Some people dream of their perfect master bathroom having a waterfall fountain shower and a Jacuzzi surrounded by stone walls. Well this month in the Dominican Republic every day I had a waterfall shower that was surrounded by huge stone boulders and vines with a cave pool at the bottom and it was in my backyard.
There were 47 of us together this month serving at one ministry location because it was our “All Squad” month. We all shared one bathroom and when we couldn’t wait in line any longer we would just have to go in the jungle with our handy roll of toilet paper. We washed our clothes in buckets by the river and we hung them out to dry on our clothes lines. We all truly got a taste of the “wild life” outside of the comforts of our homes in the US. We slept in tents on our sleeping pads and sleeping bags all month and at night would get bitten by grass nats that would suck our blood and leave us with big red swollen dots on our legs that would scream out for us to itch them to ease the discomfort. And in the midst of all the chaos of trying to live normal life amongst 47 other people, God revealed Himself to me in so many ways. He showed me that I not only had a waterfall shower every day in the natural, but I experienced many waterfall showers throughout my stay.
We participated in several different types of ministry which included teaching English to children in the slums, teaching English to the local children in the village we were staying in (Lajas), ministering at 2 different church locations in the children’s ministry and worship ministry, as well as prayer walks through different cities, children’s days when we would gather children from around the village to come and learn about God’s love through singing, dancing, skits, puppet shows, games and bible stories, and finally we did manual labor at our host’s location helping them fulfill their vision.
One of my most memorable days was when my team and I went to teach at the children’s center in the slums of Santiago. We drove down dirt roads filled with huge pot holes and we could see nothing but poverty and want. We arrived at the school and none of the teachers knew English, so thank God I knew Spanish! I chose to teach the youngest children between the ages of 4-6 and I had no idea the challenge that lied ahead of me! Haha! These children screamed and cried and fought. I couldn’t get them to sit still for one bible story. Then it dawned on me. These children were probably so hungry, and all they needed was food and love and attention. As soon as we fed them, one of the little boys caught my attention. I watched him intently as he scraped his bowl piece by piece making sure not to leave one single grain of rice on his plate. This was probably the only meal he got for the day. He looked up at me and I took a mental picture of his little face to be forever etched in my memory.
My heart broke in that moment. Waterfall showers of compassion poured over me. I felt God’s Presence near and I knew I was there to love on these children, and give them a day to remember full of laughter and smiles. For the remainder of the day, I played games with the children, and instead of trying to read to them or teach them letters, I made up songs and dances that they enjoyed to the very fullest! Their little faces lit up and they learned English without having to sit down and be quiet. They absolutely LOVED the game Red Light Green Light and that kept them entertained for quite a while!
The day ended with hugs and big fat kisses goodbye and those little children left with a glow in their faces and a sparkle in their eyes that wasn’t there before. I left with a full heart and a tired body haha because those little ones will run you out!
My next encounter was on the day we taught English to the older bunch in Lajas. I was so excited to actually be able to teach this time, but again, I didn’t know what was coming. There were three little boys that were the terror of the bunch. And you know that saying about the one bad apple that makes the whole bunch go bad? Or something along those lines…well, that was the case with these 3 boys. They weren’t just little kids play-fighting. They were swinging punches, choking each other, and throwing rocks at eachother! These kids were no joke! At first I felt overwhelmed and didn’t know how to handle them because they obviously had no respect for authority. But then God reminded me that I had no idea what these boys’ home lives were like. I had no idea what kind of relationships they had with their parents. And then it came upon me. Waterfall showers of grace. I felt His presence. He was with me. And somehow, I was able to come up with creative ways to keep them entertained while still teaching the kids who really came to learn something too. We played games and sang songs, but still taught English all at the same time, and it worked! Only by the grace of God. The day turned out to be a success and the children called us “Profe” for the rest of the month! They didn’t want to leave and the day ended with hugs and smiles of grattitude.
When I say we did manual labor, it was NO joke. I mean heavy duty stuff. And whatever work we did for that day, I wanted to do the toughest job. Just for the challenge of course;) We hacked away with a picket shovel to loosen the rocks and then shoveled them out of the river onto a nearby cliff and hauled them in buckets up the hill to make stone pathways on the property. We searched for boulders in the jungles and pried them out of the ground with pixel axes and hauled them up the hill to line the pathways and make them look nice. We made assembly lines and sang songs and laughed to make the time pass by fast. We mixed up cement and carried it down a large flight of steep stone stairs in buckets to fill a huge pit we had dug in the clay mud. Up and down we went in the hot sun, and you better believe we were dripping sweat! We carried cinder blocks down the stairs and built a small foundation. These are all things I will remember with a smile. But one day after hauling the cinder blocks and cement down, we shoveled clay mud into buckets and passed the buckets down the assembly line to be dumped elsewhere. I volunteered to shovel the clay because it seemed the most difficult and most fun. But after shoveling clay with a wooden handle shovel and no work cloves on in crock sandals, my body was hurting haha. My feet were blistered raw, my hands had blisters that squeaked every time I opened and closed my hands, and my back groaned with every stab into the clay. But in that moment of weakness I looked to my Savior, and it happened. Waterfall showers of strength. I simply ignored the pain, and a supernatural strength overtook me and I was able to finish the task until our time was up. By the end of that day, we had demolished the entire mountain of clay that seemed so impossible, and praise be to God!
