Living it Up!

So this past weekend Josh, I, and our interns/volunteers were all in need of a break. So we took Saturday to relax and reunited that evening for some gumbo fun. We have two interns (who are engaged by the way) who are from Louisianna and they made for us a traditional dish called gumbo. It was delicious! The following day, Sunday, we headed down the mountain to an excursion called 27 Waterfalls where we played in the river for 2 hours cliff jumping, watersliding down natural waterfalls, climbing up waterfalls, and goofing around with each other. It was perfect! Then we headed to our favorite beach, Cabarette, where we hung out until dinner. The water felt like bath water, the wind was in good form therefore allowing kite surfers and wind surfers alike to get good action on the ocean. It was so fun to watch all that talent on the water.

Josh and I feel refreshed and renewed and are having a wonderful time with our new team. Included in this team (of 61 people) is a woman who was a missionary in Mexico for 20 years. She has been such a light and source of wisdom, insight, and great stories.

Josh and I have been without our jeep for about 3 weeks now as our mechanic has been slow on repairing it. So we've become quite Dominican in these past several weeks as we've been carting our laundry in baskets, small matresses, 40 lbs bags of dog food, and groceries on the bag of our moto... we must be quite a site. We checked in on our jeep AGAIN today and it looks like we should have it by the end of the week... but who knows really, that's what he said every other time (sigh).

Forgotten God

Forgotten God

I have been reading the book “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan and have been intentionally wrestling and challenging myself with the things that he writes about. Grappling with these things has been so impactful and amazing to me that I really want to share them with you. If you haven’t read the book yourself I whole hardly recommend it.

“Reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit” – is the tag written below the title of the book. Francis Chan sheds light on American Christianity and its lost condition from the Holy Spirit. The book was not written from a denominational bent; merely just a man seeking what Jesus meant when he said to the disciples that it was better that he leave so the Spirit could come.

With Love

“Without Him [Holy Spirit], people operate in their own strength and only accomplish human-size results. The world is not moved by love or actions that are of human creation.”

America breeds independent, individualistic, I-can-do-it-myself type people. Asking for help or relying on others is typically considered a weakness and not valued in our society. But that’s not how it was meant to be. We are to rely on the Holy Spirit for his guidance and assistance to accomplish greater things. Sure, as humans we can perform tasks and do things, but with God those actions are brought to a powerful level with larger impact.

“But when believers live in the power of the Spirit, the evidence in their lives is supernatural.”

What does that mean – live in the power of the Spirit? It means to allow the Spirit to fill you up, to trust in Him, and to give Him your life. You do this by reading the Bible, praising God, praying to God, investing your life completely in God. When you do this you will see a changed life. A supernatural life. A life fragrant with passion, joy, and purpose.

“We are not all we were made to be when everything in our lives and churches can be explained apart from the work and presence of the Spirit of God.”

How many times… how many times have the words come out of my mouth “I did, all by myself”? How many years have I spent relying on myself, doing it all myself without consulting God, without asking him for help? The difference is unmistakable when I involved God in my life. The burdens aren’t as heavy, I experience 100 times more joy, and the outcome is better. I do not want to do it all by myself ever again.

“If it’s true that the Spirit of God dwells in us and that our bodies are the Holy Spirit’s temple, then shouldn’t there be a huge difference between the person who has the Spirit of God living inside of him or her and the person who does not?”

Ever since I read the story in Exodus about Moses having to wear a veil over his face because it was glowing after having spent time in the presence of God, I knew that I wanted that to be me. I wanted to glow. I wanted people to know that I had been spending time in the presence of God. To this day I still pray that. I know that I have fallen short of being a glowing light for God… many times. But as I read this it encourages me to push on and glow. I want to be different. I want people who don’t know the Lord personally to see that there is something different in me; and most importantly, I want them to want it.

This list isn’t exhaustive. But it’s a glimpse at the way that God is shaping, challenging, and stretching me.

Summer is Here

Themes from the past several weeks:

Lots of rain (which means dirty water)
Lightning storms (gorgeous bright skies)
Booming Thunder (Lucy finds safe refuge in our closet during these)
New Interns/Volunteers (fun, great talks, desserts)
Summer Program (we're back in the swing of another great summer!)

The picture below is of our interns (minus one) for the summer. We're all doing great and having a great kick off to the summer.


