Today, God Was The Color Green

Actually, today God was the color Neon Green...and He was in the form of a rope in the back of our sweet new, boss (thanks JJ for bringing it back) ride. For those of you that haven't heard, we bought a 1999 Diahatsu Minivan Hi-Jet. Basically, it is a sweet machine that we love. It also happens to be the same car that all of the ice-cream men down here drive, but, I digress. So today, Kelly and I ran to the hardware store to pick up the wood that I needed to build our desk - of course though, there was no power at the store so we were unable to have the guy cut the wood to size for us. No matter because I happen to have a skill saw at my house right now so I thought, I'll just buy the whole thing and cut it myself. What that meant however, was that we had two, 12(?) foot long 2x4's that we needed to slip slide into our propane powered micro-machine. Turns out, that was not going to be possible. But, God showed up. When we opened the back door to the car to give it a go, we found a long, strong, Neon Green rope that neither Kelly nor I had ever seen before despite both of us having gotten into the back for various reasons over the last couple of days. I still can't explain it but it got the wood home and I'm happy to say that the desk is built.

I hope that the above illustration doesn't make me sound too cavalier about the presence of God. It's just that down here, we are constantly amazed at the different ways that God shows up in our day. The rope is silly but truly, He has proven His faithfulness to Kel and I every single day and we pray that you would experience the His provision, protection and care as well.

Below follows an email that I sent to the International Office of COTN that I thought you might enjoy reading (though some of you already have because I stole parts of it from emails that I have sent to you...shhhh). Go Huskies (and Obama too on this all important Tuesday).

Even as I write this update, Kelly and I are falling more in love with the Dominican Republic. Each day as we wake up, we know that a new adventure awaits us and while sometimes we stop to wonder what it will be, most days, we just go straight to reading God's word with a bowl of cereal before venturing out. And, almost as if receiving an unearned reward, we find ourselves constantly amused and enamored with the life that swirls around us - it comes at a measured pace that is always oriented towards relationship first, all other priorities second.

At work we are becoming acquainted with the ways that we will be participating in ministry down here. Kelly is busily working with an incredible team to develop a plan for identifying and educating children with special needs in our villages. I have begun teaching English to a class of extremely motivated students while also learning the ropes for the Venture Team process. The Dominican Staff has filled the role of teacher, cultural mentor, tour guide, language instructor and friend. They are incredible and we thank God each day for them.

We feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of this work...obviously (sometimes even daily,) we have our ups and downs and our fair share of frustrations, but the downs and the frustrations are always tempered and outnumbered by the joy and the blessings. We have a cute newly constructed two bedroom, one bathroom apartment with high ceilings and lots of light, on a quiet street that is filled with the best neighbors we have ever had. We have been embraced and loved and cared for by our coworkers and community and even recently acquired a car that while being hilarious looking, manages to get us everywhere we need to go. Daily, we are learning to trust more, we are learning patience and we are falling deeper in love with the God who calls each star by name and moves us "from strength to strength."

Cheers,
M&K