Goodbyes- No more blogs until January

I had a little goodbye party for myself tonight…….  I know that sounds pretty pitiful, but I had a bunch of cake mixes in my cupboards and thought a little party would be a good excuse to use them up before I leave the country for four months. As is common at most of the parties I host, people played Farkle (a dice game), dominos, listened to music, and ate lots of food.
I’m going to miss this country and all my friends a lot. I never thought it would happen those first years I was here, but now after nine years this place has really become my home. It feels a bit scary and unsettling to leave this place of comfort, yet I’m excited for all that awaits me.
Not only am I saying goodbye to my Dominican friends, but I’m also saying goodbye to this blog… at least until the new year. Thank you to all you who check it out from time to time. May God bless each of you with many spiritual blessings.

Visitors, Visitors, Visitors

After a day trip to the Travesia, a quick chicken dinner, and Youth Group I found out there was a big birthday party taking place at the community center right next to my house. I wasn’t sure how to break the news to the tired visitors staying in the barrio guest house (the third floor of the building I live in) that the incredibly loud music probably wouldn’t stop until 1 or 2 am. Luckily, this small group from Boston liked the idea of joining me for fresh baked cookies and games, what I usually do while I wait for these late night parties to end. And actually the next night they joined me again for cookies and a few games of Farkle after a long day of visiting with pastors and seeing the sights of La Vega. We’re all looking forward to having them join us next summer with a larger short term team.
 
It’s also been fun to have my old Internship leader and family here this past week. I haven’t spent loads of time with them as they’re staying out at the TEARS center, yet it’s been fun reminiscing a little bit about the internship, finding out what old friends are up to these days, and talking about how the Gospel has and is impacting our lives.  
On top of those visitors we also have a few dear friends from Varsity Church of Calgary, Alberta here right now. I love it how they really are seen like family at El Camino Church and in the barrio. They’ve been coming down the past 5+ years once or twice a year not only blessing the community with kids camps, a water purification system, medical clinics, and teaching training but with real lasting friendships. So fun to have them here!

Saturday Youth Group

Last Saturday was the first El Camino Youth Group meeting held in years. We played games, sang some worship songs as well as some rap songs, and studied the bible together. Mostly young guys showed up because a lot of the girls went to a big birthday party that same night, yet I’m looking forward to seeing what God does in the lives of both the teenage guys and girls of this barrio through these meetings and cell groups some of the leaders are starting.    

The First Ever El Camino Youth Camp

Thank you so much for praying for this event! It was a great success! Here’s a few pictures to give you an idea of some of the things we did.

Learned how to play basketball (girls don’t get to do that very often), soccer, dance, and also did a few work projects.  Had fun getting wet on a very hot day, thanks to the local firemen.  Did a lot of fun games and team challenges; like human pyramids, relays, human knots, and more.And had some great times of bible study and prayer.

Taking a Cat to the Vet in the D.R.

I laughed at the idea of taking my cat to the vet in a pillow case, but after my cat broke the only cardboard box I had I was left with no other option. Nube (my cat) almost managed to get out of the pillowcase halfway there, but luckily the motorcycle taxi driver stopped just in time to help me get him back in.
I don’t know what it’s like taking a cat to the vet in the states but it took four of us to hold my cat down as the vet inspected his ears and face (he had ear mites and scratched all around his ears and face). And after the vet put a cone on his head he acted like the Tasmanian Devil and scared the little girls in the waiting room, luckily Nube was on a leash. I think Nube is the only cat in the Barrio that’s ever had a cone on his head, so he gets stared at a lot, but at least he’s getting better. Unfortunately I’m supposed to take him back to the vet this week, so another motorcycle trip for Nube inside a pillow case. I’m not sure what you guys are thinking as you read this, but even the posh vet I took Nube to said a pillowcase is the best way to take him to the vet.

The Next Two Weeks

I’ve been having a hard time getting much of anything done lately. I have so much on my mind that it’s hard to stop thinking and actually do all the things I need do. When I bought my tickets to head back to North Africa this fall it seemed so far away and exciting. Now that I only have two weeks before I take off I’m a little bit overwhelmed with all I have to do and a little bit nervous about leaving for so long (4 months). I need to do some work on my house before I go, put everything in boxes, find a home for my cat who presently has a cone on his head, find someone to look after all my plants, catch up on all the work I didn’t do while the last team was here, get ready for the visitors coming this week, visit friends around the barrio and say goodbyes, and get my heart and head ready for North Africa. Not to mention language learning (French and Arabic) and jewelry making I had hoped to do (in order to get a bit extra cash). And above all I long to make prayer and worship a priority of each day. All that to say, I really cherish your prayers during this busy time.

