers full of food, toys, school supplies, etc. A lot of the supplies have already been given to those who need it.

Sarah modeling one of the more unusual donations. I think it said something about being a cool shark or something.

My little friend and I. I could not get her to smile in the pictures, but since i couldn't talk to her, it was kind of difficult!

This picture captures so much. I love the girls in their uniforms, holding hands, just enjoying each other. Wow.

A little girl using her recess time to look at a book. I love her hair bows!

These two girls caught me trying to take their picture, even though I was quite a ways away, and rewarded me with huge smiles!

Boys will be boys. Playing in the dirt is great in any country!

Shortly after my little friend left, it was time for us to go back across the border and catch the bus back home. The border was a lot less hectic this time. Most people had already come and gone from Market.
The market on the Haiti side.

I want to learn how to do this!

I think these women are doing laundry in the river. I am so thankful for a washing machine!

The bus ride back, however, was much crazier than the ride there. The buses are not supposed to stop and get people or let them off along the way because it is an express route. Some do though, and this one sure did. It was also making really strange sounds, like it was falling apart, and going really slow. Annie and I could not figure out what was going on. After we stopped and the bus driver got out for like the fifth time, Sarah and her friend Dar told us we were pulling another bus! They could see from their seats, but we couldn't. We had been pulling a bus our same size for over a half hour! If that wasn't crazy enough, I guess that wasn't working, so the driver decided we would PUSH the other bus! We got behind it and began pushing it by "gently" running into it! Thankfully we did not push it all the way to Santiago. Because of all this, we were about a half hour late getting back into town. That was definitely one of the most interesting bus rides I have taken!

After a fairly interesting taxi ride (I have never ridden with a taxi that has a DVD player showing Jacki Chan on the dashboard before) we made it home. The whole trip was incredible, and I hope to go back often and soon. It was like walking into what I want to do some day with my life. I do not know if God will have me more involved at that home, but it is what the Lord has laid on my heart to do some day. I am so glad I was able to go and help out, but like many things, I got more out of it than I had to give. I learned a lot about how much I truly have and how I need to love on kids. Even working with the wealthy kids, I need to show them that I love them, and even more than that, that Jesus loves them. It broke my heart to see the poverty, but I am trusting that Jesus has a plan even for that. I am thankful for organizations like Danita's Children who are working to reach out to these precious kids.

That post was really long. I hope it gave you a good glimpse into part of my life. If you think of it, please pray for Danita's Children and all the ministries involved with that. It takes a TON of work, and they are very understaffed. It also costs a lot to do all of it. But our God is big enough to handle all that and more. What a mighty God we serve!

Day by Day

I am learning more about relying on the grace of God to face my trials moment by moment. The song that's currently floating through my head says, "Day by day, and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in the Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear." Wow. Even through the most challenging of days, I can trust in the Father, and He will give me the strength to face my trials right here. Not in the future, not yesterday, but now. What an amazing God we serve! I am overwhelmed by His goodness and learning more about trusting that His plan is best. In those tough days, it is good for me to focus on the joys around me. One of my favorite verses says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12). I need to remember that I can be joyful in hope DURING affliction. I thought I would share with you all out there some of those joys.

Things that make my day:
~Hugs from my awesome third graders
~Sunrises and sunsets
~Laughter
~The funny things my kids say on accident and on purpose
~Letters in my mailbox
~My students asking me questions about Jesus and really seeking
~Passion fruit
~Having a voice!
~Spending time with my Savior, who I can talk to with and without a voice

Some of those are definitely more important than others, but it is so cool to stop and see the little things that make such a big difference. So often I can pass by them quickly. Regarding my kids seeking Jesus, please pray for them. They have asked me some tough questions lately but are truly seeking to know more about this thing called faith. One of my boys asked me, "How do we know that God is the one true God?" What an awesome opportunity I have to tell them about the best thing ever! Some of them are really close to trusting. Please pray that they would make that decision and follow Him the rest of their lives.

I will try to post pictures of whale watching on here soon. I have yet to download them onto my computer. May you find strength to meet your trials, holding onto God's grace for each passing moment.

