Overwhelmed by lessons, blessings, and opportunities

Hola again!

Sorry for not being better about updating... there's just so much going on here and in my mind and processing is a slow progression! God is teaching me so many things and I am amazed by what He is doing down here. I'll keep this fairly short because I'm pretty wiped out, but here's a little update...

Yesterday, we had a rainy day, so it was a little bit more low key in terms of construction work, but a blessing in that it was a little more relationally focused. Mandy and Katie shared a great conversation with some of our friends here about what it means to be a Christian in different cultures, which led to some deeper and greater conversations to think about for the future. Thinking about how we as a team are coming down and respecting that culture, and also how we address our differences between cultures as Christians but still share a deep love for Christ that connects us all. We spent most of the morning at a couple of our construction sites, and over the afternoon we split off, as some of us taught a lesson at the school, and the boys went off to play basketball. Mandy did a beautiful job of coming up with a lesson last minute, and the other team members worked together well as we tried our best to manage 60 children under the age of 7 in a classroom to teach them the story of creation through numbers and colors! An hour and a half of craziness and fun! :)

Today was another day of heavy rain. My roommate, Pami and I, woke up to a bathroom that was full of water from the rain coming through the roof. Good way to start the day :) We started the day by going to Sondra's son, Daniel's, private school, to meet the students and see what kind of work needed to be done there. A few good lessons... we asked some of the students if they could have more in the school, what they would want... a few of their comments:

"A volleyball court"
"A computer lab"
"A library"
"Basketball"
"Air Conditioning"
"Windows so that rain won't come in"

It amazed me the things we take for granted in our schools back home! These kids just want a library and basketball court, and many schools in the US already have all of these things. It put me in a very humbling place to hear this, little things that I've always taken advantage of.

After going to the school, we came back and had a little down time, since it was still raining. Four of us found a quiet room and spent that down time in prayer. We prayed for the community- the school, the children, the families, the leaders, and that God would work through them. It was pretty awesome that I was able to share this with a few others, because at the moment I was feeling a little frustrated that we weren't able to work, and was asking God for an opportunity to serve in other ways. Almost immediately after that prayer, one of my teammates told me she felt led to pray for the community, so she, myself, and two others found a room to do this in, which ended up being some pretty awesome time.

After we were finished, it was time for lunch. Once we finished lunch, we helped move all the sewing machines and materials from one building to another, and then I spent the remainder of the day painting the old building, which is now going to be a cafeteria for missionaries that come in. It was a fun afternoon-- I painted with two other teammates, along with some of our teenagers-- Suzanna, Henry, and Kelvin. I ended up getting a little paint on my face, and laughed a lot. Kelvin kept saying I was his girlfriend... Kelvin is 18, and I kept saying "Muy Joven, Muy Joven!" (very young, very young)! He kept blowing me kisses and winking, and I kept rolling my eyes... the other kids were picking on him for it, too. It was sort of funny... all the kids seem to think I'm like 18 too... I guess I'll take that as a compliment in a few years...

After painting, we took a bunch of the teen girls out for pizza. The pizza place was pretty cool... it had a little park inside, with swings, teeter totters, monkey bars, etc. I think the girls enjoyed getting out of the community, enjoying some good food, and some time to play.

I'm pretty tired right now... it was a busy day, and I'm still trying to process what it all means and what God is trying to show me through all of this. He's been teaching me some big lessons this week, and I'm excited to see how He will continue to work through the rest of the trip. Thank you as always, for your continued prayers and support!

Blessings,

Erin

Day 4 and AMAZED

Hola Amigos es Amigas!!



All is well here in Puerto Plata. I thank you for the ongoing prayers and encouragement and support. These last few days have been pretty awesome-- at times overwhelming, but man, it's so great to see how God is working and the presence of the Holy Spirit in Aguas Negras. I will go into greater detail post-trip about each day, as I still have a lot to process and want to be open to what God is showing and teaching me, but I'll give you a brief rundown of what has been going on...

After our arrival on Friday and getting settled, we dove into Saturday with full force. We started by taking a gondola up to a mountain, where we were able to see the city of Puerto Plata. It was a great way to start the trip-- it allowed us to see the beauty of the city, and also to be able to point out where the community of Aguas Negras was within the city. We were able to spend a little over an hour in quiet time with God, which was pretty awesome. I spent my time in prayer really thinking about what it means to serve and to show love and grace and compassion in every situation and in every place. When the team came together after our quiet time, we talked about this for a while, and what it means to live a life of service, rather than just to DO service. There are many people in our own community of Denver that need love and compassion and hope. Yes, there is a great need to have work here in Puerto Plata, but God has a lot of work for us in every place we are, and we really wanted to focus on what it looks likes to bring that life of service back home and in every situation. How can we serve and love others in our own hometown where there is a need, too? And during this week, let's make sure we're serving all of the time... not just when we're being assigned tasks to work on. One of my teammates said his theme was to "Be aware of God's presence in and all around us at all times." I personally decided I would stick with that theme as well. Watch where God is working in all places. And man, God is working in all kinds of places here in Aguas Negras.

After our quiet time, we headed into the community to tour and meet the people. As many of you may know, I speak very LITTLE Spanish, and was not very successful in making time to learn pre-trip. This became a huge concern for me, knowing that most of the people here speak Spanish, and hardly any speak any English. How would I relate? How would I connect? Smile and wave? That doesn't seem super effective. I've continued to pray that God would not let that be a barrier to serving Him and letting Him use me, and I felt He immediately started responding to that prayer as soon as I stepped off of the bus into the community on Day 1. I was greeted by a young girl named Laura... as soon as I stepped off the bus, she came running towards me and wrapped her arms around me with a huge hug... and many hugs! I would have to say I was very grateful for such a welcoming greeting, where the language did not create a barrier. We toured the community, and kids guided us around... many kids of all ages... on our backs, holding our hands, anything goes... I noticed at any given moment, you could see all 8 of our team members with at the very least having three kids somehow connected on or next to them!

