A "TYPICAL" Weekend?!?

Many times people ask me to tell them what my schedule looks like.  I have finally begun to get a rhythm to my day and thought it would be fun for you all to kind of see what my weekend looks like, focusing mostly on today.

Today, Saturday:

7:00am - I woke up & got ready for the day.

8:00am - I studied my Bible while drinking hot tea on the front patio.

8:45am - Kids started to arrive for my Saturday Bible Study that I began about a month or so ago.  I have quickly gone from the two kids pictured below to 15 this morning.  We are studying Matthew.  Today we talked about John the Baptist and how he baptized Jesus, didn't consider himself worthy at all to do so, how the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove, and how God proclaimed Jesus to be His son.  Kids then drew what they understood from the lesson.  Memory verse for next week? Deuteronomy 10:12

These are the first 2 kids that I invited to Bible Study. 

They've been coming faithfully since August.

11:00am - I packed sandwiches for a group of 5 kids who we decided to take to San Pedro.  4 of these kids have not been going to school because they don't have the money for uniforms.  Their mother has 10 children.  Four of them are of the age to go to school.  One, who is 13, cannot read and thus will have to get some help before she goes, and the others are registered, but couldn't go without uniforms.  So, today, with huge smiles on their faces, they piled in my car.

 We packed 5 kids in the back seat on our way to buy uniforms.

[OH YES!  I GOT A CAR LAST MONDAY!  It has been a true blessing!  And, I am seeing what it is like to have a car and cart kids and Mirqueya around to do ministry.  Thanks to all who have donated to me.  You've made my life a lot more easy!  The 15 kids who came today are kids I met when carting them to get tested yesterday.  Doing so gave me the opportunity to invite them to Bible Study.]

Finding a reliable car that doesn't call attention and that 

was in the budget was not easy.  God blessed me with this 2004

Nissan Murano.  I pray that it keeps me safe and has many 

miles of ministry!

12:00pm - I hung out in a local grocery store with the kids while Mirqueya exchanged american money to dominican money.  We played "I spy with my little eye" and walked around the store.

2:00- We stopped to eat the packed lunches (cheese sandwiches, bananas, vanilla oreo cookies, water) - Oh, did I mention that the little girl threw up somewhere between 12:00 and 2:00... something about motion sickness... [We road the remainder of the time with no air conditioning and windows down.  Somehow, 95 degree weather is better than air... I'm just happy that it didn't happen again.]  We ate lunch in San Pedro next to the beautiful Carribbean Sea (a first for the kids).  They played under a grape tree and collected shells while Mirqueya and I watched.

Going shopping was a big deal for these kids.  Some of them had never 

been to San Pedro which is just 15 minutes from Quisqueya. They came

dressed in their best clothing!  It was quite windy and

we picked a shady spot next to the sea.

3:00 pm - We shopped for new uniforms (2 uniform tops, bottoms, socks and shoes) for the 4 kids.  A group from DC visited them last week and left money for the uniforms.  Additionally, we bought underwear for all of the kids.  Honestly, I told Mirqueya that the money wasn't going to stretch that far.  She told me to pray and confidently brought up the uniforms to the counter and watched the screen.  I did pray, but it was something like, "God, please let this work.  I don't know how in the world it will, but please?"  And miraculously, the counter went to 4,600 pesos.  (We had 4300).  Mirqueya, of course, had a connection with someone who knew the owner and the price went down to right under 4,200 pesos.  What?  God is crazy... seriously.  We both looked at each other and went to the car in shock of God's abundance!  We had enough left over to buy a few gatorades even.  FYI - 4300 pesos is equal to $100.  There is no reason why it should have bought all of that, but the look on our faces when it did... and the joy that it will bring to these kids who will go to school for the first time in their lives on Monday was PRICELESS!!!  So happy for Mirqueya's faith today!

These are the kids and their mom when we arrived back

to the house from shopping.

4:30pm - I arrived back in Quisqueya, dropped the kids off and picked up 2 more kids to test them back at Emanuel House.  On the way, we ran into a "gaga" which is a voodoo ritual.  People were walking the streets with a huge red, black and white flag.  I believe last week was the National Day of the Bible.  I am told that gagas often happen after Christian holidays or celebrations and the people walk through the streets cursing them.

Around 5:00pm - I was testing a little girl named Caterin and heard the gaga parade go by Emanuel House.  (I had thoughts to go take a picture, but thought better of it.)  Why give the devil that satisfaction?

