Is This Real Life?

One thing I have learned so far: mission life is a lot like parenting.  Let me explain.  Before kids, you have this idea and fantasy of what it will be like with children.  The smiles, the laughter, the sweetness, and obviously overwhelming cuteness.  The perfect days of playing with your children while inventing crafts, maintaining a spotless house, preparing full meals every day... And then you have children, and you sit back and think "is this what parenting is all about?!"  But, even with the frustrations and stresses and often exhaustion, it is so worth the effort, love and self sacrifice required on a daily (sometimes minute by minute) basis.  The hugs and kisses you receive, the "mommy" or "daddy" said in a way to melt your heart, the look of excitement when they do something by themselves, their prayers to God... 

Being a "missionary" is quite the same.  I had a basic idea of what a missionary did and the work we were getting ourselves involved in.  I could dream about what it is like living on a Caribbean island that only speaks Spanish.  I could plan our finances out and proposed needs for the time we would be here.  But, I was not prepared for the family, the heart, the love and work to be done.  Lately, J and I have been very busy with our work on the ground.  And lately God has seen it fit to continue pushing us beyond our comfort levels in this work.  It is not always fun (and by that I mean it's not fun at all to be pushed in directions you don't really want to go- just ask J about making TONS of phone calls in Spanish, it's his favorite!), but there is so much joy in the work God has laid out for us.  There is so much joy in our lives, and through this work and these "growth spurts", God continues to bless us and guide us. 

We have been planning for a little over a month a Dominican led camp in Nagua.  We leave this coming Sunday and will be there through Saturday.  We will host camp Monday through Thursday in the morning and afternoon in 4 different locations, and it is proposed we will have 1700 kids throughout the 4 days.  I know I have written about it before, but we are thrilled to be a part of their camp.  We are overjoyed to be a part of this mission when Dominicans are reaching out to their fellow brothers and sisters here on the island with the love of Christ!  The time is coming for them to "step up to the plate" and reach out beyond their churches and immediate community.  We will not be here with them forever, and we are pumped about this opportunity for them to step up and do the work we have all been called to do.  Please keep this camp, the children, their coaches and pastors, and our team in your prayers this next week!  We are praying for "just one more" to come to know Christ as their redeemer! 

Thank you for allowing us this opportunity to be on the ground floor with these Dominicans during this camp.  And thank you for being a part of the camp even if from a distance! 

Monica (J's sister): What do missionaries do?

Cael (our 4 year old nephew): They Skype!

We all have our idea of what missionaries do!  :)

There is work to be done

Wow!  February 20 already?!  I must say the time is flying by and before we know it Summer will be here and our main AIM camps in the Dominican.  But before I can get ahead of myself, I want to keep all of you updated on what's going on here right now...

We restarted ESL and it's going really good so far.  The classes are still smaller than the fall, but again this isn't too big a surprise for us as we took quite a break in between and there is no "mass email list" we can reach the class through.  However, the people who have returned were some of the more dedicated from the fall, so it is fun to see their progress.  J has started talking mostly in English now during class which adds to the learning process.  As I have learned with Spanish, the more you hear it and the more you practice, the faster you learn. 

As I mentioned last week, we visited Santo Domingo (the capital) for 2 days.  It's still crazy to me that we only drove 4 hours and were basically across the island when we have to drive 10 hours in Texas alone to reach Amarillo from Houston!  As I mentioned, it was very eventful and a great learning process for all those involved.  The primary objective was to get a Visa for 2 of our AIM guys to travel to Guatemala.  Through the day (hours of waiting and sitting and talking...), we befriended the police officer who works in that area of the embassy who just happened to have lived in Sosua for about 20 years and who is a Pastor!  God is good!  Throughout the day, we were able to talk with him about what we do as AIM, and I know he had a hand in helping obtain the Visas as fast as we did.  Praise God for He lays the foundation and path and places all the right people in the right places to get His work done!! 

And on that note, Checo and Freysy left yesterday and made it safely to Guatemala!  Please be praying for the other AIM people joining them today from the States (Fred, Brittney, Darren, and Nick) and for the work to be done there.

We are still preparing for the Dominican led camp in Nagua from March 2-8 (a matter of days away!).  Being the first time J and myself have planned a camp, there is a huge learning curve.  So far, God is continuing to lay the foundation and all the pieces in order.  We had a meeting with the AIM coaches last night who will be joining us on the trip, and they were so excited.  For the first time, AIM will be hosting a camp with only 2 1/2 native English speakers!  Praise the Lord!  So please be praying as we continue to lay the foundation for this camp.  Pray for Nagua and their youth.  Pray they would be open and accepting of the message we bring of Jesus and the love we hope to share.  Pray for the 4 pastors and their coaches as the leaders of the area and the ones who will continue to show the love and passion of Jesus to these youth.

As always, we are beyond blessed to have such an amazing team behind us every step of the way.  Your prayers are felt constantly!

With much love!

p.s.  For those of you wondering about Tati... they went to Santiago last Friday for the biopsy.  However, because she had taken an aspirin, they had to put it off until this Friday (tomorrow).  It should take about 2 weeks for the results.  Again, please keep them in your prayers.

