I have been home for the last 48+ hours.
I returned home late Friday/early Saturday. I encounter many delays during travel; however, did not miss a single flight!
In the DR our plane was late arriving which meant that I landed at MIA - Miami with just under and hour to clear customs and hightail it to my gate. Thankfully my flight was also delayed in Miami due to lightening strikes. So I made it to the plane and boarded 2 hours later than planned.
Since being home I have been extremely busy studying Spanish, reading ESL curriculum books, planning for camp and readjusting to a life of "luxury" compared to my DR habitat. It has been weird to drive and go to stores, but thankfully any culture shock has happened someplace out of the "public" eye.
Anyways, I am busy working for NISRA and SEDOM this summer like that previous 6 summers...that's a long time to be at the same summer job, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
22 June 2009
15 June 2009
4 days
home in 4 short days.
there is still so much to do packing wise, but that's not what i've been doing.
this morning i sat down and worked on correspondence. woo...what a way to spend my morning. i currently have written roughly 3 rough drafts this morning of very important letters. 2 of which many of you will be seeing in your mailboxes soon (hopefully next week!)
please pray for the JCS staff as many of us are flying home or have already flown home. mainly prayer for re-adjusting to life in the united states. and for the staff staying here...who will be missing their co-workers and friends.
for me - i land on friday and start work on monday. pray that God grants me enough rest this week and week-end to be prepared for work. i am thankful to even be working since i missed all the training for both jobs. God is good and faithful.
anyways. now that the writing is done...it's time to focus on the packing part of life. which is semi-difficult since i still need to live the next few days....so for now it's sorting through piles that have accumulated on my arch-nemis ---flat surfaces.
there is still so much to do packing wise, but that's not what i've been doing.
this morning i sat down and worked on correspondence. woo...what a way to spend my morning. i currently have written roughly 3 rough drafts this morning of very important letters. 2 of which many of you will be seeing in your mailboxes soon (hopefully next week!)
please pray for the JCS staff as many of us are flying home or have already flown home. mainly prayer for re-adjusting to life in the united states. and for the staff staying here...who will be missing their co-workers and friends.
for me - i land on friday and start work on monday. pray that God grants me enough rest this week and week-end to be prepared for work. i am thankful to even be working since i missed all the training for both jobs. God is good and faithful.
anyways. now that the writing is done...it's time to focus on the packing part of life. which is semi-difficult since i still need to live the next few days....so for now it's sorting through piles that have accumulated on my arch-nemis ---flat surfaces.
07 June 2009
Letting Go of the Sword of Self-Sufficiency
Please excuse any grammatical, spelling, or time lapse mistakes as this entry endured a power outage and a short-circuiting keyboard.
Today was probably one of the most convicting church services I have ever been too. Popin (Po-peen) my pastor talked about Moses and the Burning Bush; when Moses was in the desert because of his own self-sufficiency. He took a sword to seek justice and fled. God took 40 years while Moses was tending his father-in-law’s sheep to bring Moses to the burning bush. At that time God chose to use Moses with a staff instead of a sword to free an entire country!
Moses held on stubbornly to the sword of self-sufficiency and justice, just as we do. We my not tend sheep in the desert, but we all experience our own deserts of loneliness. God meets us in these deserts and asks for our swords and gives us staves. It’s up to us at this point to lean on the support of God or throw down the staff and go our own ways again. But God does not give up because He still wants to use us; sinners!
God wants to be our “business” partners in the journey to transform the world into His likeness even though He doesn’t need us. He wants to work with us because we can show the transformation of a life lived in Him. God chooses us for 3 reasons:
1) HE loves us!
2 HE knows our potential.
3 Someone has to tell the world about God’s glory.
While we may feel useless, God provides answers at the perfect times. He is the I AM. – He is unchangeable, the Alpha and Omega, the God who was, who is, and who is to come, He is absolute, He is with out cause, He is essential. The knowledge of this God doesn’t transform us or those around us – we can only be transformed by a personal revelation!
We can’t truly be revealed to God’s glory until we give up that sword of self-sufficiency that we hold. Only then will God reveal His true glory to us, just as he did to Moses with the burning bush. By giving this up we are giving up the right to say “I CAN” - can you do that? I know that I can’t… I struggle every day. My life can not be based on I CAN and Maybes.
God calls us to prayer…a life of surrender. A life in the desert allows us fall to our knees and listen to the voice of God that is always there, just BEGGING to be heard.
LET GO – Let go, Let go – let go of whatever you are holding onto and hold God’s outstretched waiting hand. He will lead us were we need to go.
At the beginning of the year I wrote a list of what I wanted God to do while I was here or what I hoped God would do. That’s ridiculous…God isn’t told what to do. He tells us what to do. God has done most of the things on my list. He has just done them in ways not so conventional. I am happy that He has answered my strange requests.
I recently finished a study on Hebrews called Hoping for Something Better. I highly recommend this study for anyone who struggles with emotions dealing with depression or an overwhelming sense of short-comings. God is good and has planned a life full of hope based on trials that lead us to him…just as God led Moses to the burning bush with a rod in his hands that later went on to free an entire country.
Now I am doing a study/reading a book called Come Closer based on 15 invitations from Jesus to come and be near him. I am always convicted and touched as I read each chapter…identifying with the crowd that Jesus was talking to. I have come to desire the friendship and companionship of our Savior more deeply than the salvation that originally drew me into the fold. I have come to the place where Jesus is truly beginning to take a human form.