6:00pm - I decided to let the 11 year old child who was sitting waiting on his brother read a few books that I have.  He read four of them and his favorite was Bernstein Bears' Moving Day (in Spanish of course).  I can't wait until we have a library.   On his way out, I invited him to Bible Study next Saturday.

Over the last month, I have been the "testing coordinator" as

the teachers and kids at Emanuel House prepare to get  laptops

(shown above).  Standardized testing is a new concept for both

teachers and students and has been a challenge and has opened my 

eyes to the incredible needs in reading and mathematics. 

7:30pm - The children left. I checked my email, facebook and started cooking dinner for me and Mirqueya.

8:30pm - While eating, I gave Mirqueya a little informal English lesson.  Two of Mirqueya's close friends came over to pray and spend the night, and they shared in the meal.  (meal = chicken and rice... no veggies today so I ate an apple...)

11:00pm-ish - A nice cold shower and to bed I go!

Tomorrow, Sunday:  

9:30am - I will go to church service in Juan Dolio (about 20 minutes by car).  I will ride the bus tomorrow to give my car a break.  Gas here costs $6 a gallon. I have a mid-size SUV... It guzzles gas!

12:00pm - I will eat the "Weekly Pot Luck Lunch" with the missionaries.

6:30pm - I will go to service in Quisqueya.  (I am trying a new Baptist church here.  Please pray for me to find a church here that I am comfortable going to.)  I think this is really important for my ministry here so that as kids come to know Christ or become more curious about Him, I can refer them to a church that is well-grounded in the Word.

I am currently reading Ecclesiastes.  Overall, Solomon is pretty bitter throughout it.  And, I think it's a great book for anyone who has turned cynical.   After everything that Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, had been through, he wrote at the end of Ecclesiastes: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone's duty.  God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad  (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

May He continue to bless me and those around me.  May He continue to open the hearts of others to know His word, love others, and live in a way that is pleasing to Him!  May I continue to fear Him and do His will.

Please continue to pray for me:

• Pray for us to finish testing.  Next week we have a workshop the whole week, but there are still loose ends.  Pray for endurance for me!
• Please pray for provision in terms of library shelves and Spanish books for the kids.
• Please pray for the other kids at Emanuel House whose parents struggle to provide for them with daily needs (whether that be with uniforms, food or other school supplies).
• Pray for God's continued wisdom and guidance for me in ministry.
• Pray for growing friendships and continued sense of community here.
• Please pray for safety and that my car continues to be in good shape.
• Pray for my days of loneliness and missed friends and family in the States.
• Pray for the kids who live around here... for the spiritual battle that goes on around them!
• Please pray for me to get rest.  
• Pray for the oldest girl in the family we were with today.  Her name is Yocairis.  She needs to learn to read so that next year she can go to school.  She, and many others in this community have never gone to school.

I praise the Lord for sending me here.  Although I do have hard days and sometimes wonder if I am being "productive" enough,  I am grateful to be able to cook for Mirqueya, drive kids,  teach them about Jesus, hopefully give the community access to books, and to be able to learn more and more each day about the Dominican culture.  I praise God for continuing to teach me about Him, for strengthening my faith, and for helping me learn more about who I am in Him.

On Friday, I celebrated another missionary's birthday.  I thank God for bringing friends into my life.

Address for Books

If anyone is interested in helping with my reading project and would like to donate books, I have a friend who will be traveling to the Dominican Republic next month.  He has agreed to check 2 extra bags of books.

Remember, any books that are in Spanish that would help little kids learn to read or that would encourage them to read would be great.  Most kids do not recognize their letters, don't know how to read fluently, or don't have parents who can read.  They are all very behind where they should be. Any Spanish kids books would be a blessing even if they are gently used.  If you would like to order the guided reading books from Scholastic, please order them off of this website: http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/espanol.htm

Justin will be traveling on October 10, so please send books no later than October 4 to:

Adrienne Christian
c/o Justin Machado

3172 Pine Cone Ct SW

Lilburn, GA 30022

Please include a note so that I'll know who the books came from.  (Eventually, I will probably include something on the inside of each book to the effect of Donated By:, so please let me know which books are from you.)

If you would like to donate books but cannot before October 6, I will update with some more one-time donation addresses.  I am working on a permanent address to send packages as well.  I will continue collecting until I have enough books.

And then the Lord said, "READ!?"

So, I know that I have blogged a bit about reading.  The more I think about it, the more I get fired up about it.  For the last month and for the next three weeks, we have been and will continue to test kids here to see where they are.  Since starting these tests, I constantly find myself wondering what the requirement is for kids to pass here.  

