Friday—September 4th 2009—9:00am

**Just a reminder: we absolutely love and adore our families and friends… please don’t take offense if we haven’t been able to call or email lately… we still don’t have internet and we are trying to get connected every chance we get!**

Day FIFTEEN! We have officially been here more than two weeks. Honestly, it has flown by already, (which is surprising since we still aren’t working)… It is so humbling to examine these past 14 days and give an account for all the ways the Lord has miraculously provided for us. From the finances, to the newly birthed relationships with fellow believers (we met yet ANOTHER Christian couple who are pastors yesterday!), to finding a cheaper shipping company for our plane/boat, to people graciously offering us rides to get groceries… the Lord ALWAYS proves himself faithful. I believe that His hand is not too short to give and that He would never lead us to somewhere and then abandon us.

Isaiah 54: 10: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord who has compassion on you”.

Even though every sense of security could be stripped from my life (and perhaps is right now ☺) he will ceaselessly love me and shower peace on me. And at the end of the day, that is all that matters!

Isaiah 26:3-4 “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal”.

Wow!

There’s something so soothing about reminiscing on the Lords’ past faithfulness. In fact, I think its one of the greatest remedies to not only endure, but triumph over current trials. To remember that He demonstrated favor for us before, even when we absolutely are unworthy of His love and provision.

As far as current events…

Nothing too exciting has been going on the past few days. We are just making phone calls, sending emails, continuing the process of starting our business, walking the beach, and sitting in our sauna of an apartment ☺. However, and not be negative, but we have faced some struggles the past two days.

First, we are learning that indeed some natives are “wolves dressed up in sheep’s clothing” (or snakes, or “tigres”, etc.). We are trying to develop proper discernment on whom we can trust and whom we can’t. Honestly, we are struggling with not becoming jaded by the people’s devious schemes. Traditionally, we offer the idea that upon every new relationship that person is given full trust until it is clear we can’t offer it anymore. However, now we are struggling with offering trust to anyone we just meet. I do not think that is right though… this is where I am searching the Scriptures to see how I am supposed approach this. I want to aim to do all in a manner that glorifies Him! Instead of becoming frustrated with them and wanting to fire back, I am trying to be sympathetic to the fact that they desperately need Jesus, and I should be praying for them. I am called to love my enemies and that is my new mindset ☺.

Matthew 5:44 “But I tell you, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.

Secondly, Trav and I had our first tiff while living here yesterday. Let me tell you there’s nothing more humbling than being in a Country where truly all you have is your spouse, and then being at odds with them. He’s all I have and when we’re not good it affects you a lot more than if you were in the states and could vent and heal normally. Now I believe in the sanctity and exclusiveness of marriage so I will not go on any further into details, because it’s irrelevant and solely between him and I. (I just have to mention this to enhance why this mornings’ blessing was even more wonderful!) Anyways, after a tough day and the weight of current circumstances wearing us down, blurring our vision and focus, and making us irritable with each other we decided to humble ourselves of our prideful attitudes and reconcile. We authentically made amends and everything was wonderful again.

So after reconciling last night, and getting refreshed from healthy conversation I woke up this morning to a slight rain shower that displayed a gorgeous double rainbow. To me it was a physical display of rejuvenation and a gift from the Lord to remind me of all the promises He has made to His children. We don’t need to be uptight, we must be steadfast in pursuing our relationship with Him and with pursuing the vision He has called us to.

Genesis 9:12-15 “And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.”

Yes we are in a pit, a very big, deep, dark, and seemingly endless pit, but I know the Lord has called us here to refine us, teach us, and change us so that while we walk in His will, we will also be transformed into His image. Isn’t that what life is about anyhow? Being transformed into a different person… becoming so in love with Christ that it effortlessly beckons others to love him as well? If that is all I get out of this crazy experience then it makes it all worth it. I desire to use every event in my life, good or bad, to be an illustration to others about the Lords faithfulness and unfathomable love.

