Life Back In The DR

SO ... we have been back in the Dominican Republic for 10 days now, and I have barely left the house, I'm still sick and I have been getting so discouraged. I'm trying not to get discouraged but being sick for 8 weeks now is getting discouraging. I haven't been out to do ministry in 3 weeks now, and that's been really rough. Sitting in a house all day everyday in a third world country being sick is no fun. It's interesting though becuase even though i have been sick, God is teaching me so much through this. There definitly are days where I don't see it, and I have a bad attitude, but then I spent time with God, realize the things I did right, did wrong, and the things I need to change. As I have posted before, I had dengue fever for a little over a week in St. Marc, Haiti. Now that we are in the DR, i recently got diagnosed with "Giardia Lamblia". This is a parasite that is in your body, usually from dirty water. We are getting medicine for it today, but for the most part, it just needs to die away. The symptoms are total opposite from the Dengue Fever. I have extreme migranes every day, a horrible sore throat, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, etc. I know that this is all happening for a reason though, and I know whatever it is, once I get back home, I will look back, and just be amazed at all the things God did in my life during outreach. It is interesting because during lecture, God told me the number "21". I thought it meant that God wanted me to fast something for 21 days, but I never had a real peace about it, and I never really acted on it. So on outreach, I thought maybe God wanted me to fast the first or the last 21 days of outreach, but once again, never really had a clear answer or a peace about it. It is interesting though, becuase when I got diagnosed the other day with my parasite, that marked 21 days left of outreach. I have almost gone home so many times, becuase i just felt I couldn't do it anymore and I needed to come home, but I know that that isn't God's plan for me and my time here in Haiti and the DR. I know that the day I got diagnosed with Giardia, that was my breaking point. I wanted to go home, I lost my desire to spend time with God, and to even be here anymore. But these last 21 days I firmly believe are going to be one of the most vital 21 days in my life where God is going to reveal so much to me and become my very best friend. I am allowing God into my heart again, fully. I am opening up my heart, soul, mind, and emotions to Him. TRUSTING in Him, and having FAITH that He knows exactly what He is doing with me during this season of my life. Just keep me and my sickness in your prayers, no matter how long it takes, I know that I am going to be healed. We only have 18 days left until we head back to Hawaii, then finally back to sweet ole' Potatoe State, Boise, Idaho. I cannot wait to be able to share my pictures and all my experiences (when I wasn't sick and actually got to go out haha) with all of you. I am glad going home didn't work out for me, becuase God still has a little more work He wants to do in my life to shape me more into the woman of God He has always intended for me to be. Thank you all for your prayers, God is so good.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

-Emily Williamson.

On Wednesday, August 18th, we made it back to the Dominican Republic, after a luxery air conditioned bus ride, that suprisingly only took about 6 hours. We haven't done too much since we have been here, we went to the beach on our first full day here, which was beautiful. We had a down day, then yesterday we went to a
church and i gave my personal testimony and also my testimony from Haiti. Today we are going to the Colonial Zone to get to take pictures and explore a different part of the city. We are also going to another church tonight. This week is a pretty full week for our team. On monday, we will be going to a rural neightborhood to just spend the day with the people that live there, and get to know the kids. We will get to really pour out God's love on the kids, and just have a fun day with them. The rest of the week (Tues-Fri) we will be at the local University here, doing different ministry there everyday. We will have full days there (9am-6pm). We will be doing worship, sermons, and photogrpahy classes; also time to just go around the campus witnessing to people and getting to know them. We are all excited to see what God is going to do on this last stretch of outreach, He has already done so much.
A little update on my sickness. The dengue fever is basically completely out of my body. I don't have any of the symptoms anymore, so that is good. I do have a sore throat right now though and my body is still so weak. I know that God is with me though, and soon, i will be completely healed, it's just a process.
Outreach has still been the most difficult things I have ever gone through, but it is definitly forcing me to go keeper in my walk with God, and just personal character building. It has been some of the best times in my life, and also some of the worst. But God is still good, and He is still so faithful. We have a little over 3 weeks till we head back to Kona, then back to Idaho, then the big move to Colorado. Can't wait to see the next things God will be doing in my life. Thank you all for your prayers :-)
Enjoy some pictures :-)



The pics are of our last day in Port-Au-Prince (with Baby Johnny :), handing out suckers in Port-Au-Prince, The Beach we went to on our first day in the DR, me and one of the prostitutes we became friends with, and me and my best friend Liz at the beach :)

Dengue Fever

Friends and Family,

On Monday, i got the Dengue Fever. Here is a little info from the web so you all know what this desiese actually is...

Dengue Fever is an acute viral infection characterized by fever. It is caused by a bite from mosquitoes carrying dengue virus. The primary form of Dengue Fever is characterized by a skin rash and a high fever with severe pain in the head and muscles. Other symptoms may include shaking chills, diarrhea, and vomiting. Bouts of extreme exhaustion may last for months after the initial symptoms. Because dengue fever is caused by a virus, there is no specific medicine or antibiotic to treat it. For typical dengue, the treatment is purely concerned with relief of the symptoms (symptomatic). Rest and fluid intake for adequate hydration is important. Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should only be taken under a doctor's supervision because of the possibility of worsening hemorrhagic complications. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and codeine may be given for severe headache and for the joint and muscle pain.

