Semana Santa

When the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table with the apostles. He said to them, “I have wanted so much to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer! For I tell you, I will never eat it until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God.
 Then Jesus took a cup, gave thanks to God, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. I tell you that from now on I will not drink this wine until the Kingdom of God comes.”
 Then he took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” In the same way, he gave them the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is God’s new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you.”
Luke 22: 14-20

This is one of my favorite times of year. This past week provides rich times of reflection as we begin the week with Palm Sunday, encounter Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and end with the Resurrection on Easter. I pray that you know the love God is pouring out on you. He is Risen! Happy Easter to you!

My first Easter in Jarabacoa turned out to be a memorable one. It began with an informal sunrise gathering at the river this morning with a few friends, singing hymns and reading Scripture – all in our pjs. We shared a yummy breakfast together and then headed to church. In the afternoon, my roommates and I had a few friends over for lunch and of course, an Easter egg hunt (we dyed eggs together yesterday).

Me, Leah, Lo, Em, Rach, Erica, Amanda, and Brit in between egg  hunts...
yeah, we had so much fun with the first one we had to hide them again!!

I have also enjoyed a week off from school for Semana Santa. I spent the first half of the week camping on a beach with a couple of other Doulos staffers. It was absolutely gorgeous. Here are a few pictures, but there are more on my Facebook page if you are interested. It was a wonderful few days of sleeping, snorkeling, eating, reading, and repeating! We saw shooting stars at night and a whale swam by in the morning. Just beautiful.

Leah, Brit, and Me

Our campsite.

Before school let out for Semana Santa, the students were able to show off their hard work at Expedition Night. Here are the third graders presenting on Ancient Egypt and the ninth grade performing original poetry after a study on hip-hop. Plus a second grade animal from Australia!

Young Life continues to be a fun time with high school kids. Here are James and Sugiery – King and Queen of Nerd Prom Club.

Anna and Me

Three of our best YL leaders!
Tim, Brock, and Mer

It’s hard to believe we have only three Clubs left before the summer!

Thank you for your continued love and support.  I can't tell you how much you encourage me daily!  I'm beginning to realize I'll be seeing some of you relatively soon... how time flies!  I'm excited for hugs all around!  Love and peace to you. ~ sara

pictures, pictures, pictures...

Dad and I hiking a waterfall

Mom and I hiking back down from the waterfall

Mom and Dad at the Lower Jimenoa

the "new" car!

Mom reading to the 4th graders - they LOVED it!

Mom and Dad after a long waterfall hike... lookin' good!

Chrissy and 3rd graders - they love her!

Jill is loved too!!

Silliness before Jill and Chrissy say good-bye to 3rd grade

My sweet third graders

Chrissy helping during Service Week at the public school

Me, Jill, and Chrissy eating pico pollo!

News...

"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."
Galatians 4:4-7

God has placed the Spirit in my heart and my heart cries out.

What a beautiful thing to progress from a slave, to a son, to an heir. This is what we focused on during our staff devotions this morning. The discussion struck a different chord with me this morning as I thought about dear friends going through the adoption process. After many years of waiting and logistics, they brought home their little girl recently! While reading this scripture in Galatians, one of my co-workers commented on how we are adopted into the Father’s kingdom. Something I’ve heard before, yet this time, after following bits and pieces of a friend’s journey to adopt, was struck by the magnitude of it all. Just as my friends have persevered and faithfully sought their daughter, Jesus has faithfully sought me (and continues to do so!). A little child waiting adoption has done nothing to deserve to be picked by a family – they are simply naked and helpless. It is the same for me before the Lord. What a humbling and amazing thing.

Personally, this past month has been filled with big news! First of all, I have unpacked my suitcases for the first time since moving here!! I now have a dresser to hold my clothes in the apartment and it is definitely beginning to feel a little more like home here. Second of all, through prayer and God’s direction I am now the proud owner of a 1999 Mitsubishi Montero! I am excited to be able to pick up high schools kids to hang out, give rides to YL Club, transport YL sound equipment and supplies, etc. All of this was being done by one couple who were happy to do it, but definitely feeling the strain of being the only ones who own a car. My high school friend, Rebekah, and I broke in the new car by going for ice cream on Sunday afternoon. Finally, this month has brought my first visitors!! My parents were able to come for about a week and half and we had a great time! Mom and Dad experienced most of what Jarabacoa and the D.R. has to offer in their short time here, even hiking one of the most difficult waterfalls! Also, two good friends just finished up a visit here. Jill and Chrissy (both from Fredericksburg) were here for a week and it was so good to have them here. I miss my family and friends being here, but know that the Lord is growing me in different ways.

