Finally, an Update!

Hello everyone!

I'm very sorry about not writing for so long! Truth be told, I completely forgot which email and password I used to login. So, today I decided to try again and I got in on the first try! Yay! So I'll give you all a quick update on what has been going on since I last saw you:

I arrived in Santo Domingo on Saturday afternoon and was picked up at the airport by Ercilia and Luke who are two of my housemates. Ercilia has lived in this house almost her entire life and is in charge of the school that is attached to the house. She is such a wonderful strong woman and has been helping me with my Spanish every night before bed. I'm so thankful for her friendship and all the wonderful advice she gives me. Luke (Lucas in Spanish) is from Washington State and has been in the DR for 4 months. He was a Biology student at Seattle Pacific University and is applying to medical school now. He is supposed to leave in March and is hoping to come back to help us out in the summer. I hope he can. He is an extremely gentle person and reminds me a lot of my friends at home. He gets my sense of humor, which is also a big bonus because telling a joke, and not having anyone laugh can be pretty awkward. Kristin is another missionary who has been living here for 5 years. We call her the singing/dancing missionary. I have never met anyone who works as hard as her and never complains. I need to learn a thing or two from her. Ruth is another missionary who has been here for 4 years and who will be returning from Nebraska (where her and Kristin grew up) on Monday. She was enjoying a much-deserved long Christmas break. Next we have Ana who is from the Dominican Republic and is the most amazing woman ever! She was working for an organization called Living Waters until she felt that they were becoming more of a business rather than an outreach and they no longer listened to what the communities actually needed. Instead, they would go in to a community and tell them what they need, which, as you would believe doesn't work at all. Ana really surprised me when we went to church the other night and the pastor asked her to lead us in worship. She jumped right up and led us in such powerful prayer, then with the most beautiful strong voice I have ever heard she lead us in a beautiful song (Ven Espiritu Ven/Come Spirit Come), and she gave us a powerful message as well. I was so shocked by this and now I can't stop asking her tons of questions about her testimony as well as to sing for me whenever we are in the car. The next person who works with us is Isidro, he is the brother of Ercilia and has also grown up in the house. He is a full time employee of the Foundation For Peace and is quite a character. I have really enjoyed getting to know Isirdo over the last 8 years. And finally, we have Julian who works with us. He helped to find a good Spanish immersion school for me to attend and speaks very good English. I look forward to getting to know him more. So there is the update on all the people who work for the Foundation For Peace. I know it seemed lengthy, but whenever I refer to someone in the future you can come here and get an idea of whom I am talking about!

So, I spent my first Sunday here unpacking and decorating my room so it feels like home. Thanks to all the beautiful quotes Horton gave to me before I leave and all the wonderful cards I received from my friends I had plenty to hang on my walls and door. On Monday, my first group arrived. It was a group of 9 from Pine Shores Church in Florida. What a lovely bunch! They are raising funds to install a water purification facility in a community called Los Alcarrizos. I really enjoyed getting to know them and I had a ton of fun with all of them. I am always impressed by how excited and motivated groups are when they get here. We were able to get so much done at the site! We spend 4 days shoveling, moving dirt in bucket lines, moving cinderblocks in cinderblock lines (Woodside can identify all to well with this method...), and digging a 7 foot ditch which will have walls of cement so they can keep water there. The water will be pumped from the well on to the roof of the church in to the purification facility. The group also got to go to big tourist hot spot for shopping (Mercado Modelo, which is an old airplane hanger that now looks like the biggest flea market ever.) Kristin and I were given a really beautiful hammock for our house by the woman who owns the store we take the groups to. We were so excited and the hammock was hung as soon as we got home!

The church services in Los Alcarrizos are soooooo amazing. You can really feel the Spirit moving and breathing in this church and through all the people. The pastor gave the most powerful message the other night and I was so thankful to have heard it. I really identified with what he was preaching. He spoke about how we all need to be like Abraham, who, when God called him, left his land and went to a place he did not know. Abraham left everything he knew because he heard God's call and knew that he had to listen and leave home. When I started to feel that God was calling me to the Dominican Republic I knew that I had to go. Even though I spent a lot of time denying it and thinking that it wasn't for me to do, I still ended up here. When God gives you such strong messages about what he wants for you it is impossible to deny them. Then the pastor told us how we can not be like Lot's wife who was told to keep her eyes fixed on God and not look back because when we look back from God and what he wants for us, spiritually, we turn in to pillars of salt. Before I left I was feeling separated and it was hard for me in many ways and it wasn't until the pastor spoke that I realized why. I was so consumed by the uncertainties involved with leaving home that I had taken my focus off of God and what he was asking me to do. I had looked back. I looked back at leaving a familiar place, English, family, friends, work, you name it and I let all of what I didn't want to leave get in the way of what I had to do. We are so afraid of change that often it cripples us and we easily forget that if God opens a door, no one can shut it. Once we go through that door, God has promised to take care of us and provide for us and we need to remember that. So long story short, after hearing this message and working this week with the community of Los Alcarrizos I was reminded by how much I love being here and why I love doing this work. It fills me up and encourages me. Thank you to all of you at home for all of your support by prayer, donations, and friendships for helping me to get here. Miss you all! Thanks for reading this super long entry I had no intentions of making it this long, I apologize! God Bless!