Life in the DR: Part 3 | So Much To Be Thankful For
- Sammy Mull
- Nov 20, 2017
- 8 min read
Hello friends! This month of thankfulness has been a wonderful one, and I'm excited to share a little with you of what's been happening here on the island.
First, I want to share a little with you about where my heart has been as I've prepared for this blog over the past few weeks. It's been difficult, because I so want to share with you all that I've seen God doing here but it's so hard to communicate the fullness of it in a simple blog! So much of my ministry here is about relationships and stories- stories that aren't mine to share. The ways I see God moving most powerfully is in the beautifully broken stories of women in our community, but they have entrusted their stories to me and, although it would be easy to write them here with the assumption that you will never meet them anyway, they haven't given me permission to share their stories with the public. So I wrestle with finding the balance of letting you into the ministry that is only possible because of you and your support, but protecting privacy and honoring the trust these women have so graciously given to me.
To be honest, it's an awkward balance and I have defaulted to only posting pictures of pretty places and weekends away, but I want to be better at giving you a glimpse of how God is moving in this place and in me. Because those are the things I want to be talking about. Those are the conversations that matter. So with that said, here we go!
Ministry Update
Daisy: This lady continues to teach me so much. She is so full of wisdom, and is a true woman of prayer. Women come into our site all day, every day, and she never turns them away or has any task more important than stopping to listen. When they ask her advice, she never rushes to answer; instead, she pauses to pray, invites Jesus into the situation, and asks Him for wisdom as they navigate it together. It's a beautiful thing to witness, and I think I will be forever changed by this season of learning from Daisy.
HPV Clinic: Earlier this month, we were able to partner with SI's community health site to host a clinic about HPV, a particularly common sexually transmitted infection (STI). Infidelity is a prevalent issue in this community. Legal marriage is very rare and monogamy is almost unheard of. Education about concepts like protection and sexual health is not widely valued and poverty limits access to good healthcare. Add this to the issue of small homes with many people living in tight spaces (I won't go into detail here, but it's not difficult to put the pieces together), and it will come as no surprise that many women end up pregnant very young, and STDs and STIs are rampant but widely undiagnosed. It was an incredible and humbling experience to be a part of educating these women about how to better care for their bodies, because they are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph. 2:10)! Thanks to Dr. Fernando and Nurse Katie for being willing to join us, and for all of their work on this presentation.
Laptop: Friends, a HUGE need was met in our site this month! Daisy has been running the site using a computer from the Dark Ages. It was already on its last leg when she received it, and that was 3 years ago. We use this computer to play videos and worship music for the women in our site, to put on presentations like the HPV clinic I mentioned above, to communicate with short-term team leaders as they prepare for their outreaches, and to prepare our weekly Bible studies. As you can see, a fully functioning computer is vital to what we do here!
So earlier this week, I sent out a little message asking if anyone had an extra one they were interested in parting with, and my friends, you were so generous! A dear friend of mine and his wife have decided to support this ministry by donating a computer. This is a huge answer to prayer and will be such a blessing for Daisy in the coming years of ministry!
A Birthday Celebration: Almost two weeks ago, during one of our Bible studies, one of our teen girls mentioned that the next day was her 16th birthday. I asked how she was going to celebrate, and she said she probably wouldn't because her parents wouldn't really want to. Well, we weren't about to let that happen! Daisy and I picked up a yummy cake from the local supermercado and made a pretty little card, and the next morning we headed over to Maria's house for our delivery. When we arrived, she was mopping the living room, but she was so excited that we would remember her birthday. She dragged Daisy all over the yard to take pictures of her with her cake. It was so sweet to see how special she felt, all because of something as simple as letting her know that she wasn't forgotten on her birthday. It was the sweetest day.
Video Project: In my last post, I mentioned that we are working on a video to share the stories of three women in the community. This project is still in the works, but the vision has changed a bit as we have started shooting. We don't want the impact of any of the women's stories to be lost in a 12 minute long video, so we have decided to make three separate videos, and will be sharing them one-at-a-time over the next couple of months. We are just finishing some of the voice-over for the first video, and it will be ready to go! Stay tuned in the next few weeks to hear a bit of Clari's story.
Bible Studies: I am continuing to lead Bible studies for little girls and teens each week. The studies are going very well! With the little girls, we have been going through the fruits of the Spirit and next week, we will be finishing with self-control.