So the past 6 days, i have been laying in bed for most all day everyday. I haven't been able to go out and do ministry with the team with week and it's been very difficult. The pain mentioned about is basically what I have been going through. The pain in my lower back is at times almost unbearable. I can only be up from bed for about an hour at a time before my back starts to hurt me again toe badly. The pain behind my eyes feel like a serious migrane, all put together in the section right behind my eyes. Diahrea is definitly an everyday systom. A loss of appetite has been a huge one for me, and extreme nasusea. The exhaustion level my body is at right now is ridiculous. Walking up stairs takes everything in me. I actually caught the Dengue Fever last monday as well, but 3 days after God healed me, completely. I am not sure why I caught it again so soon and so quickly, but I did. This is the time in outreach where God is stretching me, and asking me to push though it, as hard as it is for me right now. I just want to please ask that you will keep me in your prayers, as I know God will heal me, I'm just not sure when. Thanks again for all your continuous prayers and support. God Bless you :)

Me, Elizabeth, and Hannah went to the brothel again this afternoon. The women love when we come and hang out with them. They just hang out all day and if a customer comes in, they take care of it, but if not they just hang out until the evening, when their works starts. One of the girls had to leave hanging out with us today because a customer came in. Looking into the man's eyes made me want to throw up. It's different HEARING about brothels, and actually being IN the brothel, with the women and seeing the men come in to pay money, use their bodies for their pleasure, and leave. I hate this so much. It kills me. Our world is so corrupt, and I think it may be time for Jesus to come back soon haha. Here are some pictures though so you can see some of the beautiful girls, where they live, and their view from the brothel. They are wonderful people and i enjoy hanging out with them, they are great. Enjoy!

Here are a few pictures of what I did yesterday, August 4th. The first picture is how the shoreline looks like, everywhere in St. Marc. The people do not know how to throw things away, so the shoreline at the beach as been a popular place to dump all their trash. The next picture is the sunset last night. The sunsets are so beautiful here, it's amazing. The next picture is a picture of me and a little boy selling cinommin sugar things and his mom. I took the risk and bought street food, I'm still alive :) And the last picture is a beautiful Haitian girl I talked to on the street and got a picture of. I love being able to just go out in the streets and be a part of the Haitian culture. I love it here so much and God is doing so much.

More St. Marc Adventures

It's day 6 now that we have been in St. Marc, and things are going so well. We have all the freedom we want to basically do whatever we want. We can decide what ministry we want to do, and we can go for it. Yesterday all the girls in our group got to spend most the day with the girls who work in the brothels.. we did their make up, did their nails, and did a photoshooot with them. It was so much fun and the women absolutley loved it. They are so funny. Me and my best friend, Elizabeth, were talking with our leader and we both had a heart to work in the brothels everyday. We now have the opportunity to be the two girls that get to go to the brothel everyday to spend time with these women and just create a friendship with them and get to know them. Today was our first day going to the brothels. I will take pictures soon and post them so you can see what life is like in a Haitian brothel, it is crazy. The building is so destroyed, so old, falling apart, and so hot. There is trash everywhere, and their rooms are the size of an American size guest bathroom, maybe. It basically only fits their bed. When we walked into the brothel, the women were all so excited to see us, because they remembered us from yesterday. Their ages range from 22-30 I would guess. And EVERY single one of them have tattoos. They are basically the ONLY people in Haiti that have tattoos, and now I know why all the Haitians don't think highly of my tattoos, BUT it was such a neat way to be able to connect with them today, they loved all my tattoos :) Me and Liz are so excited to get to be a part of this ministry. We are going to plan out a new thing every day to be able to go to the brothels and do with the women. We got to take what's called a "tap tap" to get to the brothel.. which is basically a very very cheap motorcycle, if you could even call it that. You can fit 3 people on there. We got the driver, me and Liz on there, and went on the ride of our life. It was a 10 minute drive to get there, and it was probably the best 10 minutes of outreach. It is so normal for every Haitian to ride the, but because it was our first time, it was like a roller coaster at a theme park for us. All the Haitians you could tell looked at us and just thought in their heads.. "oh, American girls...". Me and Elizabeth also got the opportunity to go out into town today on our own, and it was so much fun. Getting to be a PART of the Haitians everyday life is so exciting. The things they sell on the street, the motorcycles EVERYWHERE, the markets, the, trying to sell us stuff, it is all so wonderful. I love it here so much. I love when all the kids see us walking down the street and they start screaming "Bla! Bla!" which means "white", and they also point and start running towards us. They love getting their photos taken and they LOVE touching us, and getting to just hold our hand, even for a second. Being here has been a complete different expereince than the DR and Port-Au-Prince, and we all love it here. It is such a beautiful city and I can't wait to get to see more of it. Life here on the base and life RIGHT outside the gate of this base is a completely different world, everything about it. You go from what seems like being in a part in America, to going out in the streets of Haiti. It is wonderful. The best of both worlds ya? Well, maybe not the BEST of America, but for here, ya. There is also a swimming pool here we can use whenever we could like, which is such a blessing. Keep praying for unity in our team, as that is still quite a struggle, and also safety, as the teams are out in the streets, everyday. It is wonderful and more pictures will be coming soon. Thank you for your prayers and God bless :-)

Pictures of Day 1 in St. Marc, Haiti

So, like the post earlier said, we arrived in St. Marc Friday morning. It is so beauitful here. The day we got here, we got to go out into the town and just explore. I took a few shots to share with you guys, nothing amazing haha but just wanted to give you a glimpse of the area very near to where I am staying. I will take pictures of the YWAM base here to show you the beauitufl facility we are staying at, but for now, here are pics of St. Marc, the beach (the shoreline filled with trash), the huge 10 Commandments statue, and some of the children. Today is another day of rest, and church tonight at 6. Ministry starts tomorrow! God bless!