Dalma. Mirqueya. Yocasta. Johaida. Yoan. Yaseilis. Cristian. Deivi. Milca. Rut. Moises. Jose Miguel. Alexandra. Keidy. Rafael. Gilberto. Nelson. Cristina. Lissys. Niña. Maria. Segunda.
When someone calls you by name, it's pretty amazing. I mean, it's probably something that we take for granted until someone who should know our name forgets or someone else never can remember the correct pronunciation. That in itself shows that when someone gets it right and calls us by name, it probably does something positive psychologically.
This past weekend I spent time with my Dominican Family that lives in Santo Domingo (about an hour or so away from me). I met them in 2009 when my school did construction at their school and taught VBS. Since then, I have seen them every summer and this past summer they even came to the US and met my family. Something crazy occurred this weekend though. Leyda, the mom, barely speaks English, but out of her mouth came my name in a skewed, forced English accent, "Adrienne." Usually, I don't even tell dominicans my real name because they can't pronounce it and because I really do like my name in Spanish, "Adriana." But, I do think that her calling me by name reflects the closeness that we feel for each other that has evolved throughout the years.
Many people with whom I have spoken over the last week (especially the moms who tend to read my blog) expressed concern after my last update. Realize that I took a moment out of the last three weeks and decided to write about it. The culture shock, transition, and feelings I think are very normal. I am adjusting well! (I mean, I have A LOT of people praying for me. God hears your prayers and I feel them.) What I haven't talked about yet are all of the other experiences. I find it hard to write about them all right now because of lack of regular internet and the desire not flood your inboxes with my updates. So, I figure little stories will come little by little. I do realize, though, that I haven't really expressed what my every day looks like, nor have I shown pictures of where my permanent home is nor of the town. Right now, I don't feel comfortable taking my camera around and taking pictures, but I will little by little. And, I'll post them.
MY "JOB"
Well, my primary "job" here revolves around organizing the child sponsorship program with SCORE (the organization that I am here with). I am in charge of the sponsorship of about 150 kids from Emanuel House (the school that I work with) and about 35 girls at Pasitos de Jesus Orphanage. Right now, if you go to the website (www.scoresponsor.org), you will see pictures of the girls and boys from both ministries who need sponsors. Basically, both of these ministries were started by dominican women who wanted to help out their communities. Dalma, from Pasitos de Jesus, was trying to help girls who were in dangerous families due to abuse or drugs, etc. Many of the girls, without Dalma, would not be as happy and confident and loved if Dalma wasn't taking care of them. Likewise, Mirqueya, at Emanuel House, is helping kids who otherwise wouldn't be able to go to school or who are really behind. She also ministers to their families and recently has started to include 14 deaf kids and 15 special needs kids. Both of these women have a vision and a strong faith in the Lord. Sponsoring the kids helps them to be able to go to school, eat, and be clothed.
My job each day has been really trying to understand how the ministries work, get to know the ladies and the kids, get the correct list of kids up on the site--especially for Emanuel House, take all of the kids pictures who are missing, and add the biographies. Thus far, it has been a very slow process because I am having to depend on other people for the information that I need. But, I am making slow moves in the right direction. The relationship part has been really good, though. Also, once a week I come to the SCORE complex and advertise child sponsorship to the american teams that have visited the ministries. If they are interested in sponsoring the child, I am the connection.
REALITY
Of course, in the midst of doing that administrative work, I find myself in observation mode much of the time, really trying to figure out how everything works, how to get from here to there, learn who I can trust, and discern possible ministry opportunities long term. There are classes going on at the school where I live every morning and afternoon, there is a lot of planning that happens behind the scenes, there are short term teams that come and visit the school and the orphanage, and there is a whole town full of 50,000 people, motorcycles, music, baseball games, small shops that sell bread, fried chicken, vegetables, plantains, or ice cream, churches, and lots of scroungy dogs.
Sunday night and Monday afternoon, I walked (no, not by myself) to church and to a neighborhood store. I observed. Crazy enough, in both places, I saw familiar faces. Quisqueya is small enough, I have a feeling, that no matter where I go, I am going to meet and see people who are familiar. This morning, when I rode the guagua (bus) for the first time to Juan Dolio (where SCORE is), I got on and saw three people that I knew who work at SCORE or near SCORE. All Dominican, but all familiar with me. Of the three, I knew one of their names. Of the kids from Emanuel House who were at church on Sunday, I knew faces, but no names -- and of course, I met even more. And the girl that I recognized at the grocery store, I didn't know her name either.
Names here are difficult for me. Many times they start with a "Y" and have a "J" sound. Many times they are nothing like English names. But, I know that little by little I will begin to remember not only people's faces, but their names too. And, the day that I do, something will happen that will build a trust, will allow us to have real conversation, and eventually hopefully have a relationship.
In the book of Esther, when she is faced with a decision about what to do because mean Haman decides he wants to have all of the Jews killed (which yes, would include Esther too), Esther's cousin, Mordecai, tells her basically that God has her in that position as queen for a reason. Maybe, just maybe, He made her queen so that she could save the Jews from being massacred. He says, "Who knows if you were made queen for just such a time as this." Esther 4:14. I find confidence in the fact that there is not such thing as coincidence. God knows what He is doing with me. He's put me here and He will use me here.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- I pray that God would continue to bring people into my life in this little town who need Him.
- I pray that He would help me to remember the names of those people whom I meet.
- I pray that He would continue to instill patience in me and allow me to observe without being judgmental.
- Please, LORD, help me to be in your will and not my own.
- I pray for the general culture here. I will write about it more later, but I have been struck by the amount of fatherless families, kids who don't even know who their fathers are (which causes a problem with last names here...).
- Please pray for the men in this country and their attitude towards family. Please pray about the lack of jobs and opportunity.
THESE ARE PICTURES OF SOME OF THE GIRLS FROM PASITOS DE JESUS ORPHANAGE AND MY TIME SPENT THERE TWO WEEKS AGO.
No comments:
Post a Comment