July 2014 Update Letter

My co-teacher Marnelia, our student Taisha, and myself.  I hope & pray this update finds you well. God is doing great things in the DR and I'm humbled/thankful that he has called me to be a part of it all.  A few highlights: I've decided to once again extend my contract with Makarios! Read on to find out how you can continue prayerfully & financially supporting me as I begin my 4th year.  6 of our Makarios students came to know Christ this year! This September I will begin teaching Dual Language Pre-K4, as well as begin to disciple 2-5 of our 6th grade girls! Looking Back... This past year has been an incredible mix of God's faithfulness, hardships, joy, and growth. I've grown in my walk. I've grown as a new teacher. And I've grown as a missionary. Since November 2013, my co-teacher & I have taught 17  beautiful, wild, and active 2nd graders. We've memorized Bible verses every week, taught from God's word each day, and shared the gospel in practical ways through discipline. We've also taught all their core subjects: language arts, math, social studies, and science. A huge highlight from this school year: 6 of our Makarios students came to know Christ as their personal Lord & Savior!  Ruth, a girl from my class was one of those 6 students 4 of the sixth grade girls that will be discipled this upcoming school year. Ruth, the student from my class that came to faith in Christ! Looking Forward... After much prayer God has led me to extend my contract with Makarios! This fall I will begin teaching Dual Language Pre-K4. "Dual language" means our students will receive instruction in both Spanish (their native language) and English. So by the time these students graduate they will be fluent in English, and hopefully have many more job & college opportunities! I will also begin to disciple/mentor 2-5 of our 6th grade girls. These girls are some of the students that made  the decision to believe in Christ as their Lord & Savior. I am incredibly excited/humbled for this opportunity.  Continue to partner with me prayerfully Prayer Requests: I've been experiencing some spiritual warfare. Pray with me as I battle lies, and claim victory in Christ! Serving full time for 3 years in another country is pretty exhausting! I have decided to take a mini furlough/vacation the first couple weeks of August. Pray I am able to rest & relax well, so that upon my return to the DR, I am renewed & ready for year 4! Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill me. That I would be continually lead by him in all that I do here.  Pray for the 6 students that came to know Christ!   Continue to partner  with me financially Thank you much for how you have helped financially support all that God is doing in the DR so far! Please consider continuing your support as I continue to serve with Makarios.  If you currently give via credit card/automatic withdrawal and would like to continue giving support, no further action is required. If you currently give via check, and would like to continue giving support, you may continue sending checks as you have been.  If you would like to increase your monthly/quarterly donation click HERE. Once on the website, check the box that says "This is an Update to an existing donation", and fill out the form with the new amount that you would like to give. In addition email accounting@makdr.org to inform our accounts manager about your change in donation. (Be sure to designate your gift to "Imani Folkes") Please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you so much for the many ways you all support, encourage and pray for me. As always, please let me know if I can be praying for you in a specific way! To The Praise of His Glory, Imani   unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

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Grace upon grace.

I WILL SING TO THE LORD, BECAUSE HE HAS DEALT

BOUNTIFULLY WITH ME- PSALM 13:6

These past 60 days have been filled with change upon change, 
and I have absolutely blown away by God's grace throughout it all. 

Change #1 It all started with Him leading me to STAY in the DR past my original leave date (December 2013). That's right. I'm extending my time in the DR once again! Let me tell you, that was a whirlwind of a decision. Including but not limited to: struggling with pride in terms of "holding on to" my original decision, learning an immensely great lesson on God's guidance of his people, experiencing the power of prayer, and lastly: joy and closeness to the Lord. I'm thrilled that the Lord has led me to stay, and grateful for the lesson he taught me through the decision making process. 

Change #2  So I was under the pretense that I would stay in the DR serving as our school's full time "Resource Teacher"- tutoring our students that need extra help. THEN, I found out that I was needed instead as a full time teacher in the classroom. So hear it here first folks... I am going to be co-teaching our 2nd grade class in a mere TWO weeks. Teaching full time in a classroom for Makarios has been my prayer/desire for the last year and a half, and I could have NEVER imagined it would happen so fast. But God is gracious, and He's entrusting me & my co-teacher, Marnelia with 17 beautiful students, to love, educate and share the gospel with. More to come on this soon. I am BEYOND excited. 

Change #3 The Makarios school is in the process of becoming "accredited," meaning we will be officially "recognized" by the government. When this happens it will allow our students to only attend our school, not requiring them to also attend public school (what they currently do). The next step in this process calls us to switch to the Dominican Ministry of Education's curriculum (we were previously using American curriculum before) and also re-organize our current classes/teachers. (Hence- how the opportunity opened up for me to be a teacher). If it sounds complicated, it's because it is! But hey, our God does great with complicated, Amen?

