Shower in the yard?

Last night we took out the leaders of the team we are hosting to the local road-side stand, Dominican fast food dining called Pica Pollo, and we didn't get back home until after 11:30pm! This requires an exclamation point because our bed time is between 10-10:30. Because of this late night adventure, the team leader gave us a very special gift... sleeping in! He told us that he would run the morning activities and told us not to come in... SO NICE! So we got to sleep past the usual 5:30am wake up call and didn't roll out of bed until just before 7am.

All was going well until I turned the shower on to find a slow trickle of water. While this isn't an unfamiliar experience (the public water gets turned off Thursday afternoons through Friday evenings every week), I knew that it was still early on in the week... the water control people surely wouldn't turn it off this early on in the week... right? So I walked out of my room into the living room and looked out into the yard to find a fountain! A fountain that shouldn't exist.

The water spicket in the yard was spewing water all over our yard. I ran outside with my dogs following at my heals. Lucy ran up to the lake we had developing in our yard and barked at the gyser to "protect" me from it... she's so great! After about 3 minutes of securing all the joints (and with Josh's muscels and sharp mind) we were able to finally stop the flood. Needless to say after we were done, we were pretty wet. But we had a nice hot shower... so it was all worth it.

Awe... the wonderful things about foreign culture life.

Resolutions & Adjustments

Goal: to lose weight
Method: attend gym
The #1 news year's resloution each year.

I have never before made a new year's resolution. I have always thought them to be the number one unkept promise made nationally (maybe even globally) every year - and therefore never felt the need to participate in a global failure to myself. This year, however, is different for me as I have a number of personal goals and therefore am embarking on a new journey! I am walking the road greatly traveled and am going to make my first new year's resolution: take more pictures!

I have a beautiful camera and love to use it but because I don't know how to use it well, I don't use it. So thanks to my friend Michael Martin, I have basic photography books volumes 1-3 and am hoping to get through them all before June. If I succeed, you will be able to see my accomplishment here on the blog!

Adjustments, it's the one thing you can be told about a million times but until you experience it yourself, you can't fully understand. Though we've been going through transitions and adjustments our whole lives and a lot since we moved here (every time we go back and forth from the states) it's always a different experience and usually throws me off a little. Since arriving back here there is the usual time difference (4 hours), culture difference, and, oh yeah... language difference! Last year after we returned back, getting back into Spanish was much more difficult than it has been this year thankfully. But this time the cultural and convenience difference has been the more difficult adjustment. For example, things closing around 6pm... like the vegetable market. Or on Sunday's the big supermarket is closed and smaller one didn't have any non-broken eggs. What can I say besides "welcome back!"

Things are going very well here, we are for the most part adjusting well. Today was great; our first work day since being back, and that has really helped with adjusting. Last night was the first thunder and lightening storm since being back - those are always really fun. And the days have been beautiful and sunny!

Thanks again to everyone for your love and support.

A Few Moments to Spare

The past few months have just flown by, but when I look back and try to remember everything that has happened I'm blown away! So I will break it down to bullets points.

The first week of October we hosted a team led by the future director of SIDR and his family. With them they brought a small team of doctors. I had the priviledge of driving them around to various locations where they ran clinics. One day Fernando (our SI doctor) told me that we'd be driving to a community really far away, and up a road that nobody else wants to drive. Well, me having a love for driving, welcomed the "road less traveled". Which I quickly discovered WHY it is the road NOBODY travels. We weren't exactly driving like this... (see below photo).

But we were driving like this... only up a mountain - through a dried up river bed... NOT to be confused with an actual road.




I had the time of my life... but I would be lying if I didn't tell you that there were one or two times where I thought... "there's just no way!"

