December 2012 Update Letter

I'm long overdue for a blog post. What, me? I've NEVER said those words before ;)
To update you on my past few months, here's my most recent update letter:
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This past few months have been a whirlwind! Between the starting of my new position and a tragic flood destroying part of our school.. we have definitely had our hands full!  But God has held us in his hands, and he has been faithful every single day of these last few months. Take a look at my newsletter for detailed stories from our last semester: 

Prayer Requests

- We start a new semester January 9th. Pray everything goes smoothly! 

- For daily opportunities to show Christ to our students and to those in the communities. 

- That my understanding of the gospel would grow deeper & deeper everyday.

If you would like to donate to the work God has been doing through me to serve in the DR, donations can be made online at https://secure.etransfer.com/Makarios/donate.cfm, by choosing "Imani Folkes" in the "Apply my Gift To" drop down menu. 

A huge thank you to everyone who continues to pray & support me. Words can't describe how thankful I am for you all.

'Twas the Summer of Weddings...

'Twas the Summer of 2012, when all through Imani's life, Not a person was left single, not even a..... mouse.Okay, that didn't work as well as I thought it would. But really Summer 2012 was the summer of Weddings. I went to not one, not two.. but THREE weddings this summer. All of them were beautiful, all of them were filled with love, and all of them were within the span of 3 weeks.

Wedding #1: Perla & Jody

Perla and Jody are two of my friends "from" the DR (well really, Perla is from the DR and Jody is from America. But  I met both here, and they both now live here). They got married this past June and it was beautiful! I helped photograph their wedding, and it was a blessing to be apart of such a beautiful day. 

Wedding #2: Odilisia

Odilisia is our beloved school cook. She is sassy, hilarious, has an inspiring faith in the Lord, and has the ability to cook for 100+ people! She was (up until two months ago) a single mom.. and now she's beautifully married! It was a beautiful ceremony, laced with rich Haitian tradition & culture.

The entire church choir marched in front of her as she made the way to the church with the "godfather" of the wedding. (so that man next to her is not her husband, fyi). 
In this culture, there are godfathers and godmothers of weddings, graduations, etc. From what I can tell, they're role is to escort. 

Pictured below: L- Odilsia's niece and son helping hold her dress. R- Odilisia waiting to enter the church.

L: Odilisia laughing during the ceremony. She has a beautiful smile. R: Husband and wife exchanging rings.

L: Odilsia right after the ceremony. R: Odilsia & Monica. (Monica is her sister in law, as well as fell cook at the Makarios school)

Wedding #3: AMANDA & ROB

Amanda is one of my closest friends from college. I first met her (and Rob) in CRU Freshmen bible study August 2007. We were all nervous, most of us were 15 pounds skinnier, and we had no idea where 4 years of college would lead our friendships. Through the years, Amanda became a friend I could always rely on. Whether it was through our 7am "prayer phone calls" in our "hard months" of Sophmore year or dancing to the Macarena in the middle of a Newhouse computer lab during an all nighter or our many movie nights... Amanda was amazing friend within it all. And now she's MARRIED to her soulmate Rob! (Let the surreal-ness set in).

The wedding was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L and it was such an incredible blessing to be a bridesmaid for the wedding!! Not to mention seeing most of my college friends for the first time in a full YEAR! (Blog post about my two weeks home in the states to come later) 

Here are a few photos from the AMAZING wedding photographers (Jeremy Hess Photographers)

I love weddings. Who's next?
I'm hoping to slowly update my blog with more summer 2012 happenings. So when you see another summer post next time, don't be alarmed.. I planned it that way. 

Today I don't want to forget..

Sometimes God blesses with me with answered prayer, and in my humanness I forget what he did for me 5 minutes later. Today I don't want to forget...

Today I don't want to forget about the faithfulness of our Lord. How he answered my morning prayers, in a way I could have never imagined. How he continually answer my prayers. How he provides everything I need to serve Him well in this country (patience, the ability to speak spanish, love, etc.)

"all I have needed thy hand hath provided

great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me"

Today I don't want to forget how much he loves me. And how he can remind me of that through a quote on a friend's facebook status. And how as my prayer continues to be, "Lord open my eyes to your love" (Ephesians 3:18-19) he will continually to faithfully do so. 