So why have I been so blown away by God's grace throughout all of these changes? Because in these past 2 months, I have dealt so greatly with the enemy whispering his lies to me. These daily lies centered around the common theme of: "You're not good/holy enough to serve the Lord as a missionary." But every single lie from the enemy has been answered ABUNDANTLY with our God's grace. Through various ways He has told me, - "No, you're technically not 'good enough.' But my grace isn't dependent on your performance. You're my daughter. I chose you before the foundation of the world. And I appointed you to do good works. I gave you grace then and I give you grace now. You're not perfect, but I am. And I will work through you to advance my kingdom on this island. Oh, and by the way....  have your dream job, have the job you've been praying about for the last 1 1/2 years and use it for my glory." Can you imagine?! I'm feeling low and unworthy... and in response God gives me an opportunity that I feel a person "like me", couldn't possibly deserve. In that moment He effectively reminded me of what his grace is- undeserved blessings, undeserved love.

I WILL SING TO THE LORD, BECAUSE HE HAS DEALT BOUNTIFULLY WITH ME. (PSALM 13:6)

So this is me "singing", Lord. Singing your greatness. Singing because you have and will always deal bountifully with me. Singing because of your grace. Singing because of your grace UPON grace. Singing because you answer prayer. Singing because you've chosen me to minister to these students. And singing because it will be you that gives me the ability to do just that. 

Merili, Elianny, Emeli and Taisha
4 of the girls that will be in my 2nd grade class. 

Will you pray for us? Pray for our school: That God will continue to bless us as we make these big adjustments. Pray for me: That the  the transition from my old position (Sponsorship Coordinator) to my new position of 2nd grade teacher would go as smooth as possible. Pray for my co-teacher, Marnelia & I:  That God would do an amazing work as we love, educate and witness to our 17 students hearts. Lastly pray for our students: that God would reveal himself to them.  

FROM THE DR, WITH LOVE
Imani

The Summer I Fell in Love with Sunsets

A photographic journey of Summer 2013. The summer I fell in love with love sunsets. The summer I co-taught my own classroom. The summer that went by too quickly. 



June

Our dear Sarah's going away party

Eating on the beach with our new interns


First day of teaching! Yay!


Seriously. I cannot speak enough words to express my love of pink/golden/bright sunsets.

Jesus.. keep on, keeping on with these beautiful sunsets

The beautiful Mari Leydy posing with her class "passport." The students drew a picture of every country they learned about that summer.


Mari Leydy once again. That day she brought my co-teacher Bella and I 2 huge bags of mangos for us to enjoy. The mangoes came from her tree in her yard, and she had her dad get them for us as a gift. She's the sweetest.


Dominican tradition! Getting water thrown on you on your birthday. Happy Birthday Bella, Genesis and Odilsia! (The best part about this is that Odilsia didn't realize Johan had tricked her into coming outside so that he could get her wet)


Weekend trip to Santo Domingo with our lovely interns. 


























July

The day most of the staff wore red t-shirts.


Happy 32nd Birthday, Dena! Celebrating at Gorditos


The ladies at Dena's rooftop birthday party





















We had a SUPER rough week the 1st week of July. This photo was taken after all the students had a full day of good behavior. Thank you Jesus!























August

That week our class was learning about Italy. We taught them how the famous Italian artist, Michaelangelo painted the majority of The Sistine Chapel while lying on his back. Afterwards the kids imitated Michael Angelo by lying under their chair and drawing a picture.


In this week we were learning about Mexico. Ricardo, a native Mexican living in the DR, just so happened to be doing a construction project on the school grounds. He took a break to talk to the students about his home country.

Last day of our summer program! Celebrated with a picnic of tacos outside!

#NofilterjustJesus





























Dena was pleasantly surprised to find out her goodbye party was Pirate themed!


























The day Dena moved back to the states. Miss this girls TONS. But know God is doing great things through and in her back in the states.

 

Menold's goodbye party. Finley and Caktio watching a slideshow of photos of the Menold's time here. Miss this great family!


With many "goodbyes", came many "hellos." We welcomed Kelly, Martha and the Majcher family to the DR in August. Here I am pictured with the youngest Majcher: sweet/adorable Sarah. 


























The last week of August, my dad gifted me with an early birthday present: he had his timeshare traded to a beautiful condo in the DR!

 As we were checking in, we noticed there was a grill and immediately decided we had to take advantage of it. None of us girls had ever grilled before, but we went for it...and the food turned out AMAZING. Definitely a highlight of the week.


Poolside reading. One of my favorite pastimes. 




















What an incredible week of relaxation we had. We woke up everyday without an alarm, had breakfast, read our bibles, made our way out to the pool, swam/read, came inside when the sun set, watched cable television (an incredibly luxury, we don't have in our apartments), ate dinner and then finished the day off by watching tons of episodes of Lost. AND our condo was air condition. Cable TV, air condition and a pool is all I need for great relaxation here in the DR. Definitely one of my favorite memories from 2013!

























September

My 24th Birthday, celebrated in Santiago. A day filled with friends, good conversation, laughter, FROZEN YOGURT, mall fun and great Italian food. I love you Santiago.