Grace Like Rain

As I sit here listening to the rain outside my window, I can't help but think about the "grace like rain" that pours down on me. The last month, and more, has shown me so much about grace and what it means. It's been a long time since I've posted, so I will try to catch you up on the happenings of May.

First of all, I only have EIGHT school days left! One is a field trip, one a half day, and one is field day! Really, the time is going to go so fast! Our last day of school is June 4. I cannot believe the year is almost over. I'm ready for a break but I'm not ready to give my kids up. I told them i am keeping them all and they can't go to fourth grade. They didn't like that very much! We have grown so much together this year. I love seeing their passion for Jesus. They are AMAZING prayer warriors! They are still praying for needs I brought to them months ago.

Last week was spirit week, and they had a ton of fun dressing up for it. Here are some pictures of the craziness:

The next 50s boy band! For oldies day, I showed them pictures of Elvis and most of my boys dressed from that era. It was hilarious! They did most of this posing on their own!

Oldies Day Crazy Picture!
Pajama Day. Taking a nap--Miss Seeman wears us out!

Yes, to all you teachers out there, it was CRAZY having spirit week so close to the end of school. They were even crazier than they would have been, but it was a good week.

I have been getting more involved in my church, specifically in the area of the kid's drama. A lady approached me at camp about helping with it. A few weeks later, she asked if I would write a skit for them. She needed a drama for Mother's Day and wanted to use one the kids already knew about Noah's Ark. Yes, I know what you are thinking--how in the WORLD does Noah's Ark relate to Mother's Day? You're right--it doesn't. I wrote a skit about Noah's sons talking about how their mother didn't give up and helped right alongside them to finish the ark and how much they were thankful for their mother to go before the drama. Okay, so that helps it tie in at least a little :). Then, the lady asked me to be IN the drama! Thinking I was only in the skit I wrote, I said yes. THEN I found out I need to be in ALL of it! I still don't know exactly what I am supposed to do. Yay for huge language barriers! I guess I'll find out come Tuesday when we perform. Mother's Day here is the 31st, which is why we haven't celebrated it at church yet.

I am still going to a girl's home on Thursday nights with one of my roommates and a couple who works at the school. They have two little ones at the home now, three and four, a couple who are seven or eight, and the rest are pre-teens and teens. It has been good for my Spanish and really good to hang out with some girls in a non-school environment. The littlest one is crazy--she makes me laugh a lot!

I am trying to think of all the crazy cultural stories that have happened this last month that I was going to write down to put in my blog and of course didn't and now can't remember any of them. Hmm...come on brain! A few weeks ago, I went to a birthday party at a farm for one of my little boys. The contrast between rich and poor is just so startling here! There was of course a butler serving drinks. They brought pizza out, and I was like "whew, I can understand this!" But of course the pizza was only for the kids! They called the grown-ups inside to have a huge sit down dinner with china and linen AT A THIRD GRADERS PARTY. Wow. I have tasted bits of the liftestyle of the rich, and I must say I'm not sure I could live like that. My kids don't even understand that there are people who don't have enough food to eat. They waste food more than I knew was possible. All day I'm faced with life like that, and then I go to church, where some of the families are wondering where their next meal comes from. My heart is burdened and I don't even know how to express it or what to do. I tell my students about the need and they don't even know how to process it. I see the need and I struggle over my thoughts and what God wants for me. I feel like at this moment He has called me to work with the wealthy children, when sometimes all I want to do is go work among the poor. But I know God has a plan in all things, and I love that I can openly share the gospel with my kids. They know I LOVE to talk about Jesus, and they have that same passion. May they continue to have that same passion.I understand that not all wealthy kids have no concept of the poor people. My prayer is that my students would change and be aware of the needs around them. I can't even imagine how many lives they could change if they did!

There are little things that are different when living in another culture. Sometimes I grow so accustumed to them that I forget most people don't experience these things on a daily basis. Let's see if I can think of some...
-Riding home from church with six or seven Dominicans in a little car. Of course, all the women are talking and talking quickly! It's quite the ride home!
-Motorcycles or scooters that can carry anything and everything. Today I saw two people on a little scooter thing and the driver had a guitar standing upright resting on the floor up to his nose in front of him!
-Fruit and vegetable sellers that come by in old pickups at all hours of the day.
-Plantains in sushi. It was surprisingly good!
-Going to the salon and just getting your hair washed and dried. Maybe some of you have experienced this, but I had never before gone to the salon without getting a hair cut. Many here just go to get their hair washed and blow dried straight.
-No cross walks anywhere. Well, they do have them, but nobody pays attention to them. We pray like crazy before crossing the street!
-Greeting each other cheek to cheek. I am actually going to miss this a lot when I go back to the states! Even if you don't know someone, you greet them. It is such a friendly culture!

As some of you know, I have had a lot of health problems this year. One problem has been with my skin. The doctors haven't been able to figure it out. I went to one last week who thinks he knows what is wrong with it. Praise the Lord! The challenge is the medicine is expensive, but God has already been providing for my needs. It is amazing how He provides in ways you never expect! I am hoping my skin will clear up and I won't have to think about skin problems ever again! My voice has also held out for FIVE months! Yay! It is still not very strong, but it is much better than it was, and I have been able to teach all semester. It is amazing the things you learn to not take for granted when they are taken away from you!

God has been teaching me more about relying on Him in everything. I tend to be a perfectionist, and He has been teaching me that my imperfect perfection is nothing compared to his perfections. I need to let go and let Him work in my life without trying to control everything. I need to have faith. I need to trust Him at all times. I am so thankful for the grace He pours out on my life!

I can't believe I will be in the states in just two and a half weeks! I haven't been back since early August. I am leaving here June 10th. I will be in Iowa, Colorado, Seattle, and New Mexico this summer. I am excited to see people in those places and catch up! God has done so much in my life this year, and I am sure it is the same for you. May you feel His incredible grace this week!

By Faith

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!

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.