Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!  What a special day today is, and I hope you all get to spend it with loved ones.  J, Aubrey and I are so blessed by each of you and your families.  We could not be fulfilling our called mission of spreading the love of Christ here in the Dominican without the support from you.  What is extra special about today is that we get to spend Thanksgiving in the Dominican, our home away from home, with other missionaries.  We are very excited and blessed to join them.  We have so much to be thankful for as God continues to provide in every way and I literally mean every way: financially; spiritually as it is easy to get run down; physically- Praise the Lord not one of us has truly been sick since arriving here including Aubrey!; mentally- He prepares us for His constant pushing outside our comfort zone; relationally- keeping us focused on Him and His work, focusing on our little family, and building the relations we have with our family here in the DR...  There is so much our wonderful Savior does for us every day (remember He cares about the red lights!).  We pray each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.  Psalm 95:2-3

 

 

p.s.  The commencement of Christmas music can officially begin!!  :)

Ranger Rick

Have we got a story for you... go ahead and sit down because this is going to be good...

Allow me to set the scene:
Friday night, dark outside and raining heavily on and off.  We have just finished eating dinner at a new place called Gordito's (a little Mexican place with awesome guacamole and I am a guacamole connoisseur) with another missionary family we met awhile ago (the ones from Tennessee with 5 kids- power ranger photo).  We are driving back home following a wonderful evening, the rain has picked up, and we see (barely I might add) the "Dominican police force" in the middle of the street randomly stopping cars.  And lucky us, we were chosen!  Woo hoo (think of Toy Story with the aliens... "we've been chosen")!!  Immediately, my heart is RACING out of my chest.  So, J pulls over to the side of the street and rolls down the window.

Ranger Rick (RR): (imagine the most determined, hard faced police officer ever)  I need to see your license.
J: Yes sir.
RR: (while looking at the license and walking around front of car to check lights) Change your lights to high beams.
J: complies
RR: (walks to back of car and returns to driver's side) How long have you been here?
J: About 3 months.
RR: (stare at Americans for 15 to 20 seconds)...When did you get here?
J: August 15.
RR: I need to see your insurance.
J: complies, Ranger Rick has walked away with J's license
            -exit RR, enter good cop (GC)
GC: Good evening Mr. and Mrs.
J: Good evening.
GC: The problem we have is an out of town license is only good for 90 days.  I'm going to have to escort you to AMMET (basically a DMV).
J: complies...
            -GC enters car
Candace: Should we go ahead and call Pastor Rivas?
J: Yes, where's my phone.
Candace: dials Pastor's number in phone (imagine your favorite phone call theme music... our favorite is the "Ghostbusters" theme song...."who you gonna call, ghostbusters...")
J explains predicament to Tati (Pastor Rivas' wife)
Tati: PASTOR!!!!
J explains predicament to Pastor who says Raphael and I are on our way.
             -Drive with GC to the station and sit there with the other "convicts" until we hear the trumpet sounding the calvary has arrived (Pastor Rivas and Raphael arrive on their trusty steed the Toyota Tacoma)

At this point, Pastor explained to the officers that we were within our 90 days because on October 4 we crossed over to Haiti and reentered the Dominican thereby receiving a fresh 90 days.  It ultimately took J and Raphael going to pick up our passports to resolve the situation.  In reality, the situation had been resolved in October when the Holy Spirit insisted and pushed us to make the trip to Haiti.  God saw fit to allow this difficult situation to enter our lives, but not without the foresight to resolve the situation over a month ago.  Our God is so big and always in control even in situations we cannot understand.  So thank you God for this opportunity to witness your power!

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord..." Jeremiah 29:11 (again thanks to Cael for learning these with hand motions.  J and I continue to do the motions along with the verse!)

If you build it...they will come

Hey gang!  I hope things are going great wherever you are, and you are enjoying this special time of anticipation for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I know J, Aubrey and I are looking forward to coming back to the States in December to see everyone and get some food.  I must admit that we are missing the fast food and the Mexican and all the unhealthy food we used to eat.  :)  I cannot wait to get myself a big 'ol Whataburger with cheese! Mmmmm....  I know, I know... one wouldn't think it's the food you miss, but you do.  I love rice and beans and chicken (basically a staple here in the DR) and I must say J has become even more creative at trying to make some of our favorite meals from back home (chicken fried rice, Chuy's burritos with hatch sauce...) but it's not quite the same. 

We are still moving along here.  Again, I keep meaning to blog and something comes up in the evening and it's basically been a week again.  So, I'm just going to give you a run down on what's been going on...

