Edify Post

Recent Edify blog post by Cristen

Thoughts On Spiritual Transformation

Working for a Christian organization can sometimes be complicated.  To back up one step, working in the non-profit sector can often be complicated.  In business, the bottom-line or the amount of profit at the end of the day is the driving factor that allows a business to be sustained.  While many businesses probably claim that advancing technology or providing great customer service or meeting a certain consumer need is their number one goal, it’s making money that is the lifeblood of business. This makes it easy to measure success. If a business continues to lose money year after year, no matter how good their customer service, it will eventually close up shop.  In the non-profit sector however, seeing a social or spiritual impact is what usually determines the success of an organization, from your local church up to huge non-profits like World Vision or Red Cross.

Measuring true social impact is difficult.  Organizations usually project their idea of success to donors or potential donors in order to continue the flow of money, which is the lifeblood of non-profit organizations just like for-profit organizations. However, the disparity between true impact and the perceived impact that is marketed by non-profit organizations is much larger than it should be. All this is to say that simply measuring social change, such as people’s quality of life, the democratic systems in place or the economic independence of families and communities is often a messy business. Now add a component of spiritual transformation on top of that.  Many Christian organizations, including Edify, where Cristen and I are both gainfully employed, want to make a spiritual impact on the lives of the people it reaches.  Spiritual transformation is different from the bottom line and it’s different from social impact. It comes from the sincere belief that no matter how economically stable a family becomes, how much corruption is eliminated from a society, how good access to quality healthcare systems are, a person or group of people cannot truly be transformed and made whole as God intended without realizing God’s love for them, Christ’s sacrifice and following Jesus’ call to live as His body in this world.  This is our goal.  However, we have to communicate to our donors that we are being successful in achieving this goal, which means we need to place metrics on spiritual transformation in some way or another. How do you measure God’s goodness manifested in His people on earth?  What are the dangers to the Church and to Christian non-profit organizations when they begin to measure it?  I’ll dive deeper into some of these questions in another post. In the meantime, Cris shares some really good thoughts on spiritual transformation from one of our friends and partners here in the DR.

Vaughan Timeline

What the heck have we been up to for the past two months? Not blogging enough that’s for sure. Here is a glimpse of what we have been doing down here.

Esperanza is one of Edify’s lending partners in the DR. They are known for their kindness and hospitality and they extended the invitation for us to attend their employee spiritual retreat in January. It was in Jarabacoa, one of the more mountainous towns here with fresh, cool air and beautiful scenery in every direction. Part of Jurrasic Park was filmed at a waterfall near by. A delightful getaway from the noise and vehicle fumes of Santo Domingo.  The retreat was at a stunning Young Life camp and author Darrow Miller was the speaker for the two days speaking mostly about his book “Disciplining the Nations”.

In February Travis got to go to Seattle for Joe and Natalie’s wedding and see the whole Vaughan fam as well! Kristen is there working as a PT, Jordan is finishing up undergrad at SPU, and Read and Suzie were passing through before their six week long trip to Kenya. While Trav was gone I went to Bahia de la Aguilas with Joy (our housemate) and Kelsie (an Esperanza intern). The journey there included: Carribe Tour bus from Santo Domingo to Azua, a guagua (bus) to Barahona, motorcycle to the next bus, guagua #2 to Pedernales, very unnecessary motorcycle #2 to the hostel four blocks away, slept there for the night then truck ride the next day to the boat, the boat to the beach. Bahia de las Aguilas is in the Jaragua National Park, protected and untouched with a dessert backdrop as apposed to the usual tropical scene. Well worth the journey but maybe next time I’ll rent a car instead.

Travis inspired us to make Sushi at home with the bamboo mats and sticky rice he brought back from Seattle. Some Dominicans like fried plantains in their rolls, and we’ve tried it in restaurants and actually kind of like it. So that was one ingredient. Other ingredients were smoked salamon, spicy crab salad, cream cheese, avocado, green onion, cucumber. We found ginger and wasabi and voilá, homemade gringo-dominican sushi. Yum!

