Vacation?

Vacation isn’t usually a term I would think about when I think about missionaries. I think about 24/7 work, jungles, and different languages. Well, Josh and I just officially had our first vacation and it was great! We had two different sets of visitors. Our first guests, Russell, Cindy, and Cole, were a family that I nannied for in college. The first few days were spent seeing our town, our home, local attractions like waterfalls, and a little of where we work and what we do. Following that they treated us to several days at the beach with them. During that time Russell taught Josh and I how to windsurf which was AWESOME!

Celebrating Cole's birthday (a month late, but who cares!) He decorated cookied that spelt out "Happy B-Day"

Cole was demonstrating his "Batman strength" by pushing Josh off his seat

Hanging out at one of the waterfalls


At the hotel where The Freeman's stayed during their time with us in our town


Our first night together eating dinner on the bank of the river and having a BLAST!


Russell spent two mornings teaching us to windsurf - Day #1

Day #1 - finding my sea legs - I did actually get sailing my first day... YEAH!

Day #2 - sailing together

Following their visit a friend that goes way back came to visit – Michael Martin! Michael stayed with us in our home and therefore got to experience a little Dominican living; meaning: times with no electricity (though we have a generator now), random people showing up the door, loud music through all hours of the night, roosters crowing at 11pm, among other things. We visited all 3 waterfalls, saw the coffee factory, visited the historical part of the capitol and stood in the tallest tower of the old fort contemplating if we could ride out any storm that came our way, went to the beach for 2 days/1 night and took on the waves in the very warm ocean playing all the silly games that Josh made up. But in all those things we talked… a lot. Catching up with a friend that shares so many fond and great memories can be one of the

best medicines to relaxing.

We spent this evening at a mountain-side restaurant in the hopes of watching the sunset... no such luck - rain and clouds

What now?

Tonight the semester abroad students fly in and thus begins our 4 month journey with a new batch of students.

What does this journey look like (from our side)?

• Hearing conversations about cultural differences (that remind Josh and I of how far we’ve come culturally - and how much we've forgotten)
• Learning about 16 new people and getting to invest in their lives emotionally and spiritually
• Regular conversations regarding “bathroom” talk
• Driving people around every day and having “car talks” with them; which mean very random and usually hilarious chats
• Seeing people change more into who God created them to be
• Watching their lives change as they re-evaluate what their future looks like
• Having the students over to our house 2-by-2 for dinner
• Leading the students through Bible study where they can express who they are
• Participating in small groups of 4 people and getting to pray for each other each week and see God move in each other’s lives

Interesting news about me: I just had my first dream in Spanish

Since the Move...

I think I mentioned before that when it comes to moving Josh is not a patient person, in fact he is quite the opposite, doing his best to get it done as quickly as possible, even if that means we're walking zombies from being so tired. Well, Saturday morning after we took the 6:00am group down to the airport, Josh got started! Some friends and Josh moved our entire house in two hours while I stayed at the base all morning taking care of the remaining teams. After I sent the final group on their way at 1:15pm, I went to our new home where I began blazing trails through the boxes and piles trying to get things put in their proper place. Josh and I were running on nothing but fumes as we had just come through our final week getting little sleep each night and no rest throughout the days as we were full steam through that last outreach. While I was in my room assigning each item it's new location, I could hear my mind tempting me to curl up on my very cozy bed and just sleep... so I left my room. After about 4 hours of work and watching our dogs run around like crazy not fully understanding what was going on, we sat down. Not one minute had even gone by when we realized how hungry we were, we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast! We looked at each other and knew right away what this called for - sandwiches! Our fail safe food supply is a little place in town that makes these amazing chicken sandwiches. After our tummy's were satisfied we powered through till 10pm then turned in.

Since our move, Josh and I have traded on and off being sick. Thankfully, today, we're both feeling much better and ready to get out of the house and do something fun. AND we're eagerly awaiting the arrival of our friends on Monday! Lots to look forward too!

Moving

The definition of moving = stress; exhaustion; assessing one's "stuff"; big piles of garbage; pizza; friends getting together to help; saying good-bye to a memory filled home; (and if you're moving with Joshua Andrew Mathews) it means doing it all in one day!

