muchas cosas...

God has been doing a lot of change in my heart recently. Stripping me more and more of my selfishness... teaching me to dream His dreams... breaking my heart for the human trafficking that still exists in our world... showing me His restorative power... and so I figured it was time for a little change to my blog as well :)

I continue to love life here. After a busy couple months, I have been enjoying this week (it's the first week we haven't had a group in a long time). I've been able to spend a lot of time working on my literacy program, hanging out with the kids, and resting. Yesterday we did a mini-camp at a batey and I loved it. I love being out in the "campo" (rural Domincan) and visiting with the people who live there. They are beautiful and have such pure joy. It makes me fall in love with this country even more.

I'm reading Chronicles of Narnia right now and it is soooo good! There are so many biblical parallels and God is using it to teach me more about His character. Read it :)

So my roommates and I still had our Christmas tree set up in our room and thought we needed to change it up a bit. Entonces, we made it into a family tree! We each drew pictures of ourselves and every member of our family and hung them on the tree. Each day, we are going to pick someone on the tree and one of us has to tell a story involving them from the past (funny, interesting, silly, serious, whatever!). Just a little creativeness we decided to throw into our days :) I love it! Here is a picture...



AND, we are extremely excited about family week! In a week and a half, my parents, along with the parents of most of the leaders who live here are coming to visit! We can't wait and have a daily countdown going :) I'm pumped!

anddddd... my best friend is engaged :) heck yessss!!!!

God is good!

update...

I just wanted to post a quick update about the earthquake since I have been getting questions about it. Tuesday afternoon I was laying on the floor of my room lesson planning when the building started to shake. We had experienced an earthquake here this past August so I knew immediately what it was. I could hear the Dominicans talking to each other outside about the earthquake and I yelled to see if the girl who lives next to had felt it. She hadn't and neither had most of the Americans that are here with us right now. Most of them were outside and didn't know it was happening. It only lasted a couple of seconds and wasn't bad at all. At that point I just assumed that it was a little mini earthquake that had happened here in Monte Cristi. Around dinner time we found out that our friends in Santiago and Jaibon had felt it as well and they were hours away from us. I still assumed it was just a little earthquake in the Dominican... after all, we had barely felt anything. Later that night, I was teaching math to the five oldest kids at the orphanage when my mom called to see if I was ok. It wasn't until then that I realized it had been a much bigger earthquake than any of us imagined. Shortly after that we had everyone call home to say they were ok and it wasn't until around 11 at night that we were actually able to look up what happened online and see the extent of the major earthquake that hit our neighbors in Haiti. Everything is fine here and I haven't seen any structural damage anywhere because it wasn't strong enough here to do that.

PLEASE continue to pray for Haiti. They lack resources to meet their daily needs, much less to respond to a natural disaster. I urge you to find an organization where you can donate funds to help with relief. They need all they can get right now. I also urge you to remember that these are families, children, brothers, sisters, son, daughters, fathers, and mothers that have lost loved ones, homes, jobs, food, and lives. Let's not forget that these people are faces, hearts, and souls... not just numbers on a news story. And most importantly, let's remember the fact that our God holds the whole world in His hands, that His heart is breaking too, and that He will fulfill His promises of bringing hope and restoration.

He is Hope.

Yesterday was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. God has recently been placing on my heart a life devoted to bringing restoration to the women and children affected by prostitution, sex tourism, and human trafficking. Each day, He seems to place something or someone else in my path that breaks my heart and opens my eyes to the world around me. While I still feel ignorant, God is really showing me the pain, ache, and hurt that people are experiencing because of these chains that are binding them. Prostitution and a promiscuous life affects the heart and soul. Not to meantion the fact that human slavery still exists all over the world... and sometimes I think we really just have no idea how much pain people are experiencing... because if we did, wouldn't everyone choose to do something about it? And once we see these faces, and hear the facts, we have no choice but to fight these injustices and love our neighbor as ourself. My heart just yearns to provide a way out for people stuck in prostitution (because they are surely not defined by their current occupation), to provide a safe home, to bring them restoration through Christ, and to shower them with the unconditional love of God. I don't know what this means for my future, but I do know that I am in constant prayer about it and that I will go where He sends me.

An organization working to fight human trafficking with a house located in the Philippines.
www.love146.org

An organization and jewelry business in Thailand providing a way out of prostitution.
www.nightlightinternational.com

Another organization and jewelry business in Thailand providing a way out of prostitution.
www.rahabministriesthailand.com

A factual article about prostitution in the tourist cities of the Dominican Republic.
http://dr1.com/articles/prostitution.shtml

There is Hope. He is Hope.

hope :)

Surely the islands look to me...
Isaiah 60:9

Hope is everywhere. Thank you sweet Jesus.

You're undeniable in this place...