*ESL is still going strong.  Our last classes for this semester are actually next week!  I cannot believe we are basically finished with the semester.  We still have new people joining almost every week which is great.  God reaches people in so many ways, and we pray He uses this to bring "just one more" to Christ! 

*J still meets Monday evenings with our AIM staff to discuss upcoming items and plans and needs.  It is going great and it is amazing to witness the growth in our guys.  They are beginning to plan ahead (Praise the Lord!!) which is quite the advance and anticipate needs and ideas.

*This past Saturday was another clean up event in Cangrejo.  Again, we are trying to raise up the communities in the area by literally cleaning them and showing them what the love of Christ looks like.  Here are some pictures of the day...

*J got to attend a new site with our volleyball guys on Tuesday to discuss who AIM is (what it does, what it believes...) and add them to our areas.  This is very exciting because as of 4 years ago, there were hardly any girls playing volleyball in Sosua.  Today, there are over 300 girls playing in leagues!  What a blessing as these 300+ girls get to hear the Word preached weekly.  Gloria a Dios!!  It is so exciting to see Christ at work.

*Yesterday was the Canadian missionaries last health clinic and the three of us helped out there.  Again, it is something I enjoy as it reminds me of the love I have for medicine.  They leave tomorrow but we have several new friends and contacts and am so excited to continue to work alongside one another even if from a distance.

*Today we are visiting several outlying areas where we had camp this past Summer.  Ultimately we want to remain in touch with the coaches and areas and lift them up in whatever way we can.  (J actually preached at an outlying site last Tuesday to about 100 older teenagers.  He said it went great and reminded them to not be so focused on the one blessing they want that they miss the far greater blessings God has for them.  i.e.  Most of these boys big dreams are to get signed to the major leagues.  J wanted to remind them that even if that doesn't happen, God has something bigger and better planned for them!)

*And for some exciting news... some missionaries visited Cangrejo and provided the funds to build (rebuild) the basketball court!!!  Here are some pictures from the construction and a final picture of the court.  It looks beautiful and is very exciting for the community.  Also, maybe we will be able to add another sport to Cangrejo this year??!!  :)

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 1 John 4:16b-17

 

Endless Patience

Hey family!  Happy Friday again.  Another week has flown by.  I have been meaning to blog all week and kept waiting for something "good" to blog about, but then I realized, I just need to keep everyone updated on what is simply going on.  I tend to think I have to have something momentous or funny to write about and not just simply life.  But that is what we have fallen into... life.  And what a crazy, exciting, adventurous life it is.  Things here are great.  God continues to move us and grow us (often in ways we are trying to avoid!) and it has been quite the challenge.  I still struggle with my "we're not getting anything accomplished" idea and then we sit back and start to talk about what is going on or what we have coming up and I realize God has been moving the whole time, but I am just a little slow on the realization.  But isn't that one of God's amazing qualities, His endless patience.  Day in and day out, no matter what we do or don't do or say or don't say, He is waiting constantly for us to seek Him and follow Him.  Even now, I do not read my Bible as often as I should, I do not pray as often as I should, I am not great at being "quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry."  Yet, these are things I am working on everyday with my Daddy God.  He is there when I stumble and take steps away from Him.  He is there to pick me when I fall down, and I cannot tell you how much that assurance helps me everyday in life.  I pray you all would have the confidence to "step out of the boat" in faith knowing your Daddy God is there for you.  He will catch you if you fall, He will lift you up if you sink... what a blessed realization this is!  We love you all and as always thank you for the prayers, love, support, long distance hugs and kisses. 

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." 
Titus 3:4-7

 

Rudy the Cuban

Hey family!  I hope things are going great with each of you.  Things are good here, again just moving along.  For those of you who know him, our favorite Cuban is in town...yes that's right, RUDY!!  He arrived earlier this week and we are having dinner with him tonight.  For those of you who don't know him, he is a brother with an incredible story and a ferocious heart for God.  We are blessed to have him work alongside us.  (He is also the one who continuously pushes me to learn more and more Spanish and to practice.  As he says, you cannot learn if you don't practice.) 

We have been visiting more sites where we held camps this past June.  It is great to see so many coaches and youth being reached with the message of Jesus Christ.  We are again humbled to be here working with our brothers and sisters in the Dominican.  Their heart for God and their community is inspiring.  I pray God continues to use us in whatever way He sees fit and in whatever needs there are. 

