Shannon's Corner

SHANNON’S CORNER December 2019 Merry Christmas!    What a wonderful time of year to take time to remember what our Father did for us in sending his Son as a precious gift for each one of us.  I am participating in a bible study on the book of Revelations which has given me a new perspective during the advent-Christmas season.  Advent is a time to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming birth of Jesus.  As a believer who has already accepted God’s precious Christmas gift…Jesus as my Lord and Savior, now it is preparing and anticipating Jesus’ second coming. Remember what Jesus tells his disciples regarding him going to prepare a place for you in John 14:2?  In the Jewish wedding ceremony, it is the father of the groom who looks for a bride for his son, such as Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac.  Negotiations take place between the two families and a bride price is paid and a covenant is m...

SHANNON’S CORNER November 2019 Who are you?  Who am I?  It may seem like a strange to ask, yet do we really truly know who we are?  I would have answered this question by saying I am a missionary or Pastor Jim’s daughter or a nurse or the three Eaton girls’ sister.  It wouldn’t be until further down the list that I would say I am a follower of Jesus Christ.  In our society today, identity is so confusing of knowing who we are.  God has been teaching me about my true and authentic identity which is only found in Him.  This summer at Cherry Run Camp, our missionaries challenged us about being followers of Jesus Christ.  I saw the movie, ‘Overcomer’ by the Kendricks’ brothers which also talked about our identity in Christ.  My women’s Bible study is studying Priscilla Shirer’s book, “Fervent” which one chapter talks about our identity.  If someone were to ask me, ‘Who is Shanno...

SHANNON’S CORNER October 2019 Autumn!  A season that marks a transition between summer and winter.  A season that represents ripeness and maturity such as the harvesting of crops, picking apples, and beauty such as the vibrant purples, reds, oranges and yellows that are displayed in nature that takes your breath away.  A season of letting go as the leaves fall off the trees and the temperatures drop.  A season representing preservation of life and its basic necessities as it offers a chance to reconnect. Since leaving the states at the end of September I believe that I am walking through a very similar season of Autumn.  A season of transitioning from one aspect of ministry in the states to another here in the Dominican Republic.  My time of debrief prior to leaving the states was like the harvesting of a crop in seeing and reflecting on how God has used me and is still using me for the precious people group...

SHANNON’S CORNER August 2019      Refreshed. Refilled. Revive. Restore. Reinvigorate.   Regenerate.   Reconnect. Cherry Run Camp Above were God’s kindnesses to me as I was a camper this summer at Cherry Run Camp, a place that is holy ground to me.  God fed me with his word through our speakers.  Two take a ways for me were 1) God’s omnipresence – God is everywhere but he is not everywhere in the same way.  When God is present in our midst in a way that is different, we need to be different as well.  2) Jesus’ teaching us to pray with thanksgiving and grateful hearts even in the midst of craziness, chaos, panic or frustration.  Giving thanks to God for what we have; giving thanks for what God has not done yet; and giving thanks for the opportunity to participate in this miracle. I am so grateful for the opportunity to receive hands-on training from Safe Place...

SHANNON’S CORNER Shannon with two Constanza Interns Amazing. Fantastic. Great. Really, really good. Awesome. These are the words that our summer interns used to describe their summer.  Each of them faced unique challenges such as sickness; cross-cultural differences, unstructured programs, roommate issues, and change from one program to another were just some of these unique challenges.  For many of us these challenges would have become stumbling blocks and given us a different perspective than how our interns described their summer. But these eight ladies persevered and endured which has strengthened their character and drawn them closer in their walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  What made their summer were the connections that they made with the kids and our staff.  How God grew them in their spiritual walk with Him.  How their lives were impacted from their time here in the Dominican Republic. Debriefing...

SHANNON’S CORNER June 2019 Summer Interns 2019 One day as I was outside praying for God’s wisdom and guidance, I glanced up into a tree and saw an air plant.  This plant reminded me that God is my Sustainer, which was a lesson from our women’s retreat last spring.  God’s peace and comfort came over me as I studied the plant realizing that God’s got this and all I need to do is just trust Him.  Unbeknownst to me that God was preparing me to completely lean on Him as my Sustainer through this summer. Kaela giving trauma competent care training This year for our summer internship program we were able to offer our interns if they would be interested in learning Spanish for either one or two weeks prior to our summer program.  We had two gals who did two weeks of Spanish and two gals who did one week of Spanish classes.  We all learned some in’s and out’s regarding what works and what did not work along with some expectatio...

SHANNON’S CORNER May 2019 May has been a surprising month of a variety of things happening. We hosted a one-day conference for all our leadership with a ministry called Amarras who serves in flourishing leaders and thriving organizations.  They focused on four main areas 1) the ‘trichotomy’ of control:  good and bad goals; 2) keys to giving and receiving feedback; 3) thinking about delegation; and 4) delegation.  Plus they had a small segment on self-care and tools to help the individual to not assess where they are but how to come up with a plan of good self-care.  It not only was great in equipping our leaders with tools but also a great encouragement to them.  I had the pleasure of watching one of our directors’ baby so that they could fully participate. In preparing for our summer program, I had a couple of zoom video conference calls with our summer interns.  We talked about what they would be doing as...