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

Saturday August 29, 2009 10:00am

So the coolest thing happened this morning!

But before I talk about that let me rewind and summarize yesterday’s events. We mostly hung out at the beach to watch all the intricate details of the pilots day, including set up, giving rides, take down etc. I was privileged to ride the boat for his promotional flight and it was SO fun! Actually, it was my very first time. Which is kind of funny when you think that this is the business we moved here to begin and I haven’t even experienced it myself! We still haven’t been able to buy sunscreen so needless to say I got a LOT of sun yesterday (I know mom, but I couldn’t help it ☺ ).

That night we had arrangements to be taken to the Internet store so we could buy a wireless card. These phone cards seem to be draining quickly and we want to be able to skype people more! So when our ride arrived we unexpectedly were bombarded with discouraging and belittling words. Before this point we had everyone’s support, yes some think were crazy but for the most part people think it’s cool that we want to chase a dream while we are young. Well this particular person pretty much let us have it, told us that we did not think this out and we did not plan well and what do we expect… so on and so forth. Nothing drains life out of you quicker than someone who puts you down. It’s so sad how your mind automatically remembers the put downs more than the uplifts. They say it takes 10 nice comments to erase a negative, and now I’m a believer of this equation. The rest of the night T and I were seemingly lifeless. Were in a foreign country unable to communicate with most, and now without a boost to keep on keepin’ on.

Also before I tell you about the encouraging and ever loving ways of our Lord I want to talk a little more about this “dream” of ours. I’m sure some think we moved to the DR just to merely live in paradise, lounge around, maybe make a few pennies, sip pina coladas, and enjoy life “Hakuna Ma Tata”. As tantalizing as all that is it is on the very opposite spectrum of what we are experiencing here. Am I disappointed? Absolutely not! That wasn’t our goal or even in the cards. You see Trav and I were desperate to find some sort of business that we could run together so we could see more of each other. When we were working in Texas and New York our time together was very minimal. Yes they were fabulous jobs, which could provide us with a lavish lifestyle, but what kind of life is that if you can’t even spend time with the ones you love? I mean if you think about it, what has happened to the “American Dream”? Both parents working way more than 40 hours a week, children being raised by themselves or by a babysitter, the biggest and newest is never satisfying, and after all is said and one… when the entirety of the week was spent at the office by both parents, the bills STILL aren’t met. I guess as we dig deeper into the Word, and draw closer to the Lord and to each other we begin realizing life’s’ true values. And thus we are lead here to the DR, in an effort to escape the normalcy of America. We have a burning desire to revolutionize our marriage and outlook on life. Hoping that if we can make enough to survive our family and friends might be able to join us!

Okay, I know I’m kind of scattered today it’s just that I have so many thoughts streaming through my head that sometimes it’s hard to stay focused ☺ Back to where I was about ending our day discouraged yesterday. Well this morning I was reading in My Utmost for His Highest and it completely lifted me up. I had Trav read it too and he was blown away are its’ relevancy to us! It was titled “The unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith”. The very first sentence says, “Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will flatly contradict your faith. But common sense is not faith and faith is not common sense.” I love that! Our move here does seem illogical and perhaps irrational. However, we are confident that the Lord called us here, for whatever amount of time. So no matter what common sense tells us, we are to lean on our faith! Okay, and it gets better… It assures the reader that once we proclaim that the Lord will provide all of our needs, that the testing of our faith begins (well that has without fail been my heartbeat since we arrived! ☺ ). Oswald Chambers then adds, “When my strength runs dry and my vision is blinded, will I endure this trial of my faith victoriously or will I turn back in defeat?”. Ahh! I love it! Just what we needed to keep our heads lifted and wait in expectancy for the Lord to move mightily!

After my time with the Lord we noticed that we had a visitor, its precious Maria! (She is the mother of the guy we are working for). She is a Christian and one of the most wonderful and hospitable people I have ever met. Her English is not that great so we are having a ball teaching each other our native languages! Anyways, she rushes upstairs and kisses our cheeks and tells us that she wants to introduce us to a young couple that wants to take us to an English speaking Baptist church tomorrow. Little did we know they actually live just a few doors down!

We make our way over and meet them. The young man is from the DR and his wife is from Spain. They are both solid believers and radiate Christ’s’ love! The man is a realtor and he took us to his office, which is also just a few doors down. There we met a few more of the real estate employees. They without shame told us this business was a solid group of believers and that things of the Lord are spoken about all the time in that building. They said they would take care of us and watch out for us… also adding that they knew everyone in town and could pin point who would lie to us, who would steal from us, who would take advantage.. etc. etc. They also invited us to a house party today at 3pm in Cap Cana (this is Donald Trumps development which we have been dying to see!).