In the last few weeks, it has become blatantly obvious that reading is a huge problem.  (Math is also a problem, but reading is even bigger.) Most kids that attend Emanuel House cannot read.  Kids range from ages 4 to 16, with the grand majority being in the 6-10 age range.  Many have not been to school before, are far behind, may never have the chance to be schooled, or have parents who do not have an education beyond elementary school.

Every day when we give the tests, I have to make a choice.  I can either become extremely depressed or I can continue to pray to the Lord about how to help.

I've chosen to pray.

And I think He's answered.

Where I live, I have found out recently, these kids are faced with serious spiritual difficulty.  Voodoo is rampant.  One of the kids that I work with every Saturday also attends voodoo sacrifices with her mom because that's what she knows.  The importance of being able to read the Word and understand it for herself is so important in a place where one neighbor may be preaching about God and the other neighbor teaching her to worship the devil.  Who knows?  God could reveal the truth to her through her own ability to read or maybe He could strengthen her faith one day because of her ability to read His Word.

Can you imagine having grown up in a place where your parents did not read to you at night?  Where your whole house only had 1-5 books if any?  Where there was no neighborhood library?

Can you imagine not reading now nor as a child?  Think about what your imagination would be like if you didn't have books.

Can you imagine living in a place where your mom or grandmother or father or whoever takes care of you does not have a steady job?  This is the reality that many of these kids live in. They are uneducated, come from uneducated families, and truly cannot read.

We've tested kids 5-13 years old who cannot even recognize their letters nor their numbers, nevertheless read a passage and answer questions.

Can you imagine what a difference being able to read would make in their lives?

I think about the joy that I get from reading, the ease with which I do it, and I think about how long I have been doing it.

I think about the love that I have for a really good book, what I learn about myself and history.  Then, I think about how my relationship with and appreciation for God has increased because of my time spent reading His Word.  I think about what job I can have because of my reading ability, and the jobs that I wouldn't be able to have if I couldn't read.

I also think about what a phonetic language Spanish is and how much easier it would be to teach a kid to read in Spanish than in my native tongue.

Where would I be if no one had taught me to read?

Mirqueya has written a new, more specific, vision for Emanuel House, where reading will be a major focus.  What if we could truly change the lives of the poorest kids in Quisqueya?  In addition to providing for them physically by feeding them and spiritually by sharing the gospel with them, what if we could teach them to read?  What long-term effect could that truly have on a kid?

Yesterday, I hesitantly told Mirqueya that I would like to collect books and build a library for the kids at the school.  Honestly, that's to the extent that I have thought it out, but I am so convinced that having a library could really make a difference.

She of course loved the idea... So, now that it is out there, I need help! I need books! 

There is no way that we could collect too many!  Remember, most of these kids have less than 5 books, if any at all, at their homes.

I have been researching and Scholastic has a wonderful website and guided reading program which separates books into levels.  I imagine that eventually, it would be great to have all levels, but for now, levels 1-6 would probably be the place to start for the kids to learn and levels 7-12 would be books that the teachers could use to read to the kids.

Please visit the website and spread the word!  This could truly change the lives (emotionally, spiritually and physically) of not only the 150 kids that we serve at Emanuel House, but on the whole community!

Where can books be sent to?  I haven't figured that out yet.  I will post it when I do.

Thanks for considering!

SCHOLASTIC WEBSITE:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/espanol.htm

Already have some Spanish books at home that you would like to share or have access or a love of a different website, no problem!  Any lower-level Spanish books would be great to start building the library!

Hunger

Today, every kid at Emanuel House received a pair of brand new "croc-like" rubber shoes.

And today, I found out that two of the kids of someone who works here at Emanuel House spent the weekend hungry.

I live/work at a ministry where kids are fed, where kids enter well dressed and clean most of the time, and where they spend 3-4 hours with smiles on their faces for the most part.  Their cleanliness, full bellies and smiles often make me forget their reality: tin homes with no bathrooms, very few clothes, little to eat, and often a single parent. I am so glad that I live here long-term and am able to build relationships with people and begin to understand their hardship...

It's the small experiences that help me start to understand.

Today, I was talking to one of the ladies that I work with about the weekend and how it was and she told me hers was horrible.  (She is the cleaning lady here and works so incredibly hard.)  She has two beautiful little ones who attend the foundation.  A few got to meet the little boy via SKYPE because he is around "after hours" many days.  Anyway, she told me that her weekend was horrible because the gas ran out and she didn't have any money.  (She didn't have any money, by the way, because the atm had not dispensed the money, but took it out of the account and because it wasn't her bank's atm, there is nothing that they can do.)

She had nothing to feed them.

