More school? Yes, please!!
Yesterday, Monday, 23 June was the
first day of six weeks of summer school. The teachers will spend the
time reviewing, teaching the last concepts the students will need for
the next year's class, combating the heat and cursing the principal
who instituted this craziness. Gulp! So, now you have a better idea
how to pray for the Makarios staff and kids this summer. Also, we
are going to have a full summer of groups and we pray they have a
life-changing experience as they invest in the Kingdom by serving
with Makarios.
I wanted to just give anyone reading a
little feel for what it is like in the everyday for the Majcher's in
the DR. There is a lot to share as I try to paint a mental image of
our life here. For now I will start with how we get to school.
Usually the boys and I take public
transportation to school. This consists of Joe taking us to the
entrance of our community at 6:45-ish where we wait for a guagua
(van) or a carrito (a four-door vehicle). The trip to the
edge of our community involves dodging several things: guys on
motorcycles, stray dogs, wandering horses, the occasional cow and,
even, one time, a family of pigs....oh, and the potholes. Oh, the
myriad of potholes. Once we are at the end, Joe lets us out and we
wait. Sam and Levi pick little flowers for their teachers that I am
supposed to preserve until the end of our trip. I have not
successfully done this in almost a year's time. :/
If we get a guagua then
we pay about a dollar for the three of us to get dropped off at one
of the streets leading into the town of Montellano. If we take a
carrito then we will
pay a little over a dollar for the three of us to arrive in
Montellano as it turns into the town to pick up other folks. Each
vehicle has beyond its limit of people in it. A few times Sam has
asked why Dominicans don't like to have so much space around them.
We chat on the 15-minute trip there or watch the sun start to peek
through the clouds or talk to the folks around us who are always
wondering if the boys are twins. It has become a sweet time for the
three of us to just be together and pray for the day and take in our
surroundings.
Once
we pay and hop out, we have a little bit of a walk to school. For
normal people this would take, oh, say, about 7 minutes. Sam and
Levi manage to drag it out to a solid 15 minutes if permitted. It is
just that there are so many interesting things to see and comment on.
So many people to greet. We usually arrive at school before 7:30
and often are the ones to open up the main office. The boys like to
help me open the windows and Levi likes to sit on the swivel office
chair and plow into stuff. Sam usually goes out to the kitchen to
greet Odilsia and Monica who cook for the school and give the boys
the biggest hugs...and sometimes some bread or mango. :) I get
stuff prepared for the day and the boys wait for their friends to
come—Mak staff and students alike. Not a bad start to our day!
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
So, I was cleaning the bathrooms at school one day.....
Who would have thought that cleaning the bathrooms at school would
have turned out to be such a powerful experience. First, I was
cleaning them since the school was expecting some visitors from the
capital who were coming to do a preliminary check in on us in our
process to become recognized by the Dominican government as an
official school. They are very important people for us. So,
everyone was scrambling preparing for their arrival.
The bathrooms are cleaned everyday, but not deeply cleaned. So, there I was sweating in the little bathrooms giving them a clean my Mom herself would have been both surprised and proud. What was sweet about it is was that throughout the the process students and teachers were asking how they could help. We were all in this together. :) I now invite everyone of you to come and check out the cleanliness of our bathrooms!
While I was thinking about inviting these ladies into every part of our school—our records, our kitchen, our yard, each classroom, our planbooks, our bathrooms, I was thinking about if I could invite them or anyone else into the corners and closed places of my heart. Would God be welcomed into those places? I put on heels and lipstick to greet these ladies (those who know me know this is a huge effort on my part—not something I do for just anyone!).....do I do any sort of preparation to welcome God?
Some verses that came to my mind and heart are Psalm 51:10. David asks God to create in him a clean heart. I had to scrub some parts of those toilets...like, really scrub. Some of that grime has been there for a long time. Just like the grime on my heart. Scrub, Father, to make it clean and holy.
If those stains are going to fade, I would need to take captive every thought and make them obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). I have always loved how clear it is that this is hard work. Taking something captive is not an easy task—have you ever wrestled with a baby to get a diaper on in the Caribbean with no fan on you? I have and it is a sweat-inducing event. It is that caliber of effort that must be made to keep those thoughts in line.
