Here's my first blog post; I'm not really sure how all this blogging stuff works so hopefully this works. I'll figure it all out as I keeping blogging, but for now this is it.
Writing this blog is much harder
than I ever imagined. I thought the
hardest challenge would be finding a time to sit down and write. I've been able to do that several times and
each time I write about 5 sentences and then stop. The thoughts and words that were so easy to
think through in my head are suddenly gone.
I've been living in the DR for
over 6 weeks now. I absolutely love
living here. God has blessed me in so
many ways. Just being here is a huge
blessing; God know this—returning to a Latin American country—has been a dream
of mine for many years, ever since I returned from Costa Rica. And ever since I left the Dominican Republic
after my senior mission trip, I knew I wanted to come back one day. God has blessed me with the people I have met
here. I've never know a student teacher
to live with the mentoring teacher. When
I first realized that was the case, I was a bit hesitant about how that would
work out. God knew what he was doing
when he place in this house, as he always does.
Now I can’t imagine living anywhere but the ‘1st grade house’
–the two 1st grade teachers and myself.
Nearly
daily, I am in awe of the beautiful creation the surrounds me. The places I've seen on hikes and trips
through the mountains are like none I've ever seen or imagined. Even now, I can’t find the words to describe;
I don’t know if there are words to explain what it is like to experience this.
But I thank my Creator that he has given these gifts to me. Oh, how I've missed the mountains; what a
blessing it is to be surrounded by them once again.
I mentioned the blessing first
because they are the most important but there also struggles here that I never
expected. I admit I came into this trip
a bit over-confident in my own experiences. I've lived in Costa Rica for 9 months, I thought, I can handle the
Dominican Republic not problem.
However, there are so many things here that are much different from
Costa Rica. The power goes out
frequently here which mean no lights, no internet, no fans, if it is out during
school then there’s no copier. If the
power stays out for too long there’s no running water and if it goes out after
6pm the house is nearly pitch black. I wasn't expecting how expensive EVERYTHING would be here. Food is expensive. Even simple school supplies cost way more
than they do in the States. A pack of
loose leaf paper that might be 10 cents at Wal-Mart cost $4 here. Since the DR is on an island most items must
be flown in my plane or sent by boat. I
did not expect there to be so many insects in the house—especially
centipedes. I am not sure why the
centipedes freak me out, probably because there are just so many of them. I’m almost positive I could find at least 20
in the house right now if I tried.
Yet,
in all this I am blessed. I know God is
using this time to teach me more about Himself—to show me how to seek Him, to
be dependent on Him, and to be confident in Him. Confident Dependence. Just before leaving for the Dominican
Republic one of my leaders at TIU prayed this for me. Right away, I knew that was exactly what I
needed to develop. Confident in who
Christ says I am; dependent on who God is.
Trying to be independent and manage everything on my own isn’t God plan
for my life, or anyone else’s. I might
have been able to do a lot of stuff independently, but I missed so much of the
joy God intended. This summer I began
reading John Piper’s book Desiring God
which tells of the joy found in seeking God.
Piper writes “In the end the heart longs not for any of God’s good
gifts, but for God Himself.” That has
become my definition of dependence—seeking God above all else.
God’s timing is always perfect and
once again I can see that so clearly.
This same theme that God has begun to teach me, through my TIU leaders
and the books he has me read, was the topic of the sermon at my church last
Sunday. The message was from Daniel 3,
the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
“Nuestro confianze deber ser, no en que Dios hara exactament lo que le
pedimos; nuestra confianze esta en que Dios hara lo mejor para nostros y para
Gloria de su nombre.” I love this,
partly because I was actually able to understand most of the Spanish, but
mostly because it’s so similar to John Piper’s quote that I mentioned
above. Here’s my best English
translation of it: “Our confidence should not be in what God gives us, but our
confidence is in [knowing] that God is best for us and for the glory of His
name.”
I had meant to include my stories
of student teaching in this post but that will easily be another two pages and
I have lesson plans to write now. I
hope to write those stories soon though, hopefully sooner that this first post.