I'm guessing that you have determined from the above that a move is in our near future? Yes it is. For awhile now Josh has wanted to move closer to the base. After we were robbed, the "want" changed to "we ARE". We had been on the hunt for a while searching the communities that are near the base and finally found a place that met all OUR requirements like: big yard, near base (only 1 minute away), nice kitchen, neighbors (for the safety factor), and a house with no repairs to be done. We were a little concerned that it was going to be too expensive because of how nice it is, but the owner said that because we're missionaries they would knock the price down 1,500 pesos. Actually, getting this house was totally a God thing... here's the story.

We signed a 2 year contract for the house we're living in now and we've only lived here for 1 year 5 months. So once we found the house we really wanted we just prayed that our land lords would let us out of our lease without any penalties. But we also had to act fast and had to accomplish communication with a variety of people within 3 days. We got in contact with the go-between guy who said he would contact the owners but thought he would need a whole day. We asked if he could do it in 30 minutes. After a moment's pause, he said he would try. Thankfully it worked and he got ahold of them over the phone and they said, without much thought, they would let us out of the lease if there was no damage to the house. So our go-between guy came over right away looked over the house (for about 2 minutes) and called the owners back saying the house was fine. They approved our early dismissal but said we had to contact the lawyer for the final details. So we got ahold of him and he said that not only could we leave the lease early, but we would also get our deposit back! (We really need that deposit to put down on the next house, how perfect!)

So because Josh is the determined man he is, our goal is to move in on Sunday morning - the day after our teams leave. So, that's what we're aiming for! We are really excited and can't wait to be in the new house. Pictures will follow in the next months update!

Interesting fact about us: by this next Sunday we will have moved 7 times in 5 1/2 years of marriage.

Changes coming to SIDR

Transition and change, whether painful or wonderful, is a necessary part of life; it keeps things fresh and aids against complacency. Working on the mission field where people are coming are going all the time, transition and change has become normal. Year round we see around 500 short term missionaries here for 1-2 weeks; interns giving a summer of 10 weeks; semester students who live here for 4 months; and then our 2-year missionaries. Change is a normality that, like everything else, is something that we get used too; it’s a part of our life. There is a transition coming in the lives of everyone here at SIDR (Students International Dominican Republic) that was very unexpected, and while so amazing, it’s going to be very difficult. I have been saying good-bye’s a lot over the past 2 years – between school, family, friends, and now to all the teams – that this next good-bye will be the hardest since we moved here. We found out a little over a week ago that half of our leadership team – Lowell & Cheryl and Nate & Maggie – will be moving from SIDR to begin a new country with SI in Nicaragua. Lowell & Cheryl have been our biggest support network here, not to mention tremendous friends whom we consider family.


They will (thankfully) be making this transition over a period of 12-15 months so it’s not super sudden, but now begins the count-down of “lasts”. We are very excited for what’s in store for them in their new future of developing a new SI base, but we will miss them dearly. A bright spot in the midst of this shocking news is that the future directors of SIDR are Brian & Sissy who were our supervisors when we were interns here in 2008. Many people here know them well and are excited for their transition back to SIDR.


What else is happening?
~Our summer program ends in 3 weeks.
~We are excitedly waiting for our friends to come and visit – Cindy & Russell & Cole (a family I nannied for in college) are coming mid-August; and another great friend Michael Martin is coming in late August for a visit as well. These will be the first visitors ever to visit us in our own town since we have been here in the D.R.
~Sept 1 – Dec 16 is our semester abroad program – there are 15 students this year
~ Late Oct – early November my whole family is coming to visit! I am so excited to see them and for them to see where we live.
~Dec 16 we fly home for Christmas break!

Since the break-in

Since our home was broken into we have received enough extra donation money to each purchase new laptops and some friends bought us a new DVD player. Some other friends bought and sent down to us “mock security cameras” for our home, hopefully to scare potential burglars away. We are no longer hiding a spare key around the house, and we are no longer going to leave anything valuable looking within view of the front door, so if someone actually does walk up to our front door and looks in, they won’t see anything. We are also going to avoid at all cost leaving our laptops home while we’re not there, and if we have to leave them home, we’re going to hide them.