It was the day we had taught English to the children in the village and we were tired from running around in the hot sun all day. We were hungry and thirsty, and just wanted to relax. So we all decided to go to the local fruit stand down the road and I quickly grabbed my wallet and ran with the rest of the group to buy me a nice juicy pineapple and some bananas. I walked with a skip and a jump because I was so excited to taste the delicious, fresh juicy fruit in my mouth! I found the pineapple I wanted, and as I was about to pay, opened my wallet to find…nothing. My money had been stolen. All of it. It was the equivalent money of $50 in USD but in pesos. That may not seem like a lot of money for the U.S. but for here, it was the money I had for the month to spend on toiletries and extra food such as fruit. I quickly remembered I had left my wallet on a chair on the porch of the house where we taught the adults English. My first reaction was in the flesh and I was SO mad. How dare these people steal from us who do nothing but give to them? What NERVE they had to take my every last peso when all I did was give them and their children free English lessons expecting nothing in return. Oh, I was NOT happy. I went home with an attitude and the Lord had to deal with me. But at first I wanted to sit in my anger for a little while. I wanted to sit down and feel sorry for myself after spending that whole day pouring out on those children. But after moping around for about an hour, I realized I was being pathetic. And sitting around with a terrible attitude wasn’t going to change anything. So I put my headphones in with some worship music, prayed that God would change my heart and fix my attitude. I asked Him to speak to me through His Word and when I opened my Bible He spoke to me loud and clear. I wish I could remember the exact scriptures I found but they had to do with things being stolen from the righteous and how God would stand on their behalf and that the wicked would earn their punishment or something along those lines. Don’t quote me because I read several scriptures and kind of mixed them all together. But you get the picture. God basically told me He was going to take care of my every need and not to worry. So, I trusted Him. The VERY NEXT DAY, my mom got a hold of me and told me that my grandpa had given her $50 to transfer into my account! Completely out of no where. Waterfall showers of provision. I was overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness.
Food in the Dominican Republic is a little different from back home. And by a little, I mean a LOT. A typical breakfast consists of a white bread roll, and some juice, or some kind of cream of corn or rice pudding with hot chocolate, a lunch consisting of rice and sardines for flavoring, or rice and some type of root, and dinner ending with more bread or fried donuts and juice. Protein was something we rarely saw this month, and my body craved it. I was so thankful for the little corner store where I could buy canned beans and kefir. But one day in the last week of our stay, I must have eaten something wrong because I came down with something that really got a hold of me. I was in bed with a high fever for two days vomiting with cold sweats, a severe headache, a sore throat, my whole body ached and I didn’t have the strength to even open a packet of crackers. Our wonderful host family welcomed me into their home to take care of me and with tender care they helped me to the best of their ability. They made me homemade soup and tea. They gave me medication and brought me water and even let me use their family shower. I got to sleep in a warm bed at night. When all I wanted was to be home, they treated me like one of their own children. Waterfall showers of love filled me. God was surely with me.
I will miss this beautiful family and I hope to return one day to see their vision fulfilled. They want to build an orphanage and dorms where the workers can live. I’m so honored to know that I was here at the beginning and I was able to help get things started. I can only imagine what else the Lord has in store for them but I know it’s going to be bigger than what they can imagine right now. Because I serve a big God.
I am in the airport right now about to leave for Bolivia for the next month. I am still trying to fight this sickness that has so overtaken my body, and I am believing for a full and total recovery. Once we arrive in Bolivia we have a 13-hour bus ride and the altitude will be very hard on our immune systems. Right now my body is still very weak. If you could please find a moment in your day to lift me up in prayer as I go into this next month, just pray for strength and health in my body, I would appreciate it immensely. I hope that you now have a taste of what this past month did to me. It broke me. It changed me. I read a book named, “Kisses for Katie” that had a lot to do with my heart change and my experiences of total surrender. I would encourage anyone and everyone to read it because it is life-changing. It is the story of ONE life that changed a NATION one person at a time. It has helped me to look beyond my own dreams and reach out for the ULTIMATE dream that God has for my life. I know that dream doesn’t involve just me and my family. It involves a lot of lives. Because we are here for a short time and we have to make our lives count. There are so many lives that are searching and in need of a touch from the Father. We are here to be His hands and His feet. When we choose to fully surrender, we experience waterfall showers that wash all over us that renew us and give us the strength to carry on. With God ALL things and possible. I want to finish the race and hear my Heavenly Father say at the end, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
