11. I should never eat at a roadside stand named D'Raffy Delicious (and neither should you).
12. Moths and centepedes creep me out.
13. Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas without the cold weather and snow.
14. When speaking English, I now have to translate in my head from Spanish to English.
15. A Dominican beach is one of my favorite places to commune with God.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Update
I have about 20 minutes until my last English class for the week and I need a break from grading papers, so I thought I would use this time to write a quick update on what has been going on here.
Things are pretty crazy around here right now. We recently had the land around our school leveled and it looks so much better, is much more functional, and is much safer for the kids. It's very exciting to see progress being made. We are ending our first trimester in the elementary school, so teachers are busy assessing and compling grades. Since I'm the English teacher, I also have been trying to finish all of my assessments and grades. We also have our preschool Christmas programs next week and our elementary Christmas program the following week. We have lots of planning and practicing and decorating to do. Because I am going home for two weeks for Christmas, I have also been busy trying to get everything ready for January for the preschool teachers.
January and February will be very busy as well. We are very excited that in those two months we will be having three groups come down to visit, two of which will be doing construction on the school. My friend Katie will be coming down to visit as well. January and February will be two very fun, productive, and exhausting months and I can't wait. But in the mean time we have a lot of prep work to do.
I will be heading to Chicago to spend Christmas with my family in two weeks, and along with all of the work that I have to finish for the school, I also have to get everything ready for my trip and celebrate Christmas with my friends and family here. I am a part of our school's 'angelitos' which is like a secret santa but with a much better name. (It means little angels). We will be having our school Christmas party next Saturday night and next Sunday night Eddy's family is throwing me a "fiesta de Carolina" since I will not be here for Christmas or New Years and won't be able to attend the family parties. I am very excited about this but also very nervous because my first big Dominican family party that I will be attending is also being thrown specifically for me. I'm feeling the pressure :)
It's time for my class now, so I will leave it at that. I will try to update again soon and post some pictures as well.
Blessings.
Things are pretty crazy around here right now. We recently had the land around our school leveled and it looks so much better, is much more functional, and is much safer for the kids. It's very exciting to see progress being made. We are ending our first trimester in the elementary school, so teachers are busy assessing and compling grades. Since I'm the English teacher, I also have been trying to finish all of my assessments and grades. We also have our preschool Christmas programs next week and our elementary Christmas program the following week. We have lots of planning and practicing and decorating to do. Because I am going home for two weeks for Christmas, I have also been busy trying to get everything ready for January for the preschool teachers.
January and February will be very busy as well. We are very excited that in those two months we will be having three groups come down to visit, two of which will be doing construction on the school. My friend Katie will be coming down to visit as well. January and February will be two very fun, productive, and exhausting months and I can't wait. But in the mean time we have a lot of prep work to do.
I will be heading to Chicago to spend Christmas with my family in two weeks, and along with all of the work that I have to finish for the school, I also have to get everything ready for my trip and celebrate Christmas with my friends and family here. I am a part of our school's 'angelitos' which is like a secret santa but with a much better name. (It means little angels). We will be having our school Christmas party next Saturday night and next Sunday night Eddy's family is throwing me a "fiesta de Carolina" since I will not be here for Christmas or New Years and won't be able to attend the family parties. I am very excited about this but also very nervous because my first big Dominican family party that I will be attending is also being thrown specifically for me. I'm feeling the pressure :)
It's time for my class now, so I will leave it at that. I will try to update again soon and post some pictures as well.
Blessings.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Trajedy
On Monday we had a teacher's work day. We met with all the teachers, gave workshops on active learning, talked about how everything was going, and enjoyed spending a day together. It was a wonderful day of talking, learning, enjoying each other and growing as a school. I arrived on Tuesday, re-energized and excited about the work I was doing. And then we heard the news.
Juhenny, a little girl in our 4-year-old preschool class died the night before. She had asthma and had been in the hospital over the weekend. They did bring her back on Monday, but they couldn't save her. Her two-year-old sister is a student at our school as well and also suffers from asthma.
I heard this news about two minutes before I had to teach my first English class. As I was teaching my class, the other teachers at the new school building were all finding out. Several of the teachers left to go to the family's house. I needed to help take care of the classes of the teachers who had left so I didn't allow myself to think about it and I tried to distance myself from it because when you are standing in front of 30 children who don't understand what is going on, you have to keep it together.
At noon, when all of the morning students were leaving, I found out that school would be cancelled for the afternoon classes due to the fact that her burial would be at 3. Eddy had to tell me this several times before I understood because in my mind I couldn't understand that if she died last night that she could possibly be buried today. It was at this point that it all hit me.
