[God is good because]...He is Sovereign

God is good because.. He Is Sovereign. He places his words in my path, at the most APPROPRIATE times, and through the most unique/appropriate of ways. Aka- when he wants to tell me something, he uses whatever means to do so.

Today it was Zephaniah 3:17, someone tweeted the verse, and I could not have read it at a better time. Like, seriously.

The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing. -Zephaniah 3:17 (Amplified Version)

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PS- I'm currently writing this from my sick bed :(
I believe I'm either pretty dehydrated or have a virus. (I'll leave all the yucky bathroom details to your imagination). Please be praying that I heal super soon, so I can get back to work!! I'm still feeling very dizzy/lightheaded when I'm standing up/move my head too fast.

AND:

Preview on me teaching my first ESL class!! -- full blog post to come soon!

Thanks Erika for the pictures!

[Mi Vida] Sabbath

Dena, Miranda, Sarah and I spent last Saturday at the beach.... relaxing, laughing, talking.. and taking our MTI advice to have one day of rest per week, for the fruitfulness/longevity of our ministry!!
Oh yes. I forsee many beach sabbath days in our future.

Water & sunglasses. Essentials at a DR beach.

Man selling coconut water.

MTI Reunion with Katie! 

Sarah paddle boarding

And a bonus:

Elvis spotted. Cabarate, Dominican Republic

From the DR, with love.
Imani

PS- I know Dena isn't pictured in any of these photos. But she was most definitely at the beach with us! Love ya girl!

[Mi Vida] Yays/Yucks

As I described before, we learned at our mission training how we will often experience the Paradox of living life abroad. The positive things you experience are the yays, and the negative things are the yucks. It's totally normal/typical/okay to feel both of these things at the exact same time: To know that God has called you to a place and be happy about that.... while at the same time being super frustrated with all the negative things that keep hitting you in the face. I'm going to share a few of my yays/yucks now. PS- another longish blog post coming up. Sorry! 

Yays

• A few days into staff training, I re-fell in love with Makarios and God confirmed how much his presences is intertwined in every piece of this organization and the people who work for it. 

•The fact that I'm going to once again need (capital N-E-E-D) to rely on the Lord every single minute of every day. (For spanish speaking abilities, for the ability to not scream on the top of my lungs when I get another mosquito bite, for the ability to love like he loves me, for safety, for health,  etc. etc.)

•The fact that I'm going to experience what I experienced in Peru. When my bible reading became "alive" to me. When I was able to read a passage and then pray, walk in, and live out the words that I just read. 

•Cold showers. For those of you who have traveled to other countries and not stayed in a resort, you've more than likely experienced the coldness of water. It's a complaint I've had in my past mission trips.. but NOT here. After a super humid day outside, a cold shower is the biggest present you could ever ask for.

•The Makarios team is absolutely AMAZING (capitals emphasized). I honestly could not have asked for a better staff. I'm going to aim to introduce members of the staff individually in following blog posts.. so I won't take up more space here explaining how great they are.

•Spotify works ABROAD! 

•The warmth of the people here is absolutely amazing. Erika and I went walking around Los Ciruelos yesterday to advertise for the ESL class I'll be teaching, and we ended up being out for 3 hours talking to families/kids about everything and anything. It's common for people to just invite into your homes, ask you how you're doing (and really care about your answer), offer food/drink.... and this is all when you come UN-invited. How much of a culture shock is it going to be when I return to the states and show up to my friends homes (unexpectedly) expecting all the same things ;)

•Going to the beach as our Sabbath. I'll never stop getting used to that.

Photo example of a YAY: Our staff (that is amazing) playing icebreaker games.

Yucks

•Having busy staff days (work 8-4) and busy afternoons (apartment hunting, grocery store shopping, etc.) and THEN wanting to just crash on your bed because you're exhausted from speaking a different language most of the day, learning 2 million things about a new country/culture, and doing your job. Then you have the choice to make: crash and… not finish up your to do list of: thank you cards, blogging, figuring out student loan deferments 

•The humidity. 