The first day of each team is spent in orientation. We give them samples of Dominican coffee called "cafecito"



Below Josh is teaching them the Dominican greeting (for guys who know each other, they will rub each other's bellies)

Right now we have to volunteers living with us. Angie and Jeff. They're both wonderful people and we enjoy having them with us. Angie was an intern last summer for us and Jeff interned for us from January through April and now he's in the volunteer program through the beginning of August.

This year I am running an activity called "The Cross: Letting Go" where the purpose is for each participant to consider their own personal "race". We're all in a race for something and as Christians we are called to run the race for Christ and pursue Him with our total being. So the activity is centered around the race and realizing what extra baggage we're carrying around with us as we try and run the race. Then everyone has the oppertunity to nail these things (for example: greed, lust, pride, anger, hatred, lack of forgiveness, etc.) to the cross symbolizing their commitment to God that they are going to work hard at running the race without letting themselves get bogged down by that thing. And should they pick it back up again, once they realize it, they will hand it back over to God and continue running the race with endurance.

Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

~Romans 6:12-14

Just What I Needed

Just what I needed... a little getaway.

1/4 pound of stress each week (x) 104 weeks = ... too much extra weight.

I hadn't realized how much I had been putting on myself. I didn't see all the little extra things being that big of deal. It wasn't until we landed in DC and hopped in the back of Melody's mini-coup convertable (with the top down, wind blowing in my face) that I realized that this was just what I needed.

I needed a chance to be somewhere with zero responsibility, no one calling me, and no one who knew me. It was the breath of fresh air and R&R that we needed.

We stayed with Melody and Adam in their cute town house like 4 blocks behind the Capitol building (amazing location). We had some time for ourselves to get out and be tourists, and we had lots of time with them catching up, getting to see them in their environment, and we got to attend the fairwell party that Melody put on for Adam. It was wonderful to see Adam's family again and meet some of Mel & Adam's friends.

Our trip to DC happened to be on a very busy weekend. There were hundreds of tourist and kids on school field trips walking around. It was not only the Cherry Blossom Festival, but some kind of "Kite Festival" as well. There were all kinds of parades, tents, booths, carnival rides, and people.

To the clicking sound of many cameras getting their visual proof of being a visitor in DC, we stood at the feet of Thomas Jefferson. Behind him on each side of the walls were snippits of remarkable things that he had once said.

Here is where Jefferson stands - looking across the basin towards the White House.


We walked through the Franklin D. Roosevelt twice once as the sun was setting and the second with a bike tour we took. It's a very calm (and for the most part) quiet place where one can silently think, read quotes, and see importants moments through his presidency captured through art or staues.

Josh & Vicki's favorite type of food = Mexican food. Our dinner was amazing!



Eternal flame in Arlington Cemetary

On my top 3 three things to see, the White House was number one. It might sound silly, but I've wanted to see it for a long time, and with my own eyes.

World War II memorial.

Vietnam War Memorial.

Bike Tour! Adam, Mel, Josh and I took a bike tour after church on Sunday and had a really nice time. The sun finally decided to grace us with its presence. It was a 3.5 hour tour, covering 3-4 miles, and we visited 8 memorials.

Melody and her boys!

We're at the Jefferson Memorial but the Washington Monument is behind them.

Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial at night

My favorite building - The Capitol Building. The morning/afternoon/evening when congress was in session debating the new budget, we were running, walking, or driving past the building. We even got to see with our own eyes the light in tower (which only shines when congress is in session). It was fun to be around the capitol on such a big day.

Josh and I took a tour of the Capitol Building and here is a glance at the rotunda. The center painting is George Washington sitting with 13 women... and I wasn't listening to why it is that way b/c I busy taking the photo... so you might have to wiki that.

Standing at the Lincoln Memorial. The Washington Monument is radiant isn't it? And lit up next to that is the Capitol Building... my favorite!

Our trip was amazing. We had the best time and even with seeing a lot, I felt like it was quite relaxing. I returned to the DR feeling refreshed and renewed and ready to take on the rest of the year! The trip to DC was just what I needed.

Life through a lens

Over the past month I've had several different oppertunities to practice with my camera in different settings. So I'll tell a little story with each photo which will capture a little bit more of my life here. The following two photos are of my co-worker and friend Caroline. She recently had her first baby, James, here in Santiago, DR. He was born in late January. Caroline used to work in one of our women's centers but has been taking a break to be a mommy.

We take our teams on an excursion while they are here. Salto Jimenoa is my favorite waterfall excursion, it never gets boring to me. I was just there on Saturday and practiced this particular shot with my camera. I think it's a success - the point was to get the water to look silky.