"When I think that the omnipotent God who crafted the stars, comets, galaxies, planets, every atom, molecule, and microbe on earth, the DNA, bones, and flesh of every living creature; the eternal God who forever was, is, and is to come; the majestic God who rules over all principalities, powers, authorities, angels, and demons; the holy God who dwells in unapproachable light and splendor wants to have an intimate relationship with ME. I’m overwhelmed. The thought is awesome beyond all comprehension." -Mary Kassian

Today I don't want to forget that he is with me every single minute of every single day. He is with me. 

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."- Joshua 1:9

Ch-ch- changes.

Lots and lots of changes going on in this part of the world:

New positon:

I have a new position with Makarios! I will be the Sponsorship Coordinator and Resource Teacher for Makarios this school year! As the "Resource Teacher" I will be working with students one on one with the subjects they need extra help with. Alot of our students would greatly benefit with 1 on 1 help in phonics and math to help them excel to where they need to be academically! So as the "resource teacher" I will be working individually with various students throughout the week. As the sponsorship coordinator, I will be the link between Makarios in the DR, and our students' sponsors in the US. That entails writing emails, updating the blog, updating facebook/twitter, with updates on what's going on at our school. I'll basically be using my Public Relations major. (who would have thought?)

I'm so excited about the change! I'm excited to spend quality time with the students I will be tutoring, to be able to love on them, share Christ with them when the opportunity arises, and help them exceed academically. And I'm super excited about the idea of communicating with sponsors. If I were a sponsor in the US, I would love for the distance between me and my sponsored student (although its thousands of miles) to be as "small" as possible. I hope/pray to help do that this year, by updating the sponsors with wonderful stories about our 96 students! Sponsorship and tutoring were both things I was doing at the end of last school year, now I'll just be doing them full time! 

Perla (the 2nd grader I spent time tutoring last year) and I on the last day of school in May.

New apartment: 

WE’VE MOVED! Sarah V. (my roommate for the last year) and I had been praying on & off about moving/ possibly having a third roommate for awhile.. and then we kind of forgot about it.  But a few weeks ago, God just completely worked out the details for Sarah V and I to move into an apartment with our new teammate Sarah H! When I say God worked out the details.. I mean God WORKED OUT THE DETAILS! Seriously, these details are SO unique and SO intricate, that you can only give credit to God for the way everything worked out! This apartment is better for us in so many ways: the rent is cheaper, it’s more comfortable and we’ll also be living next door to two other American girls (Karen & Emily) who are going to work for another missionary organization (Kids Alive) in the area. We’re so excited about the change! I’m especially excited to live next door to fellow missionaries, and grow closer with all of these girls! Pray with us as we continue to make the transition of living in a new place!

New School Year:

Hard to believe that my first year anniversary in the DR has come and gone (a separate blog on how I feel about that later). We’ve been making tons of preparations for the new school year! Painting desks, cleaning classrooms, welcoming new staff members (Sarah H & The Becks), and undergoing a 3 1/2 day teacher training! Bev Sparling (an amazing woman who was a missionary here in the DR for 10 years) came to visit our school to specifically train those of us who work at the school. It was amazing. Beyond amazing. She taught us so many amazing things, (that will continue to challenge us for years and years to come)... but one of the things that challenged me most was her explanation of the "calling" we have as teachers of our Makarios students. Bev greatly emphasized 1 Corinthians 11:1 (“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”) to us as teachers. She explained that as a teacher, we have an incredibly high calling on our lives. That God is using us as vessels to shape our students lives. And that as we follow Christ, our students will follow us, which can prayerfully/hopefully lead them to eventually following Christ! With that in mind, we must realize that our personal relationship with Christ and how we follow Christ personally, effects our students.

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I'm light years behind on updating this blog. (What's new?) According to my past few posts, I did little to nothing this summer. Not true at all. So hopefully in the next few days, I will post post various blogs with short stories/few photos to give a full recap of Summer 2012! Yay! One day I'll stop playing the catch up game.. but for now, check back tomorrow! ALSO, the 2012-2013 school year starts this WEDNESDAY. Raise your hand if you're as shocked as I am?

And because every blog post needs plenty o' pictures.  Here are a few from our amazing End of Summer Carnival:

(Clockwise: Perla, her mom and I, Carlos Miguel, Son)

*Special note about the title. Apparently its a David Bowie song? Just found that out. To me its always been from an episode of 7th Heaven, when Ruthie continually says "Ch-ch-changes" over an over again throughout the episode. I guess she got it from David Bowie...

May & June

Dear World, How is that I'm behind on blogging again? Better question- how many more times do you think I'll talk about how behind I am on blogging throughout the course of my time in the DR?
Oh well. C'est La Vie. Does anyone else that song?

