Here is my dear friend Paula and her sister Nairobi, I have spoken of them before but I wanted to share something that Paula learned and said to me. After days of practicing questions in English and learning that her favorite colors are Black and Purple, her favorite music is Romantic music, & that her favorite animal is a horse (etc etc) I asked Paula to tell me what she wants other people to know about herself and her family... and this is what she said.
"I live in La Romana with only my father as well as my two sisters, Nairobi and Raquel. My father is a very hard-working man. My sister Nairobi is very studious and she is very good with her hands. She likes to make things like bracelets, necklaces, and earrings and she hopes to sell them one day. My other sister Raquel can be very studious but she is very playful too."
"And what about you?"
"y Yo? (and I?)... I am a kind, hard-working girl. I try very hard to work for my family and to study a lot in school. I want to be a good massage therapist and I want to be a good friend."
"You are a good friend ... you are!"
... and later that evening when Victor and I drove her home we were greeted by her dad and sisters, & I learned something else. We were taken into a tiny home with no electricity, it was very dark except for two stubs of candles that were lighting up the table well enough for you to see who was sitting at it. A neighbor was there using the light trying to study and Paula's father was helping her. Another neighbor's baby girl was asleep on the couch as Nairobi had been caring for her. There was a large motor-bike taking up most of the space in the room and when I asked about it, I was told by Paula that the church had helped her father obtain that bike because he works so hard and tries to get her and her sisters to church every week and to school. The church has also helped build the house we were standing in thanks to an American mission team who had raised the funds to build it.
The work we do here does not compare to the work God has done and is doing. He has changed peoples lives and made some very faithful servants like Paula's family. Maybe you missed what I wrote earlier... so I will write it again... "thanks to funds raised by American mission teams..." I am amazed at how God can use the American dollar, multiply it here and bless the people in mighty ways. There are so many other children and teens here with stories like Paula, good people working hard just trying to survive and to get an education, but unfortunately many are not able to go to school or even to church because it is simply too expensive to get there. My dream is to be able to help the people here with their physical needs like food, shelter, and school supplies but also with other needs, like learning to speak English and while doing so, learning about God and learning bible verses. I pray everyday that there will be more workers raised up in America as the harvest is plentiful but the worker are still so few!
Now I know some of you are thinking... I could never leave my home, my family and my country, well guess what, you don't have too! Pray for the people here, that is Always the #1 thing that is needed and if God lays it on your heart to do more, then do so, support those who are willing and able to be down here, serving the people of La Romana by meeting physical as well as spiritual needs. You may be able to give $5.00 a month and you know what God can do? He can take that 5 dollars and find four other people who can give the same and then he can take that 25.00 and use it in many ways here. No gift is too small as God says that if we have the faith of a Tiny mustard seed, we can move MOUNTAINS.
Thank you for reading and for your prayers, and if you can, share this blog with your neighbor, your friend, or someone at your church, because you never know Who God will use as that tiny mustard seed. : )
God Bless
