A Morning in my Life

What's in this blog?

• A glimpse into my life two weeks ago today
• Prayer Requests
• Ways that you can help me before the end of the year or in the new year
• Pictures (they are rare, so don't miss them!)

Two weeks ago today... I met a "prophet"
I was told that I am not a Christian.  I was told to convert.  And after I asked about it, some quotes came from Amos and from Exodus as to why I wasn't a believer.  

Lately I have also come across a good bit of false doctrine, atheists, and others who do not believe in Jesus as God.  I have also been taking a class that is helping me be able to defend my faith and have a deeper understanding of truths from the Bible and where to find them through another missionary at the local church.  

Just thinking about the way in which he was "preaching" at me and others and the words that he was claiming as truth made me remember one of my consistent prayers to be gentle and that people would see Jesus in my words and actions.  I had walked up to a group of about 5 were sitting on a patio in the front side of Chichigua (3 believers and 2 non-believers) listening to the craziness that he was spewing.  He declared, “I am the only one on this island who knows Christ.  Convert… how does it feel to know that you don’t have Jesus?  He looked at me and asked, "Will you except Jesus today?"  This was not asking me if I had Jesus, just telling me that I was going to hell.  The people giggled because they know that I am a Christian and a missionary. I see them two to three times each week once for a Bible study and once for a reading lesson and sometimes just to spend time... 

I was reminded of a few things because of the encounter :
a) that I should not be a stumbling block for anyone in how I present myself, even though I was dressed very modestly and had on very modest earrings it is a stumbling block for many who do not understand 
b) to be careful not to assume or judge someone else about their salvation but to be quicker to listen than to speak
c) the importance of always being prepared to defend my faith. 

I was reminded of the people in college with their signs screaming and clumping every college student together as promiscuous and dead to sin.  This man had taken one look and while I was dressed very modestly and had on my most modest earrings, and had a Bible in my hand, he assumed that I wasn’t a believer, along with the 3 other believers that were standing there with me.

I, in all, was at a loss for words as I listened to him go on and on.  I tried to speak but was very quickly shut up. What do you say to someone who will not listen to truth… or even allow you to speak?

I remembered something that was told to me… not wasting time with people like that because it doesn’t matter at all what you say, they are just enjoying the “battle”.

And so while everyone else was laughing at him and spurring him on, and even though I was offered a seat to be a part of it, I decided that the conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere.  I didn't want to argue or make fun or join in on the laughing.  I felt sorry for him.  My heart had already started to beat fast… sensing the spiritual battle going on around me.  I didn’t want to be a part of it.  It would have been a great conversation had he wanted to talk and to listen, but he hadn't.  He just wanted to talk.

Reading Lessons
So, I keep walking toward’s S.’s house for her reading lesson.  I knock on the opened door, take off my shoes, and step into her small wooden house.  She’s ready.  She cleans off the round wooden table and grabs her notebook and kids Bible that I have gifted her.  She reminds me that I must have packed her pencil in the plastic box that I took with me.  And sure enough it’s there.  

Middle schooler Taisha and toddler Abigail are there, soon to be joined by their next door neighbor and toddler friend Christian and eventually enters 3 year old Freddy.  They work on the floor with blocks while I work with S at the table.  It’s so neat to see her progress… It has been slow but steady.  Once a week.  vowels, beginning sounds, letters.  She’s making progress.  She is using her brain.  Once it clicks, she is going to read.  She is starting to already but it’s just a very slow process.  She matches some simple words with their pictures, distinguishing between the sounds that M and N and L make, which seem to be a bit difficult since her first language is Spanish.  She finishes with some help and sees if she can do it again faster.  I assign some homework and encourage her to write her first and last name on the top of every worksheet… Up until this point, she only knows how to write her first name on her own.  

The kids are getting louder and louder.  Crying.  Arguing.  Playing cars with the blocks.  For the first time, I recognize the smallness of the house.  They cannot handle it anymore so we get them to clean up and go back to their houses.    Some crying and “NO”.  I’m reminded of the difficulty of fighting against the toddler’s stubborness and the importance of consistency.  Lord, please provide someone who would like to play with them while I read with S. in the future.

She works with beginning sounds.  Looking at the picture and reading the syllables, trying to figure out how the word would begin.  1,000 “mil" she reads mi, mu, mo… which does it start with?  We move onto making words with blocks.  She gets it.  amo mamá, ama, mapa, mil, mesa, esa, etc.  She’s getting it more than she did the last time.  She is starting to understand that each letter has its own sound.  She still confuses the “o” and the “u”… again I think because of Creole influence… but, she is progressing.  Then we read a Bible lesson. We are in the third chapter of her Kids bible.  The one that talks about the fall of man, the temptation and the consequences. Adam sent to work.  The first sacrifice of an animal for clothing. The couple thrown out of the garden.  We pray. Patience, love, growth in spiritual walk.  Salvation for family and prayer for her nephew who was at Makarios last year but moved back to live with his siblings.

