A Photo Album of the 2012-2013 school year.

Hard as it is for me to believe.. we're already entering our third week of the 2013-2014 Makarios school year.
In honor of the new school year, here's a look back into LAST school year. Aka this post was written because I realized I barely blogged throughout last school year. (who's surprised?) So here it is: a photo album of the 2012-2013 school year. 


 September 

Celebrated my 23rd Birthday with these lovely ladies in Santiago.


Started off the Makarios school year with a great day of school!



October

Began tutoring/pulling out students to help them with phonics and math!


Yiskeiry and I during a village visit to Pancho Mateo



November

Our school and community suffered from a terrible flood. It destroyed almost our entire bottom floor, and several homes of our staff members & students. But God was incredibly faithful in restoring everything.
 

The first day of classes after the flood. (We closed school for 3 days)



Post flood, celebrating Thanksgiving at the Makarios house with Narolin.



Bella, Cita and I after a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. SO thankful to be able to celebrate this holiday with my Domincan family.
 























And bonus: Mari Leydy performing after one of our tutor sessions

December

Fani, Anita and Ismael showing off their pearly whites




















Profe Marnelia reading a bible story during chapel. 



















My family came to visit over Christmas!!

























January

Soda floats with Nicole


Back to school. Eduardo & Nikauri


Juan Carlos & Escarlet showing off their birthday gifts. 




















February

The amazing Makarios staff in the mountains of Jarabacoa for our annual staff retreat. 

Celebrating Valentine's Day AND Yiskeiry's birthday!


























March

We found these 4 girls praying for our staff prayer requests on their own accord. Such a beautiful thing to experience.


At the beach with two of our students: Rachel & Franchesca


























Spent a week in March serving alongside Hill Country School as they ran VBS programs in the Los Ciruelos community. These two sisters were two of the girls that were in my ESL class my first year here. Love them!


April

Village Visit in Chichigua, playing baseball!





















Rachel!


While some played baseball-- others played Dominoes.
















May

I missed the last day of school because I was in the states for my sister's graduation. But I heard the last was super great!



Home for the littler sister's graduation.



While home I was able to visit these 3 lovely ladies in Boston!
And I had the true Boston experience by getting to see the Red Sox play in Fenway!


My dear grandma and I during my sister's family graduation party.


And there you have it. The 2012-2013 school year in a nutshell.
See my next blog post with hilights of Summer 2013.

Feelings post decision.

I wrote the below words right after I made my decision to stay in the DR through December/pursue grad school to study education. I re-read this now, reflect on the INTENSE amount of worrying I've done over the past 3 weeks, and think "where is the girl who originally wrote these words?"
Praying the Lord refills me with an overwhelming sense of peace & about the future, like he did when I first made my decision. Praying I will be the essence of Proverbs 31:25, a person that can "laugh at the future" knowing that there's nothing for me to figure out/worry over because my God has it totally under control. I'm praying for peace (the peace God gave me 3 months ago), while experiencing anxiety. 

(Written 3 months ago)

I'm not completely sure what my life will bring come January 2014, and instead of bringing me anxiety… that brings me joy. Why? Because when I'm in a place of true understanding who the Lord is.. that he called me before the foundation of the earth to be his daughter, to be holy and blameless before him, to do the works he has prepared for me, and to spend eternity with him…. how could I not be joyful? He has an amazing plan for my life. There's no need for me to be anxious, there's no need for me to fret. He has already planned it all out. He loved me, called me to himself, and planned out my life until I can be with Him in eternity. 

These moments of peace/understanding come & go. And when these moments aren't "around" they are often replaced with anxiety, worry, stress, apathy, etc. etc. So I ask you to pray. I ask that you pray that God would continue to remind me in a strong way, that I am his beloved daughter (Ephesians 5:1), that he has written the plan for my life (Ephesians 2:10, Psalm 139) and that he is my shepherd that will continue to faithfully lead me to live out that plan (Psalm 23, John 10). 

"To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways; we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation." - Oswald Chambers

Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future.- Proverbs 31: 25

Sunset at Playa Sosua. A few months after I moved to the island.

 (No, this picture has nothing to do with the blog post. But whats a blog post without a picture?)

The Decision. The big one.

I am overjoyed to announce that after much prayer, the Lord has called me to extend my contract (that was originally over in July 2013) with Makarios & stay in the DR until December 2013. A HUGE/GRANDE thank you to all of my loved ones who have spent the last 21 months praying for me, keeping up with my life, "liking" photos of our beautiful students, and much more. 
And now I humbly ask for prayers as I enter my last 7 months on the island (AH!).

