God, what are You doing?

Tonight I had a such a good night.

Let me back up to Thursday. At choir/orchestra practice, Alan told me he wanted to talk to me. Fidel and Altagracia Lorenza are here, visiting from the Dominican Republic and are the directors of Operation Christmas Child in the D.R. They come in May to talk to churches and visit with the relay teams that work so hard to collect boxes and to organize distribution. Alan and Heidi went on a distribution trip with OCC and have been totally changed by it. I REALLY want to go on a trip. I'm going to get more involved this year so I might get a chance to go on a trip in the future.
ANYHOW... Alan invited me to a cookout at their house with the team of distributors so I could talk to Altagracia and Fidel a little more. Ya see, Altagracia, who is such an amazing lady, is the principal of a school in D.R.....and I made the "mistake" of telling Alan how much I want to get overseas and teach. I think he's made it his goal to get me on the mission field. He asked me on Thursday,  "What do you think about taking a year's sabbatical and going to live with the Lorenzos in DR and we'll make sure your transportation is taken care of and we'll get support going for some spending money."  What do I think??????? PACK MY BAGS!

What do I think? I think that it'd be unbelievable. A dream come true. My ultimate dream is to be bilingual and to just let Spanish flow like a river out of my mouth. I'd love to be surrounded by Latinos. I'd love to eat beans and rice and amazing fruit. I think it'd be great to shake my life up a little. I also think that I have a ton of loans. I need more than just spending money-I need loan payment money. I need to be able to continue on things in the U.S. while I'm working out of country. I think that I don't know enough Spanish to survive.

When I got in the house, Fidel asked if my luggage was packed. :-) I talked to Altagracia a lot about the school. K-7 come to school in the AM. 8-12 come in the afternoon. Some classes have up to 37 in them. 37 kids in a classroom!! In a SPANISH speaking classroom where things are falling apart and they need so much. I'm actually laminating things for her so she can use them for years to come. It's so little but it's something. It's something that I and CRCS can give.

I mentioned to Alan about how I'd love to go but I have school loans and how I'd have to make that much a month to be able to go. He told me to figure that amount out and let him know.  ?  ?  ? He then proceeded to tell me that he already has someone who has stepped up to the plate and would be willing to take care of that while I'm gone.     WHAT?!?!?!?   I was in such disbelief that I didn't know what to say. I just kinda laughed it off and he reassured me how serious he was. Someone wants to pay my loans while I go overseas. How unreal. How amazing. How....wow. He said he'd talk to Pastor about making sure I'd get my job back if I left for a year to do this and how he's already planting that seed. He's determined to get my train rolling. He also said he didn't want me to get married yet because then I wouldn't be free to do everything he wants to see me do.

Lord, you are in control. You are blowing my mind right now. I need to be intentional with my life to make this happen. Please open the doors and make me trust enough to go through so I don't have regrets and so I don't miss out on Your amazing blessings and work that I can do for You.

Viva Republica Dominicana!