Doulos. Last week was Service Week at Doulos. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday each grade level served a different part of the community with various projects. It’s a week where kids get to experience service to the community around them. Some of the projects that took place were: 5th and 12th grade travelling to a batay and working with kids in the community, 4th grade built a road at a local camping site, 2nd and 3rd grade did activities with a local public school in the afternoon, high school art painted a mural in town, middle school kids served those adults that serve us on campus…. and the list goes on! At the center of all of this service is our love for Christ and His calling on our hearts. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 It was so great to have Jill and Chrissy to be a part of Service Week with me!

Young Life. We had Club last Tuesday and kids once again heard of God who loves them. Please continue to pray for relationships between high school folks and their leaders. Please continue to pray for our leaders as all of the stars are aligning right now to make this a busy time in our lives. We are approaching the mid-way point of the semester and it is the time that we all start to hit our valleys. We so appreciate your prayerful support of this ministry!

Thank you so much for your letters, emails, notes, packages, thoughts, conversations, and prayers. I think of you often and feel so blessed to have such an awesome support system. The Lord is using you here. Thank you.

A new semester

“You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5: 14-16

Hello!

I have just returned from a yearly women’s retreat held here in Jarabacoa at the Catholic Retreat Center. I am feeling refreshed from the time spent in a quiet part of the town admist the beauty of the Lord’s creation. The above verses from Matthew were assigned to me at the beginning of the weekend for reflections. At first, I did not bond with these verses. But the Lord opened a deep part of my heart that has been hidden from even me. My people-pleaser personality has kept me, at times, from truly worshipping our King. Without realizing it, I have focused more on the people around me than the calling on my heart. I experienced beautiful worship this weekend and as cheesy as it sounds, I hope to let my light shine a little brighter.

The start of the second semester has been a busy one! The big news – I am now living in an apartment with two other teachers, Rachel and Lorraine. We moved two days after returning to the country! It was quite the whirlwind! Rachel is a first grade teacher and Wyldlife leader (Young Life’s middle school ministry) and Lorraine is an English teacher and Accountant, as well as a Young Life leader. It’s great to share a house with other women interested in investing in kids’ lives. Already we’ve hosted our high school girls bible study (Campaigners) and will continue to do so every other week. Rachel hosted a middle school girls sleepover (I vacated to a friends house for the night!).  One of the high school girls came over last week after school and just hung out for a few hours. It has been wonderful to have our home open to the community here. Even though I miss my host family, our house is truly a blessing.

In the midst of moving, I was also able to join friends at the beach for a long weekend in January. We had a four day weekend with holidays here, and it was nice to have the time to go to the beach and relax with friends. It is really beautiful here this time of year.

Doulos. The semester started January 11 and things are in full swing. A few of my ESL kids have moved back to being with their classroom teacher. Yay! One of those kids is Priscila from the video I posted a couple of weeks ago.  February should be a fairly normal month for school, which I am looking forward to! I like meeting with my kids consistently. Then, in March, I am looking forward to Work Week, when all grades take three days to serve the community in various ways.

Young Life. We had our first Young Life club two weeks ago and started off with a bang. We gave away a summer camp scholarship for the high school student who arrived wearing the most t-shirts. Melisa won with 47 shirts! It was a fun night. Please pray for our next club this coming Tuesday, February 8.
Also, I have been praying for a few months about purchasing a car here. It was not in my original plan to buy a car; however, after arriving and living the first semester here I can see how much this culture depends on transportation. If kids don’t have rides, then just won’t come to things even if they are within walking distance. Because of this, I began contemplating trying to buy a car. I have some extra funds in my account at the moment and am feeling led to use them towards buying a car. Would you pray with me on this? I don’t just want a car to have a car, but rather one that is big enough to pick up kids for club and campaigners, to transport food for the Young Life leaders, to take the sound equipment to and from Young Life and Wyldlife club… My budget is on the smaller side, so I am praying for an SUV that can handle the roads here and is in good shape. I’ll keep you posted!

I think that is it for now. It was great to see some of you last month… and really sad to miss others of you. I do think of you SO often and look forward to hearing the latest from you.

Much love and peace,
sara

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Young Life Leader Christmas Party and WHITE ELEPHANT!

YL Christmas Club - Mr. Christmas Tree Contest

Nelly, my Spanish tutor





My women's small group bible study

3rd grade expedition project

4th graders Priscila and Heidy talking about their expedition project of recycling paper.
Priceless.



Happy Thanksgiving!!!

My table at Thanksgiving dinner

4th graders making paper!