Last week, part of my study with the teens included the question, "What traits has God given you that reflect His character?" In other words, "How can other people see Jesus in you?" A trend I have noticed here is that it can be very difficult for people to see that they have anything to offer. I won't claim to fully understand the reasons for this; but I have read, heard and witnessed that poverty can often hold people captive in their own minds, convincing them that they are stuck in their situation: that they can never become anything other than what they are, so why even try? This leads to a widespread lack of ambition and unawareness of the gifts that God has given them.
So last week, as we began this discussion, many girls didn't have answers. They didn't know how God had gifted them or the beauty others could see in them. So we sat silent for a few minutes as I asked them to really think about it. And then, something amazing happened: They began to answer for each other. They began to name the things they saw in one another that reflected Christ. They began to tell each other, "I remember before you were a Christian, you were angry/mean/without peace, but now you are patient/kind/a good friend/a great listener... I love seeing God work in that conversation, and I pray that those girls begin to define themselves by those truths.
Language Update
I'll just be real. This hasn't been my best month for language learning. I am now living with Americans and we have had another English speaker at the site for the past few weeks. I have also been spending my evenings and weekends mainly with English speakers. As a result, I haven't had quite as much need to figure things out in Spanish, and so I have not been as diligent to find opportunities to practice. I would really like to seek out those opportunities and continue to learn, so I would love prayer for diligence in this area!
I am, however, taking Spanish classes two days a week. The teaching style is a bit challenging for me, but the extra two hours a week of exposure and learning the formal rules has been helpful. Please pray for patience and that I would be able to remember the things that I'm learning!
Personal Update
Life is good here! It is a bit more simple, and rather than feeling limited by that simplicity, I feel freed by it. I have more space to enjoy relationships, be in the Word, and take in what God has to teach me. I feel like I have more capacity to soak in Truth and be convicted by it without feeling incapacitated by my own shortcomings. I have been waking up early (before my alarm!), making myself coffee and breakfast, and enjoying my mornings with Jesus. Never in my life have I had the ability or desire to wake up early for that time. I've always been more of a push-snooze-as-many-times-as-possible-then-jump-out-of-bed-at-the-last-second-in-a-panic kind of girl. I'm not getting my hopes up that I have fully made the transition to "morning person," but I'm soaking in every morning that I have.
It has also been a full month with fun weekend activities! At the end of October, I joined a group of teachers from a local school on a trip to the beach for the weekend! Contrary to popular belief, I don't live in a hammock on the beach here. ;) The beach is actually a few hours away, so it was fun to take a little trip to experience it! It was just what you'd expect a Caribbean beach to be... white sand, blue water, and palm trees. What a dream!
The weekend after that, I took a trip to Santo Domingo (the capital city) with a group of students who are studying here for the semester. It's a beautiful city with amazing history (Christopher Columbus landed there!), and it was fun to get a little taste of the culture, which has such a different pace than our rural mountain town!
Last weekend, I was so happy to get some time with friends of mine from the States, here to check out the possibility of bringing teams of students on short-term outreaches with SI. The weekend was filled with encouraging conversations with dear friends that were just good for my soul.
This weekend, some new friends I made in the capital came up for a visit, and we went on an intense hike to an amazing waterfall. To get there, it was a 20 minute hike downhill with switchbacks the entire way, and then at the end we trekked back up. In the pouring rain. By the time we arrived back at the car, we all looked like we had showered in our clothes, but we didn't even care. The rain kept us cool and the view at the bottom made it totally worth it.
It has been a great month, and I am starting to get excited for my visit home at Christmastime!
Support Update
I have only $134 left to raise to be fully funded for this year of ministry! In the spirit of being thankful, I am so thankful for everyone that has been a part of making it possible for me to be here. This experience is changing me and I am indescribably blessed to be a part of what God is doing in this country. So thank you!
That's been my month in a nutshell! I am looking forward to FRIENDSgiving with some girls this week (as in, watching Thanksgiving episodes of Friends and probably eating yummy food), and a trip to Santo Domingo with some friends for my birthday next weekend! Also, Christmas break is just less than a month away, and I'm excited to get some time with my family and my puppy. Happy Thanksgiving week, friends. I am thankful for all of you!
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