All the strange feelings that we had following our brake-in have, thankfully, gone. We pray daily for our safety and trust that God will protect us. We are however, looking to move. Even though we only live 5-7 minutes from the base, Josh really wants to live right next to the base. So we’re not in any rush, but he’s keeping an open eye for homes close by that are for rent.

Well, I think that just about sums up what’s happening here.


(This photo was taken by one of our interns at our beach trip with them)

Latest news... robbery

I have been thinking about writing a blog for some time now, wondering what to write, wondering what you want to read about. Writing this can be a challenge at times because writing about my life is not something I've ever done before, let alone journaling. So any tips or ideas would be great!

My topic for today I guess will be on the most recent activity in our lives... the robbery at our house. Two Saturday's ago now, Josh and I left our house at 8am and went to the base to say farewell to the teams that were leaving. Following that we went to play tennis with our friends. We arrived back at home around 12pm to find that our house wasn't locked and the door slightly ajar. As we walked into the house we noticed things had been moved around a bit and key items missing. My first thought was that someone was playing a prank on us, but as I walked into the bedroom and saw the contents of my purse everywhere I knew that it wasn't so simple.

As we surveyed the house we quickly realized that the person who had broken in was someone we knew as they had used our spare key that was hidden outside the house. They had kindly left it sitting right on our table. We felt lucky that the intruder had been kind to our dogs and house - the dogs were fine, and our house was not left in shambles. Things were a little messy, but easily re-organized.

Right off we noticed that my laptop, skype camera, $15.00, DVD player, Josh's deodrant and toothpaste had been taken. A few days later we realized that my ipod and Josh's electric razor had also been taken. We feel fortunate that everything is replaceable and that we are all safe. We have since changed all of our locks and have tried to mix up our schedule a little. Lowell told us that because we have a similar day-to-day schedule (easily learned from someone watching) that we need to try and mix it up. We don't hide a spare key outside the house anymore either.

Despite the fact that this is totally a bummer, we know that the events of the past month have prepared us for such a time as this. So instead of feeling horribly disappointed, we are happy to know that all that prayer for patience is working. We trust that God is looking out for us and it is encouraging to know that we are experiencing trials and trouble because Satan is trying to distract us and discourage us from the work we are doing here.

Since the break in we have already been given a new DVD player and money to purchase not only my stolen laptop but money to replace Josh's which broke down a few weeks ago. God is good, all the time. He is just waiting for us to lean on Him and to trust Him.

Other news...

I am heading up a new outreach - a music outreach. With each team we do an evening outreach specifically geared toward sharing the gospel message. We have a sports outreach, a kids club outreach, and now we're introducing the music outreach. So on Wednesday we're going to one of the communities that we work in and we're going to put on a praise and worship time in their park. We are going to conclude with two people sharing their testimonies. The local pastor has given us her consent and is really excited about it as well. I can't wait!!!

Thank you everyone for your prayer and support, as always, we REALLY appreciate it!

Tropical rain and electric fiasco

Today is another rainy day in Jarabacoa. Usually the rain is welcomed by all to cool us off and refresh the earth... however, it's been raining quite a bit lately so we'd really like to see it go. So here I am, sitting on my couch during lunch break listening to the sound of pounding rain on the tin roof and watching as it drenches the earth, leaving puddles all over our dirt driveway and watching the dogs perform "muddy-paw-print" art all over the white patio tile, and I thought that it would be a good day to write a blog.

It's been a peaceful few days, not to much out of the ordinary has happened, that is, aside from Sunday's 2:30am power transformer explosion. (Can you sense that a story is on the way?)