Carnival is celebrated on the island the same time as other places around the world. The main event here is in La Vega which we didn’t go to because apparently you run the rick of getting whipped a lot by inflated pig bladders (I swear) and friends of friends reported bruising from years past, so we passed. But there is also a big event in the city so we went to see it and thankfully didn’t suffer any whipping injuries.

Our friend Corbyn, from Plant with Purpose, was here for a quick visit with a group and we went to meet up with them in the Piedra Blanca area. We got to go to visit a savings led microcredit group and plant fruit trees with some farmers in Loma Verde. Not only was it fun to get to see Corbyn, but I really enjoyed seeing the work of Floresta /Plant with Purpose. I got to see a little bit of how it works from the state side, interning in the San Diego office a few years ago, but to actually see some of the farmers and the savings group was such a blessing. I love the work they are doing!

Other quick updates:

Our friend Joy, has already come and gone. She was living with us for a couple months while she finished up her job here but is now back in Connecticut. We miss you Joy!

We’ve been having a bible study get together weekly in our apartment with some friends for the past several months. We just spent about 5 weeks reading through Titus and are now going to read up on some articles to see what thoughts are circulating out there right now and then we’ll pick another book of the Biblia to read through.

I have been teaching a Sunday school class at church for the 2-5yr olds and have been having a lot of fun with them. Its a great way to improve the language skills and get more involved with others at church. We have been going through different Old Testament stories with the overall theme of giving thanks to God.

We keep adding to our plant collection and now Travis is growing beans, peas and tomatoes so we hope to get a good snack or two from it.

Travis just finished reading Grapes of Wrath and is now reading Great by Choice (Jim Collins) with the Edify team.

I finished The Brief and Wonderous life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz), and now am reading Life Together (Bonhoeffer) and Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians and the Struggle for Hispañola (Wucker). We just read Love Wins (Rob Bell) together.

Miss you all.

Cristen

Who Does Edify Reach?

The following is a short post from our boss Tiger that describes the niche market of low-cost, private Christian schools that Edify serves.  Strictly financially speaking (leaving the teacher and proprietor training we do aside) schools need more money than they can get from a normal microfinance institution.  However, banks are usually looking to maximize the return on their investment and want to do larger loans than what most of our schools are able to handle considering their income streams.  When a bank does make a loan to a school it will often be at an interest rate that makes repayment extremely difficult and ties up most of their real-estate as collateral.  Click Here to read on from Tiger.

Doing The Dominican Dirty Clothes

When you have to sweat to clean your clothes you appreciate those fabrics you’re sporting each day like you never have before.  Weekend mornings have become my time for laundry.  It’s therapeutic for me like shoveling the snow off of the driveway is for my Dad.  It may be kinda weird, but I actually really enjoy it.  Rather than your typical washing machine where you toss in the clothes, add a drizzle of detergent and hit START, the laundry machines in the Dominican boast a much more robust and integrated user experience.  A load of laundry on a Saturday morning goes something like this.