I'm told that I will get used to it. And I believe it.. when I feel the sweat dripping to my toes, only to look over at my Dominican/Haitian fellow staff members whom (because of lack of sweat) appear to be as if they are in the midst of an air conditioned room. But for now, until I get used to it… it's a yuck. A big time yuck.

• LOS INSECTOS (bugs). Okay so huge praise to God, I didn't see many bugs in the beginning days. Yes there was the spider incident, yes I saw the flash of a cockroach.. but overall there weren't many! That was all UNTIL I started to receive 2 mosquito bites per day, there was another tarantula found outside the Mak house, and moths began to attack my computer/me late at night because of its bright light. If you know me well, you know that I am legitimately terrified of all bugs. Like it's right up there with getting a terminal disease.  This is a huge yuck. A yuck that I'm hoping will eventually subside as I live on a tropical island. But a yuck nonetheless. (PS- The two tarantulas I've seen now have both been in tuperware boxes to be the kids "pets." Pray that I NEVER EVER EVER see one in real life just crawling around here.. because you will hear my scream for hours and hours upon end.)

•I've been missing a few things lately. (This act of missing falls into my yuck category.) We were encouraged at our Mission Training that it's okay to admit to missing some of the more "shallow" things that you'll be letting go of once you leave the states. So here goes:

• Netflix, Hulu, Pandora-- these all don't work outside of the states
• Fall (my absolute favorite season). Oh how I miss Autumn, and all it entails. The leaves changing colors, wearing a sweatshirt, jeans & converse sneakers, bonfires, my Steve Madden fall boots that I got on super sale and was only able to wear once because the Syracuse snow kicked in early last year, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin ice-cream, (really pumpkin flavored anything), flag football, flamingo football,   60 degree weather etc. etc. etc. 
• Syracuse.. everything about it:  24/7 access to my best friends, CRU, Juice Jam, college life, dining hall food choices (who would have thought I ever said that), Famous Artists- who is performing IN THE HEIGHTS this year,  NY State Fair, upcoming basketball season, the quad.. etc. etc. 
• Air conditioning
• The lack of bugs the US has.

Photo example of a Yuck: A tarantula (that the Menold Family caught outside). A THOUSAND TIMES YUCK.

(PS- Everytime I say a thousand times ___.. I always think of Pride & Prejudice. You know, when Jane says yes to Mr. Bingsley proposing.. Anyone?)

[God is good because..] Lamentations 3:21-25

God is good because he's always reminding me of his word when I need it most.
Last Tuesday (9/13), we were having our weekly Women prayer time amongst our staff, and just before I was about to share how I'm in the midst of my "chaos" stage of the transition process (This process being= Settled, Unsetting, Chaos, Resettling, Newly Settled). God reminded me of this passage, and I'll tell ya.. never has this passage applied to me so directly before in my life. Thank you God. 


Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
Lamentations 3:21-25

How I would like to blog while I'm in the DR.

If you followed my 365 day project,  you probably already know that I'm not exactly the best at posting regularly and frequently. Therefore to become a better blogger, and effectively share my next two years of the Dominican Republic.. I've decided to break my blog posts up into "series", "categories", "groups"..... whatever your heart desires to call them, there will be four:

1. Mi Vida
   - In this "category" I will just post general stories about my life and work here in the DR. Expect to here things about work/ministry, things about living in the DR, prayer requests, etc. etc. This will be much like the first post I wrote while in the DR. (PS- Mi vida= My life)
2. "God is good because.."
    - In these posts I will simply give thanksgiving to God for the ways he has been faithful/amazing to me. At mission training we were encouraged to write down our daily joys everyday, so that we can look back and look on how God is working. I've been trying to remember to do that, and I want to start posting some of those joys on this blog.
3. Hola ___
    - For these posts the blank space will be filled with a name of a Dominican or Haitian that I have been "living life" with. I will include a picture, how I know them and some fun facts about them... just so you guys have a way of "meeting" the amazing people God has given me the opportunity to live and work amongst.
4. Laugher (DR Style)
    - I laugh at everything and anything, and we've had some pretty funny encounters here in the DR. When moments are funny enough to share, I'll post them in this category.