So the month of December turned out to be a busy one, but one in which the Father taught me so much. He's been stripping me of myself. Showing me His face. Showing me how to follow Him. How to love people from the depths of my soul. How to overflow with a love that's not my own. How sometimes it may hurt. How these people are His beautiful children and how His hurt is broken for them in their pain. I almost don't even know where to begin explaining the past few weeks. I think that's why I have been putting off posting a blog. Because it's too much to write about, too much to explain, but in short, here's a glimpse of the past few weeks. We spent the week of Christmas in Jaibon at the orphanage there. God knew I needed to be there for Christmas. The first picture is of the boys doing a Christmas play. It was awesome... the best nativity skit I've ever seen. These boys have such a special place in my heart and I felt like their mom making sure Christmas Eve was perfect for them. I have been blessed enough to have spent the most consistent time in Jaibon and I truly have begun to feel a motherly role in their lives. They come show me things they have made, or tell me about what happened during their days, or run up to tell me what they are doing with another volunteer before scurrying back off to play. I love it and I'm not quite sure how I'll ever leave this country. Good thing I don't have to worry about that anytime soon :) So the week of Christmas was amazing and the Lord truly filled my soul to the brim with blessings. More so than ever before I felt Him revealing the importance and significance of Christmas. We spent Christmas day building and doing work projects before heading to the beach for the afternoon. All day I kept saying that it didn't feel like Christmas. But then I heard God's whispers across my soul asking what Christmas should feel like. And in my head I thought, well I'm not with my family. But the thing is, I was. I was with my brothers and sisters from the Dominican Republic. And maybe I wasn't with my blood family, but isn't Christmas about Christ? And while we may realize that it's not all about the presents, do we realize that it's not really all about family and friends either? That we could spend Christmas by ourselves, alone with God, and it is still Christmas... the day of Christ's birth. The day Salvation came to earth. So more and more God whispers to me that this story isn't about me at all. And for that, I am thankful.

So my week in Jaibon was far too short. I desperately want to go back and I shed some tears before leaving to come back to my home in Monte Cristi. God renewed my soul in Jaibon. Reminding me of my purposes here and filling my heart with an unending love for His Dominican children. Specifically these three very special women. Jaqueline, Betsaida, and Fefa cook and clean at the orphanage in Jaibon. And let me tell you, I have never met anyone who cooks like Jaqueline. She takes pride in everything she makes and asks the Lord to help her before she starts cooking a meal. She is such a precious child of God. These women were placed on my heart in an undeniable way. It's like I just knew that they were a huge reason why I was in Jaibon that week. So most days I looked for pockets of time where I could stop by the kitchen for a few minutes and spend time sharing in the lives of these awesome ladies. God could not have filled my heart more with love for them. I listened to them talk about their families, talk about their stories, about things in the past and things now. God's plans were so specific with placing me back in Jaibon again. And when Saturday morning rolled around, I could barely say goodbye. And so now, I can't wait to make it back to Jaibon again. God opened my eyes so much through my relationship with Jaqueline, Betsaida, and Fefa. Through their stories, I saw the realities that exist in this country. And though it may be easy to glance over the hard things, I want to bring life to people who are hurting.

By Saturday afternoon we were back in Monte Cristi. I can't explain how attached I am to both orphanages. One I have to leave Monte Cristi, I hate it. But when I have to leave Jaibon, I hate it as well. So much of my heart is attached to both places. And my purposes and roles are so different at each place. It was so good to see my brothers and sisters in Monte Cristi again. I had definitely missed them. The week of New Years, we spent some time out in rural bateyes (or little villages surrounding banana plantations). Life in the bateyes is completely different than in the towns. There isn't running water and people wait for a truck to arrive with their water for the week. Though the people live in poverty, I see promiscuity as the true oppression of these villages. We had a camp and most of the kids from the village came. I felt God pulling me towards the group of teenage girls, so I spent most of my time with them. Many of them had babies on their hips and were feeding their children while making bracelets and playing name games. The Dominican teenage boys had no respect for the Dominican girls and it made me want to take them all home with me.... to build a house and let them live there and help them develop skills and find a job and learn about the unending love and compassion of our relentless God. So God began to break my heart once again for the Dominican people. My eyes were opened to the realities of life here. I saw the chains that people are in. I saw where freedom needs to be proclaimed. I saw where darkness needs to be shattered by light. And I am burdened for the hearts of these girls. I want to see them freed from their bondage... to be able to truly live and be told of their worth in the sight of the King.

And then there are these girls :) My sisters, Yenny and Yessica. Even at the orphanage, I find myself wanting to spend all my time with them and Carolina and Nicol and Yulisa and Coral and Nicole... these teenage girls who are going through the same stages of life that I went through. I want to be a constant in their lives... to love them unconditionally... to show them that they can't do anything to make me not care... to show them that their Father loves them much more than I do. I feel the Father placing hurting girls and women on my heart. I want to release girls from the chains that they are in. And so I have no idea what God is going to bring in my future, but I know that I am in love with this place and these people and I just want to invest in their lives.

Hopefully that offers a small glimpse at what's been going on :) Sorry for the lack of updates. There is so much on my heart and I will try and be better about posting more often... although I won't make promises I can't keep :)

God is good! God is faithful! And God is undeniable in this place!