The week following that team, we took our semester abroad students out for 1 week to Santo Domingo and the national park. This part of the program is to focus on history and culture. There are many highlights from this trip - basically the entire time! But possibly the scariest thing I have ever gone through in my entire life happened during this trip. One of the students participating in the program has a sever allergy to peanuts. She had been doing a great job with being careful but in a foreign country where packaged food doesn't necessarily give all the disclaimers can be dangerous... as we found out. One afternoon she had an allergic reaction to a cookie. We were 20 minutes outside the nearest town. She carries an epi-pen which buys her time to get to a hospital. We spent the following 2 hours rushing in and out of clinics (with medical personel attempting to help, but not with confidence) while trying to get back to the capitol where we could (should we still need it) receive better attention. Finally we were able to get the treatment we needed and she was in the clear. Meanwhile, while this was going on, we had another student who suddenly had food poisoning and was vomiting out the window all down the freeway! Crazy!

Shortly after we returned from that trip, my family arrived for some family-fun! My highlight from that trip was just sitting around playing games... "Catch Phrase" to be exact. We played boys vs. girls and the girls won almost every game!

Since my family has left we have been back to focusing just on the semester students. We have unfortunately had to cancel our trip to the Haitan border do to the cholera outreack and issues that have come about because of that - like the rioting, etc. But we're having an amazing time serving and ministering too the 15 students that are here.

Changed

How has God used our time in the Dominican Republic to change us?

After stepping off the plane in 2007 into a hot, humid, new and different world, we have been forever changed.
(Santiago Airport)

(Vicki's perspective of Josh's changes)

Josh was changed within the first week of our first visit. The 200 mosquito bites (not repelled by the repellent) did not detur his interest and love for this country.



(Yes, this is really a picture of Josh's leg from the summer of 2007)

After we returned from that 2 week trip Josh told me about everyday for months that he wanted to sell everything and move back down to work in the D.R. After some "rational" thinking, we decided that the next best step would be to try out the internship.

(Our team of summer interns 2008)

A little history lesson on Joshua Andrew Mathews... when I first met him (and the man I married) he was very quiet, shy in groups, and NEVER spoke in front of groups of people. Well... after our first week of interning, he was talking with everyone, joking, initiating conversations, and once an outreach helped lead a small group through a poverty activity. He was changed. I remember asking him a few times, what's going on? You're different.

Since living here full time the love of God flows from within him touching hundreds of people every year. Now Josh is a "talker" and allows God to use him for whatever comes our way.

(Josh with the boys in Haiti)

Final thoughts - Other things that have changed... he likes driving, he loves reading the Bible, he has a huge heart for discipling, he's flexible when it comes to schedules

(Josh's perspective of me)

Josh said that I am more relaxed. I used to be obsessive about being punctual and would get very stressed in relationship to time. However now, I am much more relaxed about time... much of that is just related to the culture, people here run about 15 minutes later than the time given.

Another change that Josh has seen in me is my love for baking. Since being here I have taken an interest in celebrating people's birthdays with a fun new dessert. My grandma told me last year while standing in her kitchen that she wasn't going to repeat another recipe... that for the rest of her life she was going to try new things everyday. I have carrierd this into my baking. My friend Chastity and I used to bake every weekend and we would make something new every time. (I must admit that it surprised me a little when Josh mentioned this because he wouldn't eat like half of what I made... his excuse would be that it looked weird, that he was allergic, or "wasn't hungry". That said, I should add in that Josh has - lately - been trying new things... awesome right?)

The last change that Josh mentioned was my love for hosting. We host people all the time and it used to stress to me out with making sure that everything was perfect, but now it's such a joy. And I have my wonderful dogs to keep me company.

Final thoughts that Josh shared were how, especially over the past 3 months, that I have been loving my daily reading in the Bible. He also said that he never noticed before the passion I have when praying.

(My new kitchen where all critical food thinking takes place)

(This picture is really just here b/c I think Wally is so great! This was from our last house)

Well - there you have it... the D.R. has been a transformational time for both of us. God has been teaching us so much.

Tornado

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17


“Tornado” is the term I would use to describe how our lives have been lately. I use this term not in the negative sense, but as a verb to capture the intensity and thrilling-ness of our lives; but in the eye of the tornado there is also a calm which, if even just for a moment, we have sacred moments of stillness where we can just exist in our world together.

