On the day of Rachael’s baptism, several members of the squad accompanied me on an adventure to find flowers for Rachael’s big day. Nadia, another one of my team members, had come up with the picturesque idea to collect flowers and throw them in the river as Rachael emerged from the water borne anew. Seeing as the DR was adorned with so many vibrantly colored flowers, we decided to take a walk around our neighborhood and “borrow” flowers from our neighbors or random empty plots of land. As we trekked along on our hunt, we noticed an overgrown, abandoned section of land that had somehow managed to breed life to a solitary sunflower. It was almost miraculous that we even spotted it in such an unmanaged area, but its presence was unmistakable.
As soon as we saw it, we knew we needed to have it. We attempted to tear through the thick stem to no success and ended up just ruining the sunflower for any soon-to-be passerby’s. In our attempt to retrieve the sunflower, we crippled the stem so that it could no longer hold the flower’s weight. Thus instead of following the sun, the sunflower slouched sad and low facing towards the ground. As we tried to dig our nails through the rest of the stem, we noticed we were being watched. A woman down the street started to wave as she looked at us, and soon after we noticed her flagging someone over. Nervous we had upset the neighbors and afraid that we might be taking someone’s prized sunflower, we fled the scene and left the sunflower droopy and decrepit. While we continued to collect flowers down another street an unknown man pulled up beside us in his moped. As I averted my eyes to the ground in an attempt to ignore that he was there, my eyes caught the sight of the sunflower. OMG! This man had cut down the sunflower and came to beat us over the head. I braced myself for the Spanish rant I was sure would follow. But I had it all wrong. The man had seen us attempting to cut down the sunflower, and felt called to cut it down for us and then deliver it to our hands. How amazing!
That day, as Rachael formally proclaimed her life in and to Jesus, it was no mistake that she was given a sunflower. Like the very flower she got to hold, she was committing to grow stronger and brighter in the direction of the true light.
Check out what it was like to be a part of the baptism with her: video linked below
One of my sister’s in Christ and team members, Rachael Bymoen, got baptized during our month in the DR. Anyone who knows her would describe her as a beacon of Jesus’s Light, constantly inspiring others to follow Him. I like to think of her as the sunflower girl (As a matter of fact, I’m trying my best to have this nickname catch on).