This child of four years arrived every day with her dad and her little sister. He was always very protective of them both and carried them up to their classrooms. He is actually one of the few fathers that I know because he was here every morning. Both of the girls have struggled with asthma and other complications and when the hurricane passed it made our weather crazy. The temperature was rising and falling 20 or 30 degrees in a few hours time. Everyone was feeling the effects of it, and for this child with asthma, it put her in the hospital. I have been told that she had other complications, but I still can't help but believe that if this child had access to better health care that she might still be alive. On top of the fact that this family lost their child, they needed to bury her in less than a day. The family couldn't afford to treat the body. Their child died on monday night, on tuesday morning her body was brought to their house for the funeral. She was meant to be buried that morning at 11, but the family needed more time so she was buried at 3 pm instead. Less than a day since she had died. That is so fast. It is too fast. And it was necessary because of their financial situation. This fact hit me like a ton of bricks and in that moment my heart broke for this family and the tears started and didn't stop for several hours. Not because it effected me directly, I did know Juhenny and she probably knew me too, but this wasn't my trajedy. The tears were a result of the knowlege that what this family was going through might have been prevented if they were in a different situation. I felt so helpless. I also felt guilty because if I had a child who was sick, I would have the option of going to the US for medical help but this child didn't have that opportunity.
Juhenny's family are not Christians. Juhenny, however had been in our school for two years and had been taught about Christ's love. I was told that when she was in the hospital she was singing Christian songs that she had learned at our school. Our focus now to figure out how we can best help this family. Their grief is beyond what any of us can imagine but we want them to know that we are here for them and we want to share God's love with them. We are all praying for this family and some have plans to counsel them as well. Our prayer is that God will give us wisdom and show us how to help them. Please join us in these prayers.
Juhenny, a little girl in our 4-year-old preschool class died the night before. She had asthma and had been in the hospital over the weekend. They did bring her back on Monday, but they couldn't save her. Her two-year-old sister is a student at our school as well and also suffers from asthma.
I heard this news about two minutes before I had to teach my first English class. As I was teaching my class, the other teachers at the new school building were all finding out. Several of the teachers left to go to the family's house. I needed to help take care of the classes of the teachers who had left so I didn't allow myself to think about it and I tried to distance myself from it because when you are standing in front of 30 children who don't understand what is going on, you have to keep it together.
At noon, when all of the morning students were leaving, I found out that school would be cancelled for the afternoon classes due to the fact that her burial would be at 3. Eddy had to tell me this several times before I understood because in my mind I couldn't understand that if she died last night that she could possibly be buried today. It was at this point that it all hit me.
This child of four years arrived every day with her dad and her little sister. He was always very protective of them both and carried them up to their classrooms. He is actually one of the few fathers that I know because he was here every morning. Both of the girls have struggled with asthma and other complications and when the hurricane passed it made our weather crazy. The temperature was rising and falling 20 or 30 degrees in a few hours time. Everyone was feeling the effects of it, and for this child with asthma, it put her in the hospital. I have been told that she had other complications, but I still can't help but believe that if this child had access to better health care that she might still be alive. On top of the fact that this family lost their child, they needed to bury her in less than a day. The family couldn't afford to treat the body. Their child died on monday night, on tuesday morning her body was brought to their house for the funeral. She was meant to be buried that morning at 11, but the family needed more time so she was buried at 3 pm instead. Less than a day since she had died. That is so fast. It is too fast. And it was necessary because of their financial situation. This fact hit me like a ton of bricks and in that moment my heart broke for this family and the tears started and didn't stop for several hours. Not because it effected me directly, I did know Juhenny and she probably knew me too, but this wasn't my trajedy. The tears were a result of the knowlege that what this family was going through might have been prevented if they were in a different situation. I felt so helpless. I also felt guilty because if I had a child who was sick, I would have the option of going to the US for medical help but this child didn't have that opportunity.
Juhenny's family are not Christians. Juhenny, however had been in our school for two years and had been taught about Christ's love. I was told that when she was in the hospital she was singing Christian songs that she had learned at our school. Our focus now to figure out how we can best help this family. Their grief is beyond what any of us can imagine but we want them to know that we are here for them and we want to share God's love with them. We are all praying for this family and some have plans to counsel them as well. Our prayer is that God will give us wisdom and show us how to help them. Please join us in these prayers.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Why am I here?
