School and Public Speaking

Time is a funny thing, some days I find myself having plenty of time to get the homework done for 6 classes before running off to work, and yet other days I find myself struggling to get just one assignment done before the time rolls around to head to the call center. Well this week there are two classes that are needing more time than usual.

Lately I have been pretty excited about two classes, my Education class (which has placed me at Madison Middle School as an intern for the semester), as well as my Public Speaking class.

Now I know what you are thinking... "she's EXCITED? about public speaking? the class that everyone dreads??" ... To be honest, the whole Act of standing up in front of the class terrifies me but the reason that I am excited is that my first speech this saturday will be about an experience from the Dominican. I'm always excited to have a chance to share about my faith and the work being done in the Dominican so when my professor asked me to share a personal experience from the DR I was jumping for joy on the inside. 

At first I wanted to share the funny story about the car breaking down and being stuck in the rain and the lessons I learned that day.... then as I began to think about my class and the people who are so diverse in age, race, religion and background I felt the need to share a more personal story that would impact the hearts in the room. 

I am excited to be able to share a speech regarding moments from the DR in which I saw God working, in particular on one Sunday when we were all blessed to be able to witness 7 people give their lives to Christ. I am praying for my class and hoping that my "personal experience speech" will be something that touches the heart. I have learned time and time again that God can do the impossible, so if He can use me to speak to the class even through my nervous stuttering and 'Ums' I pray that His words will be heard and not mine.

I am just as much nervous about this as I am excited and I would appreciate your prayers this week!! God bless each of you as you find ways to share your faith and I pray for strength, courage and wisdom for you all!

January and its Blessings

             His Mercies are new every morning! Lamentations 3:23

How Amazing is the God we serve! I am in awe of his greatness and faithfulness. I have been in prayer for my dear friend Euri along with his family and church for several months now after Euri had expressed the desire to help people... he wanted to go to medical school to become a doctor. This dream would appear to be impossible at first glance because his family cannot afford medical school or the amount needed to use the public transportation to the school for six days a week. Euri told me that this dream was something God has placed on his heart for a long time and even though his family had tried to encourage him to take a different route (studying marketing), he believes he is supposed to wait patiently on the Lord.

I am so happy to share with all of you that Euri's prayers have been answered and he is now attending medical school about an hour away from the town of La Romana!! God has blessed him tremendously through a government scholarship that will pay for his entire education and even though his mother worries about transportation, Euri told me last week that "Its ok, God answered the prayer about medical school, I know He will take care of the money too."

Hearing the excitement in Euri's voice was contagious and I began to jump up and down upon hearing this news. I wanted to share this as a means to remind us all that even when We do not see a way, when we do not have the funds, God has the answer, He has the abundance of funds that never run out and the more we trust and believe him, the more we shall see great things happening!

This is written as much for myself as it is for all of you... Do not be discouraged. The situations you find yourself in are only temporary struggles and they cannot compare to the glory you will see in the coming days! 

God Bless each of you and I hope that you will share a prayer of Thanks with me or this great opportunity for our brother in Christ.

Feliz Navidad!

I just wanted to take a moment to say FELIZ NAVIDAD , Merry Christmas to you all!

I pray for blessings for each of your families and I pray that you will join me in remembering our brothers and sisters in the Dominican during this holiday season.

I have received several emails recently with Greetings and Blessings from the church members there. They wish to express to each of you that they think of you, even if they do not know you, and they pray for blessings for your family! It is amazing how the family of God is always connected and how we can pray for those we do not know and God can answer our prayers and bless those people! Incredible! 

God Bless Each of you and I hope that you will receive many Incredible blessings in 2009!!

Much love to you all, 

from, 

Tiffany

Euri Fabian, Omar Cedeno, Mariel Stevens, Victor and Yudermy Jimenez, Wandy and Yamille Guerrera, Ricardo Luis, Jessy Luis and all of their families.  Merry Christmas!

Unforgettable moment #4

                                             Yudermy with her cousin Illonca
Franklin with 1 yr old daughter Alondra
Christopher with his cousin Nestor
Victor with 4 year old Kimberly

Kimberly sure loves her baby cousin!!

... I don't know about you but when I am extremely hot nothing sounds better than a dip in the pool! I think I was just as excited (if not more excited) than the kids when Victor came in and asked... "Que persona quiere ir a la piscina??" "Who wants to go to the pool?!"

It took a lot of preparation but we were on the road by 2 pm with a car packed to the brim, we were traveling a few hours away to visit Yudermy's cousin Illonca and her husband Franklin who is the pastor of a new church in Punta Cana. 

Most of us would drive 2 hours to a pool, spend a few hours and then return home, but not here in the Dominican! If your travel time is more than about 10 minutes, you are spending the night, possibly even two! 

... We had a wonderful time with Franklin and his family, I enjoyed playing with the kids in the pool and then visiting the new church in Punta Cana... the people are so on fire for the Lord and it was an amazing service singing praises to God with the Dominicans!

So that is my favorite moment #4 from the Dominican Republic, ... more to come! 

Moment #3

The rains came Down and the floods came Up...

I will never forget during the second hurricane that I experienced in La Romana, getting a call and hearing that the church was flooding pretty badly. When Victor and I were able to get out to go to the church the rain was already up to our knees and beyond, people were wading through the streets as the mighty rush of water went flowing in all directions. Children could be seen playing in the water and store owners could be seen standing on the stoop where the water had flooded up too. This storm was particularly bad, people lost their homes, my friend Jordany and his family lost almost everything they had, there was no school, no church, no classes of any kind for a week and when the rain finally subsided we were all left standing in wonder at the destruction the waters left behind. 

I will never forget going to the church with Victor and his young son Nestor, seeing the sadness come across Victor's face as we realized that all the sound equipment had ended up under water, and that most of that equipment was ruined. Then in the midst of it all, standing there in the water, Victor turned around, grinned and threw up his hands saying, "what's a little water?"

He told me, "this is life, life happens, now we pick up the pieces, we clean what we can and we move on, thanking God that we have our health and our families and our homes."

Personally, seeing all the sadness around me made me feel sad, but for Victor the sadness only lasted for a moment as he was immediately reminded of how many blessings God had given to him, his family and his community. I stood there after taking the picture of Victor and I praised God for this wise man that He had made my host.

I have truly learned So much from Victor in such a short amount of time, no pictures or words could ever express my gratitude to him and to God for allowing me to stay with his family and to learn from them. 

SO, now, every time it rains? I give even more thanks to God because I will gladly run through the rain clutching an umbrella because I'm reminded of how lucky we are; we do not have hurricanes in Southwest Virginia but God is still protecting us as much as He protects those who Do live through hurricane season year after year. 

Next time it rains, and others are complaining, you know where to find me... I'll be the crazy chick jumping in puddles saying... "what's a little water?" God Bless and Take care of those you love.