2 Corinthians 7: 4 “… I am greatly encouraged: in all our troubles my JOY KNOWS NO BOUNDS”

We love you all more than you will ever know!
D&T

Tuesday September 1, 2009 11:06am

Sunday was a very eventful day. We ended up going to a very small Baptist church (in which we were pre-informed that there would be an English translator) that was located in a tiny square building. By tiny I mean like maybe holds 30 people, packed in there tightly. The a/c was broke so there was just a fan running… you can use your imagination to determine how hot it was! The first thing they did was sang lots of hymns (in Spanish), then they gave announcements (in Spanish), and then the preacher gave a message (In Spanish). Unfortunately the woman who they thought would translate for us was not confident enough in her Spanish to do so for us. So we sat through a two-hour service and understood perhaps 10 of the words they used. After two hours of Church we thought that it was over, however it was a surprise to find that Sunday school was to follow, which was another hour of solely Spanish preaching. A lovely missionary couple from Chicago sought us out of the little crowd (not that we don’t stick out like a sore thumb or anything) and asked us if we wanted to leave go out to lunch with them and enjoy some English conversation. Needless to say we jumped on the invitation!

We drove first to Macao Beach (which is where we went horseback riding on our honeymoon) then we drove to the Palma Real, which is a gorgeous shopping center in front of the Melia Caribe. They took us to Pizarelli for some pizza and conversation. It turned out to be a 4 hour lunch date but it was absolutely wonderful! They are a solid Christian couple probably in their early 50’s. They are from Chicago (in fact they went to Willow Creek Community Church!) and are not living here full time, owning a business as their gateway to missions. They sailed for a year and a half on their sailboat to get here, which is amazing! The more amazing part is that the Lord called them here and provided the way. You see they didn’t pay a dime to do their sailing as means of transportation; they had random donations come from all over to support their venture! Speaking of the Lords miraculous provision for them, the SUV we drove in was also a donation to them. I once read in one of Jim Cymbalas’ books that the Lord doesn’t do “crazy and extravagant miracles” anymore because people don’t anticipated for him to, or even ask for it. I’m learning to do that, I feel as if the Lord desires to do miraculous things but we first have to believe that in His sovereignty He can (not that He has to, but that He can…). Anyways, they were very encouraging and straightforward with us. They prompted us to think about necessities that we do not have yet, informed us about the obstacles we might face, but then assured us that the Lord will protect us if He has called us here. I am truly astonished at the amount of people we have met here already! I mean truly we have only been here now 12 days and the handfuls of Christians, and even non-Christians but helpful people the Lord has brought into our paths is amazing!

This couple started a Christian bookstore about 10 minutes away from our apartment. It is also a language school, offering Russian, Spanish, English, Italian, French, etc. This is their way into the community, for the more languages the poor Dominicans learn, the greater their chance at getting a job in a resort. Their business also offers Bible and Theology classes, in which they said they wanted to talk to me more about maybe teaching there! That would be an amazing experience!

Yesterday we were blessed to go on a 6 hour Catamaran Cruise on the Tropical Storm boat for free! The guy we are working with hooked us up. What a blessing that was! We got to snorkel, have lunch, dance a little ☺ , and just enjoy the ocean. We met a lovely couple on the boat from Canada and ended up spending a lot of the time with them too. As I watched the boat workers I began thinking… You know there’s something about the Dominicans that is unlike Americans… for the mass majority of them, they are SO happy! They are absolutely crazy about their country and are grateful for so much. They always walk around with a smile on their face, yes I’m sure some of it has to do with the fact that they have to make the tourists happy or their job is on the line, but I really feel like it’s an authentic happiness they have. Why is it so hard for Americans, who live in the greatest country with all their necessities at hand to find joy? Most of the Dominicans and Haitians here make $10 US dollars a day, roughly $200 dollars a month. They work at these exquisite and lavish resorts, serving wealthy tourists, and then go home to a dirt floor apartment shared with 5 or 6 other men, typically without electricity and water, and wake up to do it all over again the next day. Yet, they are still happy! I’m learning so much… and I choose to not take what I have for granted anymore. I am truly and richly blessed beyond belief.

You can learn a lot living in a third world country, and I’m trying to soak in every opportunity to do so.

Please pray for us, we were unaware at the necessity of a transportation vehicle. We thought we could get by with a little motorcycle, but we quickly found that it is absolutely too risky to drive that here. The driving is so so so dangerous and we would be asked to get severely hurt or killed. Please pray that the Lord would provide us with something to keep us safer!

We love you all so much!
D&T