Last day :(

We are at the end of our final day here in the Dominican Republic. Tomorrow morning I begin the journey back to San Diego, CA. This week has meant so much to me. I have learned about the DR, the Lord's plan for COTN and myself. 


We started this day with a four hour bus ride back to Santo Domingo to the Quality Inn Hotel. I spent those four hours with a dead ipod, which I believe was divine. So instead of rockin out to some awesome music I used the time to reflect on this past week. God is good. I have learned that I have been hand picked by God to be here and be used to pour his love out. 


He has stirred up in my heart some big dreams that I have shared a little bit with you. One being the I Love Baseball program. I want to help get 55-60 sponsorships for these kids, a steady 500 baseballs coming in each year, and roughly $75,000 to build a couple baseball fields. The other is a program for young girls who get pregnant to finish their education. A first step to this hopefully leading a team this summer, probably August, to lead a 3 day camp for about 90 kids. This will be an awesome opportunity for me to lead and to make great connections and relationships with young girls. The last dream is a personal one. God literally revealed to me today on the bus ride that I was going back to school. I'm going to go to a community college and finish my sophomore year and walk away with an Associates Degree at which point I'm going to go on to get my Bachelors in International Studies with a focus in Sociology and Anthropology with a minor in Spanish. 


I know! Shocking right?!? For those of you that don't me, let me lay some foundation for you. There are some things that I've always known. These are: The thing I want most is to get married and have a family; I want 8-12 kids (i am not exaggerating); I am not going to go back to school because I don't need a degree to be a mom. In the past 4 months these things that I've "known" have changed drastically. Now I can certainly wait a while before I get married and start a family; I will only have 2-3 kids and no more; and now I wanna go to school. It is unreal to think about how different our lives would be if we took the reigns away from our amazing Father who knows best and whose ways our not our ways.


There is a bittersweetness with the end of today. I will certainly miss this place. I will miss the concept of "Dominican Time" which is so laid back and flexible. If you need to leave at 8:30 don't expect to be out the door until after 9:00. I will miss seeing such beautiful faces with permanent smiles. I will miss the universal language that is love. However, I am looking forward to going home. I need to go and sit before God and process things fully. I need to spend sometime being alone and relaxing. I need to share with people these dreams and missions laid out before me and get to work. And I am SO EXCITED!!!


I have decided that I will continue to blog through out the craziness that is my life. I will update this once a week and would love for you to keep meeting me here. So here's how it will work. My e-mail address is vickyward@cotni.org. Send me an e-mail and let me know if you want to stay with me. I'll send out an e-mail once a week notifying you of an update. I think this will be a great system because it will keep me accountable and it will be a reminder for you so you don't need to add this to your list. 


How can you pray? Just continue with me. Continue praying that the Lord opens doors and provides the finances to make things happen.


Once again I want to sincerely thank you for your presence here this week and for all your prayers. It means sooooo much to me. I appreciate it more than you know. May God bless you and bless you. I will be back on Vicky's Venture in a week! :)


"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

Good day, tough evening

Being that it's 11:38 and I'm about to fall asleep, bare with me, this could get a bit sporadic:)

Today was amazing. It was such a privilage to be able to hang out with the staff here and feed them an american meal that was gone in like 10 seconds. We went to a beautiful waterfall and did a photo tour of the coast line. Some really cool pictures! Unfortunately it is incredibly difficult to post pictures until after April 16th sometime (long story) However I will post some when I can.

I had some great opportunities to continue talking with people about the I Love Baseball program and gaining some knowledge on the truth to the situation here with young girls. There are so many contribution to this situation with young pregnancies, all of them boiling down to spiritual warfare. Myself and another COTN-SD staff member, Amber, are hoping to be able to come back to Barahona sometime this August to take about 90 kids from the Bateys to a 3 day camp. This is a GREAT beginning to planting seeds in these young hearts. I'm also seriously praying about doing an intership next year either at the beginning of the year or in the summer. The purpose of this would be to engross myself in the culture hear and gain understanding about what is happening here spiritually. It is possible that during this time I would stay with a Dominican family and end up learning some serious spanish.

To be completely and vulnerably honest with you, this is one of the hardest nights since my coming here. Our devotions tonight were amazing, we talked about spiritual warfare and took time to encourage and inspire one another and write 3 words that described that person. While this was awesome, I still feel like I'm in spiritual warfare. I am battleing some left over guilt from last year when a friend of mine took his own life. I continue to reject the lie and accept the truth. And thought I don't feel that guilt right now it still emotionally exhausts me.

