Around the house...

My aunt has requested some pictures of the vegetation here in the Dominican Republic, so I took some pictures of a few plants and trees here at the compound. It is very beautiful here. In some of the pictures you can see the mountains in the background. Some day I will try to get some pictures of some of my favorite flowers and trees that I see along the road as we walk and drive to our ministry sites.

The picturers beleow are of the ministry house, the big dining room, the volleyball court, one of the little huts, a view of the mountains and the place across the street where they make cement blocks all day every day - it's loud!

This is Jacobina, the dog who is afraid of thunder. Seriously, her entire body shakes when it thunders. If it even looks like rain, she will start looking for a place to hide.

Pastor Carlos bought three rabbits a week ago as a surprise for Natasha. At first, I thought Victor had purchased them and was going to take them home to eat. Teresa said people here do eat rabbits once in a while. Natasha named her rabits Princesa, Bugs Bunny and Miley (as in Miley Cyrus). Sadly, one rabbit died on Sunday morning. One died yesterday, and aparently the dogs got the last one last night. The rabbits are gone. I don't think Teresa would could rabbit stew, but if we have any new kinds of meat in the next few days, I'm gonna be asking a question!

This is what we had for lunch today - chicken, white rice and fried plantanes with ketchup.

These are my favorite pictures - can you see the butterflies?

Here are two videos of Mote and Victor who work here on the compound every day. They were hanging out while I was taking pictures. Victor had a lot of fun with the camera. He made 7 or 8 videos like this of him singing, dancing and making noises - excuse me, music - with his mouth. It was a riot! What a goofball!!

Last night (Monday) I thought I was going to a concert. I thought the girls were coming at 6 and the concert started at 7. It was 6 and no one showed up, then it was 7 and still no one had come. I went upstairs with Naty and Teresa because I figured they forgot about me or something. About 8, they showed up. I was actually starting to get a little mad because I thought they ditched me or something. I asked them about it, and they said if the concert is supposed to start at 7 really they mean 8. I knew there was a cultural difference with time, but I hadn't experienced it to that extent before. I guess most of the things I have to be ready for are church services, and those run pretty close to "on time" because there's transportation for hundreds of people involved. Anyway, it was a learning experience - the lesson: Don't get mad when people are late. :)

After all that, though, the concert was rescheduled due to the rain. So, we went to the park and had empanadias again. Here is a picture of an empanadia and of us at the park.

Yesterday morning one person showed up for our Bible study/class. I don't know where everyone else was...maybe there was something else going on that I didn't know about. The young man who was there and I prayed. I've really been trying to back off and let God lead instead of pushing so hard with what I think we should do and where I think we should go.

Jackson, the young man who was there with me, was gone the first few weeks because he was helping in the church in La Vega. He wasn't there when we read from the book Courageous Leadership, so I had him read the first chapter of the book. We also talked about 1 Cor. 7:29-35. Verse 29 says our time is short. Another part of the passage that I like reminds me that the time we have as single people is a gift - an opportunity for us to serve the Lord whole-heartedly and with few distractions. So often, we are looking for the next thing....can't wait to get married, can't wait to have kids, can't wait to find a new job, etc. When we are so focused on tomorrow, we are not able to enjoy today! We talked about how we need to take advantage of this time, live as if it's running out - because it is. We need to accept whatever season of life we are in as a gift from God and serve Him however we can!

I was listening to an online sermon the other day - Andy Stanley talking about time. He was talking about how when we think in terms of everlasting to everlasting, our time here on earth is really, really short! Our lives are like a beep on a heart monitor if eternity were on a stretch into a time line. Andy Stanley said the only way to do something with the time that we have here on earth that will make any type of eternal impact is to devote our lives to what God is already doing. He said anyone who has ever tried to do anything significant with their lives apart from God has run out of time and at their death was not thought well of. So, if we want to make our lives count, we need to look around, see what God is doing around us and join Him in His mission. This could be at work, at school, at home, at the grocery store - God is everywhere. He is working all around us all the time. If we want to make a difference and live our lives with purpose, we need to give our lives to God and say, "Here I am. Use me for YOUR glory, Father." And, we need to do it soon before it's too late!!

Today I had a lot of time to relax. I felt a little guilty knowing that many of my friends were getting up for their first day of school today. Thankfully, I didn't let that stop me and enjoyed it anyway!

This afternoon the youth and I went from door to door talking with people in the neighborhood behind the mission center. Some of the people were friends or acquaintences of the youth. Some were strangers. Some went to other churches. Some attend the same church we do. Some were not Christians. At each house, we were eagerly welcomed to sit and visit. We asked about their families, their lives and joked with them. When the topic of conversation turned spiritual, things were different in each house. Sometimes someone had a passage from the Bible they wanted to read as encouragement. Other times we talked about what we were learning about God. One thing that we did in every house was pray for the familiy living in that house. Some of the people we met were on top of the w

orld - having a great day. Other people were not feeling well with a headache or cold. Another woman was just really sad and lonely and needed some company. It was a good day. I'm thankful to God for the opportunity to do things like this, and I praise Him for the way He ministered to each person uniquely today.

I have some ideas for tomorrow afternoon, but I'm going to pray about it some more and try to back off again and let God lead us.

Enjoy the rest of your week everybody!

Dios es bueno!