So, Saturday & Sunday (days that the kids don't come here), they had nothing to eat.  A neighbor provided some food on Saturday, but on Sunday, they went hungry.

Can you imagine? A mother listening to her kids ask for food and she truly is unable to provide for them?  As she was telling me the story, she said, "They're just kids.  They don't understand.  They just know they are hungry!"

Listening to her, my heart was breaking, as I could see the deep hurt within her.

I asked her how I could help.  She believes that she will have gas to be able to cook & be able to buy food starting tomorrow, but as far as tonight goes, she didn't know how to get them food.  So, I bought her some bread, meat and cheese & threw in some cookies as a treat for the kids.  I know it is just a bandaid and will only help for today and tomorrow morning, but it's what I knew to do today.

I thank God that I don't just know her today.  I thank Him that there is tomorrow.  I thank God that she will come to work and that she'll bring her kids and that they will get fed.  I thank God for nudging me to ask how her weekend was!

She never would've asked for help...

I pray for wisdom in how to help.

Please pray for her and for her kids.  Please pray that God would give me and others around her discernment to know when times are hard.  Please pray that she is able to be rewarded for her hard work here and that the bank may somehow be able to give her her money back.  Please pray for a miracle...

Thank God for this place that feeds kids that truly may otherwise not get fed.  Thank God for reminding me of the reality of hunger around me, not just in the kids lives, but in some of the worker's lives too.

May He continue to humble me and strengthen my faith!

A Sigh of Relief

Sometimes, when I think of the magnitude of the work that there is to be done in this place and when I think of how small I am, I get a little overwhelmed and maybe even discouraged.  

I think to myself, Who am I to really help the illiterate kids, families or non-believers?  

Who am I to combat the issues of voodoo in this country or to help someone understand God's grace?  

I often wonder what is my place here?  

I am not a preacher, and yet I remember reading about when Jesus left Earth for the final time before ascending into Heaven in Matthew 28. He instructed his disciples to go make disciples of all nations.  And yet, I think who am I to make a disciple of someone?  Do I know Jesus well enough to disciple someone else?

I think to myself how God made me a teacher, and yet, I have experience teaching in high school and college, but God has me surrounded by elementary-aged kids.  How can I help these kids and their families who need so much help? And, isn't there a lot of pressure on teachers?  I remember James 3:1 that talks about teachers being judged more strictly for what we teach. I think who am I to influence the younger generation in their walk with Christ?

I am reminded of 1 John 3 where it talks about children of God and children of the devil. And I find myself in a community that has deep roots in voodoo and wonder, who am I to combat something that is so deeply rooted in the community that I live in now and that is so different from the community that I was born into.

I think about the believers around me who believe that salvation can be lost and who don't grasp the concept of grace nor God's complete forgiveness of all of our sins.  And I think about John 10:30 which talks about the fact that no one can ever snatch eternal life away from a believer. I think about Ephesians 2:8 which says that it is by grace that we have been saved through our faith.  How do I explain to someone God's free gift that He has given us?  How do I convince them that we cannot earn it nor lose it when their belief is so deeply engrained in them?  How do I get them to understand?

And then, I breathe.

I calm down.

I pick up the Word and I read.

I realize that all of my questions, my overwhelming feelings, my desire to change, my strong desire to help is completely paralyzed without God.  I can do nothing without Him.  God did not send me to this place to save people from their disbelief, to shake them into loving Him, to teach them out of poverty nor to deliver them from their evil traditions.  The key is that the Lord did send me here.  In fact, He was here first and already prepared a way for the people who will one day believe just like he prepared the way for the Israelites.  I am reminded of Deuteronomy 31:8 which says, "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Another sigh of relief.

And when I feel so small that I realize that there is no way that I can do this, I am thankful that I don't have to.  He has come before me.  He has a plan.

The smaller I am, the greater He is and the greater work I will recognize that He is doing.  

Once again, the stress is lifting.  

And finally when I wonder why He has me here exactly, what is His plan for me and how can I truly please Him, I am grateful for the time that I spend memorizing verses, especially this week's verse which comes from Deuteronomy 10:12-13 that answers that question perfectly.

What does the Lord require of you?  To fear the Lord your God, walk in His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all of your heart and all of your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

Fear Him. Love Him. Serve Him. Obey His commandments.

I am relieved.

He will do the work.  He will bring non-believers close to Him.  He will give the resources necessary to educate those He's put in my community.  He'll free the devil-worshiping people that are so prevalent in the community in which I live.  He will teach me more and more about grace so that I can tell others.  He will do the work.  I just need to continue to fear and love and serve and obey Him.

Thanks be to God!