Another 7 months of loving on these beautiful students.

Read on for a glimpse into how the Lord brought me to this decision, and the beautiful way he opened my eyes to him being my Shepherd. 

Around December of their 2nd year is when all the Makarios missionaries begin their "Oh my word, I have to tell the Austin office in 3 months whether I'm leaving at the end of July or extending my contract" freaking out process. So I freaked out, and prayed a bit. Then I freaked out a bit more, and then prayed some more..and this process continued until mid February, a mere few weeks before I had to make my decision. I knew I wasn't because of my busy schedule I wasn't spending an ample amount of time praying about it,  so I intentionally went "away" for a weekend with the Lord (unplugged, free of distractions). I stayed in a hotel I was familiar with in Cabarete (an hour away) and there had one of the most beautiful times I've ever had with the Lord. Per Margaret's encouragement, I didn't pray specifically about the big decision. Instead I prayed overall regarding my time here, for the Lord to lead me as he always has,  listened to s a great sermon series and just read whatever scripture the Holy Spirit prompted me to read. It's always the most beautiful thing when the Lord orchestrates different things to display one beautiful solitary concept. That concept was simple: The Lord is my shepherd. Those 5 words encompassed a lot for me that weekend in February. He was my shepherd when I was once a lost sheep-- calling me to first come to know him as my Lord & Savior in my 2nd grade Sunday school class, he was my shepherd when he prompted my 16-year-old self  to "rededicate" my faith and start actually living for him, he was my shepherd when I made the decision to attend Syracuse University (thereby causing me to get involved in CRU, strengthen my faith, meet amazing friends and continue my love for missions), and he was my shepherd when he led me in the most crazy way possible to be a missionary with Makarios. He loves me. He loves me as His daughter, even though I did nothing to deserve it (Ephesians 1:5). His grace is overwhelming. Even though I am imperfect and fall WAY below his standard of Holy, he called before the foundation of the world me to know him (Ephesians 1:4), and not only know him... but to SERVE him. He's already planned in advance how I am exactly going to serve him (Ephesians 2:10). Wait, so his is a God who loves me more than I can imagine and already knows how I will serve Him? Why in the WORLD am I freaking out about a mere decision. He already has it figured it out.  My role is to continually seek him, and wait patiently as he reveals his will to me. He is my shepherd. He always has and always will lead me. And he already knows whether or not I'm going to extend my contract.

(Picture taken during my weekend away with the Lord. Sitting in the sand, listening to worship music & enjoying the sunset.)

The Monday after my weekend I made a decision about my future with Makarios- to extend my contract and stay through December. Also per Margaret's encouragement, I didn't tell anyone about that decision for about two weeks. Instead, I sat with the decision.. praying that the Lord would give me peace if it was his will, or speak to me if it wasn't. Throughout those two weeks I felt a continuous growing peace about my decision. More than that, I felt led to make the official final decision to pursue a Master's of Education, to "officially" learn how to teach students. I had been toying with the idea for that past year, but it was during those two weeks of prayer that it became a reality. The grad school decision also fit in perfectly with my other decision to leave the DR in December.
After I leave the DR in December I will have 6 months to transition back to life in America and Lord willing, I will start grad school in June 2014 (or August, pending the program). After completion of my program I will continue to serve His kingdom by loving/educating/teaching the gospel to the children that need it most!

Why We Do, What We Do

Everyday our staff begins the day with a short group devotional. Wednesdays is our day to mention specific prayer requests. Today 4 of the third grade girls saw our board of prayer requests and on their own decided to pray for each request. They spent their entire recess (30 minutes) praying.

This is why we do what we do. Apart from their academic subjects, we teach these kids about the Lord and the gospel story he has orchestrated for the world. We are discipling their hearts, with the hope & prayer that they can one day come to know the Lord as their Savior.

We work day in and day out to trying to raise up future Christian leaders of these communities. And honestly, it's hard work. Sometimes the only thing that keeps us going is knowledge that we are planting seeds that will (prayerfully) bear fruit in the future. But sometimes, on days like today, God allows us to see fruit. Tomorrow we continue to plant seeds, today we thank God for this blessing. 

Thank you Lord for these girls. Thank you for the truth that has been poured into their life (both from the Makarios staff and from their respective churches). We pray to you for their salvation. And we pray to you for the power to continue planting seeds. 

Valentina, Neifi, Scarlett, Yulena (The 4 girls who were praying)

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. - 1 Corinthians 15:58

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:
---------

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