 

"Is any one of you in trouble?  He should pray.  Is anyone happy?  Let him sing songs of praise.  Is any one of you sick?  He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.  If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."  James 5:13-16

Joy in the fruit we are given

Monday, J gave a devotional at the AIM meeting that ended up being important for all of us to hear (especially myself).  He's reading a book called Perelandra by C.S. Lewis (a sci-fi novel).  Briefly, the main character has traveled to Venus and met "Eve", the first and only female on the planet.  In their conversation, she learns something from him.  She puts it this way...

When you are hungry, you begin to look for a fruit.  And when looking for that fruit, your mind creates an image of the fruit you want.  God brings you to a fruit and sometimes it is not the fruit you wanted.  And for a moment, you can still grasp the image of the fruit you did want.  When we hang on to the image of what we wanted, we lose the joy and the blessing of the fruit we did receive. 

Last night when I thought about blogging, I wanted to use this message as it relates to the adventure we had in the last two days in and around Santo Domingo (the capital).  However, we received news this morning that seems a bit more pertinent. 

Pastor Rivas stopped by our house this morning to share some news with us:
Tati (Aubrey's Dominican abuela and Pastor's wife) found out yesterday she has a mass in her breast.  Rivas and all of them are calling it cancer, but they are going to Santiago tomorrow (with better medical facilities) for further testing and to figure out the next steps for Tati.  Pastor and the family are very upset and shocked, but according to Rivas, Tati is doing okay with the news.  From Rivas, cancer runs in the family (I think breast as Rivas spoke about a sister, aunt, and another female.) 

Now, I am calling on you, our team and prayer warriors to lift up Tati, Pastor, and the entire family in your prayers.  Our God is big and mighty and powerful!  He can do anything, so please be praying for His will in this situation. 

With love!

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."  Matthew 18:19-20

Waterfall de Arredondo

Hey team!  Happy almost Thursday to you all... we are in great spirits here as we wait "patiently" (I am trying to be patient) for the power to come back on so we can shower.  (It's a long story, but basically the water tank upstairs had a piece broken- think like the floaty thing in the commode- so instead of recognizing it was full when our water pump was on, it didn't register and we had the "Waterfall de Arredondo" cascading behind our house.  Needless to say we had to turn off the water pump for a few days.  But we have since used all the water in said water tank, so we have to wait for the power to come on for our water pump to refill it...) I know weird and confusing but that's where we are.  So, like I said we are being "patient" for our electricity.

On another note, we restarted ESL tonight and it was so much fun.  The class was smaller (we were not surprised as it has been many weeks since our last session and people forget), but we had a great time learning about the present progressive tense (-ing for all you nerds out there... now you don't have to google it.) :)  I must admit I enjoy preparing for the lessons and relearning why English is a certain way or the rules (nerd moment), but I am so grateful J was blessed to be a teacher.  My idea of teaching is one way, and if you have questions sorry because I only know how to teach it one way.  But I enjoy seeing J "in action" as they ask questions and he is able to tweak and teach it in a different light.  It goes to show how God has gifted each one of us in different ways (for example, I am the administrator and organizer whereas J is the big picture guy and teacher and leader among many other things). 

Even more exciting, remember how we mentioned God provided our brother, Raphael, with enough money to put the roof on his house... well it is complete!!  Last week we had a big workday (I say we because I was there supporting them as Aubrey and I watched from our chairs) where many men from the church and a few laborers worked all day to finish.  Below are a few pictures of the beautiful labor for our brother and the finished roof...

The process for the roof started with making the concrete from dirt, rocks and cement in the big yellow mixer.  To the left of the mixer is a BIG pile of dirt and rocks.  There are 2 men shoveling this into the mixer.  Then...

it pours out of the yellow mixer onto the ground where 2 men shovel it onto the platform to the right (in the picture where the 2 men are standing).  Those 2 men then shovel it onto the roof...

 

where the men in the green shirts shovel it into a wheelbarrow and it is taken to its specific area on the roof and poured.  Quite the taxing and exhausting process I must say.  But, here is the final picture...

Isn't it beautiful?!  :)  This is the same view from the one above.

 

 

And, Raphael already has someone living in his house.  :)  When we asked him about his "new" dog, he said he is going to start charging him rent.

 

And just a picture of some of the men who gave their time and effort for the house. 

 

On a side note (but a funny one)... J was making biscuits the other morning and reached his hand into our oven mitt to pull them out.  However, he wasn't the only one wanting to use that oven mitt that morning, and a roach (gross factor!) crawled out over his hand.  YUCK!!  I get heebee jeebies thinking about it.  I will forever squish the oven mitt and check it before using it now.

 

And a sweet factor, here is a picture of Aubrey and J resting together.  :)



 

 

 

In the prayer category, please be praying tomorrow as J and 4 of our AIM guys travel to Nagua for a prep trip to discuss our camp there in March.  We are very excited about this growth for J and all the guys and the leadership and planning that will go into it. 

 

 

As always, thanks for your love and prayers!!

 

 

Every person has been uniquely shaped and gifted by God to fulfill their mission field. 

-Pastor Aaron Morris from Bear Creek