Bread
I walk out of S's house and decide to visit N, her next door neighbor.  During my reading lesson, I had heard pounding music coming from her home.  "It’s her husband and some of his friends," I'm informed. I don’t get to sit and chat with her every time I visit.  It’s about 12:30, and I just need to be back home by 2:00.  I hadn’t had a good conversation with her in about a month or so when God led another missionary and me to sit under a tree where she was with a group of men.  We shared the gospel and prayed with her.  Even though it’s midday,  she hasn’t started eating lunch yet, so I invite myself in and take a seat on her traditional Dominican couch.  Typical — it’s has a pretty flower designed cushion on the seat and wood backing.  There is a soap opera playing in the background.  I notice steam coming out of a bowl on the counter and realize she has been cooking.  Yet, she starts telling me that she had been wanting to tell me that she was moving, separating from her boyfriend.  He is the father of her child and here she would call him her husband, although they are not legally married.  They live together and do all that married couples do without the commitment and with the ability to leave at any time. She’s decided to leave.  Fighting.  Arguing.  Bad environment.  She’s headed close to where I used to live and will leave on the 15th.  She has no plans on coming back.  Her dream is to get a job and use the little bit of English she knows to work as a waitress in a tourist spot and send her son to a private school.  

We’re interrupted by her neighbor, J. She’s another girl who’ve I’ve gotten to know in Chichigua. She has a little baby who's less than 1.  I watch her sitting in a big bucket (like bathtub or pool for babies) outside of her house outside the way.  She’s giggling, biting the edge of the tub and looking at her 8 year old aunt.  J. walks right into the house and greets me with a kiss on the cheek, a hug and a big smile.  “Tanto tiempo.”  I’ve missed seeing you.  She continues chatting with me like we are just old friends and it feels nice to just be there chatting without an agenda or being in a rush.  

Eventually J. leaves and N and I pick up our conversation where it left off…. She sits back down and I ask her what will happen if she doesn’t find a job… not to be negative just realistic. It’s a possibility.  She could move and not find a job.  I talk to her about prostitution and to make sure that whatever she does to make sure it is honest work.   I imagine it must be scary.  I tell her that it’s good that she is trying to get out of a bad situation… especially since it’s not necessarily how God would want it… having a child out of wedlock, not being married, her abusive relationship.  But we talk about even with the stress and hard circumstances, her getting away, finding a job and having money (while maybe good) is not sufficient.  I ask her if I can read to her and read from John 5 and 6 which I have been studying over the last week.  I talk to her about how Jesus is the bread of life.  How, without Him we are dead.  I tell her that in the midst of so many scary scary things, it’s so important to be able to have hope in Jesus and be sure about my eternal future.  I told her that when she leaves I will continue to pray for her and that in the meantime, I will be around and she is always free to talk to me and ask questions.  I pray that wherever she goes God covers her with people who can continue to plant seeds.  May he call her towards Himself.

Rain
I walk out and greet various ladies from my Bible Study to see if they want to meet on Tuesday.  It’s a shy but true “no”.  The rain.  We just don’t know.  I was trying to make up for the one that we missed two Thursdays ago when the roads were flooding.  But, it doesn’t seem like we will have a formal Bible Study again until 2017.  My kid helpers are going to the States and I have a feeling that the next few weeks will be inconsistent.  I look forward, though, to being able to establish a plan for next semester that will hopefully include some of the non-christian families as well.  Please pray for how God wants me to continue to study His word in 2017.

On the way out
I walk to the front of the small village and hear “Aniana”. Robin, a 2-year old who was named after a former missionary here who spent a lot of time in Chichigua and who succeeded in learning Creole — She peeks out of one of the tiny tin row houses that were built for the sugar cane workers and stares up at me.  She has on a t-shirt.  Her mom comes over and puts some more clothes on her.  And there she is with me, pulling on my lips, touching my eyes and repeating “Aniana” over and over again.  She babbles some other things that I don’t understand as I appreciate the many hugs and opportunity to steal kisses from her.  It’s nearing 1:30.  Now, I do have to go.  I tend to skype my friend on Mondays at 2:00.  I have some work to do for the rest of the day.  She won’t let me go.  She holds her feet up as I try to put her down, reminding me of a koala bear hanging on a tree.  Awww.. a few more hugs.  Her dad telling her in Creole to let me go… I am finally able to put her down, crying… I walk away.  

