January 16, 2008

I arrived in the DR on December 31 (without any travel problems this trip – praise God!), and I have enjoyed being back “home”! It was a wonderful experience to ring in the New Year here with fire works being set off all over the city that the G.O. staff and nationals all watched from the balcony of our pastor’s home and a Christian concert I went to with a group from our church that lasted until 6 am (the picture to the left is from the concert)! After recovering from my trip here (and from being awake for more than 24 hours), I spent the first two weeks cleaning and reorganizing my apartment – it’s amazing how dirty a place can even get when no one is living there – and preparing to start teaching English and Drama again while balancing my time at the school, where classes started on January 7!

On Monday, January 14, I also started teaching English classes again in Hoyo de Bartola, where I will be every Monday and Wednesday afternoon. The picture to the right is from the first class, which had 19 students! Three other English classes will also start this week – two here in Hoya del Caimito, and one in our church in Los Guandules. One of the classes in Caimito will be for the church, and one of my former students will be my assistant, learning to lead the ministry herself! The other class is for young men who are a part of our Sports Outreach Ministry, specifically for our Baseball Ministry. The picture to the left is from the first class, which met Tuesday; some of these young men may have the opportunity to go to the States to play ball, but they will need to be able to speak English, so they are motivated to learn, and it should be a great class! The class in Los Guandules came about because the pastor’s wife was one of the students in my first class in Caimito, and she did very well in the class. She will be my assistant for this class, and I will be training her to take over the ministry in her church throughout the class!

My role at the school has changed a bit for this semester, and I will now be at the school on Tuesdays and Thursdays to continue to work with the teachers and administrators on utilizing the discipline plan and strengthening classroom management skills, but instead of doing the observations myself, I will be working with our school counselor to train her to do the observations and facilitate the discipline plan. I will also be teaching Drama classes through April that will culminate in a school play in April – the first classes were Tuesday, January 15, and they were exciting! There were 16 students in the morning class and 40 students in the afternoon class! As a result, I split the afternoon class into two sessions, and if more sign up for the morning, I will split that class as well!

As of now, my schedule looks like this:

Monday - 9-10:30 am English class at Guandules
3-4:30 pm English class at Hoyo de Bartola
7-8:30 pm English class at Hoya del Caimito

Tuesday - 8-5 Colegio – Drama classes in the morning and afternoone
6-7:30 pm English class for Sports Ministry participants

Wednesday will be the same as Monday, except no evening class.

Thursday will be the same as Tuesday

Friday – I will work with teams that come down on an as needed basis

Saturday - am free to work with teams as needed
2-3:30 pm English class at Hoya del Caimito

Sunday - am - school tours when groups are here/church/rest :)

My time will be very full, so please pray that I will have the energy and enthusiasm to keep up with everything!

As I have been planning and beginning to work my schedule and continuing to adjust to life in the DR, God continues to teach me that He is truly the only One for whom I am here to work and to please. It is in my nature to please people, especially those in authority over me, and too often I allow what someone else thinks of me to have influence in my life. So, I am learning how to balance Godly counsel with people’s personal opinions, all in light of what God is showing me through my personal quiet time and study of His word. Please also pray that I will be able to do this, as I am sure this year will have its share of challenges and exciting opportunities!

Thank you for your continued love and support of me and my ministry, these mean more to me than I could ever truly express.

Con el Amor de Jesucristo,
Catherine