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
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
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:
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!!
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. AcheiverDon'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!!
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