I have been here over six months! Wow! January first marked my 6 monthversary and everyone stayed up just to support me entering into my six month here, it felt like a holiday. Ha ok New Year’s Eve was a lot of fun but that is getting ahead of myself. It has been a little while since I have written. Christmas was really good, hard but good. I got pretty homesick but on the flip side, having been removed from the craziness that typically leads up to the holidays, this was one of the first Christmases where I pondered the impact of the Savior of the World being born had to this world. So that was pretty cool. Dominicans celebrate the 12 days of Christmas and today is only the 11th day, I have yet to see turtle doves, French hens, pipers, or lords leaping, but tomorrow I fully expect 12 drummers drumming.
New Year’s Eve was fun we had a campus wide dinner and watched movies. The first movie was “kid” friendly so that some of the staff who had kids could be included. It was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which made me think of my nieces who I would normally be visiting this time of year. At about this time an adorable three year old girl named Gracie came up to me and asked if she could sit in my lap while we watch the movie. With a huge smile I said “ of course”. It is crazy how God knows us so well and provides exactly what we need. After the second movie we counted down and watched for fireworks. The director set his clock to the official time, an atomic clock was involved it was pretty intense, however in proper Dominican culture the fireworks did not start until 5 minutes after 12.
This last week in Sunday School something really stuck out to me. In a discussion on pride this was said when you make yourself an idol someone will always treat you sac religiously, because you are not something to be worshiped. This echoed into my week at one point one of my students was really upset by something I had said and it lead into a bigger thing because at the root of everything I am not what you would call her favorite person. Some hurtful things were said but I walked away differently this time because I am not a thing to be worshiped. I valued what she said changed what I could and moved on.
My school week was pretty good, it was rough getting the new semester started but now I think we are going to start settling into the norm again. This semester I really wanted to work on doing thing right and humble. I heard someone say a few weeks ago that it’s not about not messing up; it’s what you do when you do mess up that matters. This is intense because sometimes I feel like I have to be perfect in front of my students because I am a walking example for Christianity. I have tried to say and do everything just the right way and beat myself up when I do something wrong. This week was different, I made sure to publically apologize to my class when I messed up, I also had to go back to a few students. It was hard but I think in the end I was a much better example. This was also a continued week of joy and that was so nice to have that random burst of energy when least expected is strange and awesome.
Please pray for continued Joy, I love this feeling. Please also pray for us as we switch around staff, things are going to look different and while I fully believe this change is going to be great all change takes work.
I miss you guys!
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