1. Fill the red tub full of water 3-4 times and dump into the left side of the machine. Mix in a powdered detergent then toss in the clothes. Turn on the wash feature for 6-8 mins.  This is the first opportunity for a break.  Cris and I will usually go read a book or make a pot of coffee while the wheel at the bottom of the tub creates an ungelating whirlpool that spins back and forth.  It does a pretty good job of cleaning the clothes, but the fabrics definitely pay the price and seem to get a little bit bigger with each washing.
2. The next step is moving all of the soaking wet laundry into the spinner on the right hand side. Picture one of those swimsuit drying machines you have at your local  gym/pool and multiply it by 10. These things are serious and they also have serious potential to remove individual fingers or entire hands if not used correctly, which is probably one of several contributing factors as to why this piece of machinery is not available in the U.S. of A. Drying out the clothes is probably the most technically challenging stage of the washing process as it requires a fine-tuned equilibrium within the fuselage to allow the compartment inside to spin faster than Natalia Kanounnikova. If the clothes in the spinner are at all uneven the whole machine will begin to shake violently and make “mucha bulla” (loud and usually annoying noise) as the Dominicans would say.   After 2 minutes of spinning the clothes are remarkably dry and ready to go back to the left side for a rinse. 
3. Drain the soapy water in the main compartment and refill with 3 or 4 tubs of clean water and a splash of bleach that will keep the clothes from smelling musky if they end up getting rained upon.  Toss in the clothes to spin and rinse for several minutes before moving them once again over to the spinning compartment and repeat step 2.  This time, after they come out of the spinner they are clean, damp and ready to be hung out to dry.
4. After a quick roof-top analysis of the weather to the east to ensure there are no eminent rain storms approaching you can hang the clothes to dry. If you get a sunny day with a little breeze your clothes will be dry in about an hour and ready to go.  About 1 out of 3 times you do laundry that a rainstorm will rush in like a dementor in the night. It’s the inevitable law of laundry in the DR, no matter how well calculated your prior assessment of the whether may have been.  The raindrops on the tin roof-top of the church next door usually grow to an audible purr just 20-30 seconds before the skies open up.  These 20-30 seconds allow us along with our Chinese neighbors who live below us and Andy, Marie and their always-helpful daughters, Hannah and Naomi (3 and 2 respectively), to rush out to the roof-top to and tear our clothes off the line and back in the dry apartments.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 two or three more times over the next 2 hours (assuming we didn’t get rained out).

It’s really a wonderful process.  I find great therapy in the rhythm of the work along with good tunes and a couple cups of coffee.  And like many other things in life that we often take for granted (i.e. dishwashers, cars, cell-phones), it’s not until we don’t have them that we learn to appreciate how good life can really be without them.  A Wendell Berry-esque return to the way things were before technology and industrialization along with a bit of elbow grease is more rewarding than you might think.

- Trav

Catching Up

Skating on pond with my brother, sister, Cristen and friend Jenae

It’s been a while since we’ve posted on the blog.  Cristen and I enjoyed a little over 2 weeks back in the states. Our first week we had a wonderful time back in Montana with my family. A big thanks again to Ken and Stephanie Renick for not only allowing me to take their daughter to the Dominican Republic, but also have her for our first Christmas together.  Planning holidays after being recently married is always a difficult task as both individuals and their respective families usually want to do celebrate the holidays as they always have. Although the whether and skiing in MT was less than mediocre, getting to visit friends, family, and celebrate my good friend Gabe Dawson’s recent engagement made up for it. We also got a great day of ice skating in before the whether got too warm.

On December 30th we went down to San Diego and got to see our nephew, Malakai Whitsell, who was born just two days before.  Nate (Cristen’s brother) and his wife Hanan were going on about 72 hours without sleep, but they still seemed to be running on the awe and adoration of this new life that came from them and God. So we’re Tio (uncle) Trav and Tia Cristen for the first time.  Getting to see our new nephew was a highlight of our time in San Diego, but we also had a great time celebrating new years with friends and I had a good pizza party with the guys for my birthday. We also spent 3 days in San Diego with the entire Edify team, which has grown to 17 people (was only about 7 people a year ago!).

It was great to meet fellow workers who are based in Rwanda for the first time and to connect with others back in San Diego. We have an incredible leadership and support team in the states that allow Cristen and I to work on the ground here in the DR. We shared stories and struggles from our first 3 months on the field and were inspired by others as we strategized on what’s to come in 2012.  It’s stories like Aleyda Torres that keep us and our team back in the states doing what we’re doing. Aleyda is a good friend of mine and has more tenacity and passion for teaching the poor than you could ever imagine. Check out this video if you’ve got a few free minutes to get an idea of the people that we get to work with.

