An Unfortunate Event

Sadly, the house of two sisters (Melissa and Lisa) in our program at Anija burned down this weekend. Apparently a neighboring family was cooking some rice and left the house when a spark (or something?) caught fire and not only burnt their house down but the next couple of neighboring houses as well. Lisa (in sixth grade) was upstairs sleeping when she woke up feeling super hot. She looked up and saw the walls on fire. She yelled for her mother, who ran upstairs and thankfully got all of the kids out safely. Their whole upstairs burned, which contained EVERYTHING- beds, clothes, toothbrush, toiletries, undergarments, school books, backpack, documents, and yes, even her library book. The downstairs is okay, which doesn't have much in it. Their grandmother's house and colmado (a little store) completely burned down. Kids Alive has gathered some donations of clothes, toiletries, food, etc. and took them over today. The family is also borrowing a neighbors' bed (that there whole family is using). They are in good spirits and so grateful to God that they are alive! Please pray for this family as they start the process of getting new documents and starting to rebuild their home. Please also pray that we can fund or find beds for them!

Melissa is on the right.

Lisa is standing in the center of the front row with the light blue gift.

Praying for Effective Communication

As most of you know, communicating in Spanish has been one of the biggest challenges for me since living in the Dominican Republic. For the past couple of weeks I've been thinking and praying about taking an intensive Spanish course through an organization called Students International. Each fall, SI offers a 5 week, 5 days a week, 3 hours a day course for their semester students along with a few other random people. I am hoping (and praying) that I get to be one of these random people starting in September.

I've always known that my Spanish isn't quite at the level it needs to be at but over the past couple of weeks God has really bought to my attention, that my lack of Spanish is slowing down the ministries I'm involved with and the reasons I came here. A couple weeks ago I went with Emily, a summer intern, to visit one of our Anija students and at the end of our visit, Emily was asked to pray for the family- in Spanish. This made me think about how I've never actually prayed in Spanish before (other than, "Gracias a Dios por esta comida"- Thank You God for this food!). I want to have the courage and the right words to pray with my students and for the families I visit.

About a week ago I was talking with another friend about the outreach to La Lomita he went on with our church and as he was telling me how awesome it was to share the gospel, worship together, and pray for the people, I thought to myself, "I would be so intimidated to go on an outreach because I would have to speak Spanish!" I know that God can still work through me no matter how much Spanish I may or may not know but I want to be as prepared as I can be for praying, encouraging, and sharing God's love with my students and any others God places in my life here. That is the reason I'm here.

So, I ask that you pray with me for these things:

1. Students International says it's alright for me to take their course starting in September.

2. My bosses at Anija give me permission to leave Anija a little early for those 5 weeks.

3. Funding for the course would be donated as I've heard it's about $300.

4. God's grace and motivation to learn, and courage to communicate more in Spanish!

Prayer Request

"If he had not been stubbornly determined to pursue his own agenda, he could have traded his disappointment in his plan for the deeper hope of the will of God."

-David G. Benner, Desiring God's Will

Please pray with me that I will continue to be open to God's will and embrace what He has in store for me instead of feeling scared at times.

A Few More Pictures, Prayer Requests, and Praises

Here is a picture of some of the houses at the Ark
(KAI orphanage in Jarabacoa). Each house has
enough space for up to 10 children. There are currently
68 children at the Arc, twelve new this year!

Here is a picture of a couple of my students working
in groups with a team from the US.

All the kids LOVE having teams come. They are
all smiles :)

I am with one of my good friends, Michel. She is the
8th grade teacher at ANIJA. She was very welcoming
when I arrived and is patient and helps me with Spanish.
I started tutoring her in English this week.

