Not So Serious

I’ve been reflecting lately over the last year and my time here in the Dominican Republic. I’ve thought about the changes in my life, the struggles and successes, the people I have met and the lessons I have learned along the way. It occurred to me that others might be interested in some of the lessons I have learned. So, for what they are worth, here are some things I now know that I did not know before:

1.       Roosters crow at any time of the day or night – not solely at sunrise. This lesson was learned on my very first trip to the DR in 2012. It remains true to this day.

 

2.       Laundry is best done in the early morning – after sunrise but before others are awake and using electricity. There seems to be a sweet spot where the washer actually has enough power to pump the water out of the tub. Miss that sweet spot and drain the tub by hand.

      

      3.       Electric wires do not have to be attached to a straight pole.  Sometimes a dead tree will work just fine.

 

 

       4.       I actually like avocados and guacamole.

5.       Wasps are intelligent. After trying numerous times to build nests on the overhangs outside my windows or on the metal grates of my windows, they have found the perfect place to build – one foot beyond the reach of Raid from my balcony and out of the line of sight (or spray) from either window.

 

 

      6.       Never bring a broom in the house without shaking it first – especially after dark. While your intentions may have been to help one lizard who is running along the top of your wall to find the door, chances are you will actually gain a second lizard who jumps off the broom right for your head.

 

      7.       Raid will kill lizards – no, not the two mentioned above. Before you decide to leave nasty comments on my blog, this was discovered purely by accident. I honestly thought it was a large spider hiding behind the books on my shelf. Not wanting to move the books and deal with it, I sprayed the area thoroughly with Raid only to discover it was actually a lizard who, sadly, did not survive his experience. Please note – the two lizards in #6 above were alive and well when they were escorted out of my apartment.

 

 

8.       Lizard poop looks remarkably like mouse poop. For a couple months, I was sure my balconies were being visited by mice every night. Not wanting them to find their way into my apartment, I put out D-Con. Several weeks went by. Nothing touched the D-Con but the poop continued to appear on the balconies. One day, I found the poop on the wall – either there was something else pooping in my space or mice in the DR are extremely acrobatic. A little research via Google and, sure enough, it is lizard poop. The difference? Lizard poop usually has a little white on the end. Who knew that coming to the DR would make me an expert on lizard poop.

There you have it. I hope you will allow me this slightly tongue-in-cheek look at what I have learned in the last year. I have, of course, learned other lessons – deeper and life-changing lessons. One day I will write about some of those, but not today. And for those of you who object to instruments of death – Raid and D-Con to be exact – please forgive me and offer a little grace. The lizards have. They have learned to come around only after dark. I have rarely seen them during the day since the unfortunate demise of their friend. Or, wait a minute, maybe they are actually exacting their revenge by pooping on my balconies every night.

 

 

Pennies from Heaven

    

I found a penny today. That may not seem like remarkable news until you remember that I am in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic and pennies are as scarce as hen’s teeth. (The younger generation may have to look up that expression.) What is equally remarkable is where I found it. To get to my second floor apartment door, I go through three locked gates. This penny was lying on the top of the stairs between the second and third gates. My upstairs neighbor goes through that space to reach her apartment, but she is Dominican. The chances of her dropping a U.S. penny are slim to none.

What really matters, though, is not the “how” but the “why.” Some years ago I read about a man who considered finding a penny on the ground to be a message from God. The words “In God We Trust” that are stamped on it was God’s way of reminding him that he could trust God whatever the circumstances of his life. I liked the idea and adopted it as my own. When I saw a penny, I picked it up and carried it in my pocket. Every time I touched that penny, I was reminded that I could trust Him. Eventually that penny would be lost from my pocket, hopefully for someone else to find and be encouraged. It never ceased to amaze me how God put those pennies in my path just when I needed them the most.

Some months ago when I was going through a difficult time here missing my home, family and friends, I thought about the penny, how much I could use one right then and how impossible the thought was. No penny appeared, but in other ways God brought me back to a place of peace. I forgot about the pennies....until today.

 In our Bible study group this afternoon, we were looking at perseverance. We have the strength to persevere by holding onto God’s promises. God uses hard times to mature us and changes us as we go through them. We can rejoice in hard times because we know there is more to come beyond this life. Toward the end of our time, we talked about those faith heroes mentioned in Hebrews who never received what they had been promised but still persevered to the end (Hebrews 11:39). I shared with the group about my oldest son, Clifford, whom I haven’t seen or heard from in over ten years. Every year that goes by, it gets harder – not easier – to accept. I have to face the questions, “What if I never see him again before I die? Will I continue to trust that God is holding him in the palm of His hand? Will I believe that I will see him in the life to come, if not in this one?" All I could say was that I want to hold fast, that I hope I will continue to believe no matter what.