We will be going and we are so excited to being these relationships with believers! The Lords’ hand is never too short to provide, even relationally! So that’s the agenda for today. It’s now 10:30 am and were still waiting to be taken to get the internet… our ride was supposed to be here at 8:30am ☺

It’s so nice to be relaxed again… the Lord is in control and I trust Him with all that I am.

Love ya’ll and miss you!
D&T

Thursday August 27, 2009 11:45am

Early this morning Trav and I spent some time in prayer together. We were praying for both of our families and it made me think about how richly blessed we are with the families that stand behind us, encourage us, and support us. From Gary and Val helping us in so many ways, to my family housing us and taking care of us this summer we can’t even believe how blessed we are to be showered in so much love! We hope that one day we will be able to pay them back for their enormous acts of kindness. We without a doubt would not be able to take this risk and chase this adventure if it weren’t for them.

After we prayed we got ready to start our day…

I’m sure you can see a common theme throughout my blog that things are ever so slow here in this paradise. This morning (9:30) we were on our way to our friends’ pool to cool off and use their WIFI to settle shipping details. On our way we passed our landlord and she said the guy was on his way to fix our cable. So I came back to our place and Trav headed to the beach to talk business with the guy we are working for. It’s now noon and still no cable guy… haha.

With no pool in our backyard, Internet or cable it is easy to find time to have devotionals. This is actually a huge blessing living in an environment with fewer distractions leading us away from our priorities. This morning I’ve been able to catch up on lots of reading in the Word. It was so refreshing and comforting, especially in our current struggles/situations. I’ll share a couple of the verses that spoke to me the most…

Psalm 7:10 “My shield is God Most High who saves the upright in heart”


Psalm 9:9-10 “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you”

Along with drawing nearer to the Lord, another beauty of our new move is the intense ways in which my husband and I are drawing closer to each other. We don’t have the modern technologies and distractions to be able to distance ourselves from each other (not that we want to… but sometimes it unintentionally happens). We can barely even communicate with other people here. Therefore, truly all we have is the Lord and each other. We were best friends before we even started dating, but this solidifies that we aren’t just spouses and lovers, but we still envelope the best friend element which is vital in marriage! We love to have fun and enjoy being in each other’s presences all day long. Even if we aren’t successful building a business here, we have learned so much and brought our relationship to a new and beautiful depth. Despite all the chaos and the fear of the unknown, it is totally worth the new fruits that are blossoming. I adore Travis and can’t imagine doing this crazy adventure with out him; in fact I wouldn’t even want to!

That’s all for now—
Love & miss y’all!
D&T

Thursday August 27, 2009 11:45am

Early this morning Trav and I spent some time in prayer together. We were praying for both of our families and it made me think about how richly blessed we are with the families that stand behind us, encourage us, and support us. From Gary and Val helping us in so many ways, to my family housing us and taking care of us this summer we can’t even believe how blessed we are to be showered in so much love! We hope that one day we will be able to pay them back for their enormous acts of kindness. We without a doubt would not be able to take this risk and chase this adventure if it weren’t for them.

After we prayed we got ready to start our day…

I’m sure you can see a common theme throughout my blog that things are ever so slow here in this paradise. This morning (9:30) we were on our way to our friends’ pool to cool off and use their WIFI to settle shipping details. On our way we passed our landlord and she said the guy was on his way to fix our cable. So I came back to our place and Trav headed to the beach to talk business with the guy we are working for. It’s now noon and still no cable guy… haha.

With no pool in our backyard, Internet or cable it is easy to find time to have devotionals. This is actually a huge blessing living in an environment with fewer distractions leading us away from our priorities. This morning I’ve been able to catch up on lots of reading in the Word. It was so refreshing and comforting, especially in our current struggles/situations. I’ll share a couple of the verses that spoke to me the most…

Psalm 7:10 “My shield is God Most High who saves the upright in heart”


Psalm 9:9-10 “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you”

Along with drawing nearer to the Lord, another beauty of our new move is the intense ways in which my husband and I are drawing closer to each other. We don’t have the modern technologies and distractions to be able to distance ourselves from each other (not that we want to… but sometimes it unintentionally happens). We can barely even communicate with other people here. Therefore, truly all we have is the Lord and each other. We were best friends before we even started dating, but this solidifies that we aren’t just spouses and lovers, but we still envelope the best friend element which is vital in marriage! We love to have fun and enjoy being in each other’s presences all day long. Even if we aren’t successful building a business here, we have learned so much and brought our relationship to a new and beautiful depth. Despite all the chaos and the fear of the unknown, it is totally worth the new fruits that are blossoming. I adore Travis and can’t imagine doing this crazy adventure with out him; in fact I wouldn’t even want to!