A Little Reading and Relaxation

Ok, so not too much relaxation, but I have been enjoying a few good books lately. I want to share a short section from The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne. I’m only about a third of the way through so far, but it’s about a guy who’s passion to meet real Christians (people living as Christ called us to live) and desire to live as a true follower of Christ took him all over the world; to the streets of Philadelphia, Calcutta working with Mother Teresa, Wheaton College, Willow Creek Church, and as I read on I’m assuming there will be other places as well.

Here’s a section that stuck out to me…….

After Mother Teresa died, I was in an interview with some reporter who asked me if Mother Teresa’s spirit will live on. I said, “To be honest, Mother Teresa died a long time ago, when she gave her life to Jesus. The joy and compassion and love that the world finds so magnetic are only Jesus, and that is eternal.” I saw that eternal love all over Calcutta. I did indeed see Christ in Mother Teresa, but I also found Christ in the lepers, the children, the destitute, the workers. I even began to recognize that Christ lives in me.

I don’t know about you guys but I often desire to do something in this life that will inspire others and will make my name known to this generation and to the next. I know this is a wrong desire and it’s a struggle for me. How silly it is of me to long to make my name known when the good things I do are only because Christ lives in me. How freeing it would be if I could really recognize and live as though He truly lives in me.

(Claiborne, Shane. The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. The Simple Way, 2006. Pp. 89)

El Camino Youth Weekend

From Friday night till Sunday evening we ran a youth camp at El Camino Church for roughly 100 teenagers. We had games and team challenges, sports activities, dance, community work projects, cooking classes, computer classes, photography classes, dramas, and a good gospel message each day. I got to lead the photography classes, in which I explained a few basic things about taking good pictures, sent the youth out in groups with small digital cameras, and then together we reviewed their work. Over half of the youth had never used a camera before so it was fun to see them enjoying themselves and a lot of their pictures were really impressive too. Here’s a few of my favorites.

Fun at Youth Camp

Four hours of sleep a night, goofy skits, challenge course, teenagers flirting, girls spending hours on their hair & makeup, swimming, rock climbing, card games, talent shows, fancy last night dinner, camp fires, and so much more. Oh, the joys of summer camp!Thanks to some of Joy’s friends a group of 11 girls from the barrio (Mujercitas members) were able to go to a Young Life camp in Jarabacoa for four nights. I just joined them for the last two nights, and really I don’t know if I could have made it the whole time as I no longer have much youthful energy, yet I enjoyed every minute of the camp. What did I like? Well, the beautiful mountainous scenery, the cool breeze, funny Dominican skits, warm showers, really nice staff, fun getting to know the girls, doing makeup with the girls…………………….. ………………. laughing as we watched the camp video (one of our cabin leaders got caught on film as we dropped her during the trust fall, fortunately she didn’t get hurt), worshiping together, late night hot chocolate around the campfire,  and seeing the girls excited about their new bibles. 

One man’s garbage, another man’s treasure

With the help of the most recent team we were able to clean out the TEARS storage space and go through what we use, what we don’t use, and what is beyond repair. We put all the “beyond repair” items out in the front area letting friends and neighbors take whatever they could put to use. Fun outfits were found, wood and metal scraps to be used by construction workers, random craft supplies to be used for home decorations, school supplies and more. Practically everything was gone by the next morning.

Getting into Missions

Once when I was sharing how God used Matthew 9:35-36 to bring me to the D.R. a lady commented that she thought it was weird that God’s response to my request for more compassion was to bring me to the mission field. She’d heard of people being led to the mission field after praying for direction, clarity on what they should do for God, what country he wanted them to go to, etc., but not when praying for a characteristic. That was probably about five years ago, but it just hit me this week how much sense it makes that God would guide me in the way he did. Being the hard working, task focused American that I am it’s taken me a long time to stop thinking about missions/ my Christian walk in terms of doing things for God. Just as any follower of Christ, the goal of a missionary should simply be loving and living like their great Lord, savior and friend. If that’s the focus and not doing things, than it makes perfect since that as we (followers of Christ) simply aim to love him and be more like him that he would lead us to various parts of the world to do as he did. So to all my friends who are desiring clearer direction from God, I want to encourage you to stop stressing about what you do and where you go so much. I just want to encourage you to really seek to know and love Jesus more, let His amazing love and life turn your life upside down!

One of the Hardest Working Teams Ever

It’s always hard to judge how much work we should have ready for a short term team to do. Sometimes we prepare a few different work projects but by the end of two days the team is bored because there wasn’t enough work to do, they leave feeling like they didn’t accomplish much. But with other teams, like our most recent team, we sometimes give them too much work, more than is physically possible for them to finish before their departure date. Yet Zion Lutheran met the challenge! They worked till it was dark, got to the work site hours before planned, and even worked in the pouring down rain. All their hard work really paid off too. I’ll post some photos soon of the finished work projects!

  

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