Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Coming Home

For those of you who haven't heard yet, we're coming home in June. The reasons are many and feel complicated, but it all comes down to missing home. Our family... our friends... our healthy way of life... these are things that simply are not available down here in the DR, so we are going to search for another method of helping TEARS and working with the people we have grown closer to over the past 6 months. Kisha will still be working for the ministry as liaison to North American supporters, and will also be learning how to write grants for TEARS as a non-profit ministry. We also have hopes of leading American groups to La Vega during summer breaks, helping people show and experience the love of God in meaningful ways.



We will be leaving for home by mid June, which means we're once again moving into transition. I have notified my employer about our decision, but I have to believe that moving out of a foreign country is a tad bit more complicated than just moving across town. There will be paperwork... fees... and long, emotional good-byes in a foreign language (that coincidentally doesn't seem so foreign anymore). Please pray for us as we start making another big transition.



I am trying to maintain a solid work ethic at SCS. It's not that easy considering the student mindset, but I want to give them the best I have for the remainder of the year. Though I haven't gotten as close with these students as I have in the past, parting is always such sweet sorrow, and I admit I'll miss some of them. They crack me up, for sure. Pray for energy and vision in my classes, that God will allow me to positively impact the student that need a touch from a Jesus follower that just happens to be a teacher.

I am grateful for all the support we've recieved. When I have felt crazy I know I can just pick up the phone and talk to someone who cares. I'm sure I'll need it again in the next 4 months, but I just want to take a moment and say THANK YOU to you guys who have talked me through this gig. You're awesome.

Monday, January 23, 2012

once I thought...


Reaching the halfway point to a year here in the tropics is causing me to reflect. How wonderful I always believed it would be to live here. I envisioned a life full of laughter and tons of time with friends. I thought we would change the world together. I wished that my American friends had the dedication and gumption to follow Christ the way I remembered from my earlier mission trips... I always put my memories of this place on a pedestal. I blamed my lack of motivation on the American churches' format and on Western culture. It is amazing how blinded I was by youth... It was magical to be here because it was my first taste of living on my own.

I am so happy to be here, but at times I am ready to go home. To go back to Portland. Life here is hard, and now that my friends are all grown up with families and children we are not that much different from people in the States. There are a lot of things that take up our time, and we have trouble balancing all of the responsibilities. I hate seeing people I love be affected by severe poverty. I hate knowing that families I care about regularly go without food. I hate watching children I love suffer abuse at home. I understand that this happens in the States, too, and I am not trying to give up the romance of one place by romancing another, BUT it is so in your face here. It is everywhere I look. The divide between the haves and the have nots is huge and frightening. We live in the desperation that is left behind.

So how do I offer hope? How do I even speak Christ into this place. Jesus help me to be your light in this darkness.

Friday, January 13, 2012

What a Time

It has been a while since I have written a post... I don't have any real good reasons why. I felt like all of my posts were sounding the same... but really that is because life has gotten into a routine here for me. 3 days a week I make lunch for/with the 5 boys. The rest of my time I am trying to build into the life of Yuli the girl who is expecting a child. My days are full of just hanging out and loving and praying for opportunities to impart wisdom.

I started taking a class this week to finish my Associates degree through PCC, turns out I was 5 credits short. So that is a change. I am taking Chicano/Latino studies. It will be great to finally finish this task that seems to have taken forever.

But here is a recap of the past little bit of my life starting with the most recent...

sick for 5 days without leaving the house, bad cough... possible yucky virus that will remain nameless.