Neighbor’s Post

Here is our neighbor’s blog with a recent post about our interesting pigeon experience. Hope you enjoy!

http://dominicandiary.blogspot.com/

Adventure To Limón

It couldn’t have felt more like a movie.  We leaned into each turn, feeling the wind blowing through our hair.  On our left, snapshots of picturesque, turquoise waters flickered like an old film real from our peripheral vision as we flew past each break in the dense, tropical trees and palm fronds that enclosed the road on either side.  There were six of us, mounted in two’s upon dirt bikes and beefed-up scooters.  The goal of the early morning ride was to reach a small town called Limón some twenty kilometers away.  We’d been told that there was a spectacular waterfall there that you could reach in about an hour’s time hiking or 45 minutes on horseback.

Locals seemed to think that six white people flying down the highway on scooters at this hour meant that there was a pretty good chance we weren’t Dominincans and an even better chance that we might be going to the famed “Cascada” of Limón… so perceptive.  Locals would gain speed on their motorcycles until they were riding next to us and begin to shout that they had family in Limón who had horses and they could take us to the waterfall for a good price.  I appreciated their good-natured salesmanship and their impressive ability to deliver it at 40 mph, but kindly hollered back that we were going to explore by foot.

We reached our destination and were directed to park our bikes in a small dirt lot behind a local grouping of houses.  Quickly, several people approached us and asked how many horses we would need.  The Dominican’s aversion to walking seemed to have created a large market for horse-packing in this area and it was assumed that we would also saddle up to go visit the waterfall. We kindly turned them down and said that we would rather walk.  After an incredulous look, the guy that was speaking to us quickly recovered and said, “Well then you’ll need a guide to get there.”  I said that wouldn’t be necessary as we were looking for an adventure.  Realizing the attempt to get some money from these tourists was looking futile he shrugged and said, well ok but it will cost 100 pesos (about $2.75 USD) to watch the bikes.  Fair enough, I thought.

We turned to begin walking, but a more bold Dominican man in well-dressed clothes approached us and offered to be our guide. We said thanks, but we’d go at it alone.  He decided to pull out the adventurous-gringo-trump-card and said, “Well, our minister of tourism requires that you have a guide.”  The words “minister of tourism” suddenly pricked the fears of a couple in our group, it seemed to have had the desired effect that the man had hoped for. After a bit of quiet conversation amongst ourselves, and much to my chagrin, the verdict was to hire this man to be our tour guide. I now would have had to argue with my friends and the Dominicans if I wanted us to go and explore the waterfall alone. With both my sense of adventure and “I can do it myself” attitude waning, I reluctantly conceded and we agreed to hire a guide to take us to the waterfall.  Why did this feel so wrong?  Why was I upset in having to take a tour guide to lead us up the path to a waterfall?  Was I simply being selfish and stingy?

I believe there were two reasons why this deeply bothered me, the first I already alluded to earlier.  When it comes to adventure and exploration, I’d like to think that I’m capable and able to do it myself.   I’d like to think that I’m not your everyday tourist that needs their hand held to do anything outside of eating at nice restaurants or shopping near the beach.  Furthermore, I hate getting ripped off.  I’ve always been a sucker for a good deal.  My feelings and elation at finding a thrift-store gem is mirrored by an agitated, deflated feeling that overcomes me when I learned that someone has taken advantage of me.  Sure the taxi driver who is demanding twice the normal price needs the extra $4.00 more than I do, but I become so upset that I have been lumped into the pool of being a “green-go tourist” and thus assumed all of the generalized characteristics that are associated with the stereotype (one of those characteristics being that green-gos have an endless supply of money and they are easy to rip-off), no matter how validated they may be.

As we followed Salamon, our guide up the steep and windy trail towards the Cascada De Limon (Waterfall of Limon) I thought about this.  Yes, this was my own selfish pride which resisted being labeled an incapable green-go that was causing me such anguish, but it took me a week or two to realize the second deeper reason I felt such discomfort at the idea of hiring a guide to lead us up the trail to this spectacular display of nature.  I am opposed to uprooting healthy local cultures, economies and communities only to replace them with eco-prostitution.  I don’t know if the word has been used before (eco-façade may be the more PC term), but I believe it is an accurate term for the phenomenon and practice that has largely been an applauded and considered a step towards “development” by the western world and “development” experts in the last 50 years.