--This series things will be super good for me, because I'll be able to tell smaller stories in a more frequent fashion. (I often struggle with waiting too long to blog..and then not having the willingness to write a super long blog post, and you guys not having the willingness to read a super long blog post!).
Be on the look out for the start of these categories tomorrow! I have a few saved up!

From the DR, with love..
Imani

PS- And because I think my posts always need a picture:

I took this on my home from work.

Come visit me?

Dominican Republic: The Beginnings.

I'll give you 10 cookies if you read this entire blog post. Or 5 cookies if you skim it and look at the pictures. Pretty please?

WOW! Where to even begin? I hate to make this a long blog post (especially since I am the queen bee of not wanting to read long pieces of text on the internet).. but I've waited so long to blog and now I have so much to catch up on! Bear with me friends, my blog posts will definitely NOT always be this long. 

I'll describe day-by-day, and it probably won't be super detailed... just to keep it short! :)

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• August 1-19. I spent 3 weeks in Colorado attending Mission Training International (alongside about 40 other missionaries & families, including my teammates Miranda, Sarah, and the Menold family) There is no way on this earth I would be able to thoroughly describe how utterly amazing this training was. I'll try and summarize it in 5 "phrases"

1. Invaluable lessons (from paradoxical feelings to  conflict styles, and everything in between). 

2. Dance parties. (Waka, waka)

3. Community that I wouldn't trade for the entire world. 

4. Spiritual preparedness. (God paused my entire life and had me focus on him & my faith in a crazy serious way during these 3 weeks. There aren't enough words that can express how thankful I am for this.)

5. Colorado is beautiful. I'm going back one day. 

• August 19-26: Last week at home. Pack. Shop. Doctors appointments (x6). To do list.  Nurse my cold. Repeat. 

• Friday August 26. Still in NJ. I find out that my flight that was supposed to leave the next day was cancelled/postponed because of Hurricane Irene. (Insert sad face/blessing in disguise because it gave me more time to rest)

•August 26-August 30: Many texts with my fellow teammate Dena (who was also on my cancelled flight), many minutes waiting on hold with Continental, reweighing my suitcase so that each is under 50 pounds & spending a few last moments w/ my mom...


Wednesday August 31- I finally arrived in the Dominican Republic!!!!! 

•  We were met at the airport with part of the staff holding many Welcome Signs! (Sidenote- I've always wanted this to happen to me! My dream has been fulfilled!).

First sight of the island from the plane!

We drove through Puerto Plata and arrived at the Makarious house (where we'll be staying until we get our apartments, and where short term missionary teams are hosted).The rest of the day was spent unpacking & settling in. Well.. unpacking was paused when the 3 kids from the Miles family & 5 kids from the Menold family came into our room, and we somehow began  a spontaneous Disney songs/Christmas music/Justin Bieber dance party. 
 The day ended with myself and my other 3 single ladies teammates (Dena, Miranda, and Sarah) attempting to kill the hugest and fastest spider I've ever seen in my life. A lot of laughing, a lot of screaming, and a lot of praying. But we won, and he lost. 

•Thursday, September 1- MY 22nd BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!! More importantly, I got to meet the rest of the Dominican & Haitian staff!!! We spent the day playing icebreaker games, asking each other getting to know you questions  and just being with each other.  At night we had a Welcome to the DR party, which included dinner, more games, and the Happy Birthday song in English and in Spanish! After that we ate birthday cupcakes and spent time on the roof chatting. (Bonus: we saw shooting stars. I L-O-V-E shooting stars). So happy I got to spend my birthday meeting and getting to know the friends (read: family) I'll be working with for the next two years! 