 

 So I came home….to find a penny at the top of my stairs. All I could do was laugh. God is so good! What we cannot do on our own, through our strength, He does for us and in us. The words engraved on the penny, “In God We Trust” are engraved on my heart, “In God I will trust”. Yes, I will trust the One who loves me and my son with an unfailing love, who carries my son in the palm of His hand, who brought reconciliation through His death on the cross to a world separated from Him by sin. Nothing is too hard for Him.

 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.                    Hebrews 12:1-3

 

 

 

 

 

Tengas cartas and so much more....

For the past two months, I have been trying to write a blog post about sponsorship. I’ve started over more times than I care to say – this being one of those restarts. I’ve given up…only to be drawn back to it again and again. Yesterday, I spent the day at the Santo Domingo School – about 150 kids in a 4-room house in a neighborhood that offers no other school. I know I have to try again.

Sponsorship is the life blood of Kids Alive. The money provided through the sponsorship program enables Kids Alive to educate, clothe, feed, provide medical care and a safe place for many children to live, grow and come to know Jesus. As each child in the program becomes fully sponsored, Kids Alive is able to reach out to additional children and bring them in to offer the same help to them.

Today, I just want to give you some “snapshots” in words and photos of how I see sponsorship at work every day.

Hopeful faces, bright smiles and two words – “Tengas cartas?” – greet me when I come to The Ark. Someone always asks – not always the first person, but someone…or two…or three. And it isn’t only at The Ark. If they see me at ANIJA or at church on Sunday morning, the question comes. For some, it is wishful thinking because even at Christmas, they didn’t receive any mail. For others, it is with great expectation because they regularly receive letters, cards or emails. Whatever the case, those two words, “Tengas cartas?” are on their lips.

 



Grocery day at the Ark-Jarabacoa. What does it take to feed 50+ kids, their house parents and their family? Lots and lots of food! As soon as the van pulls up, the word is spread. Everyone who is available comes to unload and sort the groceries. When it's all out, the director goes through the list, item by item, and  tells each house how much of each item they ordered. Someone from that house gets the item and takes it to their spot to wait until the next item for them is read. Such patient cooperation as the food is distributed!

 

The kids at the Ark eat every day. Some of the students at the care centers and schools aren’t as fortunate. One boy, when asked his favorite day of the week, replied, “Monday, because I get to eat again.”

 

Waiting their turn

 



Parents who fuss over them – helping with homework, doing nails and hair, playing soccer, working on motos or bikes.  Parents who discipline and love and teach the responsibilities of being part of a family.

Cleaning day at the Ark



Shoes that have been washed

 
 

Helping with laundry

Jump rope

Soccer

 

Coloring

 



Santo Domingo School

Teachers who go above and beyond. A common theme that I heard over and over again when enrolling children in the school at Santo Domingo was that the child was doing this on his own. No one at home helped them in any way. At this same school I heard the story of how one teacher helped change a boy’s life. This is his story:

Santo Domingo School

When Jose started coming to school at Miancerg, he was very quiet. He didn’t know how to communicate with the other students and didn’t play with them during recess. He had trouble in his classes and wasn’t advancing academically. The directors at the school spoke to his mother about his behavior in school and the fact that he wasn’t progressing. His mother said that her other children had similar problems. They told his mother that he needed more help and started praying for him. His teacher prayed specifically asking what she could do to help. She put his desk right next to her and began investing in him. With a lot of love, patience, motivation and extra help, he started to change. Now he has a beautiful smile and interacts well with his classmates. He plays with them at recess. When there are questions in the class, he is the first one to raise his hand and ask. He is also one of the first to finish his classwork. God has done an amazing work in him through prayer and a teacher’s willingness to listen to God and follow His direction.

 

Worship at Caraballo

 A chance to learn about God and His love. There are Bible classes and worship time. There is church on Sunday morning. There are the one-on-one conversations between parents, teachers, Kids Alive volunteers and the children in the programs. There is AWANA and vacation Bible schools. There are Bible story books and Bibles in the library. One of the most incorrigible boys at one of the schools was fascinated with a Bible in the library. We may not see the fruit yet, but the Word of God is being planted in their hearts and it will do a good work.

Reading a Bible story

 

 

 

 

Bible class at Santo Domingo School

So why am I telling you this? For most people when they hear the word “sponsorship”, they immediately think about what it will cost them. It’s true. From your side – the side of those reading this blog – sponsorship will cost you something. But may I challenge you to think from the other side – the side of the children here who still need help? For them, it isn’t just about money. For them, sponsorship is about hope – hope for survival….hope for a future….hope for a letter from someone they have never met who cares about them.