As I end the school year I am looking forward to the next year and how I can be the example of Jesus to my students. I can simply do that by loving them…staying for one more year…showing them that love…for some of the incoming second graders next year will be the first year they have had a certified teacher for more than 4 months. I want to show them Christ’s love. I want to put down my sword so I can love them not on my own but love them with God’s guidance…will you join me by praying for my student’s next year? Will you venture out of your desert place and let God lead you by the hand to what He has planned for you?
I hope that you will.
Today was probably one of the most convicting church services I have ever been too. Popin (Po-peen) my pastor talked about Moses and the Burning Bush; when Moses was in the desert because of his own self-sufficiency. He took a sword to seek justice and fled. God took 40 years while Moses was tending his father-in-law’s sheep to bring Moses to the burning bush. At that time God chose to use Moses with a staff instead of a sword to free an entire country!
Moses held on stubbornly to the sword of self-sufficiency and justice, just as we do. We my not tend sheep in the desert, but we all experience our own deserts of loneliness. God meets us in these deserts and asks for our swords and gives us staves. It’s up to us at this point to lean on the support of God or throw down the staff and go our own ways again. But God does not give up because He still wants to use us; sinners!
God wants to be our “business” partners in the journey to transform the world into His likeness even though He doesn’t need us. He wants to work with us because we can show the transformation of a life lived in Him. God chooses us for 3 reasons:
1) HE loves us!
2 HE knows our potential.
3 Someone has to tell the world about God’s glory.
While we may feel useless, God provides answers at the perfect times. He is the I AM. – He is unchangeable, the Alpha and Omega, the God who was, who is, and who is to come, He is absolute, He is with out cause, He is essential. The knowledge of this God doesn’t transform us or those around us – we can only be transformed by a personal revelation!
We can’t truly be revealed to God’s glory until we give up that sword of self-sufficiency that we hold. Only then will God reveal His true glory to us, just as he did to Moses with the burning bush. By giving this up we are giving up the right to say “I CAN” - can you do that? I know that I can’t… I struggle every day. My life can not be based on I CAN and Maybes.
God calls us to prayer…a life of surrender. A life in the desert allows us fall to our knees and listen to the voice of God that is always there, just BEGGING to be heard.
LET GO – Let go, Let go – let go of whatever you are holding onto and hold God’s outstretched waiting hand. He will lead us were we need to go.
At the beginning of the year I wrote a list of what I wanted God to do while I was here or what I hoped God would do. That’s ridiculous…God isn’t told what to do. He tells us what to do. God has done most of the things on my list. He has just done them in ways not so conventional. I am happy that He has answered my strange requests.
I recently finished a study on Hebrews called Hoping for Something Better. I highly recommend this study for anyone who struggles with emotions dealing with depression or an overwhelming sense of short-comings. God is good and has planned a life full of hope based on trials that lead us to him…just as God led Moses to the burning bush with a rod in his hands that later went on to free an entire country.
Now I am doing a study/reading a book called Come Closer based on 15 invitations from Jesus to come and be near him. I am always convicted and touched as I read each chapter…identifying with the crowd that Jesus was talking to. I have come to desire the friendship and companionship of our Savior more deeply than the salvation that originally drew me into the fold. I have come to the place where Jesus is truly beginning to take a human form.
As I end the school year I am looking forward to the next year and how I can be the example of Jesus to my students. I can simply do that by loving them…staying for one more year…showing them that love…for some of the incoming second graders next year will be the first year they have had a certified teacher for more than 4 months. I want to show them Christ’s love. I want to put down my sword so I can love them not on my own but love them with God’s guidance…will you join me by praying for my student’s next year? Will you venture out of your desert place and let God lead you by the hand to what He has planned for you?
I hope that you will.
04 June 2009
Winding Down
As the school year winds down I am overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have! Yikes...3 suitcases a few MFIs and many hand-me-downs sure does add up!
AND then I think of all the stuff I need for next your to become a good second grade teacher. God will provide he always does. I may have to wait for the new things but it will be worth the wait.
URGENT prayer...sort of silly/selfish/actually legit...my computer has been malfunctioning for the better part of the last few months. I will need to purchase a new one this summer most likely. Please pray for a computer to be provided as money is very tight OR a quality used one will be found by Ash who has been so helpful to me but also to my friends here. He's sort of a celeb among all of us who he has helped...without him we would have waited months to get any sort of help. so a big thank you!!!
i need to go before my keyboard completely makes everything disappear. :(
AND then I think of all the stuff I need for next your to become a good second grade teacher. God will provide he always does. I may have to wait for the new things but it will be worth the wait.
URGENT prayer...sort of silly/selfish/actually legit...my computer has been malfunctioning for the better part of the last few months. I will need to purchase a new one this summer most likely. Please pray for a computer to be provided as money is very tight OR a quality used one will be found by Ash who has been so helpful to me but also to my friends here. He's sort of a celeb among all of us who he has helped...without him we would have waited months to get any sort of help. so a big thank you!!!
i need to go before my keyboard completely makes everything disappear. :(
01 June 2009
MAYO en la Republica Dominicana
Sorry for the lengthy absence...they do say that absence makes the heart grow fonder...so without delay let me fill you in on my life while I've been away from the blogging world.
May 1st - 3rd grade field trip to Santo Domingo. I know I went on long adventures in elementary school. BUT I never realized the dedication and patience it took on the part of the teachers.
Needless to say there were rewards too. Like the aquarium/McDonald's and lots of singing on the bus.
Here are some snap shots of that day.
May 5th - Cinco de Mayo - first one in a Spanish country but sadly it means nothing here
May 28/29th - Volcano Days
May 30/31 - La Playa
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