Myself & Dena on the rooftop of the Makarios house. (I later found out the rest of the staff was signing a birthday card to me while we were up here!)

The 4 soltera ladies. (single ladies) of our team.

•Friday & Saturday,  was our our staff retreat. We spent the mornings worshipping & having group devotionals, and the afternoons relaxing/having fun on the beach/getting to know one another (a 15 minute commute)!!! Friday we ventured to Sosua where some of us went banana boating and some of us went snorkeling. (I went banana boating, but unfortunately don't have any pictures). And Saturday we made our way to Cabarate.. where soon after we arrived it began to pour, so we ended up chatting in a local restaurant for most of the rest of the day.

The 2011-2013 Makarios staff. (minus Yosemari and Jen). 
Picture taken after our devotionals.

Friday Sousa beach. Sunny day.

Saturday. Cabarate beach. Rainy day.

Sunday- Church in the morning at Templo Biblico. It was hard for me to keep up with the entire sermon in spanish, but from what I can see it's a really great community of believers! (We have the option of going to this church or an English speaking church… and I'm still praying about which one to pick). We spent the rest of the day shopping at La Sirena (think... Dominican style Walmart) and having dinner.

Monday was our first full day of work!! We arrived at the school at 8:45 and began the day with a group devotional & of course an icebreaker game! We then spent the first half of the day setting up the school. I helped Miranda setting up the Library (my position is not primarily in the school.. so I don't have a classroom to set up). While helping her I found a ton of bilingual children books that I hope will be perfect to read to my ESL classes/have my ESL classes read! The rest of the afternoon was spent going over some health administration stuff with Docotora Lauren. 

Icebreaker games.

(Yomo is in the white, 
Belizeur has on the black hat, and Marnelia is in the yellow)

Johan lifting Addie (one of the Miles' children)

After our full day we went to visit an apartment (that we didn't like very much). And finally.. my favorite part of the day, we visited Chichigua,  which is a Haitian "battye" (a Haitian village), to have a meeting about the Makarios school!! I was super excited/nervous/anxious about this visit because this is where I'll be spending a lot my time teaching ESL and conducting social work! I prayed the entire time car ride over, and God answered every single prayer request I had!!! The meeting went well, Sarah & I were able to meet many adults and kids from the village and form the beginnings of relationships that God will use for the rest of our two years here! 

Fani & myself.

Wilnay, Sarah, Fani, & I

I love this picture!

Boys will be boys!

Hamming it up for the camera.

Tuesday: I met with Erika (the wife of the host couple that are in their transition process of moving back to the states) to discuss ESL classes, go over what she's been teaching, and look through materials. Imagine the hugest smile on my face as I type this. I. AM. SO. EXCITED. to start this aspect of my job! In the afternoon we had a staff meeting at the school, and at night Sharla (our boss that lives in Austin, but has been here in the DR for the past week) took us "soltera ladies" (single ladies of the team) out for a night of fun and relaxation. We first went to a hotel lobby (read: air condition & beautiful facilities) to order cafe con leche and use their fast wifi. Then we headed to a restaurant named "Taste" where we had great food, an interesting waiter, and a lot of laughs. Great, great night! 

Sharla (our amazing boss), Dena, Sarah, myself, and Miranda.

Overall  this first week has been a great general getting to know each other/this country stage. My transition thus far has been fairly well! There are a few of "yucks" (a term we learned to use at our training that describes the paradox we will experience while living in another country. Yays are the positive things. Yucks are the negative things)... and life isn't a bed of roses here.. but that's life right? I'll share a bit more about this paradox in another post.

Okay that's it for now. Thanks for sticking through. (If you made it this far). 

Love you all, y que Dios the bendiga! ( and may God bless you)

Imani

PS- I realize their is probably many unanswered question on this blog post (Who exactly are your teammates, what's transportation like, what's the food like.. etc. etc.) BUT I promise you will see posts dedicated to those things soon!