So there we were sleeping peacefully in the wee hours of Sunday morning when to our shock and surprise we heard a very strange and loud sound coming from outside. As we turned our heads toward the window we saw a brilliantly bright light, almost like fireworks. I opened the shutters and out by the street we could see sparks flying everywhere and a giant glowing yellow light. About 10 seconds later the light went out and so did our electricity. We laid in bed for like an hour afterward, just laying there. Neither of us could sleep after that, not to mention the room got a little stuffy without the fan on. About an hour later, much to our astonishment, the electricity came on, but only for about 2 hours, when it went away again. When we woke up later that morning, we were delighted to find that the electricity had restored itself once more. When we walked the dogs we stopped by our electric post to find the entire thing covered in black smoke and a rather important looking piece melted on the wet ground below. We were relieved to see that it hadn't been the fault of our neighbor trying to steal electricity again, but then we couldn't figure out what had happened. Later on that morning as we were preparing to get showered, we came to realize that, while we had electricity, something had happened to our water, as in, it wasn't working. So we quickly grabbed all of our clothes for church and shower supplies, and headed off to the base where we were able to grab a quick (but ice cold) shower just in time to get the group ready and off to church.

Now there are two things you should know about the DR: 1, customer service is not valued the same here as it is in the States; 2, Sunday's are a day when everything is closed, no one works. So, Josh and I thought we'd be without water until Monday when someone from the electric company could come out and fix the mess. However, Lowell, being the persuasive person that he is, got a crew to come out and take a look. It turned out they had to completely rebuild our electric circuit, it had been totally fried.

That was Sunday.

I Will Priase You in the Storm

Through the hoops and hurdles of life our character is refined and sharpened. We can use the challenges that come our way to grow and get stronger or fall into a pool of self pity and depression. Josh and I have been walking through a dark forest of despair, each day delivering to us a new mountain to climb. Every morning we walk the journey clinging to the hope that God will deliver us from what lays before us, praying that the uncertainty of the day will not bring anything more to push us down.

With each passing trial we can see God’s love, grace, faithfulness, and provision. God has been our joy, our energy, our strength, and our hope. Even though the world around us seems to be crashing in, God meets us each morning with the promise of His love for us. Each morning we are reassured of His goodness and glorious plan for us - one not to harm or hurt us, but a plan of hope and a future.

I have walked these past two/three weeks with so much joy and happiness that sometimes I forget what is and has been going on. While there have been some tears shed, we remind ourselves who is in control and who can use any and every situation for His grand purpose. We rejoice in our suffering, knowing that it is because Satan sees the work being done and wants to put an end to it.

Our affliction has been in all areas of life -
* in our minds through bad dreams giving us restless sleep
* in our bodies through sickness
* in our work place through conflict and discouragement
* in our finances through extra expenses (car repair, medical testing, both dogs sick)
* in our friendships through conflict (largely based simply in miscommunication)
* in our pets (sickness)
* in our relationship together (the stress of everything ripping apart our harmony)
Praise God that He deems us worthy enough to suffer for Him. Praise God that amist the storm we have been growing stronger. Praise God that we have been able to see His provision in a very real and dramatic way.

This blog is not an appeal for sympathy but to share about the Savior I daily follow and His provision and faithfulness to us during such trying times.

I want to brag a little about my God...

We just recently lost Josh's laptop and believed that we had lost mine as well (Ron was able to fix mine). The day after it happened I received an e-mail from the mom of a girl who is coming here on Monday and she asked me for any prayer requests. I had asked for prayer in health and for extra funding to come in for a new laptop. The next morning Josh and I spent some time in prayer together for everything that has been going on in our lives - including the laptop. Following that time of prayer I went to check my e-mail and saw that the mom had e-mailed me again. She had decided to send us $500 for a new laptop! Praise God!

Another huge blessing in our lives has been our 9 (soon to be 11) summer interns. So much of our ministry here is in short term relationships - every week or two saying good-bye. But we get to invest in, build, and grow in these 11 relationships for 8-10 weeks. Each and everyone of them is so unique, beautiful, and special. We get along with them so well and they're so great. We have already been blessed by them and I know that the remainder of the summer is going to be amazing!

As the past few days have come and gone, it seems that the hardships have been passing along with them. I think we have finally reached the the edge of the dark forest and see the light. I feel stronger, and more in love with God than ever before. Thank you to those of you who have been praying for us recently, we have needed them.

Buenas Tarde - (good afternoon),
Vicki