Why am I here? On a day like today, when I am completely exhausted and overwhelmed by the amount of work that I have to do, it's important for me to remember why I am here. Why AM I living and working in the Dominican Republic? I decided to explore this question with you because I have found that God helps me understand things as I write about what is happening in my life.
Why am I here? The question in itself can have many meanings. For example, it could mean, 'what caused me to come here?' or 'what is my job here?' or 'what is my purpose here?'
What caused me to come here?
Well, I know what caused me to come here, and it's not a what, it's a who. God led me here. God showed me in a very clear way that this is where He wanted me to be. I was so full of faith and love for Him, that I followed Him blindly and trusted Him completely. I arrived here 10 months ago full of energy and just hoping to be a blessing.
What is my job here?
My job here has grown and changed. Last school year, I was the english teacher to grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade. I also started getting involved in the praise team ministry and helped host people and groups that came down to serve. This year I am teaching English to Kindergarten through 5th grade, and I am also the preschool coordinator. I am reconstructing the curriculum, helping teachers understand how children learn and best practices, helping plan and give workshops, and a bunch of other random responsibilities. I am still making and running the powerpoints for the praise team and helping with special activities and fundraisers. I am on the church volleyball team and I continue to help coordinate and host people and groups that come to visit. As my spanish is improving and I am more aware of how things work, there is more and more work that I can do.
What is my purpose here?
As an american, this question often might have the same answer as 'what is my job here?' But it's not the same. Because as I think of answers to that question, there are several that are seperate from my job here. I also think it is important to change the question to 'what is God's purpose for me here?' And although it is true that a part of my purpose here is the work that I am doing, there's more to it than that. I am not just called to do my work and then I'm done. The children here need so much love and attentions, many come from difficult home situations and have never known true love or the love of God. My hope and prayer is that I can be an encouragement and a blessing to some of the other young women that I am getting to know through the relationships that I am building with them. Most of them became Christians later in life and have a lot of things that they need to deal with and move on from in order to continue to grow in Christ. I believe that God has a purpose for me with the family that I am living with as well. I also believe that God has several purposes for me personally as well, that He wants this experience to help me grow in my faith and grow in my relationship with Him and become more Christ-like.
So which is more important? My job or my purpose? In this mission there is so much work to be done. I could work non-stop from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed every single day and there would still be more that I could do. So how do I find the balance? I am dutch-american, I know what it is to work, and I have a very strong work ethic. But if working so much is preventing me from fulfilling all of God's purposes for me here, is it worth it? And if working so much is preventing me from spending time with God and reading the Bible and praying and listening to sermons and growing in my relationship with Him, is it worth it?
So that brings me back to my original question. Why am I here? I know the answer, I have known it all along. To serve God.
That is the answer. I am here because Christ is my Lord and Savior, and He died on the cross for me, and even though I stumble and fall and sin every single day, He loves me in a way that I will never fully understand. I am here because I love God. I am here because I decided to surrender all of my control over my life to God. I am here because I want him to lead me and use me for His purposes. I am here to serve Him because I want to please Him. I am here because I know the love of God and I know the peace and joy that comes with feeling the love of God and I want to help show and teach the people here about this love.
One of my favorite songs that we sing here is called "Sobre la Cruz" and the lyrics to the chorus are:
'Ahora quiero amarte, vivir para agradarte, como tu te entregaste, sin reserves me amaste, asi, asi quiero amarte.' Roughly translated, 'Now I want to love you, live to please you, how you arrived and loved me without reservations, like this, I want to love you.'
Why am I here? The question in itself can have many meanings. For example, it could mean, 'what caused me to come here?' or 'what is my job here?' or 'what is my purpose here?'
What caused me to come here?
Well, I know what caused me to come here, and it's not a what, it's a who. God led me here. God showed me in a very clear way that this is where He wanted me to be. I was so full of faith and love for Him, that I followed Him blindly and trusted Him completely. I arrived here 10 months ago full of energy and just hoping to be a blessing.
What is my job here?
My job here has grown and changed. Last school year, I was the english teacher to grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade. I also started getting involved in the praise team ministry and helped host people and groups that came down to serve. This year I am teaching English to Kindergarten through 5th grade, and I am also the preschool coordinator. I am reconstructing the curriculum, helping teachers understand how children learn and best practices, helping plan and give workshops, and a bunch of other random responsibilities. I am still making and running the powerpoints for the praise team and helping with special activities and fundraisers. I am on the church volleyball team and I continue to help coordinate and host people and groups that come to visit. As my spanish is improving and I am more aware of how things work, there is more and more work that I can do.
What is my purpose here?