Our lives have been consumed with our semester team. From simple tasks such as daily transportation and home visits to calls first thing in the morning with people who are sick and need transportation to the clinic, this is our journey for the rest of this 2010 year. Our favorite part of this particular program is our longer-term investment into the lives of the students. I personally get the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a particular female student each week and check in less frequently with another gal who is on an interesting and exciting journey with God right now. In addition to this we have been asked by others to simply hold them accountable. It’s been an amazing experience so far, and we know that God will continue to grow and teach us through this time.

Each Monday night Josh and I have two students over for dinner. It’s such a great time to get to know them better and just have a fun relaxing night away from everything else. Tuesday and Thursday evenings we host Bible study at our house. On Tuesday evenings I open with worship and Josh leads the Bible study. On Thursday evenings the student open with worship, then we share testimonies, and close with prayer groups. We absolutely love our time with the students; they are such a wonderful group of people.

Josh and I have really grown to love the ministry that has been placed in our lives. We get to invest in people for a short time during an experience, which for them, will remain in their minds and hearts for the rest of their lives. This experience can make or break their decision for a future in missions or even ministry. Additionally it shapes them for the rest of their lives. We enjoy the questions of what a life like this is like to the more deep questions about the purpose of life and “religion.”

The past year and a half has been such a remarkable journey. God has taken us and united us in more ways than we could have ever imaged. Before we moved here we were happily married and believed we were super close – but today is a different story. We are closer, stronger, and more united with God and each other than we have ever been. Our joy for live comes through amazing moments like playing with our dogs, going for walks, singing worship songs, and hanging out at the river or beach – but joy is also in the hard times – losing our first pet and second pet and being robbed. God means so much more to me now than ever in my life. I love having my “God Times” in the morning when I read through scripture and pray over the day. Jesus is now my source of peace, joy, patience, forgiveness, grace, and energy… I do not have to rely on myself anymore.

“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalms 100:5

Blue Thunder

Today is a rainy day… a very welcomed rainy day. We haven’t seen the rain in some time now and it’s been very hot.

We are just a week into the semester program and we’re having a great time. There are 16 students (14 gals and 2 guys) from 4 different colleges. Since their arrival last Wednesday, Josh and I had all day orientation with them Thursday and Friday and then we moved them all into their host homes Saturday morning. Everything has been going so well, we’ve been really enjoying getting to know them. Monday evening we had 2 girls over for dinner and then last night (Tuesday) we had the whole group over for Bible study. We are using the gazebo that’s in our yard as the study area – it’s so fun and everyone loves it.

Tonight we have staff Bible study and right now we are going through a series called “The Truth Project”. It’s a really awesome study where for 12 weeks we develop a biblical Christian worldview. We watch a video for 50 minutes and then break up into small groups for further discussion. Josh leads one of the small groups – I’m so proud of him!

Friday night we are going out with the semester team for pizza after Spanish class as a way to celebrate “survival of the first week!” Then on Saturday we are taking them on an excursion where we will creek through the river to get to one of the communities we work in called Los Higos. A woman that we know from that community is going to cook a huge lunch for us at the river – it’s going to be GREAT!

So… a funny story:
Yesterday I was driving in “Blue Thunder” (my favorite base truck… I named her) to pick up our students for Spanish class. As I was headed up the hill (just around the corner from the base) the hood of the truck flew open! It was so crazy... I couldn’t see anything! The rearview mirror on the right wasn’t at a good angle for me to see, and the hood was in my face, and there was a guardrail on the right hand side. So I had to drive the truck a bit further to get beyond the guardrail so that I could pull off the road. Once I stopped I got out to close the hood, but the latch was bent about an inch from where it should have been, so no luck there. My precious Blue Thunder suffers from old age, so even when I closed the hood, it still sat about 2 inches from where it should have been, due to this problem, I couldn’t continue to drive it safely to pick up the students. So I very slowly made the trip back to base (about ¼ mile) staying in first gear the whole way… it was a very sad drive home.

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