A few blog posts ago I was catching up on April.
Two months later, I'm updating you all on May & June.
To update you on these past two months, I'm going to repost my update letter that I sent out to my supporters!




Other May & June happenings not mentioned in the letter:
-Final ESL classes in Chichigua & Tamarindo. We played Jeopardy, ate cookies and took pictures!
- Weddings, weddings and more weddings! (Separate blog post about that later)
- Two short term mission groups!

[the people in my life] Dena

Continuing my new blog series thing from yesterday... here's DENA!


Dena is one of my lovely teammates, and today's her BIRTHDAY! Dena is a Kindergarten teacher to 16 adorable students at the Makarios school. She has an INCREDIBLE heart for the Lord, her students and the people she loves.


*Photo on the left taken by Bridget Daehler! 

That's the factual stuff. What the world should also know about Dena is that she is naturally HILARIOUS. She never tries to "intentionally" make you laugh, but you always end up doing so! Sitting by her during bible study, meetings, or in public transportiation guarantees that you will end up in a fit full of giggles. At least for me.

Here are a few of my favorite Dena-isms of the past 10 months (intertwined with a few photos of our favorite photos together)

Conversation after Bible Study
Imani: You were a heartbreaker in high school, weren't you?
Dena: Yes. I still am.




Another conversation after bible study. 
Background: We were talking about a specific scene in Breaking Dawn
Sarah: What was it that you didn’t like about the scene? 
Dena: It was lame. 
Sarah: I know, but what specifically didn’t you like? 
Dena: It was a waste of my existence. 
Sarah: But what specifically? 
Dena: I could have been doing anything better during those 10 minutes.
(maybe you had to be there, but we were all cracking up with laughter during this conversation)





Six Degrees of Separation. Between Dena & Pirates.
Fact. Dena is obsessed with Pirates. She can be in a conversation that has absolutely nothing at all to do with Pirates, and Dena will find a way to work a Pirate comment in. I call this the 6 degrees of Separation between Dena & Pirates.

Example:

Paige: We used to scuba dive all the time. I love it.
Dena: Oh my goodness, I would love to go scuba diving and look for sunken pirate ships.

Another example:
(Said as we were on a boat heading whale watching and getting a bit sea sick)
Dena: I guess I can't be a pirate anymore





And last, but not least. If life was a musical, Dena would be the director, choreographer and star! Here she is in a picture where we all decided to do a hand on hip/leg type of pose. Right before the photo is taken, Dena turns to me and says "I'm going to do jazz hands" Naturally I cracked up.





And these are just a few of the things I love about my dear friend Dena. There are tons more, she's a pretty awesome girl!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEENZ! Love you! Wish I were there to celebrate with you!

[the people in my life] Perla

            I've decided to start a mini "blog series." No, not like all the blog series that I said I would start way back in the beginning of my time here in the DR.. because we all know how well those worked out (hear my sarcasm). But this time a blog series that I think will better introduce everyone to the life I live here, as well as a blog series I feel in many ways that the Lord is leading me to. (How many times can I say, "blog series" in one post).
            It was through various conversations and prayer that I've realized the great importance of... relationships. Pretty simple revelation, right? It is so easy to get bogged down in the details of ministry/the job, and forget how amazingly glorified God can be through the relationships we're forming/cultivating in our time here.   I therefore want to start introducing the various people the Lord has placed in my life, here in the DR. The posts will be random and they will be great. Just you wait and see.

With all of that being said, I want everyone to meet Perla.

Perla is in the 2nd grade at our Makarios school, has a super sweet personality and is crazy eager to learn! Perla is behind most of her classmates when it comes to reading, so in the last few months of the school year I began to work with Perla one on one. Three times a week I would pull her out of her phonics lessons, so that we could privately work on her letters and sounds. 

As Summer School continues, I plan to continue spending time with Perla to continue to advance her reading level. Not only do I hope Perla will continue to grow as a reader, But I pray our time can be filled with moments where I can minister to her heart with the gospel!

Other random things about Perla:

-Every time we start our lessons together, I ask her to pray. Hearing a 7 year old prayer is one of the sweetest things ever!
- Perla is one of the shyer students in a class full of 15 other energetic kids. She's also one of 7 children. I love being able to give her one on one attention!

-We had a week off from school, and during that week I heard that Perla was asking for me to come visit. #meltmyheart

- Her teacher this past year, (Johan) is also her Uncle.