Weekly highlights

Well first of all this week was incredible. East Hill was so well prepared and they really worked hard in every activity and work project during the week. I am not sure if I had already told ya'll but this summer I am the Drink Director and the Communication Director (or we like to call them the drink dictator and the communication czar)

Basically in my drink director position I work each day with any and all drinks. We have a cooler of drinks like coke, gatorade, diet coke, sprite, flavored water, etc. that I try to sell to raise money for our Latino American missionaries. I feel really blessed to be in this position because of the purpose behind it. I can really see Christ overflowing out of Ronald and Rosi, and Porfi and Carla's hearts for this place and these people. Honestly I am really blessed to know these people. Talk about selfless servants! Ronald and Rosi are our Rio San Juan evangelists who are working on creating and developing relationships in RSJ and eventually planting a church there. With their very involved work in groups, the group members are able to get a very clear picture of the quality people Ronald and Rosi are. Which honestly makes my job, in selling cokes for their support, very easy.

One moment that really touched me this week was when I was in the hospital in Puerto Plata and I saw this Haitian lady laying in her hospital bed very sick. I got down to sit on the floor and talk with her and got my bible out to read her my favorite scripture from James. As I began reading it she reached into her bag and pulled out her Haitian bible and read along with me in Creole. It was so amazing to see her following along with me as I read in Spanish and she read in Creolo, and to see her nodding her head back in forth in agreement. God was there in that moment.

Another incredible moment in the hospital was when I saw this lady laying in her bed in a diaper very very sick. Her two beautiful daughters were sitting and standing all around her bed looking so dismal about their mothers condition. It was just so touching to me to see such the role reversal. As the mother, the caretaker, and consoler was laying helplessly in her bed, her sweet daughters were all she had to keep her going. As I began talking with one of the daughters tears just started pouring down her face. I grabbed their hands and began to say a prayer and she endless squeezed my hand. I was so blessed even to be in their presence. God was definitely in that moment as well.

I am obsessed with these people here! I think me and the other interns are in constant laughter over something. Our most recent bonding moments have been filled with singing melodies of Church of Christ hymnals and seeing how many people we can fit into the cab of the diahtsu. Yesterday we got 8! God has really blessed our bonds with a spirit of joy and overflowing fellowship in His name.

I could go on and update for days but other people need the computer haha.

Please pray for the upcoming groups and that the Lord will stretch us beyond our comfortable boundaries.

Dear God I'm overwhelmed with your presence in this place. I pray you will help me to find my identity in you and you alone, because You are all I need.

Until next time,
Audrita

busy bees!

Well as you all know I arrived in the DR on Tuesday. It has pretty much been non stop since our plane landed! I'll have to say I had no idea how I would react reuniting with the faces I had thought of each day since I had been away. It was so great to see everyone again. I'm pretty sure my knees and hands were shaking with excitement! It really feels as though I never left.

Pretty much the last couple of days us interns have been working with Norm and Chad to prep just about every last detail for the summer. I think yesterday we went over our jobs and schedules from 9 in the morning until about 6 at night! (with food in between of course :) It was definitely a blessing to have all of our roles defined and get a very detailed picture on how we can best serve the groups and show Christ's love through the work here.

I have a feel the Lord is going to do some pretty big stuff this summer. I have been praying that He will turn my world upside down. That He will challenge me, strip me of my comfort zone, break my heart, and help me to serve with joy. I have also been praying for the fellow interns and missionaries here. Let me just say these are some incredible people. It's amazing how the Lord has distributed such distinct and complimenting gifts to each member on our team. It is very clear that HE is the center of the work here.

Our main goal this summer, slightly different than last year, is to really speak of Christ into the lives of the people in Rio San Juan. Working toward establishing a potential church home in RSJ, we want to begin planting seeds and creating intimate relationships with these people. I am really excited about this and how the Lord is going to transform these hearts.

Please keep us in your prayers as we strive to reach out to these people. Even though they may not be accepting to the Word initially, but that their heart will begin to break for what breaks Yours.

