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 interns here in the Dominican Republic, why they decided to be an intern this summer, what the summer may look like for them and answered any questions. Another session, we talked about our dress code, preparing them spiritually by talking about spiritual warfare and answered any more questions. We have eight gals who will be coming this summer along with an intern who has been here since January as our summer intern team. In our small interactions, I believe we will have a great bunch of interns.
I was pleasantly surprised for my birthday. My plans for the day were to have breakfast meeting with one of our teens to catch up with her but talk about the summer program; work at the Ark on sponsorship projects and go to dinner with a missionary family. This is how my day unfolded. When I went to pick up whom I was having breakfast with, I was serenaded with ‘Happy Birthday’ and breakfast was on them. I worked with a couple of our kids at the Ark on their sponsorship projects. As I was leaving the Ark, I received a phone call wishing me a ‘Happy Birthday’ with an invite to lunch with a friend. We had a pleasant lunch down by the river. Later, I met up with the family for dinner and as we were watching their kids play on the playground and talking a group of friends arrived saying ‘Happy Birthday.’ It was a lovely surprise as I was not at all expecting it. After dinner we had cake back at the family’s home. It was a sweet time together.
This month our children in the sponsorship program have had to do two projects for their sponsors. I have been able to help out at a number of our sites either working directly with the child or helping to translate their project into English. It’s a lot of time to sit patiently with the child and to encourage them as they do their project. But hearing some of their responses is so very endearing. One area on the project is what the child is praying for…some prayers that have touched my heart are ‘I am praying for the street kids who have no food to eat’ or ‘I am praying for the salvation of my family.’ Another area on the project is a thank you note to the sponsor…one thank you that touched my heart is, ‘I am thankful that you are my sponsor and that you have provided me the opportunity to go to this school when there are those who cannot go to school.’
We hosted our directors’ retreat this month at a campground in Monte Plata. It was a unique weekend for me as I got to hang out with the adolescent girls during the adult sessions. But I also had some great conversations throughout the weekend with some of our directors. We had three adolescent girls and even though I really felt unprepared for our time together, we did though have times of spending in God’s word regarding our belonging, hearing God’s voice and delighting in God’s truth. I got a small glimpse into their lives. They are amazing and very interesting gals. Saturday evening during the adult session, Vic and I talked once again about self-care. We listened to the directors of our children’s homes as they went to a retreat this year with Back 2 Back Ministries as they shared their testimonies of what they learned and have put into practice regarding the need for self-care. The one testimony that spoke to me was she always believed that she needed to stay busy doing God’s work and taking time out for herself was like a sin. How many others who serve in ministry have that same false belief. She has now learned its okay and good to have time for herself and not feel guilty. We had our directors break into groups to talk about what type of self-care to do daily, weekly, monthly and even annually. We got some great responses so now it will be to check in with them on how they are doing.
“Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”
Psalm 100:3
PRAYER REQUESTS
Praise the Lordfor a great Directors Retreat!
Praise the Lord for His wisdom as we placed our summer interns to serve in the Dominican Republic this summer!
Praise the Lordfor the rain!
Prayfor Kelsey and Luimi as they prepare for the birth of their baby girl any day (May 24thdue date).
Prayfor the training and orientation of our summer interns.
Prayfor my spiritual life, I am intentional in spending time with God in both prayer and fasting.
Comments
Post a Comment