Vida Estudiantil in other campuses

Haven’t had much time to blog as our team is preparing to leave the country and return to the States (also my power has been out since Thursday and just came back last night!) Had to share with you though about my experience at UNPHU (Universidad Pedro Eriquez Ureña). Since Jimmy and I will be returning to the DR for another year in August, we thought it would be cool to visit the campus for the weekly meeting today to check it out before we left the country.

This year, a second year medicine student, Albelina launched a Vida Estudiantil movement on this campus with the help of Leyla. I had the opportunity to get to know her at the student retreat earlier this month. She has such a huge heart for demonstrating God’s love to others on her campus by telling them about Christ. I really admire her for taking a HUGE step of faith by starting this movement. Even though it felt awkward for her to invite her peers and students she didn’t even know to participate in a weekly Bible study that had yet to see it’s first week, she faithfully did so and now has about fifteen people coming regularly.

Although we didn’t know we were expected to lead this week’s meeting until we got there, Jimmy and I were blessed to get the chance to share with the students how we felt God calling us to serve in the Dominican Republic and why campus ministry is so important. They shared with us some concerns they have for students on their campus and how God is already moving at UNPHU. In this meeting of fifteen students—one boy—we caught a glimpse of what the needs of the ministry are and how we can celebrate what God is already doing there.

We heard some students share how God had been faithful to help them in their weaknesses, whether it was a tough class (organic chemistry, you know that one is hard!) or kicking a bad habit to the curb. I was really inspired by the strength of their testimonies. Someone even shared about how God brought her back to him after she had drifted away for a while. It was clear today that many of these students have had faith defining experiences with God and truly adored him for the changes he has made in their lives.

We learned that it’s been difficult to gather men to join the ministry. That while students are growing in their relationship with Christ and desire to share him with their peers, they have not been equipped with resources or training on how to do so in a natural and effective way.

Please pray for this budding ministry at UNPHU. Pray that Leyla as our national director is given divine wisdom to help guide Albelina and the ministry there. Pray for Albelina, that in the midst of the challenge that is leading a new group, she is renewed daily by God and given fresh compassion for those under her care often. Pray for the students who are currently invloved, that they continue to be open with one another and praying for each other and bring light to the campus. Pray for the university, too. It’s a private school and lots of very bright young adults graduate from there. These students could have lots of potential to affect the country in the future. Pray that it produces a generation of true Christ followers who love others as He did!

Evidence of God at Work

I’ll be honest. There are some days when I’ve reflected on my work here and feel like I haven’t accomplished much. Then there are others when I experience moments—like today—that remind me that God is allowing me to bear fruit in my time spent with students at UASD.

A few posts ago, I wrote about a girl named Rosi who was brought to us after the Spring Breakers met her during an outreach. She was looking for someone to help her grow in her faith. You never know if someone is just saying that at the time or really means it. Unfortunately, there are many times when we meet a student and it seems like they might be a great person to invest your life in, but they never answer your calls. However, Rosi was one of the few that truly meant what she said and for the last two months, I have been meeting with her to discuss some of her questions for God and what it means to be his student (disciple).

Today, we talked about developing our relationship through prayer, studying the Bible, and obedience. We do this using little booklets that are a guide with passages to read from the Bible and questions for thought, which can sound a bit dry, but it’s awesome how it just spurs on further conversation. For example, one of the questions asked “What does God promise that we will experience if we pray in what ever situation?” (based on Philippians 4:6-7). We both shared times when we received this peace through prayer.

Perhaps the coolest part of our meeting today was at the end when we talked about what God is asking us to do through the areas of prayer, Bible study, and obedience. We both spent some time writing down some goals in each area and later shared them with each other. I absolutely cherish this kind of thing, because it not only helps me get to know her better, but gives us both some accountability to what we are seeking to do. It serves as a mile marker to which we can look back on in a year and say, “Remember when we committed to ___? God has been faithful!”

Another evidence of God at work through my meetings with Rosi is his gifting us with the ability to understand each other amidst a language barrier. My Spanish has improved tremendously the nine months I have been here, but she is one of the people I have difficulty understanding. Whenever we meet, I rely on her ability to correct me or her patience as I ask her to clarify what she just said. It also brings us a lot of laughter :)

Keep praying for our relationship and that God would continue to be doing a good work in her life as in the lives of all the students who are growing through discipleship right now.

I’m sure this will be funny later

I want to start off by saying that I am blessed. I am so thankful that God has provided me with a home in the DR that is safe, comfortable, and beautiful.

Yet there comes a time in every home dweller’s life when things don’t go as planned and quite frankly, drive you crazy.

Yesterday’s plans were to wake up early, workout, go to church, and hang out with friends. I thought it was getting better when I received a call from a relative of our landlord saying he wanted to drop by before I left for church to take some measurements so they could put in a water heater! This was music to my ears as I’ve missed taking nice hot showers this year.

Upon taking the measurements, they decided they would just install in right away since one of them would be leaving for the States soon. Eager to get my hot water all hooked up, I told them it was fine for them to stick around a while and get to work.

Fifteen hours later…here’s the short story of what has passed:

• Water heater installed-yay!
• Broken valve in one of the bathrooms-woops
• Chiseling at concrete wall to get to broken pipe-loud, and is that normal?
• 5 men in the bathroom yell “We need a mop” followed by downstairs neighbor coming upstairs to let us know he doesn’t appreciate the water leaking from his ceiling-uh oh
• Water spraying everywhere and flooding bathroom-OMG!!!
• Neighbor: “My ceiling just caved in!”-This is getting out of control!
• Problem still not fixed, but don’t worry, we just shut off the water to the entire building so it shouldn’t flood-I want to curse.

Well, it’s now the next morning and here I am, un-showered with a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, (you don’t even want to ask about what’s in the toilet, lol), and I feel like I ‘m being held hostage in my own apartment.

Of course, in these times I have got to readjust my perspective and be Christlike-I am a missionary after all. But seriously, God is so gracious to me even when I feel like acting out in my frustration that He reminded me this morning that He has given me everything I need in the midst of this situation to keep my cool:

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a life of godliness…these promises enable me to share in his divine nature.                                    -2 Peter 1:3,4

In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships of every kind [even silly household mishaps].          -2 Corinthians 6:4

I know I have every right to be frustrated in this situation. But it doesn’t help me feel any better and it certainly can’t be refreshing to others around me. There’s a reason God gave us verses like these, not only to convict us of our humanly ways, but to teach us a way to live in his peace.

I said this would be funny later, and pictures sometimes help me conjure up that emotion so here’s one to share so you can laugh with me:

Whose idea was it to put the pipes in the middle of a concrete wall?