As an american, this question often might have the same answer as 'what is my job here?' But it's not the same. Because as I think of answers to that question, there are several that are seperate from my job here. I also think it is important to change the question to 'what is God's purpose for me here?' And although it is true that a part of my purpose here is the work that I am doing, there's more to it than that. I am not just called to do my work and then I'm done. The children here need so much love and attentions, many come from difficult home situations and have never known true love or the love of God. My hope and prayer is that I can be an encouragement and a blessing to some of the other young women that I am getting to know through the relationships that I am building with them. Most of them became Christians later in life and have a lot of things that they need to deal with and move on from in order to continue to grow in Christ. I believe that God has a purpose for me with the family that I am living with as well. I also believe that God has several purposes for me personally as well, that He wants this experience to help me grow in my faith and grow in my relationship with Him and become more Christ-like.
So which is more important? My job or my purpose? In this mission there is so much work to be done. I could work non-stop from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed every single day and there would still be more that I could do. So how do I find the balance? I am dutch-american, I know what it is to work, and I have a very strong work ethic. But if working so much is preventing me from fulfilling all of God's purposes for me here, is it worth it? And if working so much is preventing me from spending time with God and reading the Bible and praying and listening to sermons and growing in my relationship with Him, is it worth it?
So that brings me back to my original question. Why am I here? I know the answer, I have known it all along. To serve God.
That is the answer. I am here because Christ is my Lord and Savior, and He died on the cross for me, and even though I stumble and fall and sin every single day, He loves me in a way that I will never fully understand. I am here because I love God. I am here because I decided to surrender all of my control over my life to God. I am here because I want him to lead me and use me for His purposes. I am here to serve Him because I want to please Him. I am here because I know the love of God and I know the peace and joy that comes with feeling the love of God and I want to help show and teach the people here about this love.
One of my favorite songs that we sing here is called "Sobre la Cruz" and the lyrics to the chorus are:
'Ahora quiero amarte, vivir para agradarte, como tu te entregaste, sin reserves me amaste, asi, asi quiero amarte.' Roughly translated, 'Now I want to love you, live to please you, how you arrived and loved me without reservations, like this, I want to love you.'
Thursday, October 28, 2010
I'm Moving! (again)
I have been hearing about it for months, but it is now becoming a reality. We (my Dominican family and I) will be moving next week. In case you don't remember, for the last few months I have been living with Eddy's sister Guille and her two daughters. For a few years now, they have lived in a very small apartment above a colmado. In this apartment there were one and a half bedrooms, I slept in the half and Guille and girls slept in the other. It was tiny but it worked.
However, next week we will be moving into a house. I finally went to see it today. It is about twice the size of our apartment. There are three bedrooms, so the girls will actually have their own room and my room is much bigger. It's still about half the size of the average bedroom in the US, but there may actually be space to stand or even walk in this bedroom. Which would be a big change for me. I have even heard something about a closet. This very exciting. However, I was in my room and there wasn't a closet, so I'm not really sure what they mean by "closet", but again, if it's something to put my clothes in other than a suitcase, I will be thrilled.
The best part about it though, is how excited everyone is. The girls are practically beside themselves and I don't think I've seen Guille in a better mood. I kind of feel bad that I am not more excited. I am looking forward to having more space, but I really don't like moving. I am not looking forward to trying to pack all my stuff into my four suitcases and carrying it down the road as all the people look at the crazy American girl with all her stuff. And it's true. Honestly, in my tiny little half of a bedroom, I probably have more stuff (that came here in a total of four suitcases) than the three of them have in the whole house, and I'm including the kitchen. This is definitely a humbling realization, especially when I realize how often I take the blessings I have been given for granted.
Recently I realized that one of the reasons that the decision to move was made was because of me. It was because now they have added another person to their family and they need more space. Through this whole process, I have been shown that in their minds, in a very matter-of-fact way, I just another member of the family. They look after me, and worry about me, and take care of me as if I am one of their own. (In order to avoid confusion, let me explain that when I say "they", I mean the whole family. Not just Guille, but her parents and siblings as well. Because here the family is one, even though some of them live in different houses, they are one unit.)
I know that I am probably repeating myself talking about this again, but it continues to surprise me. It's something that is so different about the Dominican culture. They are so open and welcoming and you are never made to feel like a burden. They see you as a blessing and they treat you that same way. This is one of the biggest things about their culture that I hope rubs off on me. It is my prayer that in my life I will be as open and welcoming to the people that God puts in my path as this family has been with me.
