"...My grace is sufficent for you..."

Week four of being in the DR is about to start and I still can't believe I am actually here. Lately I've been thinking about my motive for being in the DR. I want to love and build relationships with the kids and people of the DR and encourage them to seek God and His unfailing love. Over the past 3 weeks, I've learned that there is a wonderful, loving community of believers who invest a lot of time in the children that live at the Ark and/or attend ANIJA. I see now that not only am I here to encourage but to be encouraged by other believers. This got me thinking, "what is my role at ANIJA and how can I show God's love through teaching English?" So far, I've been feeling like I've made little progress really connecting with the students from ANIJA and I think a lot of that is the language barrier. Up until this week, I knew I needed God's grace to be able to teach English while speaking Spanish and I've been asking God for the words to say and guidance for every class that I teach but now I see that I'm not even going to be able to build relationships without His help. Lately I've come to think that that's the point... I can't. God can. Several times in the last few weeks, through friends and family, this theme has come to mind. Each day as I pray for my students I also read, "...My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness..." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Every thing I do or accomplish here in the Dominican Republic (or wherever I may be) is not by my strength and I literally could not do it without God's Hand working. English in itself is not my strong suit, let alone having to teach English while speaking in Spanish and then trying to build relationships with people that I don't understand 75% of the time. May God receive all the glory and honor for all that is accomplished. Amen!

This is a view from the roof of the Trautwein's house (the family I have been staying with).