It was wonderful to be home for the holidays, and I had some incredible times with my friends and family, and I will cherish the memories we made! My first weekend in Virginia, one of the deacons at my family’s church asked if I would be willing to speak to his young adult Sunday school class in December because he believed that my decision to go into missions was a living example of the book they would be finishing at the end of the month, which was Bruce Wilkinson’s The Dream Giver. I gladly accepted and read the book while I was in Louisville. I saw several parallels to my life in the book, and even more became obvious when I met with the class on Dec. 31st. This was an encouragement to me on many levels, and it was exciting to share my story with these young adults and encourage them to pursue the dreams God has given them! God has big dreams for all of us, and I highly recommend reading this book to everyone - regardless of age!

Celebrating Christmas and New Years with my family also brought many blessings! It was fun to cuddle up on the couch with my niece and nephew and watch High School Musical, which my niece could not believe I had not seen :) and be able to sit and talk face to face with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law. I had not realized how much I missed them until I had that time with them again. While I saw my family more often when I lived in the states, I think these times will provide more lasting memories and help us build deeper relationships than we would have otherwise because we will all recognize the importance and value of our time together more than before.

Being in the states for six weeks also brought some challenges I did not expect, and I allowed myself to get caught up in the “busyness” of the holidays and of trying to see everyone I possibly could. This did not allow me time for a regular quiet time, and I felt that lack of time alone with God. Just as with my first experience with teams coming down, this first time going back to the states taught me how much I need time for reflection and study of God’s word, and that I cannot allow myself to be too busy to set aside a daily time with Him.

I returned to Santiago in the early morning hours of January 6th, which is a national holiday here and the day Dominicans celebrate Christmas. So, I had the day to rest a little, which I needed since my flight left JFK in New York at close to midnight, unpack and get settled. Later that night we had our first group of the year arrive, and we have pretty much been going non-stop ever since, though I have made sure to set aside time each day for reflection on and study of God's word. He continues to remind me that He is bigger than anything else in my life, and He will give me the strength to do what He has brought me here to do.

One of the things He has called us all to do is to meet the needs of the poor, and the group that was here last week was focused on doing just that. The group was primarily made up of doctors and nurses, and they provided two simultaneous medical clinics in two parts of the city – Hato del Yaque (which is also where we are building a church), and Los Salados. Right now only about half of the regular staff members are here, so I worked with the clinic in Hato del Yaque for the first two days. My official job was as the photographer for the group, taking pictures that would be used in their presentation at their Despidida (a “leaving party” held the night before the group returns to the states). I took the picture to the left - that's Nico, one of our pastors, taking down names of patients to be seen. As you can see, medical clinics are in great demand! I also helped out a little in triage and the pharmacy, both of which provided excellent opportunities to practice my Spanish!

A surprise blessing was another opportunity to go to Haiti on Wednesday the 10th! Our office needed some statistics on the children in the orphanage, so I went to get that information, with the help of Romano, one of our translators who is also a pastor in the Dominican. He is Haitian but now lives and ministers in Santiago and works with G.O. Another American staff member, John, went to pay the pastors who work with G.O. in Haiti and do some training with them. It was a one-day trip, just like the other two I have made, only this time we took public transportation.

For our trip there, we took a Caribe Tours bus, which is very comfortable and along the lines of a Greyhound bus in the states. We had a few stops to make, but generally moved along at a good pace and arrived in Dajabon, which is on the border with Haiti, in about 3 hours. However, since we did not leave Haiti until close to 5 pm, we missed the last Caribe Tours bus to Santiago, so our return trip was a bit different. We took an Expresso Linereo (“Express Line”) bus that was a little less comfortable – more like a city bus, only smaller – and it made at least 20 stops along the way, so it was not exactly an “express”! Only a few of these were official stops, with most people just waving down the bus to let the driver know to stop. It was great to experience this, though, as it gave me an opportunity to see more of Dominican culture and be blessed by the warmth and hospitality of the people here.

At one stop two women got on the bus with their dinners, and since we had not had the time to stop and eat anything more than granola bars and some cheese and crackers, the aroma was mouth-watering. John shared with them how enticing their dinners were to us, and they could tell how hungry we were, so one woman shared her dinner with us! We did not take much, just a small piece of chicken to share, but it tasted wonderful and was a blessing to us! We got back to Santiago nearly 4 hours after leaving Dajabon, and our team cook, Marisol, had left dinner warming for us on the stove, so we were able to get a good meal and then get some rest after a long day!

The next two days I worked the team again. First, they did a mini-medical clinic and then a mini-VBS for children at the "Hole" - a landfill where about 600 familes live. G.O. also operates a feeding center there that feeds nearly 120 children a hot meal once a day, six days a week, and the team took part in that as well. Then on Friday, we went back to the areas where the medical clinics had been and visited the people in their homes, inviting them to church and to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. The group I was with witnessed eight people accept Christ! It was an amazing experience!

This week I was also able to meet with the Administration of the school to plan for the teacher training I had put together on classroom management and lesson planning. Before I left in November, we had talked about having the training on the 8th, however, that did not work out with the school schedule, so it is now on the schedule for the 25th. I gave copies of the presentation to the administrators, and we are going to meet again on Tuesday to review everything. Raquel, the teacher I mentored last semester, will be working with me as a translator, but I am going to try to do the majority of the presentation on my own in Spanish – please pray that the information is presented and accepted well!

Please also pray that the English and Drama ministries start off well! I will be teaching my first English class on the 16th in Hoya del Bartola, and the classes in Hoya del Caimito will start soon after. I will be using the curriculum I put together before I came, but I still have some work to do before I get started. I put my lesson plans together this weekend, and I am excited but a little nervous! It will be wonderful to be teaching again, as I have missed it immensely and teaching is such a big part of who I am, but this is something completely different than anything I have done before. However, I know that God is the ultimate Teacher, and my prayer is that I will follow His leading both in my planning and implementation of the lessons I will be teaching.

As always, thank you for your support of my ministry!

Con amor de Jesucristo,

Catherine