This little red flower here is actually a weed - and I've had several sprout in an empty flower bed in my back yard. They don't do much more than this... I think they offer a certain charm of their own.

Camera Duty! Because we currently don't have a full time staff memeber in our media site, I've been filling in there over the past 2 years when we need to have video/photo presentations prepared for our teams. Last week I spent quite a bit of time out at one of our pre-schools and got a chance to play with and help the kids in class. The little girl below told me that I was her "special friend" for the day and she wouldn't let me out of her sight. At snack time she unexpectedly shoved a chocolate muffin in my face... not my mouth. In class I listened to her confirm with her fellow classmates that eating glue is not good for them. She then followed this profound statement with telling her friends that she had chicken-goat for dinner the night before, which then sent her table of little munchkins into a fit of laughter. I love listening to little kids... they say the most awesome things!

This little boy attends the same pre-school with the little girl pictured above. He's sitting in the little pirate ship-sand box (donated to the school by friends of ours) contimplating where to sail next in his world of imagination. I had been sitting next to him listening to him spout off all the different places he would like to go. He was taking this choice very seriously.

This is our friend Eric, who just finished up the volunteer program. He lived with us for 2 months and has now returned back to the states where he is going to begin fundrasing as he will be returning for staff. He asked me to take some pictures of him for his prayer card. It was perfect for me because I needed some experience in taking these types of shots, and it worked out for him because it was free... and if I don't say so myself, it turned out quite good!

Home Remedies

Word of advice: if you tell a Dominican that you have "gripe" (Dominican Spanish for "sick") then it is 100% guaranteed that they will tell you what to eat or drink to cure it... and everyone has a different "definite" cure.

This morning I was at the height of my flu while talking with my friend Alberto (he works as a teacher at one of our schools). He immediately caught on that I was sick and told me that I needed to drink "te de cebolla" (onion tea). I gave him a look of disgust and verbalized my thoughts by saying I was trying to get healthier. He laughed and told me that I needed to try it and that he would make for me if I would drink it. I figured I didn't really have anything to lose, so off he went to find the necessary ingredients: onion, sour orange leaves, and cinnamon. I was happily surprised that it tasted wonderful (although a tad sweet from the heaping amounts of sugar Josh added to it). With pleasure I drank the full glass of onion tea, which, if nothing else, made my throat feel much better.

It's days like these when I just love being in the Dominican Republic!

Here are some pictures that I took a few days ago... remember my new year's resolution of taking more pictures? Well these aren't anything special, they're more my experimental pics... but I had a lot of fun!

March 13th...

The picture above is a sample shot of my new hobby... photography. I'm not good yet, I'm still learning. However this flower just bloomed the other day in my yard, and I felt it was worthy of being a model for my "trial pix" portfolio.

Someone once told me to keep a journal of all the differences that I experience between my new culture in the DR and American life. I worked at it for about 3 days before succumbing to busyness which led to forgetfulness which then led to misplacing that "journal" which in my world really means "piece of paper." I've never thought of that lonely, college ruled piece of paper until last week when a college student pursing missions asked me about some of the differences, great and small, that I have encountered in my time living abroad. I sat there for a few moments trying to recall them. My mind ventured to that list I had once upon a time created. I stressed my brain hoping that some image would appear in my head containing words with which to answer his question... but no success. That journal will forever be lost.

Throughout the rest of that evening I looked back over my two years here working to replay any and every funny, strange, difficult, and confused moment I have had. I laughed quietly to myself as fond memories flashed through my mind's eye... our first encounters with cockroaches, consecutive days of limited cold water for shower taking and washing dishes, my first time having a conversation in Spanish and knowing ALL the words that were said to me. The night that Diamond - our first dog as a couple - passed away. Our first day in our new office... no bug spray needed!

From there my mind swept to how I feel like I belong here... how I don't feel different, I feel Dominican. I don't compare the two cultures anymore. The US is one place with it's own identity, and the Dominican is it's own place with it's own identity.

With that said, I have some items in my house here that up until my life here, I never had. Here we have an abunance of different types of bug killer underneath the kitchen sink (killer for cockroaches, wasps, ants, mosquitoes, etc). In the bathroom we have at least 6 bottles of sun screen on hand (SPF 15 for Josh, 30 & 50 for me). We don't have any electrical units which need constant electricity (besides our fridge) because up until 2 months ago we've never had a generator. When it's cold out, we wear everything we own because we don't have heaters. We also have a fly-swater per room so when the careless wasp, bee, flying beetle, or grass hopper flies in, we can take care of it quickly without have to run around looking for the swatter.