For LOST fans... I think I found "The Hatch"

Rebekah and I at YL camp

During Club at YL camp

YL camp

3rd grader Mayelin rock climbing at Pico Escondido as we explore Simple Machines

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoyed time with friends and family over the past few days. We celebrated a day of thanks here with over 100 staff, family, and friends on the Doulos grounds. It was potluck style with turkey and a roast pig. Really a fun night.

Much has been happening in the month of November. It is very different to not experience the seasons here and it is hard to believe that December is approaching (although Dominicans prepare for Christmas beginning in October). Although the nights are chilly, the days are mostly sunny and warm. Here are some snapshots of different aspects of life here…

Doulos Discovery School
Expeditions are underway! Each grade level is studying something specific that is integrated into the curriculum with a final service project. I’m working with third grade on simple machines, fourth grade on recycling and making paper, and fifth grade on identifying endangered birds of the Dominican Republic. It has made for a busy month and Expedition Night is just a week and half away. This is a night where each grade level presents final products and we celebrate with the community! It is fun to watch the students gain a vision for serving their community.


Young Life
Fall Weekend camp was a great weekend. We had over 35 teenagers from Jarabacoa attend. Leaders and kids had some great conversations and some awesome fun together. Thank you for your prayers and support of the weekend. The Spirit is definitely moving in the hearts of the people here. We will be having our first Young Life summer camp at Pico Escondido in June and the kids are already excited to spend a whole week at camp. I am just enjoying getting to know these young women – we’ve had a chance to cook a meal together and they gave me a make-over last night (it’s appalling to them that my nails are never painted!). It’s been fun to share life with them here.

Prayer Requests:
Please continue to pray for the students and young people in this community. Also, we are still looking for a house to live in and use for ministry purposes. Please pray that God would provide a house in His timing and we would be patient in the search. Give thanks for all He is doing.

Thank you for your incredible support. I am so encouraged by you each and every day. I am so thankful to be here and learning the lessons before me. It’s an awesome thing to be stretched and molded by our Lord, no matter how hard it is sometimes. I look forward to seeing some of you in a few weeks during the Christmas break.

Much love, Sara

Life

Me, Maggie, and Robyn at Erica's birthday dinner

Leah and I at a waterfall

The beautiful school campus

80s Night/Chili Cook-off for Tim's Birthday
(Jyll, Me, Erica, Amanda, and Leah)

The second quarter begins...

“Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.” Psalm 117


The Lord is faithful. I am finding this to be true each day here. I am finding myself in an interesting position… I am craving the things of comfort from home that I wanted to leave behind and be challenged in. I had a very comfortable life at home that I enjoyed very much, but also felt that the Lord has placed a calling on my heart to GO. Those things of comfort started to seem insignificant to me as I searched out God’s will for the next stage of my life. Now here I am in unfamiliar territory and am longing for the things of comfort from home. When really, the only true source of comfort is our Lord. I probably could have said all of this with “I’m homesick”. :)
Even though I miss home, I continue to feel at peace that I am where God as called me to be. There is exciting stuff happening here and I love being able to share it with all of you. Your letters, emails, packages, and prayers continue to be a source of encouragement for me.

Doulos Discovery School
The past few weeks have been a rich time with my students returning from our camping trip together. The students are more open to sharing and respond slightly quicker than before our three days in the wilderness together. The staff also benefited from a recent visit from Stephen Levy, an expert in the field of expeditionary learning. It was great to see him in action, meet with him one-on-one, and discuss in small groups together. Speaking of expeditionary learning, the second quarter has begun and expeditions are underway. In third grade we are studying Simple Machines, fourth grade Recycling (sound familiar FAers?), and fifth grade Endangered Birds. All so different and I am excited to be a part of each one.
Prayers: the 4th grade class – struggling with respect and authority issues (14 boys and 5 girls makes for a rowdy group)
ACSI accreditation – teachers are feeling the crunch to finish curriculum maps

Young Life
The big news is our Fall Weekend Camp is quickly approaching (November 12-14). The high school kids are excited! If you are interested in sponsoring a kid to go to camp it is roughly $50.00. Let me know via email and I can get the information to you. All kids are asked to pay at least half of the total amount for the weekend and then we are gathering willing sponsors to cover the remaining amount. Young Life weekend camps provide these kids a chance to hang out in God’s beautiful creation in the mountains of Jarabacoa, eat good food, have insane amounts of fun, and hear about God’s love for them. I can’t wait for my first international Young Life camping experience!
Prayers: Fall Wknd Camp – kids to sign up and hearts to be changed
House – a YL ministry house where we can hold meetings
Transportation – we have one car at the moment among leaders and it is a little stressful. Pray for wisdom if one of us should purchase a car to be able to drive kids around, or if there is another option for transportation.