God has given me some big dreams and goals this week. I am very excited about them but have had my time of doubt. This is what someone wrote on my sheet tonight to encourage me:

" 1. Dreamer    2. Believer     3. Acheiver

Don't let yourself halt in the work God is calling you to do because of doubt in yourself. Satan uses doubt to breed laziness. He has given you a great list of strengths that can be very valuable for furthering His kingdom. Ask God to give you the discipline and motivation to pursue the things he is calling you to do. Stay steadfast and know he created you for a purpose."

This was a great blessing for me to read among all the other words and notes on my page.

I selfishly ask you to pray for me in all these matters. And I thank you for that so much.
I pray you have been blessed today and that you will find tomorrow full of the joy of Jesus.

PS- Happy birthday Mom and Dad!!

Training and ILB

Whew! What a day! I'm very exhausted and unfortunately still have some things to take care of this evening. I am surprised to think that there are 2 days left before I fly back to San Diego on Sunday.


Today we went to the COTN office in Barahona and spent the morning training the staff in Strength Finders and Displayed Thinking- two really cool things that are amazing for teams! We were supposed to have another training this afternoon but through a series of miscommunication we couldn't do that. So instead the rest of my team went to the market while I stayed behind to brainstorm with the I Love Baseball department.


It was great to be a part of this process with I Love Baseball! It really was a great opportunity for me to share the vision and the hearts of these people. I heard about a boy who traded his machete he used to fight people with for some cleats and a baseball glove. After our brainstorming I was able to go with the directors of I Love Baseball to the mayor's office and meet with the mayor about some land in the area to be used for the first COTN high school and 2 baseball fields. I also was able to talk to the USA coordinator for I Love Baseball and got some great ideas to sponsor 55-60 kids for this program and get a consistent 500 baseballs donated each year. Here is a link for an AMAZING 12 minute video that I HIGHLY encourage you to watch :) I LOVE BASEBALL video


The rest of my team was at the market buying food so that we can make an american meal for about 50 people tomorrow. We are blessed to treat the staff to a waterfall here in the Dominican that cost about 100 pesos a person, roughly about $3. This is too expensive for them to come and they were going to send us and stay here. Our team decided that isn't okay, and we are bringing all the staff to join us and treating them to a meal that we prepare for a change. I am so excited to be part of an opportunity to bless them and thank them for awesome hospitality. 


I have had an amazing week. I have fallen in love here. For these people and this culture. I am so blessed. So thankful. 


Join me in prayer for the Dominican staff that they would continue to spread their passion to others and that they would be blessed for their kindness and love for us. As well as continued prayer for the I Love Baseball program as they will continue to meet with the mayor in the hopes of getting donated land. And finally for the idea of creating a program for the girls here in Barahona who get pregnant so young and drop out of school, coupling with a way to encourage these young girls to not get pregnant. 


Thank you for your prayers and your time. I am honored to share all of this with you!


"So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir." Galatians 4:7

Learning and Dreaming

Today was a day of learning. I learned that painting the alphabet on the school wall isn't really that annoying. I learned that oil paint is difficult to get off your skin and that paint thinner will make your skin sting. I learned that the Dominican children are much more creative at getting oil paint off their hands, they used mud and grass and that proved much more effective.

The first part of my day was spent painting and then there was lunch and seista (rest time, woohoo!). This afternoon I was part of a team that went to 2 bateys and interviewed 2 children. The first girl, Fatima (11), was a just simply a cool kid. She carried herself with confidence and had pride in her Haitian heritage. The second was a boy whose name slips my mind. He was 17 and likes the Boston Red Sox (boo!) I tried really hard to convert him into a Yankee fan but to no avail. I will pray for him about this. haha. These interviews were fun! It was great to be able to go into their homes and see how they live and meet there family. This is an experience that I can not put into words but hope to post some footage when its available to me.

I also learned today that in Barahona $4500 will support a family of 5 comfortably for an entire year that includes education. Most families make $1300 a year... This is an insane statistic. It really puts things into perpesctive. I do not feel guilty but thankful that I am so blessed. My little tithe can help support an entire family. As I go through this time of sending out letters and raising support for this next year I think I will look at every montly donation a little differently and I will continue to feel incredibly blessed.

