Home Sweet Home?

Well the last time I wrote I said you might not hear from me in two weeks, and now its August 25th. Yeaaaah. The first two weeks of teams were completely awesome, but at this point its hard to give you a play-by-play of what happened. After two weeks of teams we had a week off, and went to a place called Jarabacoa for a little vacation. The staff stayed in a big house and we cooked our own meals and played cards and just hung out for three days. We went to a ranch the second day where we got to go canyoning. Canyoning involves putting on wetsuits and repelling down waterfalls. Between waterfalls we swam down the river, jumped off a few cliffs, and ziplined to the next waterfalls. We had a great time but it was almost more relaxing to get back to Santo Domingo on Wednesday of that week.

Long story short, I ended up coming home two weeks early. Austin had been having some difficulties at camp, and I wanted to spend time with my parents before he got home (we were scheduled to come home on the same day, August 8). It broke my heart to miss the last two teams and leave the DR early, but after a lot of prayer I felt that this was the right choice. I had been praying and praying about this choice, and in the midst of deciding whether to come home early or stay the full time, a good friend (Laura) gave me some advice. She said, "Amy, sometimes God doesn't say 'Go this way,' He lets you choose on your own. But he does promise that He will walk with you no matter which path you choose." This was so encouraging to me. In the midst of what seemed like silence from God, I believe He used Laura to tell me that there isn't always a right and wrong answer, but that He promises to be faithful and see me through whatever decision I make.

If you were part of my prayer team or sent financial support, you already got my letter summarizing my time in the Dominican. I am pasting it here because it seems like a good way to summarize what happened. God did so much, and I am so thankful to Him that I got this opportunity. I hope that I honored him while I was there, and I think that I did. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to update this blog very much (especially towards the end). Maybe the next time I go someplace (CHILE: Feb. '10. be there. or here. whatever, I'll be blogging.) I will make sure I have consistent internet access while I'm there. Until then, here's my letter. I'll give you a cookie if you make it to the end :)

Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing to tell you about the time I spent in the Dominican Republic this summer and what God did while I was there. I am now back in Sycamore at my parent’s house, and I have gotten to catch up with many friends who have also traveled to do mission work this summer. It has been amazing to hear the stories of how God is working all over the world, and the Dominican Republic is no exception. Your prayers and financial support made it possible for me to grow closer to God as I got involved in His work in the Dominican Republic, and I would like to thank you for that. God started showing me His power and plan before I even arrived in the D.R. by giving me a community of believers to love and support me and by providing me with exactly the amount I needed to raise to get there—despite these hard economic times.

I arrived in Santo Domingo two weeks before our first American team, and spent those two weeks getting to know the other World Servants summer staff and preparing the four different sites where the American teams would be working (La Romana, San Cristobal, La Represa, and Consuelo). God really brought together a great summer staff—all the workers, cooks, translators, team leaders, and interns brought different gifts and histories to the summer, but we all got along wonderfully. This could only be done by God!

The teams that we hosted were there for a week each, and for four weeks we would drop one team off at the airport and pick up the next team that same day. Our staff was challenged to maintain energy week after week when, already exhausted from a full week with one team, we got no time to rest before the next group of Americans came. It was sometimes hard—the teams could easily maintain a high level of energy for a week (as is often the case on mission trips) but the staff had to stay pumped up for multiple mission trips in a row! I had to learn to bring my tired spirit to God and allow him to fill me back up when things overwhelmed me.

I was blessed by getting to stay with a host family my first two weeks in Santo Domingo. I cannot tell you how encouraging it was to have a mom, dad, sister, and brother who treated me as one of their own and spent time helping me with my Spanish. Getting to practice and speak Spanish was so fun! My first few weeks I avoided speaking out of fear of sounding stupid, but when the teams got there I was asked to do some translating and fell right into the language. As many of you know, my Spanish class at Hope this spring was very challenging and frustrating to me. I questioned why I was even studying Spanish—but God knew that my ability to speak Spanish would help me to do my job in the D.R. by connecting and bonding with the people and being able to help the Americans who didn’t speak Spanish connect with the Dominicans.

One of the biggest things I learned was how to be a leader. Since I was the only woman on staff with the teams, I had a lot more responsibility than the other interns. Women’s ministry in the communities was almost completely my responsibility; I’ll talk more about this later. Little things like getting mosquito nets up and keeping toilet paper stocked in the women’s dorms each week were usually up to me, and many of the younger girls looked up to me as a friend and leader. I made so many good relationships! I think until this point in my life I have always been led by older women, but since we had all ages on the mission trips and I was on staff, I got to assume the older, leadership role to our elementary and high school aged participants.

Interns had many roles during the weeks with the teams, but our main responsibilities were to organize the following: construction, home visits, children’s ministry (VBS), and women’s ministry. As you may have guessed, construction wasn’t my strongest ministry, but I was able to lead by example to many of the women by helping where needed and having a good attitude. Every member of the American teams went on at least one home visit in the communities we worked in and I really enjoyed organizing and translating for these. It was so awesome to watch Americans and Dominicans connecting and fellowshipping despite lingual and cultural barriers. Children’s ministry was overwhelming to organize, but completely rewarding. Children have an ability to love unconditionally despite cultural barriers, and the bonds with the children were some of the most fun.

I am most passionate about women’s ministry. World Servants helps run a women’s cooperative in a community outside of Santo Domingo, and I absolutely loved working with the women and then bringing the American teams into it with me once they arrived. Women’s ministry can transform communities. Since women are generally expected to stay in the home in the Dominican Republic, they are rarely able to contribute a lot of income to families. Many of the women, despite illiteracy and a lack of education, love to do crafts and can learn to make professional-grade purses and jewelry. The co-op will then sell these crafts in other countries, providing families with extra money which is often used to pay school tuition for their children and help lift them out of poverty. As exciting as an opportunity to rise out of poverty is the chance to get to fellowship and do Bible studies while they work. Women’s co-ops provide not only economic opportunities but also great opportunities to make friends, discuss their husbands and children, and minister to each other’s emotional and spiritual needs—SO awesome!

A big part of my interest in this internship was fueled by my hope to have a career in international development after graduating from Hope. I’m not sure yet what this will look like, but my time spent with World Servants enabled me to understand what development looks like “on the ground,” and to understand many of the challenges and joys faced by Non-governmental organizations in both ministry and community development. I feel that development is both an interesting academic discipline and an awesome way to fulfill the great commission, and I look forward to seeing how God uses me in the future. All of this would not have been possible without your love, prayers, friendships, and support. I want you all to be encouraged that God is doing big things (everywhere, always!) and that you have been a part of both fulfilling the great commission in the Dominican Republic and greatly blessing me personally

All glory to God!