Please pray for:
-Guidance and wisdom for future plans
-Finding a prayer partner
-Learning and understanding Spanish
-Building friendships
-My role in helping with sponsorship
-Helping with volleyball

Praises:
-Good trip home for my gramma's funeral
-I feel very blessed for the house I live in
-God has been faithful in giving me patience with my classes

Quick Update & Prayer Requests

Thank you everyone for your prayers these past few weeks. After a rough week of seeing my gramma's health decline and having family fly in to see her, my gramma had done a 180 turn! She is able to have a conversation, eat normal, and seems like she is doing just fine. The hospice helper was shocked! My emotions have been up and down through all of this since at one point I thought I would be flying home for her funeral. God must not be done with her on earth yet :) Thanks again for your prayers and thoughts. Things are going well here although finding time to update my blog has been hard! I am working on setting a chunk of time weekly for updating my blog.

A few things to pray for:
1. Living situation- I am still living with the Trautwein's (a missionary family). I am looking to live with another KAI missionary, Jenilea. There are a couple of options but as with most things in the DR, the process is slow.
2. Process of learning Spanish- I am taking 4-6 hours of tutoring a week. This has been extremely helpful as I write out a few bullet points (in Spanish) of what I want to say in my classes and have my tutor correct any grammar mistakes.
3. Teaching is going well- Communication is the hardest part. I am anxious to know all 150+ students' names that I teach and start really getting to know the kids.
4. Transportation- As you will see in a picture, I have driven a motorcycle a few times but am now thinking that I will drive a pasola instead. Pray for safety every day for me as people here drive without acknowledging pasola/motorcycle riders.
5. Time with the Lord- I have been studying Exodus and have been encouraged that God will use me even if I feel like I don't have the ability to communicate like He used Moses. Pray that I continue to have daily time with the Lord.
6. Praise- I have been feeling peace about being here.
Thanks again for your support, I love getting emails and encouraging words!

Here are a few pictures:

This is at ANIJA, the school I teach at.


My first lesson on how to ride a motorcycle. Now I am practicing riding a pasola. I feel better on a pasola. I will try to take a picture and post it soon.


Walking to the waterfall, Salto Baiguate.


Salto Baiguate.


I like this picture but it was really rocky so it made my hands hurt a little.

PS- Here is my address, I love receiving letters :)

Julie-Anne Bailey
Unit 3049- KAIDR
3170 Airmas Dr.
Ft. Pierce, Fl 34946

Praise and prayer request

One of my main prayer requests has been to meet someone to run with while in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. About a week and a half ago I made a friend and running partner, Katie, while hiking up Volcano Pacaya. A few days later I went to a free trial salsa class and met another running partner named Alana. Running with the two of them has been great! Unfortunately they both leave within the next week but once again God has provided another running partner! Katie and I were out on a run this morning and we met another runner named Lori. She just arrived on Sunday and will be here for six weeks. She also ran in college and has been praying for a running partner. God is good! Please continue to pray for a running partner(s) in the Dominican Republic.

Another blessing today: Three new students arrived on Sunday to live at my house, Cindy, Casey, and Danny. They are apart of a group here to learn Spanish this week and join other members from their church for a missions trip next week. Cindy has been such a blessing over the last couple of days, giving me spiritual encouragement and inviting me to join their group this weekend to hike up Volcano Pacaya and take a tour of a coffee plantation. Praise the Lord for fellowship family in Christ around the world!

Prayer Request- As most of you know, I am taking 7 hours of Spanish class 5 days a week. I started at the very beginning in Grade A, which has 25 lessons. Wednesday afternoon (July 22) I will be taking the big test to pass Grade A and move onto Grade B. We have covered A LOT of material in a short amount of time. Please pray that I don't confuse material (verbs, vocabulary, etc) and that I can do well on the oral comprehension questions.

Thank-you for your prayers and know that I am praying for you as well. Please let me know how I can be praying for you! My e-mail is julieannebailey@gmail.com

Adios!

This is the sweet McDonalds (and McCafe) here in Antigua.


This is the sitting area inside for McDonalds.
I think they even have wireless internet!


A sunset viewed from the rooftop of my house.

The volcano "Fire" starting to smoke, viewed from my rooftop.


These are my friends Katie (left) and Rui (right).
We went to this cool restaurant on the top of a roof to
hang out one last time before Katie leaves in the morning.
Katie was one of my running partners.


This is my teacher Teresa. We get along well. :)