I love ya like a grape.

After several power outages and a few trips out of town, I can finally write an update!
     Serving the Lord can be pretty hard sometimes, with all the sacrifices you need to make... but it's pretty fun when it involves going to a beautiful, coral beach for the weekend, learning how to surf, diving for sand dollars for hours on end, and quality time with some pretty amazing people. :) Life here can be uncomfortable at times, but it has been a blast.
     Last week, I went to Constanza, the first place I ever went to in the DR back in 2004. Vic (KAI co-director) drove me down the very road I shared my testimony on for a couple hundred Dominicans during a church service. It brought back a lot of memories and was amazing to see how the programs there have really grown. My project was to work with another missionary here to get all the kids to write letters to their sponsors. Each child in the program needs 3-9 sponsors in order for them to stay in the orphanage or attend the school. After succeeding in getting 50+ kids to write all their letters in a single afternoon, the next task was to translate them into English for their American sponsors to understand. I now sympathize with elementary school teachers in the impossible handwriting legibility battle... We had a good time playing 'Mad-Gab' as we would read a line out loud over and over until it sounded like something in Spanish that made a little bit of sense. My favorite line was definitely this:
          What she wrote: "Teciero com un uba."
          What she meant to write: "Te quiero como una uva."
          What it means: "I love you like a grape."
... apparently she really likes grapes? The kids really understand that the only reason they are able to have these different lives are because of their padrinos, sponsors, and a lot of the letters were really beautiful and touching to read.
     Since then I have been coloring 250+ pages as part of preparing tutoring boxes for the summer programs. 11-year old Chase has been a pretty huge help with that. In fact, we finally finished today! We celebrated by making passion fruit juice - she's an expert. The 20 interns come in less than a week, so my deadline for prepping the boxes is closing in, but I'm excited for them to arrive!
     The Lord has been so good to me, teaching me a ton about his love for each of his children, his faithfulness in our lives, and his strong and steady hand in every situation. The whole mission of Kids Alive is to rescue orphaned or at risk-children, love them, give them a new life, and prepare them to go back out and make an impact on their community. Last week I heard a few of the older 'kids,' who have finished the program and now live on their own, share their stories. They were some of the ones I really connected with five summers ago, while they were still living at the orphanage. It was incredible to hear them testify of God's amazing provision in their lives; from being orphaned and literally starving, to living in a safe and loving community where they received one of the best educations on the island, to going back to living in the very same barrio (neighborhood) where they were born - but this time with a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). They chose to go back there and to live intentionally. They both actively serve and participate in their church and they are tangibly making a difference in the lives of their friends and community. Talk about God's faithfulness. I was humbled.
     Last I heard, the woman needing blood is still in the hospital, but is now stable. I am looking forward to the adventures God has for me in this next week, so thank you for your prayers and love!