Eco-tourism is defined by my infallible resource, Wikipedia, as a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism. As it is usually contrasted with typical large-scale forms of tourism it is therefore seen as a more environmentally friendly, sustainable alternative whose moral and economic implications need never be questioned.  A problem with prostitution is that one is either forced or chooses to share a oneself, in an act that is beautifully created by God to be shared in the intimate community of the household and one’s spouse, with a temporary passerby who exchanges money for the temporary enjoyment of the exterior beauty of the prostitute, without an understanding of her history, her life, her family, her community or how that act will impact all of those things.

Obviously, the problems of prostitution go much deeper than what I have just mentioned, but the parallels between the act of purchasing sex and the temporary enjoyment of a community’s culture and resources by an outsider during eco-tourism deserve to be examined.  Once the supply of outside dollars disappears and the customer has been satisfied with the glimpse of paradise they have seen on their vacation before returning to the daily grind at the office, the local community can collapse economically and culturally along with any sense of dignity as they have made themselves dependent upon the interest of foreigners with extra money to keep cash flowing into the local economy. Often times they have destroyed or given up the practices and businesses, such as agriculture or the manufacturing of goods, that created and sustained their community before.

I will continue this rant in the months to come because it’s an area that I am fascinated by, an area that I’m highly uneducated in, and one that I think should be closely examined by national governments, peace core programs, non-profits, etc. that are considering eco-tourism as a healthy form of economic development in developing countries.  I’m not preaching from the pulpit because I recognize it’s an area where I am one of the greatest adulturers of all. Nor do I think that all forms of tourism or eco-tourism are inherently bad.  But perhaps by beginning the conversation it will help me more thoughtful and purposeful in the way I live, work, and vacation.  I can’t deny that our visit to the waterfall of Limon and the motorcycle journey to get there was one of the most fun days that I’ve had in since being here. Nor can I say that the fact that locals have capitalized on potential tourist income from the natural beauty of their area in an effort to feed their families is in any way morally wrong.  But I look forward to continuing the discussion of the systemic causes of poverty, the inherent problems in tourism and eco-tourism as a method of economic development and potential alternatives as to how we should think about development, local communities, and the implications of our vacations.

Only in the DR…

Aye aye aye, there are some things that bring us true joy and make us laugh incredibly hard here in the Dominican. Thank God for all the little gifts of comedic relief he sends our way.

Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph on our gas and electric bill. Feliz Navidad!

 

Not only is there a chicken plantain sushi roll on the menu, but its the first roll on the list. And this was at a Chinese restaurant.

Cristen preparing to clean the disease-ridden pigeon poo on the balcony. You can never be too safe.

Sorry its been while!

We have been slacking. Hope you can forgive us. But here is a blog post I wrote for the Edify blog that I think you will enjoy.

http://www.edify.org/more-than-knowledge

-Cris

Lush land

The plants here are so beautiful. Amidst the chaos and congestion of the city, we can find peace and tranquility in the plants. We bought a few to decorate our apartment and they have brightened our life up. When you leave the city and venture into the lush land of the Dominican you will see a plethora of thriving green life in every direction. With its diverse climate and terrain, the Dominican has a huge variety of plant life: royal palms, coconut palms, Hispaniolan mahogany, West Indian cedar, wild olive, American muskwood, red, white and button mangroves, pines, ferns, cacti, and hundreds of different species of orchid.

Our front balcony

A little more about the DR

A main road in Santo Domingo called the "27 de febrero"

• Shares the island of Hispanola with Haiti
• Slightly more than twice the size of New Hampshire
• Estimated population: 10 million people
• Currently, U.S. professional baseball leagues boast more than 100 players who originated from the DR
• Home to the highest point in the Caribbean, the DR’s Pico Duarte reaches 10,417 feet
• Christopher Columbus landed here first in 1493, and Santo Domingo is home to the first university, hospital, cathedral and castle in the Americas

Entering Santo Domingo crossing one of the main bridges

Cristen's walk home from work along the 27 de febrero

Kristen’s Spontaneous Trip

Kristen Vaughan, the original, came to visit us in the beginning of November. She had tentative plans to come visit us at some point in the next year but she landed a PT job in Seattle (congratulations Kris!) and had two weeks to kill before it started so she booked her tickets on a Monday and arrived in the DR that same Friday. After 20 hours of travel from Seattle to Denver to New York she arrived in Santo Domingo, hung out for a couple hours in our apartment then hopped on a bus with us as we headed to the beautiful peninsula of Samaná. Quite the journey but she was a trooper and seemed to enjoy every bit of it. We spent the weekend in the Las Terrenas area with a few other friends.