I head to the car where a beat up little car is parked behind my roommates car with a whole bunch of used clothes on it.  They tell me, “Pulga” in creole “pepe”. It means that they are basically having a “flea market” sale right there on this guys car.  "Mwen pa gen good." (I don’t have any money).  I get in the car along with Na.  (a niece of one of my Bible Study ladies) and head to Montellano.  A blur of memories, conversations with N. Wanting to get her a Bible in English and Spanish.  Wanting to write down some verses for her about salvation and also her identity as a woman and creation of God. Na and I chat some.  She’s picking up her deceased mom’s papers, hoping to get to become legalized in the country. She’s just 17 and orphaned.  She’s smart but has no hope without papers.  Another non-believer that God has put in my path. 

I pray for those who are dead to realize … and be alive in Him.  May they come to know the truth that I know. Thankful for good time in the Word today.  Thankful for glimpses of God's Kingdom here on Earth.  Grateful for opportunities to share about Jesus and for growing conversations.

Continued Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for me as I look to move at some point in early 2017.  Living where I am has been great, but I believe that I will better minister living closer to the people whom I serve.  Please pray for wisdom and guidance to live where God leads.
• Please pray for Makarios and for all of us to be lead by the Spirit in all that we do. Pray that we would be unashamed of the Gospel and of His direction in ministry.
• Please pray for me to be content right where God has me.  
• I've stayed here in the Dominican this Christmas.  Along with taking a class that is still happening over the break, I will have my first opportunity to spend time here and see what Dominican Christmas is like.  I am actually excited to have time "off" and still be here to deepen relationships with people who the Lord has placed in my path.  I am also hoping for many restful days and some travel days to both the capital and Quisqueya.  Please pray that I may rest, that I may deepen relationships, and that God will protect me in my travels.  (I hope to visit the states sometime during the Spring.)
• I have about 8 more weeks in my university class about Dominican education.  Please pray for opportunities to speak God's truth to my current professor and for the U.S. paperwork that I need to get authorized by the time we finish.  
• Please also pray for my Creole.  I have not been able to study it like I want, but when class is finished would like to dedicate more time to it again.  Please pray for God to open my brain to keep on learning.
• Lastly, please pray for my students with whom I work.  The fall semester had lots of breaks and irregularities in it due to rain and other things.  There are still lots of kids behind in reading. Please pray that this break would be one where I get to re-focus in how to lead them well.

Looking to give before the end of the year? Interested in helping out this Christmas or in the New Year? Here are three ways that you can help me:

ONE. I have a running list of books that I am hoping to get in order to strengthen reading and discipleship ministry in the communities.  If you come across books that you know would be good for discipleship or if you are interested in purchasing some books from Amazon, please go to: http://a.co/8Hyl3l9.  

TWO. I have a couple of Bible Study ladies who cannot read for themselves and have met some relatives of kids I work with who also cannot read but who have interest in learning God's Word. I have found Audio Bibles in Haitian Creole and in Spanish that would be great for them.  If you are interested in supporting them that way, go to: www.audiobible.com and search for the Creole Bible Audio Player or the one in Spanish.

Have books and Audio Bibles sent to:

Adrienne Christian

BM Cargo 112046

8400 NW 25th Street

Suite 100

Doral, FL 33198

THREE. I am planning to move early next year.  I expect to incur some moving costs and will have to buy a lot of new things.  I have estimated that those new household items will cost around $4000 as most big items that I use here were here when I moved in.  If you would like to make a year-end tax deductible donation to Makarios on my behalf, it would be a great blessing to me!  If not, please pray that the Lord would provide for my needs. A list of the items that I think I'll need are below.  Donate online at www.makariosinternational.org or here.

Bedroom Furniture and Mattress 
Kitchen Table and Chairs 
Sofa Set 
Refrigerator 
Stove 
Pots and Pans 
Kitchen Plates, Cups and Utensils 

Thank you so much for your continued prayer and financial support.  

I could not do what I do without you!  

The kids I get to pull from class and help with reading

One of my reading students using Zoo Phonics

The entrance to Chichigua where I spend much of my time

Went on a field trip with these kids a few weeks ago to Chichigua to learn about farm animals

Makarios and soon to be Makarios kids.  I work with the two on the right.

S during a reading lesson

Children playing during the reading lesson in S's house. 

Some ladies and their children.  Two are in my Bible study.

This is N.  She moved just last week.  I was able to get her a Bible and will continue to pray for her salvation.

S and her little friend, Abigail. 

A typical washing day in Chichigua when there is water for a family with a washing machine.

The original houses in Chichigua for those who came to work the sugar cane fields

This is a dear friend. She loves learning about Jesus.  She is a new believer and is one whom I disciple.  Her son is one of the latest additions to Chichigua.

Ronald and my little friend Robin

One of my friends whose real name is Adriana like me with her new addition to the community.