Update dos

Well. I got six weeks under my belt here in the DR and I feel like I have been here for years. I am thankful for this experience daily and constantly need to be reminded of how the Lord designed me to be here for many reasons. He shows me constantly how big His heart is and how desperately He wants His children to run into His arms. Right now is a huge transition time for me and for camp in general. Most of the summer staff has left and now there are only the three interns left: Hope, Allison and me. It is a stranger transition, but I think it will be a great one eventually because of who my God is. I am so excited to be the minority of English speakers, I am so excited to see all of the campers go crazy here (if you have ever been to YL camp in the states, think that times about 234098435, crazy.) and I am so excited to just be with Jesus every day in this place.

Pause

I have been so blessed to realize that right now, God has created this time in my life to speak to me. He has paused my life away from this place and I am here. It is so freeing to let go of all obligations of school, relationships, future…etc and just be. No one gets a chance like this I feel, and I am living it right now. I am thankful for it and seek to live fully in this precious time Jesus has given me. It is also humbling because “my world” back home is still happening. The world doesn’t need me and that is such a good reminder. I matter, but I am not the point. Jesus is. It is so sweet to experience this “pause” in my life and let the Lord do the most incredible things before me and within me.

Summer Staff

Honestly, starting off this summer, I did not even think about the relationships I was going to build during my time here. I had a few goals in mind and none of them included building strong relationships with the staff here, but wow, God totally wanted that and it was so unexpected. I am in awe of the incredible people He has surrounded me with. The 6 other girls on Summer Staff were amazing: Hannah, Nan, Heather, Tiara, Stephanie and Hope. AMAZING:) We were so completely different, literally, not one of us were at all alike. It was so refreshing because the only thing we really had in common at the start was Jesus. We worked together, lived together, cried together, rejoiced together and loved each other. It was an awesome community. I am thankful for them. I learned so much from them and was changed by each other them in different ways. I could have never hand picked this group, but even now that most of them are gone, I can see so much of the fruit that God is producing because we were brought together. He is so good. AND, I honestly can say that I have never laughed so much in my life. I laughed constantly and still today feel like my heart is going to explode from how much JOY these girls restored in my soul. We also were blessed with the most amazing coordinator, Julia, who is on staff with Vida Joven in the DR and spent these 6 weeks as our big sister. She speaks amazing English, but makes the funniest errors ever, and she took our jokes like a champ. Her heart is bigger than anyone I know. She loves so well, loves until it hurts, loves until she has nothing to give, loves in the hardest circumstances and loves with a love of Christ. She is desperate for every person to know Jesus and to proclaim that He is the only good in her. I was so blessed by her and I know for a fact that I will never be the same without her.

FRONTON excursion.

We took a little three day, two night trip to the coast and spent the days at different beaches in a town called, Las Galeras. If you have ever seen Mamma Mia the movie, that is what I felt like the whole time. I felt like I was living a movie. We stayed at the most incredible little camping place ever under palm tree huts and ate our meals on the side of cliff overlooking the ocean. The owners were a couple from Bulgaria who randomly chose to move to the DR because their country was going through difficult times and like Leah said, “life is short.” If we are ever in the DR, GO TO THIS PLACE. It is called, El Cabito. 

During the first afternoon we hiked for over an hour over coral cliffs that were so dangerous that with one fall, you may die, to a secluded beach called, Playa Madama. This beach was so perfect. It was nestled in a little cover with perfect blue water and white sand beaches, we snorkled there and ate coconuts and floated in the ocean. While we were there we met a boat driver in the area named Jonathan. He had been driving little motors boats through the ocean for 15 years, starting when he was 11!  He even told us how he took one of his boats 12 hours one day to illegally visit Puerto Rico. This guy was legit and TOTALLY out of a movie while poofy, big hair, eyes that could cut you like a knife and a ridiculous personality. Anyways, we agreed that the next day he would take us to Fronton, another beach further away. So the next day we hopped into the boat and drove off to Fronton. Riding on a little boat through the ocean is terrifying, but after embracing it, it was the most beautiful ride ever past huge rocky cliffs and beaches lined with palm trees and turquoise water. We pulled up to the beach and not a soul was there. This was rare for the beach to be completely empty, but it was. Thank you God for such a sweet gift. We immediately snorkled through the coral and saw lots of Dori’s and zebra fish, so beautiful. Then we watched Jonathan climb up a palm tree and knock down a coconut for each girl and then open them with a machete so we could sit on the beach and drink the coconut water. I felt like I was in paradise. It was one of the sweetest experiences ever. We swam and layed out in the sun all day. We visited another beach, called Playa Rincon later in the day as well. I could write for hours about this and never be able to describe this experience. So thankful.