Hike up to the waterfall in El Limón

And now some highs and lows from the weekend:

High: Beautful beaches in Las Terrenas

High: Some great meals and conversations shared together

High: The waterfall was impressive

High: We rented two scooters and a dirt bike

High: They were cheap, really fun, and got us where we wanted to go

Low: Joy and Francisco crashed and both had to get stitches at the Cuban clinic. At least they were still smiling in the end.

Thanks for visiting Kris. We love you!

The Simple Things

There are many things I love and appreciate about the Dominican Republic. One of them is the fresh jugo de chinola, the passion fruit juice. Today I was pretty tired after lunch and needed a pick-me-up. Doña Esperanza is one of the cutest, sweetest ladies I’ve met here and she works in the Esperanza office, which is so fitting since they share the same name. She makes juice in the afternoons and today she made chinola. Yum. It was just what I needed.

-C

So delicious

Funny things about Santo Domingo

• Coffee in the street or in the office is served in these little plastic cups, smaller than a shot glass and they put as much sugar in as we would in a “regular” size cup. So dulce. I love it.
• The public transportation consists of hundreds of the oldest Toyota Corollas on the planet. They drive fixed routes. Its a little less than a dollar to ride in one. And two people sit in the front passenger seat, four people sit in the back. Third person on the right has to lean forward if there are four in back.
• The driving. Its complete chaos. There are motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic, driving on sidewalks and sometimes carrying three people at once. The stop lights mean absolutely nothing. Horns are a means of communication for many things rather than just negative things like in the states.
• Drivers don’t seem to get too riled up when they get cut off because it happens every second, compared to me in the states when someone cuts me off it affects my mood for at least the next 10 minutes.
• They eat SO much rice for lunch.
• Size doesn’t matter, tight clothes are always a good idea according to the women here.
• We got a facial on the street the other day for $1.30 and they prayed for us before they started.

Coffee break

Bizarre. Impressive. Mildly terrifying everyday.

Santo Domingo

It’s been my dream ever since studying abroad in Costa Rica to live in Latin America. The dream has finally come true and Cristen and I have found ourselves slowly becoming familiar with a strange land filled with cultural quirks, loud music and kind people.  Our home is located in Zona Colonial which is the historic district of Santo Domingo.  Just down the street one can find the oldest university in the Americas, the oldest church, and the original dwelling of Mr. Columbus himself from his original journey here in 1492.  Overall, it’s a relatively safe area (minus the guy that stole Cristen’s necklace) and actually isn’t as loud as most neighborhoods that are filled with twangy bachata music till late hours of the night.  The nearby restaurants, museums, and concerts should keep us entertained for months to come.

A view down "El Conde"

We’re just a quarter mile from the ocean, which we can see from the roof-top right above our fourth floor apartment.  The Malecón runs parallel to the ocean and is a wonderful place to go for a jog or an evening walk as long as there is a nice on-shore breeze to deliver fresh air, otherwise the smog and exhaust can be a bit overwhelming.  Two blocks to the north sits Parque Independencia ,which is a great landmark for getting home and serves one of the principle terminals for the gua gua’s (small busses that cost 25 pesos) and public car routes.  El Conde is a pedestrian only street filled with people and busy shops. I enjoy walking there because it feels safe and well lit, but it also seems to exude a certain of energy that pulses with the flow of successful businesses, art, music and food vendors. There is an almost electric feel that comes from both the tourists and locals as well that shocks you out of the Carribean slumber and slow pace of life that has begun to feel the norm.