Me
As for everyday life for me, the days go by quickly. I have borrowed a bike for a few weeks from a friend to let a hurt foot heal and am enjoying the ride to and from school each day. It feels good to work different muscles and get exercise other than walking. It will be a sad day when I return the bike, but am thankful for the time to ride it to let my body heal. There have been many families visiting in the recent weeks and it is nice to see into the lives of the people I work with. We all took a trip to the beach last weekend with a few of the families and it was wonderful. I can’t wait for you all to come visit! I’ve included some fun pictures from a birthday celebration for Erica. We enjoyed dinner at a restaurant on the mountain. Beautiful scenery and great food provided a chance to relax and have fun. I hope the pictures give you a glimpse at yet another side to life here. This is such a rich place. The door is open – come and see!

Outdoor Education Week at Spirit Mountain in Manabao

The girls shelter

Oliver and Kaden with a stick bug

The boys shelter

The kitchen and the other responsible adults...Amanda, Erica, Rob, Tim, and Daniel

Orienteering Class

Issac and Oliver exploring

Me with some of the 5th graders

"A tree in a story about a forest " D.Miller

"Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."  Luke 5:4
The command to let down our nets in deep water requires us to have trust.  Deep water is desolate, dangerous, and unknown.  But there is beauty in the unknown, in the dangerous, in the desolate. 


It’s October. It is so hard to believe that it is halfway through the first semester here. I am feeling much better physically and have enjoyed a busy couple of weeks.


Two weekends ago there was a holiday on Friday, so I enjoyed a three day weekend with a trip to a nearby town (Constanza) with my host family, a pancake breakfast with friends, another trip to a waterfall (pics below), and time with new friends in Jarabacoa. A week ago I helped with a 4th and 5th grade camping trip from Wednesday to Friday. It was so great! We hiked for about an hour or two with our packs to the top of Spirit Mountain (an organic coffee farm) and camped for two nights with our students. This was part of Outdoor Education Week. The 6th and 7th grades also do their own camping trip at Spirit Mountain and the 8th grade backpacks for five days to summit Pico Duarte. I am hoping to find another 3 day weekend to tackle Pico Duarte – it is the highest peak in the Eastern seaboard. The experience of camping with my students was so unlike anything I have done, but I feel has only strengthened our bond as we go forward in this school year.

God is doing some amazing work in this area. The Young Life ministry has just exploded this year. It is only the second year of Young Life in Jarabacoa. We had over 60 kids at our last Club, many from schools other than the two where we currently do ministry officially. It’s exciting that it is becoming a draw to the community as a whole. Please pray as we try to navigate through language barriers. Our clubs have taken on a Spanglish feel – parts in English, parts in Spanish. We are also outgrowing our current meeting spot. I have been looking for a house that can serve as a Young Life ministry house and also possibly live there with one or two other girls. Please pray that God would make a house available that is centrally located, has a large meeting area, and not too expensive. It’s exciting to watch Him work and a privilege to be along for the ride.

As for me, I am starting to feel more peaceful here. I have always felt like I’m in the exact place God has called me to be, but have certainly felt challenged along the way. I was reading the new Donald Miller book and he used an illustration that just fits me right now and one that I could relate to this past summer. He talks about paddling away from shore and when you start your journey, the first part happens fast. The shore behind you is getting smaller and the distant shore doesn’t seem so far away. But then all of the sudden you find yourself in the open water and neither shore seems within reach. This summer, my family (meaning the Drebes/Gast family) went on a kayaking excursion in Cape Charles. It seemed simple enough… Paddle through the beautiful marshes of the inner coastal waters of the Chesapeake Bay and cross the channel to the barrier islands to enjoy a day on the Atlantic Ocean. So… the twelve of us set out and all was fine and dandy till we found ourselves in the open water of the channel. We were aiming for a lighthouse on the far shore and it seemed that the lighthouse remained the same size for hours as the strong current kept us from making much progress. It’s this place I feel God leading me to. Perseverance, strength, faith, and trust will all be needed as the pace begins to slow down and life becomes more familiar here. Thank you for your prayers as you paddle with me.

Stephen... my "little brother"

Aurora..."my little sister"

Hiking to the Upper Jimenoa waterfall (the one from Jurassic Park the movie?)

The trail

Upper Jimenoa Waterfall

cool rocks by the waterfall

Tavin, Abby, and Rachel.
Abby and Rachel are my adventure buddies... we jumped rocks and swam through rapids to hike down the waterfall.  The best day!!
Don't worry, Mom!

New friends Erin and Ezre helped me sew for the first time.  Pretty good lookin box, 'eh??