Two Weeks Ago

The day we got back from Sosua was eventful to say the least. My teammate grace ended up getting stung by a bee and it turns out she’s allergic. So she wasn’t doing well and was given lots of Benadryl. It progressively got worse and Darlin one of the translators here was carrying here down a flight of stairs to the clinic and tripped and fell on his knee and couldn’t bring her farther. So Doug brought her and eventually we put her on a stretcher and they brought her to a hospital and they brought Darlin as well.

They both ended up being okay even though it was pretty scary. Prayers for Darlin’s knee would be appreciated cause it’s not completely better.

Love Restored

Then the next day we started helping sand the church at love restored which is an organization which hopes to help women get out of sex trafficking and get better education. The idea of sanding with a little sanding block for the whole day was not ideal for me. I definitely had to pray and surrender my irritation and God gave me a better attitude about it and it was really good for me. The people are so kind and it was awesome to hear their stories and how God led them to the DR. We sanded the first day then started priming with white primer and it was super watery and got everywhere. It was fun to listen to music and paint together. There was also a bunch of kittens and cats in their backyard which was so cute and fun to play with them.

On our ATL day our group and a med team went to a waterfall and then to the River Club which is a hotel on the river that has pool and food. So we all hung out there swam in the river and the pool and just relaxed.

It’s getting colder here, so dropping down the the freezing temperature of 70° as well as it being more rainy. It is a pleasant change from so much heat so it’s still nice hah.

Sunday we went to church at Love Restored and it was awesome to hear a sermon in English. I also helped lead some worship beforehand for the church. The pastor also leant me Mere Christianity which I’ve been wanting to read and have been asking people if they have it. I’ve also been praying that someone would have the ruthless elimination of hurry I could borrow so I’ll keep everyone updated to see if I can get my hands on it.

Mission of Hope Ministry

This last week of ministry we’ve had no teams so we’ve had the opportunity to bless mission of Hope by doing the dishes, building bunk beds, cleaning and organizing the coffee shop, storage room and merch store, and we started to build a fence as well. Building the fence was tough especially trying to have a good attitude about it and I continually had to give it to God and ask for help because it felt so slow in our progress. But God helped me and it ended up being pretty fun!

Today is Friday October 27th and we only have 18 days left in the DR. Holy moly how the time has flown. I’m so extremely grateful for all that I have learned and experienced and I’m praying I will continue to be intentional with the remaining time I have here with Jesus and in service to the people here.

What I’ve Been Learning

It’s our sabbath today so I’ve just been relaxing and enjoying today. I spent some time with Jesus and I just love him. Today and for a long time he’s teaching me just to come to him. He says it so much in the Bible.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬ ‭

“Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.””

‭‭John 1:46

“but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭19‬:‭14‬ ‭

The Lord says come to me. There are no conditions at all. His invitation is always open to us. His arms are waiting for us to run to him. He desires a relationship. A man on staff here named Stephen was talking about how our relationship with God is like a marriage. I’ve loved the fact that the church is the Bride of Christ but he said something I’d never heard before. When someone gets married they don’t get up on the alter and say “I think I do” or “maybe I’m committed” no. They say “i do” it’s permanent. God is committed to us we get to live the rest of our lives with Him and He changes our name just like when the bride changed her name when she’s married. God calls us beloved we are His.

“God doesn’t want something from us, He simply wants us” -C.S Lewis.

God is everything everything we ever need and I do desperately need Jesus everyday.

Psalm 94:17

If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

Prayer requests:

That I would remain present and serve with joy and Gods strength, and I would continually abide in Jesus and remember my feelings are valid but not always relatable.

I love you all! Thanks for reading!

-Emem 🫶🏻🧡