She's Back!

Dear Sandy,

You are my favorite teacher because you are the most beautiful teacher. I hope you feel better.

love,
Cesar

This is one of Sandy's get well cards from her students, and yes, most of the boys in the class mentioned how beautiful she is.

We just wanted to let you know that Sandy is feeling great lately. She is not quite 100%, but we are grateful for the progress she has made. Each day she is feeling better and better. . .praise God! He has been so faithful to us. These first few months have proved us weak, but we have seen God's strength in our weakness! Thank you for your prayers and support, we love you.

Centro Medico. . .

Last Thursday, shortly after I left the post asking you to pray for Sandy, we had to rush to the hospital. Sandy's headaches started to become more intense, the pain was moving down to her neck and shoulders. At first we were very scared and I was ready to get Sandy on the next flight home for some quality health care. However, as we prayed together and tried our best to listen to God during such a stressful situation, it seemed that He was making it very clear that we ought to stay put. As we headed to the hospital I was preparing for the worst. You see, we have visited some of the public hospitals here and they are not exactly the type of place I wanted to see the love of my life trying to recuperate. Let me tell you that God continued to show Himself faithful, time and again, as we went through this difficult situation. Sandy was placed in her own private room with air conditioning, television, mini fridge and a private bathroom. This was such a blessing because Sandy ended up staying in the hospital for 5 full days. The first couple of days we did not see any improvement and it was hard to trust that the doctors here had a clue. Each day we thanked God for Sandy's private abode and expressed our desire to go home for proper health care and each day there was something that encouraged us to stay. I can't explain how much it meant to us to have so many of you praying for Sandy through this time. I know that your thoughts and prayers have been with us regardless of illnesses but this past week your prayers were felt in a new way! I am happy to report to you that Sandy is home from the hospital and on her way to a full recovery. The doctor concluded that Sandy had possibly gotten some sort of virus that was giving Sandy the headaches early on last week. However, he believes that those headaches snowballed into intense migraines by Thursday, which is when we had to bring her into the hospital. Today is Sandy's birthday and she is feeling better than she has in almost two weeks. She still needs your prayers because the pain has continued to come back at times. Please pray for a full recovery as we trust God to take care of Sandy. We love you guys so much!

PRAY

Sandy needs your prayers. She has been struggling with headaches consistently since we have been here and we have been consistently blaming them on the heat. Well, this last weekend (Nov. 5th) her pains suddenly became more intense. We sought medical attention and Sandy had a CAT Scan which came back completely normal. Right now the doctors are treating her for migraine headaches, and we are hopeful that the medication and new diet instructions will help her recover quickly. However, the pain has still persisted. Please pray for Sandy!

Holy Guacamole!

What's that. . .you have to run up to Kroger to get some avocados? Oh, we can just pick them from our balcony. Oh yeah, we have a lime tree too. Have fun at Kroger.

The Bear Hug

I love kids. I love to see them smile. I love to hear them laugh (even if it is at me). I love spending time with them and I love being a part of their world. This passion has not only followed Sandy and I here to the D.R. but it has intensified as we have seen the plight of the children here. We have spent much of our time here trying to build relationships with the children in the poorest areas of our city (La Vega). And, we have often wondered how effective we can really be without the ability to speak Spanish fluently. Will we make a difference? Is our broken Spanish getting anywhere with these kids? Will people think this is worth our time? The list of questions could go on. However, it is no coincidence that we have had our doubts when you look at these questions. They all have to do with us. I think the reason why many of us have doubts and the reason why many of us have fears is because we ask the wrong questions. If we learned to ask the right questions, our doubts might just disappear. Will God make a difference? Is God able to speak to these kids even though I cannot? Does God care if others think this is worth my time? You see, the answers to these questions are obvious. There is no room for doubt when the focus is taken off of ourselves and shifted to our God. My ability to build relationships with these children, in fact, has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with Christ in me. It has everything to do with love. I am not talking about Valentine’s Day love; I am talking about cat of nine tails, crown of thorns, cross bearing love. I am talking about a love that says, “Grace is not just the prize that comes with your Cracker Jack faith, grace is what reached out and saved you in the first place!”

Just the other day I was walking through Arinoso (an area Sandy and I have committed to visiting weekly) with some of the same doubts and fears I shared with you earlier. I was looking for a particular girl by the name of Maria. The last time that we were there visiting she was insistent that we return the following week. So insistent that she had said, “No viene, te mato (If you don’t come, I’ll kill you).” I was worried that I had missed her when all of the sudden I looked up to see her bolting from the front door of her cinder block home. She nearly tackled me with a bear hug that easily rivals any I have ever received. My broken Spanish was not an issue in that moment. In fact, all of my doubts, fears and sins were not an issue in that moment. God’s grace and love had prevailed over all things right there in that hug and I learned an important lesson. This has nothing to do with me!