God is Big

Well, it's only been 2 weeks since my last post! I'm slowly moving up in the world! This one will probably not have any pictures, but I wanted to give you an update on my life in the past couple of weeks. Let's see...
-One highlight was definitely going whale watching this past weekend. The DR is the only place in the world where humpback whales come to have their babies. They come from as far away as Iceland EVERY YEAR! We went out on Friday and were able to see a baby and its mother. Wow. God truly showed me that He is a big God. He created a huge creature who has the ability to travel thousands of miles every year! And that's only one of the things He made! Isn't he awesome? If I ever figure out how to post a video, I will post one I got of the mama whale coming right up by our boat. She is about 50 feet long. It was incredible.
-This week is Spiritual Emphasis Week at school. A group of highschool seniors from a Christian school in the states came down to help with it. We had our first chapel today, and the kids loved it! Highlights included puppets, songs, and skits. We are looking forward to the rest of the week!
-Hmm, on a not so fun note, I managed to sprain my ankle this weekend. Another stupid injury to add to the list. No exciting stories, though I tell people I am going to say that I fell off the whale watching boat, got swallowed by a big fish, like Jonah, and then got spit back out and hurt my ankle. That's a cooler story than falling off a single step in the dark! I am supposed to be on crutches all week. Today was killer trying to teach with them. We'll see if I make it that long with them! Even through this, I have learned that God is bigger than the little things that get in our way. I can still teach and serve Him even with a hurt foot! Please pray for fast and complete healing.
-Falling more in love with our big God every day. Sometimes I struggle with seeing Him in the little things and spending time with Him every moment of every day, but it is so worth it. Today I had an AMAZING conversation with my kids about God. We could have talked all day! It made me so excited to talk about my favorite subject with them. Their hearts are open--please pray that they would not only ask Jesus to take away their sins, but that they would serve Him the rest of their lives. These are the kids who are the future leaders of the DR. May they really love Jesus with all their hearts! What a blessing their childlike faith has been to me. Wow. God is so big, and I love how he shows me that in the little ways each and every day! May you see that as you go about your day as well.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wow, I said I would get better at this, and I still haven't. Sorry to all my readers out there who even bother checking this since I don't really write much. Hopefully that will change soon. I haven't written much mainly because I haven't taken many pictures and I didn't want to just write a word post. Let's see if I can remember what has been happening in the last month...

-I have been able to teach every day since Christmas! My voice has held out, and for that I am so thankful! It is scratchy by Friday, but I can still teach. It definitely has changed. I cannot sing as high as I used to nor can I change pitch very well by the time Friday rolls around. But I am very thankful that I have been able to be in the classroom everyday!

-I finally decided for sure to regularly attend the church down here that is similar to the ones I grew up in. I am the only American and therefore the only one who doesn't speak Spanish who goes there out of about 300 people, but it's good. People have started to talk to me. One couple, their daughter, and the wife's mother have taken me home a few times. That's been quite the trip! The first time, there were 7 of us in their little car! When the first one got out and there were only 6, it felt like a luxury vehicle with tons of space! Last week, the dad was trying to talk to me, and his Spanish is very hard to understand. The funniest part was everything I would say in Spanish, the grandmother would repeat in Spanish for the dad! I was already speaking in Spanish, so it made me laugh! I probably misunderstood half of what he said, but oh well.

-Two weeks ago I had the privilege of going to an English speaking Women's Retreat in the mountains. It was an amazing time of reflection and meeting other Americans on the island. God taught me a lot through it. On Saturday, a group of us went for a very long hike in the mountains. It was beautiful! I went back down on a motoconcho, which is like a motorcycle taxi, with a friend because she had really bad blisters on her feet. That was quite the adventure to say the least! It was a really good weekend, and I am sad it only happens once a year.

-Yesterday at school we celebrated Valentine's Day. My room literally looked like a candy store--it was ridiculous! I am glad it was only a half day, because my kids were crazy the whole time! My mom had sent me stuff for them to make Valentines for their moms, which they absolutely loved. We did that earlier in the week and they took them home on Friday. Here are some pictures of making Valentines and other fun things associated with that....
Making Valentines for our moms and having a fake smile when Miss Seeman pulls out the camera :).
Yes, I can make a Valentine for my mom even with a broken arm!
Amanda and I making cookies for our classes. We ended up with a few more than we had planned--she and I only needed 40 and in this picture there are about 90--we ended up with over 150 cookies when we only needed 80 total for four of us to give to our classes. We spent over 6 hours making and decorating cookies, but it was exciting.
Happy Valentine's Day! One of my girls brought in this cake--notice how big it is. The heart shaped cakes I had always seen were about a third as big as this one!
Thank you Mrs. Seeman for the cool pencils, stickers, and heart candies! My mom sends them a lot of things, and they love it! In one girl's words yesterday, "Your mom sends us a lot of stuff and she's not rich!" They couldn't believe it that my parents didn't have a ton of money after all the things she has sent us. It was a good opportunity to talk about generosity.

Let's see, what else...

-Hundred's Day has come and gone. I can't believe we have been in school for over a hundred days! I am still enjoying my kids, so that is good.