This week in ESL we played win, lose or draw with them.  I must say, that was the most heated game I have ever seen.  :)  These Dominicans are pure passion in whatever they do (including class games).  All 20 people were on their feet for the last word shouting and yelling... it was crazy but so much fun! 

J has an Association meeting tomorrow night followed by a Coordinator meeting.  Please be praying for these as we are hoping to start the coordinator position as soon as possible.  These coordinators would not only improve communication tremendously between the coaches/association, but would more importantly help in the development of a discipleship based relationship between the coordinators and their coaches.  Our prayer is this relationship would raise up our coaches to be able to reach their youth with a passionate love for Christ and the skills to accomplish this. 

And just a few pictures for you all:

Aubrey has really started to love on her baby doll.  She will walk around patting it on the back and kissing it.  We thought it was sweet so here is one of her holding it.

And one of her kissing her baby.

We visited a camp area called Madre Viaja to see the facilities.  This was the kitchen area with a GIANT pot and spoon.  We couldn't resist taking a picture.

And another with just Aubrey.  Anyone else thinking Hansel and Gretel??

In honor of Rudy, his favorite verse:

"Sin embargo, les dare salud y los curare; los sanare y hare que disfruten de abundante paz y seguridad."  Jeremias 33:6

"Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security."  Jeremiah 33:6

Cinderella

Happy Friday!  I hope things are going well for each of you and your family.  Things continue to move here and we are doing great.  I just wanted to give an update on what's going on with us...

-ESL is still going strong and J really enjoys teaching everyone.  Aubrey and I have started staying home during this time as I realized I ended up more frazzled by the end of the class than necessary and it is much easier to let her play in the house than worrying constantly about bothering the students or her climbing/falling down the stairs. 

-We participated in 2 cleaning projects last weekend (the community is literally cleaned up- go through the streets with trash bags and pick up trash).  Awesome to be part of this and to see other people raising the awareness and desire to improve their communities.

-More Canadian missionaries came to town on Tuesday.  They are primarily a medical mission team and we have been privileged to work alongside them during 2 days of their clinics (nice to be around some type of medical stuff!) :).  J was a fantastic translator for the eyeglass station and was definitely pushed outside his comfort zone (medicine is not his thing).  Aubrey was great and enjoyed being out and about. 

-I am still working on my Spanish and am understanding more and more (which is truly exciting for me).  I can hold a basic conversation with people now.  You can tell I am completely immersed because I always start speaking to the Canadians in Spanish before I have to stop and think "I can actually talk to them in English."  Weird I know, but I think it's good because I am so focused on thinking in Spanish and talking in Spanish. 

And here is what you are all waiting for...

 A few pictures from the cleaning events last weekend:

 This cleaning project was in Los Charamicos (around the corner from Pastor Rivas' church).  We start with praying, a message from the Bible and singing.  Then we get down to business.  Here is a picture of the kids "gloving up" to start.

Here is a picture of them in action.  :)  It is crazy what people throw on the ground and in random cubby holes.  In La Cienega (where Alfre lives), there was a septic tank (it was a hole in the ground with a lid) that was FILLED with trash and bags of trash.  It was gross and some poor kid was in there scooping it all out.

Here is a sign we saw during the cleaning event in La Cienega.  It is supposed to say Lot for sale.  I couldn't resist (and there was a part of me that was like, yes, yes they are.  The Lost are for Sale and that is why we have been called to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ!!)

I have been saving this picture for quite some time.  This was our first "overnight visitor" at our house back in September.  She was large and scared me when I found her under a cloth in our cleaning bin.  That white stuff are her babies (yes, even more gross).  I was saving this for a post on Halloween, but I fell asleep early last night, so here is it.....Happy Halloween (a day late).

 

And here are a few pictures of poor Cinderella.  Her parents are so mean and make her do all the cleaning.

Here is Cinderella pledging the wood.  This is my favorite because she holds the can upside down and makes a "pssstt" sound.  She then wipes down the table.  I think we end up with more smudging  and handprints after she's done, but she enjoys it and it's the little things in life you have to enjoy.  I don't want to be worrying about a smudgy coffee table.

Here is Cinderella cleaning the car. 

And Cinderella cleaning the bathroom with Daddy's supervision.  Yes that is a toothbrush and a plain bar of soap.  J was cleaning the bathroom (best husband ever) and Aubrey found the bar of soap and we had a leftover toothbrush, so we thought she might as well.  She loves to help clean everything.  We are trying to enjoy this now as I know she will be a teenager soon enough and not want to do anything.

 

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son purifies us from all sin.  1 John 1:5-7