Hello friends and family!
Let me take this opportunity to say how THANKFUL I am for all of you. Your prayers, encouragement, financial support, email responses, and facebook “likes” mean more to me than you could know. I know I am surrounded by an incredible support team and that makes the hard days here more bearable. Let me also say that the “hard days” have been fewer and farther between lately. I am truly settling into a rhythm of life here and the things that used to seem overwhelming aren’t anymore.
I am looking forward to several fun things in the next couple of weeks. On Thursday and Friday of this week, Kids Alive teachers from all over the island are coming to Monte Plata to take part in a professional development training offered by some visiting teachers and administrators from Canada. This means our Dominican teaching staff will get to share with each other and learn together. It also means that some other North American missionary teachers are coming to visit me! I am excited to see everyone and hopefully learn some new things together. I also have a friend, Vicki, coming to visit me from the US! Vicki and I taught together in Glendale, AZ for a few years before she moved to Boston. She will be here all next week and will get to celebrate Thanksgiving here with me. Our kids at Casa Monte Plata are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with us Americans. I don’t know if they’ve ever celebrated Thanksgiving before since they’ve never had American directors at the facility. It should be a lot of fun!
Please continue praying for these specific needs within the ministry:
- We desperately need house parents for our houses at Casa Monte Plata. Pray for the Lord to bring two Dominican Christian couples to the ministry to fill these positions.
- Pray that the Lord continues to guide me and give me wisdom as I work with children at our school. I am struggling to balance my desire for their continued and improved education with their need for one-on-one attention from someone who loves and cares for them. So many days I wonder “Did I spend my time today doing things that truly matter?” Prioritizing the spiritual, educational, physical, mental, and discipline needs of our students is overwhelming!
- Pray that God continues drawing these children closer and closer to himself. For those who are not Christians, pray for their salvation. For those who are, pray that God gives them the strength to live a life set-apart from the culture of alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, and hopelessness.
Please take a moment to visit my blog (http://kristinbarber.blogspot.com/) for some recent updates about how the Lord is growing me spiritually here. My most recent updates are about balancing productivity with relationships and selfishness.
I’d love to hear how you and your family are doing and how I can pray for you specifically! Please feel free to respond to my email with an update! Thank you for loving me in so many ways!
In Christ,
Kristin