hola, from jaibon

today i moved an hour away from monte cristi to jaibon, to the other orphanage. it has been such a tiring day and there are a lot of things to process but i met some of the kids and i can already tell i'm going to fall in love all over again. i miss the monte cristi kids so much already but i trust that God has me here for a reason. this past week was our largest camp (450 kids!) and it was so intense and fun. i loved seeing all the kids from camp at the English Institue and spending more time with them. i squeezed every drop of time i could with the kids at the orphanage this past weekend and it has just been such a great past month. i hope you'll be praying for my transition to this orphanage, and know that i'm praying for the things you guys have going on this summer as well. i feel Christ making an impact so much here on these kids, maybe even an impact that they don't yet notice. thank you for being part of it.

love, em

welp.

This week has been so amazing. Every day I'm here I love it more. Our camp this week was at the English Institute that OO has here in town and the kids there were great. I got my teacher voice back for the most part and had a great group to teach English with so all went well. There were tons of activities in the afternoons and evenings this week for the kids, and some for us interns too. "Noche Especial" for the boys was last Wednesday night, and the girls stayed with us for a while and watched a movie. This Wednesday with be the girls' Noche Especial and I'm super excited to have a huge sleepover with them. We had a sunset beach trip this week that was so beautiful. Every day I have moments where I question whether or not this is real. God is so good, and I am seeing Him in a new way here.

It's so cool to be here in a different country with people who share the same passions as me. I have been blown away by the huge amount of encouragement I've found in some of the other interns who I just met two weeks ago. I love that God can inhabit and work through any community of believers. I've realized in thinking back how God has been beautifully orchestrating his plan for me to be here right now for so long, even down to the song that this blog is named after, and I am trusting Him to continue that while I'm here and even when I leave. My goal for this week is to spend as much time with the kids at the orphanage as possible because I am moving to the orphanage at Jaibon in two short weeks and I want to make the most of my time here. I am already going to miss these kids so much. Another goal I have is to use more Spanish this week. It is getting progressively better but I want to be able to communicate even more.

God is teaching me about boldness this week and I pray that He gives me strength to be even more bold each day in the work I'm doing here. Thank you for praying!

love, emilee

i'll make this quick.

missionary life is unpredictable. unfortunately this update has to be super super short due to limited internet time this week. but everything is going so great! God is showing me so much and i'm growing a lot. i love the kids here and just the work that is being done by our group this summer and this organization as a whole. i have great hopes that at some point over the summer i'll be able to share some photos on this blog. also, next time i update you i hope to be able to share some good stories from the 2 weeks i've been here.

some good things: one, i found my teacher voice. two, i am making great friends with the other interns and leaders here. three, the beach is amazing here! four, my Spanish is slowly slowly getting better.

stay tuned for more in the next week. i love you all and i apologize for the lack of substance to this post, but i do apreciate your prayers so much. more to come soon enough!

"wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"
psalm 27