View from the roof of our apartment

Our apartment is beautiful with tall French doors that go from floor to ceiling. Decorative iron bars surround each entrance to the home, but it’s done in a fashion that has more flavor and care than the typical iron bars common throughout the homes of Latin America.  We feel safe and the apartment is clean.  We began by signing just a two month lease, but it’s likely that we will soon sign a one year agreement.  Assuming we stay, Cristen and I are looking forward to beautifying the place and making it feel like our first home.  Life has been quite nomadic over the past six months and it feels good to know that we can finally settle down.  Knowing that this will not be our home forever will probably always lie at the back of our minds, but I hope to subvert the thought for the time being and truly begin to form a community among our co-workers, neighbors, business etcetera for the time that we are here.  It will surely be an adventure.

Back Patio

The Gold Necklace

I was wearing the print dress my mom gave me, a black sweater with a brown belt and brown shoes. I was proud of my outfit today. I had on my new favorite gold necklace and matching stud earrings. Travis was on his way to work and I was on my way to buy fruit and we had to cross two busy streets together. The streets here are always relatively scary, walking and driving alike. You have to be assertive and smart while crossing, but with time it has begun to feel more normal. I have less and less fear every day. I took the lead and pushed through the cars stopped in traffic. There was a man on a motorcycle a little too close for comfort and not showing an interest in letting us through so I slowed down to let him pass. I was so close to the safety of the curb, and almost to my delicious, fruitful breakfast. But the man on the motorcycle saw an opportunity and didn’t pass it up. I had my agenda and he had his. He looked me straight in the eyes. I thought he was going to run over my toes; he was so close. Rude yes, but I thought he was in a hurry. His hand extended towards me, then I thought he was going to grab me. His left hand struck my neck, I blinked, and he was gone in an instant. I saw my pretty little necklace dangling from his aggressive grasp as he sped off. It was gone, I was stunned. I touched my bare neck, my mouth wide open.

“Oh my God, he stole my necklace.”

A couple women in the street gathered around Travis and me, as tears fell fast from my eyes, comforting me and also warning me of things like this and worse. The next 20 minutes felt like an eternity. Travis went to work and I tried to order my fruit in tearful Spanish. I wanted to lay down in a ball and disappear. I felt like everyone was looking at me. Crying like a baby. I hated my white skin, my blonde hair, my clothes, my jewelry, my money, my status, my wealth, my ignorance, my vulnerability, my stupidity. I hated that man and his unwelcomed, crude, selfish invasion into my life and space.

I just want to be normal. I want to fit in, to blend in like everyone else. But I am not normal and I don’t blend in and that will not change as long as I live here.

As I cried and reflected on my hurt and fragile feelings I realized so many things. I am here for a reason and I am vulnerable for a reason. I need to cope and live with that fact. I need to be as safe and smart as I can be and leave the rest to God. He has ultimate control of my life. I need to be thankful that the man stole my fake gold necklace and nothing more. I am safe. Travis is safe. I also realized that I hold onto material things just as tightly as that man held onto my necklace as he drove away from me. I have a clenched fist around too many things that don’t matter. Things that make me feel pretty, rich, and successful. How shallow. There is no joy, no fulfillment in anything without Christ. Why do I forget that so easily? Will I ever really understand and feel the significance of His power, glory, sovereignty, salvation, strength, goodness, and comfort?

God help me loosen up my grasp. Soften my heart. Show me the truth. Forgive me for who I am. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for your love, grace, mercy and forgiveness. I know I need it all.

-CLV

Baseball Game

First baseball game of the season

We’re here!

Hello everyone. We made it to the Dominican and have been here for about 3 weeks now. We’re getting settled in and used to our new life and schedule here. We’ll be here for the next 2 years and look forward to keeping you all updated!

 

Wedding Video

Thanks to the guys at Cloudless for a great video…

 

…and the two shall become one.

April 30th is the big day.  We are thrilled to be joined by friends and family to share one of the most special days of our lives.