I want to share with you something quite serious that God has put on my heart the last couple of days. When I spoke to Juanchi yesterday about the I Love Baseball program I asked him if there was something similar for the girls. I learned that there isn't and that it is a norm here for girls to start getting pregnant at the age of 12, at which point they drop out of school. Given my heart for young girls in general, this really had an affect on me. He told me that he would love to see a program that helps girls who do get pregnant to finish their education and learn basic parenting and life skills. My gears started working immediately and I started envisioning what this program would look like and how I can make it happen. Tomorrow I will meet with Malou and simply ask questions. I want to gain the knowledge from her about how this looks in this culture. Find out what is needed and what is started. This could easily be a project that I work on for the next few years, I do not know. I want to see these girls here (and in America for that matter) know their value, their identity in Christ, their self-worth. I want to see them date Jesus and allow him to romance them and woo them. I want to see them respect themselves and know that they do not need to be with a guy to be important and wanted and loved. I pray that God uses me in this type of ministry and that doors will be opened.


I ask that you join me in prayer on these things: that our interviews and footage will have an affect on people that read and see it; that God opens doors and direction for this girls program; and that God releases finances in my life- that I can become fully funded and be able to dedicate my time to developing programs such as this one for girls.

I know this is a bit repetitive, but I genuinely thank you for being part of this process with me. I pray that God blesses you as we continue this week!!

""Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your feilds will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the Lord Almighty. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty." Malachi 3:10-12

Altagracia

It is amazing to me how I find myself thinking about how much I truly love this country, these people. I am in awe at the way love abounds here. These children are so sweet and though they have nothing they look at me with a smile that reaches their eyes. 


Today we went to the final Batey here in the Dominican Republic, Altagracia. Once again, we were swarmed with children upon arrival. This time was a bit different for me. I had a little boy come up to me and I held him for a long time. I did not learn his name as he wouldn't speak to me or anyone and the teachers were all busy. But he held my neck and just cuddled. He was so precious, snotty nose and everything. After a while he got down and hid from me. I don't know why but every time I went to him he hid somewhere else. This wasn't like a hide-and-seek thing either. All I wanted was to hold him again and talk to him and love on him. Eventually he came to me and I was filled with joy; I was so happy! I have spent sometime reflecting on this and I think about how often we act like this boy to our Father. He holds us and loves us through our dirtiness and snotty noses. We so often hide from him for one reason or another and all he wants is to be with us. This boy, who I hope to meet again, has reminded me of the Lord's love for my heart and his desire for relationship with me.


We walked around the community of Altagracia today and it seemed to me to be the poorest I've seen so far, although our translator, Juanchi, just wold me this was incorrect. My eyes took in the "kitchens" that were really a fire out front with a pot over it. Most of the children were not clothed. They walked with us around with no shoes on and they giggled as we swung them from our arms over the muddy parts of the "road". Such sweet, precious children these were. This was the first time when we left we had to pry children off of us. They just wanted to play and spend time with Americanas. I love that my presence here means so much to them and they know we love them. 


We spent some time with the I Love Baseball program. Baseball is a huge sport here and many boys want to be professional baseball players. So this programs allows them to pursue baseball while also staying in school and learning about Christ. If they quit school they are kicked out of the I Love Baseball program. It's a huge deal for many boys to stay in school and have an education to fall back on if they don't make it as a pro ball player. They don't abandon their life with this program here. I learned that a cheap baseball here is about $14. This may not seem like a big deal but I'm gonna do what I can to ship a case of baseballs over. 


We will spend the afternoon doing staff planning, as our trip has changed from not going into Haiti. We are going to plan out a couple training days for the staff here in the DR, painting one of the buildings that acts as the school in Altagracia, and a way we can bless the staff here at the Casa and thank them for all the hard work they do. We have been treated beautifully here- they clean our room each day, did some laundry for us, fed us GOOD food (not just beans and rice). I am so blessed to be here.


How you can pray: I am trying to find words.... I can't, pray as God leads you. 


Once again, I thank you with all of my heart in sharing this experience with me. 
May the Lord bless you!!

The lighting isn't great, but this is Karen and Katarina :)

My heart is filled with love today.

This morning we went the the national COTN office for the Dominican Republic, toured the medical clinic and met with the staff- this brought me such joy. It was so amazing to hear people through a translator tell us how much it means to them for us to be here, and to hear them bless us and love us.