Exchange

2 Corinthians 5:21

I exchange my weakness with His strength

I exchange my words for His Truth

I exchange my foolishness for His wisdom

I exchange……for His….

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD,

who made heave and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold He who keeps Israel

will neither slumber or sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;

He will keep your life.

The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time and forevermore.

Reality is not based on your circumstances; it is based on what He says.

Entitlement

Luke 15:28-32

I have read the parable of the Lost Son so many times, so many times that I had grown indifferent towards it. I thought I knew it, but man…God totally taught me something new with it. Entitlement- the older son believed he was entitled to more than he had. He wasn’t satisfied with just knowing that He was the father’s son…he wanted more. He thought that his obedience should earn more of his father’s love and that he deserved all of this stuff that his disobedient little brother was getting and more. He wasn’t satisfied with just being a child and sharing the inheritance of his father. His obedience was expected by the father, but with or without it, the father’s love didn’t change. What a good lesson for me to meditate on. My obedience or my disobedience doesn’t change God’s love for me. And because His love for me doesn’t change, I can rejoice and find strength to obey completely. I want to obey. I am finding so much reason to rejoice in just being His. I am not entitled to anything, my obedience doesn’t earn me anything. I am His and that’s all that matters.

Vida Joven

Excellence. I love that Young Life holds a standard of excellence at their camps and in their ministry not so they have the best food or equipment or staff, but so God’s excellence can be seen clearly. I have loved being able to watch how this camp runs and how International Young Life works in this country- I am blown away. And to even begin to talk about this staff here is impossible. The team here is full of leaders who trust Jesus with more than I could ever. There are lots of men, which is SO encouraging to see and experience true leadership here. Every time I am around them, my heart almost bursts because I feel so loved and cherished and secure. I am learning so much about Jesus through the way He works within them.

GROUP 1:

Winston Salem, NC

Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Loved this group more than words could say. I learned SO much the leadership on this team and was blown away at how much these kids loved Jesus. I loved my team of 4 high school girls and the youth pastor and his wife. We spent the majority of our week digging the trench for the new wall on the eating area and mixing concrete to lay the foundation as well as machete-ing our way through the edge of camp.

GROUP 2:

Scottsdale, Arizona

Scottsdale Bible Church

I loved my team during this week. I worked with 7 sophomores in high school, 3 boys and 4 girls. They were a blast and little did I know that God was working miracles throughout the week in the kids hearts. I was so blessed to watch God work and just be available for Him to use. We finished all the concrete for the serving area and did a lot of rebar work.

GROUP 3:

Eugene, OR

The Father’s House

This was one of the most challenging weeks for me personally and it was difficult to work some days. We finished a lot of mortar and cement for with a gate at camp and sanded many many panels. The group was all adults and it was cool to learn from them and see them still work just as hard. I bonded a ton with the summer staff this week and I am so thankful for that.

I don’t care if I’m known, I just want you to be known.

José y Marcella

The maintenance director at the camp took us to a beautiful waterfall one day with his 7-year-old daughter, Marcella. We got to swim in the river with some currents and near lots of boulders. Hannah, José and I tried to swim and beat the current, but we not very successful. While José was trying to swim against and beat the current, Marcella was watching him so closely. She was laughing so hard and cheering her dad on! It was a beautiful picture to watch. When he got out, Marcella wanted to try it. My instant reaction was, no way, do not let her swim in that current! But José said sure and he got in the water with her and allowed her to try to swim against the current. She lasted about a half of a second and he caught her when she failed. I saw my Heavenly Father so clearly in this. Marcella was so secure with trying something new, with making a mistake because she knew her father was there to catch her. He let her fail and knew full well that she was going to, but when she did, he was there. I want to be just like this. I was to dive in and risk everything with no fear of making a mistake because even if I do…I will know that my Father is there to catch and hold me. I want to be so secure with my Father that mistakes are okay.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brother, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Peter 1:22

The only thing you contribute to your salvation and to your sanctification is the sin that makes them necessary. –William Temple

Deléitate en el Señor,

Y Él te concederá los deseos de tu Corazon

Salmos 37:4

Highlights:

--riding the new giant swing at PE

--learning how to belay someone on the rockwall

--swinging in my hammock everyday

--meeting the most incredible people in the world, every day

1 Corinthians 15:55-58

Prayer requests:

-Patience with everything, especially scheduling

-SAFETY for the pool. I will be lifeguarding and as far as I know there are no rules and there are no safety measures if anything were to happen. So, basically I will be standing over the pool praying constantly, please join me in that

-Death to life for all the campers who are about to come to PE who don’t know Jesus and are about to encounter Him face to face!

Spirit of the Living God, wake us to the Father’s heart!