domingo, 31 de octubre de 2010

many, MANY updates!!

So let's start with
update #1:
We just had our Fall visit from Campus Crusade for Christ. Basically Fall visit is a team of leaders from the States who come and evaluate how things are going, bringing much needed encouragement and lots of great advice, and may I say....some GREAT food/snacks from the States (currently I am recovering from a 3 day sugar high.) They arrived this past Wednesday and just left today. Our time was packed full of uplifting conversations, many changes will be made but let me say... I am ready to go fight whatever giant :)

update #2:
Jimmy is now in the hospital with pneumonia. Yes, this is now the second person on our team who has had to stay overnight at the hospital. He went on Saturday (yes, this is while the Fall visit people were here) and is still currently there. I took the liberty of documenting this memorable experience. Jimmy couldn't come to us, so we came to him (and brought dinner too!) Enjoy this picture of our last meeting with the Fall visit people before they left.



update #3:
I will be traveling to Panama City, Panama tomorrow for a women's conference that Crusade is having. I will be out of the country (the DR) until Saturday. Looking forward to the things I will be learning there and getting to know more people on staff.

So... yeah. Lots of things have been going on lately, but I am much encouraged. It was yesterday when I was telling God, "WOW!! It seems like such a storm we are going through. Thing after thing has been coming up!" In that moment the phrase "In the darkness there is provision, in the dark clouds there is rain" went through my head. As I thought about it, it did amaze me that something so dark and luminous could actually contain something so life-giving and good.

Please be praying for the team. With Fall visit, a lot of changes have been made and this will be a time of transition. Also the team's health. God can work through whatever weakness we have, except... it would be helpful to be out of the hospital bed. Also, pray for safe travels on my behalf :) Thanks guys sooo much!!!

Enjoy more pictures :)





and the changes begin...

miércoles, 20 de octubre de 2010

and the ants won...

So I think peanut butter and chocolate has to be the best combination ever :) Although.... may I say... peanut butter and honey are a VERY close second! I say all of this after eating one of my favorite treats from the States, a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

Now for those who are not educated in the candy bar business, you may not know that there is a SPECIFIC way to pronounce this peanut butter and chocolate wonder. Oh yeah, I'm being serious. I have to admit, I wasn't enlightened until about a week or so ago until I committed the blunder. Curious? I found these peoples' facebook page that may help you as well: People who know how to pronounce Reese's

You may ask, why am I talking about this, or... how did I get a Reese's here? :) WELL... today the guys received someone from Crusade who will be with us for about a week. He'll be following us around, basically documenting life here. All of this is being done in order to publicize the Dominican Republic to college campuses back in the States, hopefully encouraging more people to come down here.

It was perfect timing as usual. Jess got out of the hospital today and that person came today. I'm sure an interview from a hospital bed wouldn't have been all that convincing ;)

So now that I have thrown away the wrapper and as I finish killing the ants that are trying to hunt down the crumbs... let me get on a more serious note. :)

So in a way we have had a little bit of a break here due to team members getting sick. Honestly, it was a needed break. I forget sometimes that I'm not in the business where overworking will get you anywhere. God has a tendency to quickly show you that you definitely can't do this line of work by yourself AND... He loves showing us that He will do things in such crazy ways so that He will have the glory.

A team mate of mine informed me about a month or so ago that many people have analyzed how Jesus spent his time here on Earth. After analyzing the gospels they concluded that Jesus spent 50% of his time  alone with God, 40% of his time with the 12 disciples and only 10% of his time doing public ministry. I had a little "say what?" moment when hearing this, but then it made sense.

Our "off" time is probably the most precious time that we have, the time we have that we are not on campus. What do we do with that time? It is what we receive during that time, it is how we are restored during that time that will later multiply out into the ministry.

So signing off for tonight. Boy these ants are persistent and hyperly active during the night.  I've lost count of the amount I've killed with my right index finger. Time to leave... this warrior princess needs some rest :)

domingo, 17 de octubre de 2010

Hello everyone! Well we were not able to go to church this morning because one of the girls is sick and we may have to take her to the hospital today because it's becoming difficult for her to breathe. Pray for her and her health... and actually for the team's health. Not sure about the origin of this all, but it seems that almost everyone is sick in some sort of way or not feeling up to par. 

This past Friday during Vida Estudiantil I was asked to give the message for that meeting. I was trying to remember, but I believe I've never done that in English let alone in Spanish. It was a good/humbling experience. 

Yesterday on my sabbath I was watching some videos and came across this one about a guy's testimony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7dpGWYZMDc

 I love hearing crazy testimonies like this. What I desire above all is for people to realize that God is a living god, active, alive in our lives... and longs for us to be with Him. Yep... :) 

Enjoy!  

sábado, 9 de octubre de 2010

How beautiful are the feet...

It's been awhile since I've written in this blog. It is now the 9th of October...how crazy how fast time is going by!

We are in the process of creating our discipleship program right now. A lot of research is going in on my side, trying to get into contact with different people who have experience with this in Crusade because as of right now...there is a clean slate for discipleship. Please pray for God to give us wisdom in the development of this program as well as the implementation of it :)

 One thing that has been nice is living with the other 2 girls. Huge shout out to them. What has been so cool is that we each have our down day... but we look to lift each other up. One of the girls wrote in a random page in my notebook the following:



LOL :) 

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14-15

So...we know our Lord does things a bit differently... Enjoy these feet (brought to you by Natasha, photographed by me ;) )




jueves, 7 de octubre de 2010

Thanks :)

Just wanted to start off by thanking you guys for all of the encouragement. I absolutely love to hear from others from the States. It lifts me up significantly to know that there are people praying for me and who take the time to write and let me know about it as well :) Thank you so much!

I was actually going to write more tonight, but a little while ago Jess tried to find my "off" button. I think it's time I turn off anything ministry for tonight, but I will write in this soon again :)