However, next week we will be moving into a house. I finally went to see it today. It is about twice the size of our apartment. There are three bedrooms, so the girls will actually have their own room and my room is much bigger. It's still about half the size of the average bedroom in the US, but there may actually be space to stand or even walk in this bedroom. Which would be a big change for me. I have even heard something about a closet. This very exciting. However, I was in my room and there wasn't a closet, so I'm not really sure what they mean by "closet", but again, if it's something to put my clothes in other than a suitcase, I will be thrilled.
The best part about it though, is how excited everyone is. The girls are practically beside themselves and I don't think I've seen Guille in a better mood. I kind of feel bad that I am not more excited. I am looking forward to having more space, but I really don't like moving. I am not looking forward to trying to pack all my stuff into my four suitcases and carrying it down the road as all the people look at the crazy American girl with all her stuff. And it's true. Honestly, in my tiny little half of a bedroom, I probably have more stuff (that came here in a total of four suitcases) than the three of them have in the whole house, and I'm including the kitchen. This is definitely a humbling realization, especially when I realize how often I take the blessings I have been given for granted.
Recently I realized that one of the reasons that the decision to move was made was because of me. It was because now they have added another person to their family and they need more space. Through this whole process, I have been shown that in their minds, in a very matter-of-fact way, I just another member of the family. They look after me, and worry about me, and take care of me as if I am one of their own. (In order to avoid confusion, let me explain that when I say "they", I mean the whole family. Not just Guille, but her parents and siblings as well. Because here the family is one, even though some of them live in different houses, they are one unit.)
I know that I am probably repeating myself talking about this again, but it continues to surprise me. It's something that is so different about the Dominican culture. They are so open and welcoming and you are never made to feel like a burden. They see you as a blessing and they treat you that same way. This is one of the biggest things about their culture that I hope rubs off on me. It is my prayer that in my life I will be as open and welcoming to the people that God puts in my path as this family has been with me.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Things I have learned about myself since moving to the DR cont.
6. Skim Ice popsicles make me happy.
7. I am terrible at driving a moped.
8. This close to the Equator, I will burn in 10 minutes.
9. In the US I prefer Pepsi, but in the DR I prefer Coca-Cola.
10. For Dominicans, my name (Carrie) is weird and impossible to say. (So they renamed me Carolina.)
7. I am terrible at driving a moped.
8. This close to the Equator, I will burn in 10 minutes.
9. In the US I prefer Pepsi, but in the DR I prefer Coca-Cola.
10. For Dominicans, my name (Carrie) is weird and impossible to say. (So they renamed me Carolina.)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Something to think about
Something that my friend Katie Copeland said to me several months ago has stuck with me ever since. She was telling me about another friend of hers that was also a missionary. I don't remember which country she was living in, but everyday, on her way to work, she would have to walk past a group of men that would harass her. They would say horrible things to her, make gestures, basically they just enjoyed trying to make her miserable. And when she would talk about it with Katie, she would say things like "I'm just having a really hard time loving them right now." Because she understood. She understood that we are called to love, that we are called to show the love of Jesus to everyone, whether they deserve it or not, because Jesus loves us, even though we don't deserve it. Her reaction to these men, to try to show love to them, is not a typical reaction. It's shocking. And when Katie was recalling this story, she told me that her reaction was "Wow, you've been spending a lot of time with Jesus, haven't you?" That is the sentence that I have thought about repeately ever since.
"Wow, you have been spending a lot of time with Jesus, haven't you?"
And in that moment, I knew that I wanted to live the kind of life that causes that kind of reaction. I want to have such a close relationship with Christ that the things that I do or say are so abnormal and so shocking, that people have no other reaction but to accuse me of spending a lot of time with Jesus. And most days, I fail. Most days, people probably would not have that reaction to my life or to the things that I say. But it remains my goal. God puts this thought in my mind often: When people look at my life today and listen to the things that I say, will they look at me in surprise because they can tell that I have a deep, personal relationship with Christ? I hope so.
"Wow, you have been spending a lot of time with Jesus, haven't you?"
And in that moment, I knew that I wanted to live the kind of life that causes that kind of reaction. I want to have such a close relationship with Christ that the things that I do or say are so abnormal and so shocking, that people have no other reaction but to accuse me of spending a lot of time with Jesus. And most days, I fail. Most days, people probably would not have that reaction to my life or to the things that I say. But it remains my goal. God puts this thought in my mind often: When people look at my life today and listen to the things that I say, will they look at me in surprise because they can tell that I have a deep, personal relationship with Christ? I hope so.
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