Lord thank you for the opportunity, the mission, and the people.


Love you all!

37 days...

Until my heart is able to reunite with the pure bliss of the DR :)

I am beyond excited. When you have been thinking about and praying for something for 10 months you could imagine the build up! I wanted to share with ya'll or whoever reads this some things I'm most excited about and just some goals in mind as I approach this summer.

I'm a big fan of lists so here goes...

1. I want my Spanish to improve-grammar, vocab, understanding, so that...

2. I can get to know people there really, beyond Como estas.

3. I want to have the courage to talk to strangers about Jesus

4. I want to be a constant encourager. To the missionaries, interns, group members and Dominicans.

5. I want to be humbled everyday in that God doesn't need me but He wants me.

6. I want to take more pictures! Like 3,000 something. I need to buy a camera.

7. Reach out to the group members more, and pour into them.

8. I want to pray continuously

9. I want to be able to recite scripture in Spanish from memory.

10. I want to go read my bible to people in town so they can know God like I do.

That's only the beginning.

Here are some faces I can't wait to squeeze :)

He is able

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matt. 17:20

Honestly this is a very challenging verse for me. As I have been seeking the Lord and a deeper relationship with him, I have come to realize just how little faith I have. I remember driving home from Colorado after the summer and literally looking out the window, staring with all the intensity I could at the mountain, thinking Lord move that mountain, and I wasn't even joking, but since I knew it wouldn't happen, surprise, it didn't move.

So if you believe what the Bible says to be true, then if one of us has the faith of a mustard seed (which I looked up, and it is the smallest seed, 3mm in diameter) then we could move a mountain. So since none of us have moved a mountain before, I assume our faith is way smaller than a mustard seed. Geez. Thats pretty small. But then again, I guess we are pretty small. Faith is also being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Heb 11:1). That for me is hard to swallow and certainly not an easy thing to do, but the things that are worth risking your life for never are.

I also think faith is believing that He is able. Do you think God is big enough to move that mountain? Really? Do you think God is big enough to take your future and use every talent and skill He gave you to benefit His kingdom? Do you really? I ask myself these questions all the time, and honestly it's hard to follow them with a resounding YES.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Eph. 3:20- Believe it!

original Love.

Hosea 2:5-20

Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, 'I will go after my lovers,
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.'

Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.

She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
'I will go back to my husband as at first,
for then I was better off than now.'

She has not acknowledged that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
which they used for Baal.

"Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her nakedness.

So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no one will take her out of my hands.

I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days—all her appointed feasts.

I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.

I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,"
declares the LORD.

"Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.

There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor [a] a door of hope.
There she will sing [b] as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

"In that day," declares the LORD,
"you will call me 'my husband';
you will no longer call me 'my master.

I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.

In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.

I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.

I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the LORD.


It sure is easy to get mopey around a day like Valentines day, I'd know.... However, I will always remain full of a kind of love that no earthly human could match, perfectly described in the passage above. It takes an honest effort to engage in this relationship, but His love truly never fails, it's original.

Nothing good comes from a dare.

So maybe you don't know, but I really miss the Dominican. Being in 2 wintermesters over the holidays has really allowed me to have a great appreciation for the time I was able to spend out there this summer. I don't really know if anyone reads this but if you do, and you are right now obviously, I wanted to share a fun story with you from this summer. My pictures from this summer are something very dear to me, because at any moment when I feel overwhelmed by the pressure of school or something else, I can go back to those moments and remember how happy my heart was in that moment. As I am currently overwhelmed and trying to finish this winter math class, I found myself looking through those old pictures and remembered the ridiculous story behind one in particular.

