Learning. Growth.

I write this blog entry at a point of transition within the program.  Just a moment ago I finished the last of my papers due to complete the class portion of this semester.  This afternoon I said goodbye to my family and moved out.  Tomorrow, my group and I will head to Santo Domingo for a week of travel, and when I return I will be moving out to the campo, Los Higos.

As I reflect back on 5 weeks of classes, it is easy to note it as a time of learning.  My Spanish abilities have improved tremendously, despite the fact I still can find myself stumbling through conversations.  However I have learned other things as well:

Laundry.  This stood out to me very clearly today as I was folding my freshly cleaned clothes.  You may recall a previous entry where I described the struggle of doing laundry, only to end up with stiff, wrinkly clothes that were not completely rid of their (or my, as it were) odor.  However I have since learned the Dominican techniques for alleviating this issues (shaking my clothes out at several different points in the process has proved to be life-changing).

Shower.  I took my last cold shower this morning.  I’ve learned what it’s like to not have warm water…ever…and how this affects your showering.  I’ve learned what a blessing it is to have a cold shower.  When I move to Los Higos my “shower” is a bucket of water outside the house.  There is a tarp up for some privacy.

God.  Through the duration of these past five weeks, I have been back and forth on what my family believes about Jesus and how relevant it is to their lives.  We’ve had good conversations and we’ve had confusing conversations.  It is cool to see how God is working in their lives.  My host mom has begun going more consistently to a Monday night Bible study and now even hosts one in her home on Thursday nights.  It is a cell group for new believers.  With the group meeting in her home, other members of the family are attending when normally they would be disinterested.  There is also a booklet that goes along with the lesson being taught each week and includes some questions.  The family had seen Courtney and I filling out the answers to the questions after the first week, so last night, as our grandma was working on her booklet, she came over to ask for help.  She has admitted before that it is often difficult for her to understand the Bible and being an oral culture, it makes sense that reading is not only difficult for her, but it also is not as effective for communicating.  This provided an amazing opportunity for me and I can’t think of a better way to spend my last night with this family.  I got to go through the book with her as it explains the basics of faith and believing in Jesus.  I could read the booklet and the Bible to her and then explain the more confusing aspects.  When the booklet alluded to stories she didn’t know, I could tell her the story and then help explain the significance.  While at first she just seemed to want me to tell her the answers I had put down, by the end she was contributing her own thoughts and able to come up with her own answers.  What a gift to see the way God is empowering this family to know Him more and surrounding them with a community of believers – some at the same point in their faith and others more mature and able to offer wisdom and guidance.

Life.  “¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”  - 1 John 5:11-12.  I am learning and growing in how to have more life in my life, more Christ in my life.

Prayer Requests:

- Praise God for an amazing first portion of the semester and the safety/health He has afforded me thus far.

- Praise God that I got all of my papers and projects done on time.

- Pray for safety this next week as my team travels in and around Santo Domingo.

- Pray that I continue to learn and grow.

- Pray that my Dominican family continues to learn and grow.

May God bless you throughout this next week and may He fill you with His life.

“¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” – Ephesians 3:16-19