The thing is that so powerful about thoughts is that, as James so vividly describes in chapter 1, that those thoughts once conceived, grow and then are birthed to sin. As a mom who has birthed a few people, this really brings the idea home of the gravity of letting unhelpful thoughts go wild. Remember, too, that once the idea is birthed it will need diaper changes and then let the wrestling begin!
There are two other ideas that God reminded me of during Operation Clean Up For The Important Ladies. One was that it this not a sprint and the other is that I am not created to do this alone. Nope, I don't have any cute stories about how I have run a marathon, please! I am just saying that it isn't a few minutes of mediation and then I'm good to go. It is a changing of the culture of my own mind and surrendering to Christ and God, in His goodness, has called us into a community to help us in the process.
So, I thank God for the chance to be so reminded of my need to dust out some of the corners of my heart so that I may freely welcome God and others there. Good cleaning takes scrubbing and holy thinking takes wrestling with my thoughts to surrender them to Christ. Not doing this and my thoughts can get out of control and grow into something that is much harder to manage. Also, that the process is long, but not a solo task. God has given me His Holy Spirit, His Word and many wonderful people in my life.
And, for your information, I am about to go for a walk, so maybe in the future, there will be a blog about a marathon....but it may go like this, “So, I have a friend who just finished a marathon.” :)
As always, if you are able to support us in our work here with Makarios, we would be very grateful. We are still looking to be fully supported for next year. If 100 people were to give $25 a month, we would be fully funded. Could you be one of those people? (We would also happily accept one time gifts or monthly gifts of more than $25 also) :) https://makarios.webconnex.com/missionary
The bathrooms are cleaned everyday, but not deeply cleaned. So, there I was sweating in the little bathrooms giving them a clean my Mom herself would have been both surprised and proud. What was sweet about it is was that throughout the the process students and teachers were asking how they could help. We were all in this together. :) I now invite everyone of you to come and check out the cleanliness of our bathrooms!
While I was thinking about inviting these ladies into every part of our school—our records, our kitchen, our yard, each classroom, our planbooks, our bathrooms, I was thinking about if I could invite them or anyone else into the corners and closed places of my heart. Would God be welcomed into those places? I put on heels and lipstick to greet these ladies (those who know me know this is a huge effort on my part—not something I do for just anyone!).....do I do any sort of preparation to welcome God?
Some verses that came to my mind and heart are Psalm 51:10. David asks God to create in him a clean heart. I had to scrub some parts of those toilets...like, really scrub. Some of that grime has been there for a long time. Just like the grime on my heart. Scrub, Father, to make it clean and holy.
If those stains are going to fade, I would need to take captive every thought and make them obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). I have always loved how clear it is that this is hard work. Taking something captive is not an easy task—have you ever wrestled with a baby to get a diaper on in the Caribbean with no fan on you? I have and it is a sweat-inducing event. It is that caliber of effort that must be made to keep those thoughts in line.
The thing is that so powerful about thoughts is that, as James so vividly describes in chapter 1, that those thoughts once conceived, grow and then are birthed to sin. As a mom who has birthed a few people, this really brings the idea home of the gravity of letting unhelpful thoughts go wild. Remember, too, that once the idea is birthed it will need diaper changes and then let the wrestling begin!
There are two other ideas that God reminded me of during Operation Clean Up For The Important Ladies. One was that it this not a sprint and the other is that I am not created to do this alone. Nope, I don't have any cute stories about how I have run a marathon, please! I am just saying that it isn't a few minutes of mediation and then I'm good to go. It is a changing of the culture of my own mind and surrendering to Christ and God, in His goodness, has called us into a community to help us in the process.
So, I thank God for the chance to be so reminded of my need to dust out some of the corners of my heart so that I may freely welcome God and others there. Good cleaning takes scrubbing and holy thinking takes wrestling with my thoughts to surrender them to Christ. Not doing this and my thoughts can get out of control and grow into something that is much harder to manage. Also, that the process is long, but not a solo task. God has given me His Holy Spirit, His Word and many wonderful people in my life.
And, for your information, I am about to go for a walk, so maybe in the future, there will be a blog about a marathon....but it may go like this, “So, I have a friend who just finished a marathon.” :)
As always, if you are able to support us in our work here with Makarios, we would be very grateful. We are still looking to be fully supported for next year. If 100 people were to give $25 a month, we would be fully funded. Could you be one of those people? (We would also happily accept one time gifts or monthly gifts of more than $25 also) :) https://makarios.webconnex.com/missionary
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