It was the last week of the summer when just the interns decided we wanted to hike El Morito, a mountain (or what felt like one) close to Bobita. The hike up wasn't bad, I was pretty winded but we made it, however the hike back down was an adventure in itself. Coming up upon something we couldn't quite decipher between a foot deep mud pit or a foot deep cow patty pit it was trouble waiting to happen. As we approached it, I remember Hunter daring me to run across the sick pit of mud. As a dare wouldn't normally mean anything to me, many know, I am pretty open an accepting to any potentially dirty situations. Wearing my Chaco sandals I backed up and made a run for it through the sickness. To my surprise about halfway through the mud dash the mud patty pit ate my Chaco sucking it down into it's abyss. It was a dark moment when I discovered this meant either getting in the mud and digging for it or hiking back another 2 hours to the car without a shoe. So I went where probably no human in their right mind has gone before and started digging. And much to my surprise Hunter, Haley, and Chad all got down in the mud sticking their hands as deep as they would go trying to find it. I never felt so special as when 3 of my friends got down in that poopy mud to dig for my shoe. Nonetheless we spent about 30 minutes looking for it when this Dominican lady, known to be very different and eccentric, came up to us and insisted on helping us. So she gets down in the mud and sure enough finds the shoe on her FIRST try! I was laughing so hard I couldn't hardly believe my eyes. Just one of the many crazy stories for this summer but I wanted to share it with you, and honestly relive it myself.

Just thoughts

How fast time really does seem to fly. Sorry it has taken me so long to finally sit down here and write an update. Life here not only moves fast but each and every moment seems to be filled with purpose. It has been so nice the last couple of days to take a break and slow down. We have been able to have about a 4-5 day break period where we have gotten some much needed extra sleep and been able to take a trip to Jarbacoa to go white water rafting which was incredible.
I guess I never really doubted the fact that being out here this summer, working on the front lines in my Christian life that Satan was not going to use each and every thing he could to distract me from my mission out here. I feel as though the past couple weeks I have really been learning where those attack points are, how to recognize them, then how to present those in front of the Lord. What an amazing gift I have been given to give those to the Lord. I remember one morning a couple weeks ago just waking up with such a drained and tapped out spirit. I'm sure you can imagine when you dont daily lift your burdens up to the Lord and give those to Him the will gradually but surely build up to a point to where we as human beings cannot "sweep them under the rug" or deal with them any longer. I was so blessed in this hard morning that the Lord gave me such peace in finding the perfect scripture to soothe my spirit. So many moments like this one He has directed me and further steered me back into the correct direction when I have really and whole-heartedly given my burden or distraction to Him in prayer. I guess it is no surprise that being out here, as well in my request to Him for growth, that He has really pin-pointed out to me my weak points and how to deal with them so that I can use the perserverance as an opportunity to grow. I hope that makes sense. It does to me :)
Nontheless I, again, am so blessed that I have been given this place. The day I have to leave will probably be the hardest yet because of the relationships and equal lifestyle I have found corresponding with my own.
I just today finished a book called the "Screwtape Letters" which was very different but really had some valueable points. One thing I really feel like the Lord spoke to me through this book was the importance of the Present. The Present moment is the moment in which one really and truely experiences how to effect and change eternity. Worrying about the past which is stale and stuck in time does one no good, and dwelling on what the Future may hold only takes away from the Present. I do the book and the point I am trying to convey no just in what I just said but I guess what really stuck out to me was the true importance of every moment we are given. With each and every Present moment so fletting I've really begun to see the importance in not worrying about my Future, which I so instictively do, and really utilizing the Present moment to shape who I want to be and how I want to effect others. What a blessing to know that whenever you divert from the right path you have the very next present moment as a gift to redirect yourself and a new start. I really think that the Lord gives us such grace with the gift of time. For me, my personal goals for the rest of my time out here are to continue establishing lasting relationships with the local people and really going out of my way to spend time with them and serve them. Also to lift my daily distractions up to the Lord and to focus on the present moment I have been given. To recognize where I need improvement and thank Him for opening my eyes to that. And lastly just that with the next 3 weeks I am here I will leave all that is in me with this place and these people, so that when I leave I will know not one more ounce of effort or energy could have been put into the work we are trying to accomplish out here. Those are my current goals. Please continue to be in prayer for me and our work out here, but also that the Lord will show you what areas in your own life you can strengthen. Then when He does, by lifting them up to Him in prayer I believe you will truely be blessed in His response.
I love you all :)
Audrita