As you go through the next several days or weeks, would you pray and consider if God wants you to become a sponsor, to be the person who can offer that hope to a child who needs it? When He says, “Do it,” you can go to the Kids Alive website, www.kidsalive.org, and do a search for the age range, sex and country of a child. I hope you choose the Dominican Republic because these are the kids I know.  You can call the Kids Alive home office (1-800-543-7330) and talk to Traci H., Rachel or Tracy B. in the sponsorship department. They will help you find a child. Or, you can contact me at ksuegreen52@gmail.com . I will be glad to recommend some children who don’t have any sponsors yet and would love to have one.

 

To those of you who already sponsor a child, thank you! You are making a difference in the life of a child!

God bless!

 

Karen

My mom

Over Christmas break, I spent three wonderful weeks back in the States. First, I flew into Cleveland, OH for one of my girls’ weekends with two long-time friends, Linda and Cecile. We laughed, cried, talked, shopped, ate and watched movies. Then Linda and I drove back to Goshen where most of my family and friends waited.

 

 

Wild Women of Waterford

It was a glorious two weeks of seeing how much the grandkids had grown, talking and laughing with friends catching up on their lives, visiting some favorite restaurants and, yes, more shopping. I had been warned about culture shock – being overwhelmed by all the choices at Walmart, for example – but I guess I hadn’t been gone long enough. I was just thrilled to be able to buy some chocolate chip mini-muffins!

 

 

Grandkids

Those two weeks ended with my family weekend. For several years now, we have rented a lodge at Epworth Forest and all my kids and grandkids who are able spend Friday through Sunday together. I think the lodge sleeps 32. There were 28 of us this year and one family was not there. We may have to find another lodge. J

 

Dani and Andi

 

My final stop in the U.S. was College Station, Texas to visit my son, Jay and his family. Again, such a special time playing with my two granddaughters and catching up on Jay and Tommie’s lives.

 

 

During my entire visit, I always knew I was returning to the DR. There was never any question about that in my mind. I thoroughly enjoyed everything I was doing with all the special people back home in the States but my apartment, my job, my other kids were in Jarabacoa. That’s why my reaction when I returned to the DR caught me by surprise. Culture shock, maybe. More like emotional shock – arriving back at my apartment in Jarabacoa, it hit me that I would not see my family again for a year. And, I had to ask myself, “Why? Why did I think that I wanted to come to a country where I couldn’t understand anything that was said around me? Why did I want to be so far away from my kids and grandkids?” That night, for the first time since leaving my home on April 28, 2014, I cried myself to sleep.

I wish I could say it was a one night thing, but it wasn’t. God’s mercies are new every norming, but my attitude and thoughts weren’t. My questions continued throughout the following week. I even questioned the warm weather and the green leaves on the trees. Having prayed to miss blizzard conditions on my visit to Indiana, now I realized that living in the DR meant I would also miss the fresh new life that spring brings. As I stepped back into my routine, I was faced again with the mountain roads, crazy drivers, power outages, dirt, bugs…..the list could go on and on. At some point the thought occurred to me that this struggle was all about commitment. I needed to remake that commitment to God, to Kids Alive, to the children and work here, to myself. To be honest, I wasn’t ready to do that at that point in time.

Today, I am ready to make that commitment again – and this is why. During that week of struggle, I watched the movie, “The Good Lie.” It’s the story of the lost boys of Sudan. While the children in the DR don’t face soldiers hunting them down with machine guns, they do face other “enemies” – starvation, physical & sexual abuse, neglect, abandonment, illness and other medical problems for which there are no readily available remedies.

 

 

This battle became very real to me last week as I had the privilege of enrolling ten more children in the sponsorship program. Looking at their faces and then listening to their stories of convoluted family relationships – not knowing how many brothers and sisters you have because your mother and father have had so many partners, not knowing who your father is, generations of sexual promiscuity. Suspected physical and sexual abuse, but no proof and even if there was proof, there is little legal recourse. Parents abandoning their children to go to other countries, legally or illegally. Extreme poverty, neglect, starvation.  Without the schools and homes Kids Alive provides, many of these children face destruction and death just as surely as any child in an actual war zone.

   
So I am here. I know I will need to remake my commitment over and over again. I will struggle with missing my family and friends. I will struggle with the realities of life in Jarabacoa and the DR. I will get tired and frustrated and, sometimes, sad.

But I will also experience joy and laughter and good times. I will be a part of the transformation of life for as many children as possible. I will see the smiles, the changes, the growth and the renewed health. Jesus said, “Let the children come” and that is why I am here – to help provide a safe place for even more children to come.