The community of Aguas Negras does have more work to be done, yes, but there is SO much joy there regardless, and to me that is so encouraging.

After our tour, we went to pray over a woman who was sick, and I will discuss this more later as I go back through the days and process, but it was a pretty special moment, and I pray that the Lord will continue to bless her body.

After having dinner that first day, Sondra took us around to show us many new churches in the community. Just in Aguas Negras, there were 8 churches! I wish I could have taken a video of the services... I think we as Americans could learn a few things from the way they pray down here! People of all ages were praying loudly, exclaiming, praising, pleading to God, lifting their hands, outside on streets, inside buildings, everywhere for long periods of time. Lots of singing, and joy in worshipping the Lord. Man, would it be cool to see people worshipping God in that same way in our own churches. My prayer that night was that God would allow me to pray boldly in all circumstances and in all places regardless of the situation. I felt so encouraged, so rejuvenated, and felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in that place was so strong!

Day 2 we spent most of the time at our house. Sondra's four kids and some of their friends came over, and we took them to the beach. Part of me felt guilty at first that we were at the beach, but I know that it was a time where we could grow in our relationship with these kids and learn about them on a deeper level so that we could better serve them and their community, and give them a chance to just have fun and be a kid! They are AWESOME kids, and I love them so much! Although I don't speak much Spanish, and they don't speak much English, I was still able to connect with them, and felt very encouraged that God was not allowing my weaknesses to get in the way of serving Him. That's a big lesson I'm learning this week. My weaknesses will not limit my abilities to serve God, unless I let my weaknesses limit me. I'm grateful to see God is using me through this, and am even learning some Spanish from it, too :)

Today we spent the day in the community getting into more dirty work. We worked on a few houses through construction... carrying bricks (heavy ones, mind you), and I had the specific task of laying concrete for the bricks to lay on. Lots of work, but awesome to see that it's helping families in this community. I also went with a couple of girls to teach the Girls Club some English words. The lesson went well, and afterwards, we were able to give them the dresses we brought down for their prom dress collection, which they rent out to other girls/women in the community for special occasions. It was so cool to see the joy on their faces, and THANK YOU so much to those of you who donated some of your beautiful dresses to these girls-- they LOVE and appreciate them! (I have some great photos I will post when I get home)

Okay, that's all for now... time to get to bed, but please continue to pray for us. Thanks for your prayers and your support!

We Made It!!

Hi Everyone!!

Thank you for your prayers and support! We have made it safely to Puerto Plata, and I'm so excited for these next 10 days. I'm grateful that our flights went smoothly, that we made our connecting flight with less than 30 minutes to spare, and arrived with no lost baggage. The weather here is beautiful-- warm and humid, blue skies-- can't complain. Sondra, the woman who runs the church that we partner with down here picked us up from the airport and greeted us all with smiles, hugs, and a truly sincere welcome. She is such a kind and beautiful woman, and I look forward to getting to know her better over the course of the week. We just arrived at the place we are staying at for the week and are getting settled today, and will go into the community tomorrow. I'm so excited to see what God's going to do down here and how this team is going to work together. Please keep praying for us-- I will give you more detailed updates as the days go on. I won't be able to upload photos until I get back, but will be as descriptive as I can be!

4 DAYS AWAY!!

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  WOWSERS, I’m leaving in 4 days for the DR!!  I can’t believe I’m really going!!  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  I know many of you are praying, and for that I am so, so grateful.  I am getting very close to my fundraising goal, and want to thank each and every one of you who've contributed.  I’m so excited to see what God is going to do down there, and am ready to serve with open hands. 

I hope to be updating this pretty frequently as these last few days wind down, and during the trip, and I want to cover some things that God’s been teaching and showing me.

Over the last few weeks, my small group has started a study called Experiencing God.  One of the huge focuses of it this week was on doing what God wants us to do, not dreaming up the plans that we want God to have for us.  This is a hard subject to grasp, because we’ve all heard the motto of “going for your dreams.”  Yes, that’s great, but at what point do you address whether it is self-centered or God-centered?  If we’re not glorifying God, who are we serving?   Ourselves?  Yep, probably.  So how does that fit with God’s plans? Well, it doesn't.

I know that I myself have many dreams of my own, many plans, thoughts, hopes, and ideas.  But I am learning that they have to be in line with God’s will, and that God can change anything at any given moment.  So where am I getting with this, anyways?  Well, I’ve been praying and preparing for this trip for months now, and in my life, I’m constantly asking the question, “what is God’s will for MY life?”, but I’ve realized through this study that the right question to ask is just “What is God’s will?”  As I serve down in the DR, I pray that I would do God’s will, that I would allow Him to place me wherever He needs me to be, even if it’s uncomfortable or difficult or awkward or if it’s loving someone who is hard to love.  I pray that God will use our team’s hands and feet, and that we would serve where HE needs us.  I pray that I will not focus on what His will is for ME, but what HIS will is in the bigger picture. 

 Whether you’re serving somewhere or not, I encourage you to think about this (I am thinking about it myself, because I know I'm nowhere near perfect, and can be self centered too):  

Are we doing God’s will, or are we just asking What is God’s will for us?