-I have been introducing many new subjects/concepts since Christmas. We have started to learn multiplication. I am hoping they will really understand it and be plenty ready for fourth grade! So far they are doing well. Now they have to just memorize all of them! We also started Science, which they absolutely LOVE! We have done many experiments. Right now we are talking about living things, and we were talking about metamorphosis. A couple weeks ago I saw some tadpoles in a little creek right outside the school. I thought it would be exciting for my kids to go out and look at them. We looked on Thursday and they LOVED it! I knew they would want to keep one, so I told them we could. I brought a jar to catch them, hoping one of the maintenence guys would be willing to. Unfortunately, I could not find one yesterday. The kids were so excited about it that I went down into the nasty, slimy creek to try and catch one. They are super fast, and it was taking a while. The kids were all telling me where to catch one. Meanwhile, the guard comes over and starts watching me try to catch one while my kids are all smashed up against the fence telling me what to do. I am sure it was quite the sight! I am so thankful there is a fence there or all my kids would have fallen in the creek! So the guard tells me to scoop faster, and finally I catch one. I get the kids all together and start to head in, and then the guard tells me it's not a tadpole but a guppy instead. So I had to do it all over again! I finally caught one, so now we have a tadpole sitting in our room! I have a feeling it will be dead by Monday, but we will see. Does anyone know how to keep them alive?

I love that here in the DR, today is a day of love AND friendship. I want to say thank you to all you readers who are my friends. I appreciate you a lot! On this day set aside for love and friendship, I can't help but think about the One who is my true friend. He will never leave me nor forsake me. Jesus gave up His own life to show me that love. God gave up His only Son because He loved me! There is no greater love than one who lays down His life for His friends! Thank you Jesus for laying down your life for me and for calling me your friend! May you truly feel the love of our Savior today.

2008

I had lots of deep and profound things to write until I sat down to write them....hmmm. I think my brain fell out! Well, the rest of my break was wonderful. It was awesome to have my parents here, and then my friend Katie came. We got to do a number of things together, including snorkeling, lying on the beach, WHITEWATER RAFTING for my birthday!, and a baseball game. Dominican games are very different than American ones! We stayed with a great Dominican family when we went to the beach, so that was a good experience too.

Now I am back in the swing of things with my kids. It is good to be back with them. They were really quiet all week, which is not normal, but it was really nice! We started multiplication this past week, which they absolutely LOVE! It will be interesting to see if they continue to love it!

I am starting to fall in love with my church. It has taken me a while, but I am so glad it is happening. I am going to a church that is the same kind I grew up in, but in a church of 300, I am the only American and the only non-Spanish speaker. Talk about standing out! I met a lady though who speaks English, so sometimes she translates the preaching for me. I understand a lot more when she does, but I am slowly starting to understand even without it. I love that it is the same format as my churches back home. I love worshiping the same Lord with believers who speak another language. Today we were singing about all languages confessing that Jesus is Lord. I love that I was singing it in another language with believers that speak another language. Isn't our God awesome? People are slowly starting to realize that I know a little Spanish, so they are talking to me, which is always nice. It is good to break out of my comfort zone and do things in a language I don't fully understand.

Looking back on the year 2008 reminds me so much of God's faithfulness. He has brought me a long ways this year and has shown Himself in so many ways! The first day of 2008 I was traveling to and arriving in Kenya, and the last day of 2008 I spent in the Dominican Republic. During that time I went from college student with no job prospects to college graduate teaching third grade in another country! My verse for the year was Romans 12:12--Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. God taught me a lot through that verse. I had many opportunities this year to be joyful in hope: playing with my first graders in Kenya, holding precious orphan babies, counseling at camp, teaching third graders, seeing God transform my life in so many ways, and more. I also had plenty of opportunities to be patient in affliction: not being able to talk for two weeks twice, skin problems, not knowing where He wants me to teach or do, and many other things in my life that He was changing to make more like Him, but the process was so hard. And of course, I had many opportunities to be faithful in prayer! I am so thankful for all He did in my life in 2008! He shut many doors (slammed some) and opened many others.

I am so glad He brought me here though! I have not been able to spend any time at an orphanage, and that has been so hard, but so many other opportunities have been great. I love my kids, I love my roommates, I love my church... God is good! I pray that you have seen that in your life this year too!

On to 2009...I have no idea what it will bring, but I am excited for it! I am excited to have God work more in my life this year. I am still praying about a year verse, but it might be a couple. My goal is to truly get to know God better. How can I fall completely in love with Him when I don't know Him? I don't just want to know about God, I want to know God! May I truly do that this year. I am so thankful for our faithful God who does no wrong! May you experience His faithfulness in your life this year. Hallelujah, what a Savior!