That’s all for now—
Love & miss y’all!
D&T

Wednesday August 26, 2009 7:30pm

Things are still realllllllly slowwwww. Coming from New York to the DR is quite the adjustment. I’m used to being busy busy busy and getting things done ASAP. Here, it is whenever it gets done it gets done (IF it gets done…).

Our boat/plane is supposed to be shipped Friday and its’ anticipated arrival is September 2nd. The guy we are working for is requiring that Trav have at least 150 more hours of practice before he is allowed to take tourists for rides. Which means we won’t be having an income for quite some time. It’s an unsettling feeling not knowing when the next dollar will be made as we watch our bank account drain from our necessities alone. I am learning so much about the sovereignty and favor of our God. Truly NONE of our situation is in our hands. We have absolutely zero control over this business and we are learning that all we can do is pray and draw near to the Lord. To outsiders we look crazy, (and perhaps we are) but this is the time when we wait and anticipate the Lord to work mightily in our lives. We believe he will prove himself faithful and we claim that His hand is not too short to give! And if this is not the Lords will then He will direct our paths to the next adventure.

Being that we don’t have our plane yet we don’t have much to do during the day. This afternoon we had a missionary couple over. We heard about them through a nurse that gave us our shots to come to the DR. The Lord works in crazy ways! We were able to chat with them for a while and learn about the types of ministry they are doing. They anticipate moving here in mid-September. We are excited because that would give us an outlet of ministry as well!

That’s all for now… nothing too exciting we are just waiting, waiting, waiting! Please pray for patience for us and for the Lord to provide. The sooner the guy we are working for lets us fly, the better!

Love and miss y’all! ☺

D&T

Day four living in the DR.

August 24, 2009-- 10:10pm

Day four in the Dominican Republic. Check.

Apartment. Check.

Power & lights. Check, check.

Pest control. Check.

So here I lay in bed in our bedroom, which might I add is the only room in our apartment that has a/c, and I listen to the neighbors’ blast some array of reggae and Spanish ensemble. Life is definitely different here and it is going to take quite the adjustment for us to begin to feel like this is home.

Yesterday was sort of dramatic concerning our condo. First, we found out that we had no hot water and then the electricity/lights went out. We naively thought that it was our entire street doing without, however the Power Company came to our apartment during the night and took our meter! Haha! Not only did they just turn off our power but they took our meter! Hilarious ☺ The sweet man we are working with down here called us in the middle of the night and we told him we were without power. His wife and him rushed over to try and help us. When in doubt with the power, go straight to the power plant! And that’s what we did… we drove out in the middle of nowhere to the electric power plant to inquire! Everything seemed so surreal and like we were on some reality TV show.

We accidentally ended up signing a year contract in the wrong apartment complex. Dump international mistake number one, haha. But, after a minor hassle we were able to weasel our way out of it, kinda. As long as the cockroaches and frogs stay away this place won’t be bad at all! I just can’t wait to move into the apartments that we were shown today, they were beautiful!

Today we drove with Doreen to Higuey, a town about 45 minutes away. We filled up with gas for $4.44 and made our way through the country. As you approach the town you see beautiful mountains in the distance and then mass chaos of local Dominicans throughout the town. We passed numerous people on mopeds, bicycles, or merely hanging out of the street (mostly the latter). There were little ‘mercados’ that had hanging meats on the outside. I think I might become a vegetarian, haha! We finally made our way to the grocery store and it looked like a Spanish wal-mart. If it weren’t for Doreen we would have been in big trouble. EVERYTHING is in Spanish and not many people speak English. She’s like our own personal translator and the biggest blessing! We bought the necessities and headed home. We had to stop at the dentist because Doreen had an appointmet. While I was waiting for her a middle aged and young Dominican man/boy were asking me while I was there. I vaguely explained and they seemed blown away that we would willingly move to the DR. The young man even said “It’s so weird seeing you here!”. So there it was, my first experience as an absolutely minority. For Higuey is a city of locals only. Tourists never venture off to this area, hence the oddness of them seeing a blonde hair, blue eyed, white girl!

Haha. So the adventure begins! We still have LOTS to figure out and at times we seem overwhelmed with anxiety about how the Lord will provide. But, all we can do it sit and wait. We could use your prayers!

Love y’all!