We also toured two Bateys and two villages, learning how the education program works and being able to see first hand how these people live. Each time the van pulls into the neighborhoods all the children surround us chanting "Americanas! Americanas!" Each time we step out of the van we immediately have several children clinging to us. And each time our hearts are overwhelmed and falling in love.

At our 4th stop one little girl, Karen, clung to me, constantly in smiles. She grabbed my heart. I asked the director of this Batey if she was sponsored, when he said "no" I knew I wanted her to be part of my life and child sponorship was a great way for me to be part of hers as well. The director told me she had a twin sister who also wasn't sponsored, I met Katarina and I heard myself tell him "I'll take her too". I knew coming here I wanted to find a child to sponsor and with a little sacrafice on my end I can be used to help Karen and Katarina, making a difference in their lives. (pictures of these 5 year old sweethearts to come)

I have learned today through friends and the lack voice than our actions can speak so much louder than words. Hugging these children and playing with them speak so much more than my words can. I do not need to speak to matter to these people. I have learned that much of what I would say in really not that important anyway. I am inspired to spend more time in my life being intentionally quiet. Allowing myself to hear the Lord more clearly, not battling with the noises of life; allowing myself to be challenged in acting love instead of speaking it; allowing myself to grow, stretch, and change.

This just in, the elections that took place in Haiti on the 20th have not had a great outcome. Both candidates say that they won. This has caused a 5:00pm curfew and rioting during the day. Even the Dominicans are not going over because it is so unsafe. So our team will not be going into Haiti, instead we will stay in the Dominican Republic and do as the Lord leads.

If you can continue to pray for team unity, that we would be united in Christ with one mind and one mouth. Also that the Lord would continue to open our eyes and hears and our hearts to take in what he wants us to see and learn.

I thank the Lord for his guidance and for this opportunity to share his heart for these people.

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100

"Aclamen alegres al Señor, habitantes de toda la tierra; adoren al Señor con regocijo. Preséntense ante él con cánticos de júbilo. Reconozcan que el Señor es Dios; él nos hizo, y somos suyos. Somos su pueblo, ovejas de su prado. Entren por sus *puertas con acción de gracias; vengan a sus atrios con himnos de alabanza; denle gracias, alaben su *nombre. Porque el Señor es bueno y su gran amor es eterno; su fidelidad permanece para siempre." Salmos 100

The Journey Begins

Hola Amigos!! Well, I've been in the Dominican Republic for a very interesting 5 days now. I have learned to communicate with people who know very little (if any) English, only to end this day with Larangitis. Yep, its true; this loud, fast, New York talker can't say a peep. I believe my family will be amused by this news as I've always been told my "mouth runs faster than a whipperwills butt", whatever that is. :) On a serious note, I praise the Lord because I started off sick and God has been good, I feel completely healthy now, just voiceless. I think this is intentional and I am excited to know the possible purpose behind this and continue learning and stretching myself outside of my comfort zone.

In the past five days I have been able to experience the Dominican Republic in many areas: the city, the people, the beach, the food, the language, the rooster that kakadoodledos all night long. It's been fun and its been tough. The second night here we heard American music and ate at a Burger King. Oh the joy this brought me. Today, however, we left Santo Damingo and the rooster (who I've named Geoffery) and met our team at the airport, where we then hopped on a school bus for four hours and have made it safely to Barahona. Barahona is home to Casa Bethesda, the COTN site that houses teams who come on trips like hours. Casa Bethesda, the Casa for short, is very cool. The staff are AWESOME! So friendly and welcoming. I am looking forward to spending this week with them.

I would love for your prayers this week! I will mention at the end of each post how you can specifically be praying for me, our team, and the works of COTN. Current prayer needs are restoration to my voice, team unity, and the Lord's clear direction (we still do not know if we are 100% going into Haiti).
Thank you for staying with me this week, I can't wait to experience COTN in country and to be able to share that experience with you! Praise Jesus!

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." -- Matthew 11:28-30

^"Vengan a mí todos ustedes que están cansados y agobiados, y yo les daré descanso. Carguen con mi yugo y aprendan de mí, pues yo soy apacible y humilde de corazón, y encontrarán descanso para su alma. Porque mi yugo es suave y mi carga es liviana." -- Mateo 11:28-30