Just out of prison...too scared to shoplift.

I was leaving the grocery store earlier today and saw a man sitting outside a restaurant at the curb, head bowed and resting on his folded arms. I first thought he must be a worker from the restaurant taking a break and simply sitting outside for a moment for some fresh air, despite the hot day. Then as I passed by, I noticed the sign sitting by his legs: "Just out of prison, too scared to shoplift." Wow.

The man never raised his head as I drove by (or as many others drove by) and I seriously debated whether I should return to offer some sort of help, most obviously a meal. I began thinking who I could call to go with me since it was probably a safer thing to do with someone else and not alone, then I thought maybe I should simply ask the young man what he needed and go from there. This mental discussion went on until I finally arrived to my own home. I didn't stop and I didn't do anything. I debated about what was best or could be done but in the end, I didn't do anything to help.

I think that this is often the case with people who want to do something to help with the problems they see in the world. The desire to help is there. The ideas about what could be done are present. Even ideas about who could actually do the tasks needed to help. Unfortunately, we all too often decide there are too many reasons why we shouldn't do something. And so we choose to do nothing. Just like I did.

Now, many of you may already be saying that I had lots of good reasons to choose NOT to help. I was being smart because this man could have been dangerous. He could have swindled me or taken advantage of my kindness. I'm not denying those possibilities. But something I saw in his posture and his message said he was beaten by life, had little hope left and was literally begging anyone to care about who he was. And I drove by. In answer to those of you who say that I would probably have been swindled, I recently read something that I think is very important to remember. When Jesus healed the blind, he didn't ask them what they would do with their sight. When he gave bread to the hungry he didn't ask them how they would use it. When Jesus gave to others he simply gave; his gift to them wasn't conditional. Why are our gifts conditional? Isn't a gift, in and of itself, just that...something you give away so that it is no longer yours to control?

I have thought of this young man all day and prayed for him and his situation. I've prayed that someone did stop and talk with him and helped him. I asked for forgiveness that I wasn't courageous enough to be the one to stop. I don't have much to give but I have enough to have bought him a meal or taken time to listen if he simply needed someone to hear him. If we are tired of hearing the tragedy around us every day, then we must step out of our comfort zones and believe that God will be with us during our uncomfortable times of stretching. Where is God calling you to serve or pulling at your heart to make a difference? You may think it is life-changing for someone else when you help, but I guarantee your life will also be changed in amazing ways! Please don't talk yourself out of helping someone else today.

La Romana Happenings since Jan 2012

So it has been a long time since I have posted anything...I am really sorry about that but had very little control over it!  Sometime in the first week of February my computer started having issues.  First Windows 7 was corrupted and my computer wouldn't load anything.  I sent it to the states to get fixed and 6 weeks later I got it back.  Then, within a week, my hard drive crashed and I had to completely replace that...aaargh.  Thankfully, I had most everything backed up when I started having problems with Windows.  It was just a matter of reloading all of the programs and getting things back to the way they were before all of the problems.  Well, I thought it was over, but since the hard drive was installed, I randomly get the "blue screen of death" or the "black screen of death!"  It seems that maybe the processor is also damaged although if I wait a bit or restart the computer with the repair disc, things will again run for awhile.  So much has happened during the last few weeks (months!) that I wanted to make sure to note some of it here before my computer crashes again!! :)

At the beginning of February, I went to Mexico to share in the beautiful wedding of a good friend.  I had the opportunity to climb to the top of a mountain where there was an ancient Aztec (I believe) pyramid.  It was a hike I was not at all prepared for but shared the journey with two other wedding guests and we had a wonderful day laughing and telling stories.  I have learned to never believe someone when they tell you "you are almost there."  I guess it's all from individual perspectives, though, so probably in the whole scheme of things, I was almost there for over an hour!  The wedding was beautifully set with a backdrop of mountains and flowers blooming at the home of a friend.  We enjoyed a mariachi band, wonderful Mexican cuisine and even learned some Greek dancing in the evening (the bride's father is Greek!).  Although it was a quick trip and much colder than I expected, it was beautiful and I would love to return for a longer period of time one day.

Since January 1st, we have had 33 teams visit us (as of today) and many individual volunteers.  We are set to make a record of around 70 teams this year so if you are praying for us...keep the prayers coming!  It seems that the work just keeps growing as people seek a ministry with integrity and great need...both of which I believe we have.  Our teams have been medical, surgical, construction, evangelism and food distribution.  We have hosted or will host teams from UMass, Yale, Quinnepiac University, LIJ Cohen Children's Hospital, Gwynedd-Mercy College, University of Southern Florida, Northeastern, Hampton-Sydney College, Azusa Pacific, Watkinson School, Villanova University, University of Chicago, UNH, Moises Brown school, Lovett School, several foundations plus churches of just about every denomination.  We have new groups coming from the southern states of the US, Colorado and north into Canada.  We will be hosting several Rotary Clubs who want to come and see what we are doing and find out how they can become involved.  It's exciting and exhausting at the same time.  We are even still working with a team that goes over to Haiti to help rebuild a school and work on an orphanage.  Many, many new projects in the future!

One of the most exciting new projects is our After-School Project (Esperanza), that will be starting in the middle of June.  Several local staff are involved in coordinating the program that will bring outreach to children between the ages of 5-8 years old.  I recently discovered that most kids don't go to school beyond the 4th grade if they live in the bateyes!  Some of it is transportation, some is lack of schools, some is due to no encouragement to stay in school and some is due to lack of supplies for an appropriate education.  All of these things and more we will try to address.  We desperately need funding for this new program and I would ask that if you are interested in making a donation to help out, to please contact Crystal Diaz de Benitez at crystal.diaz@yahoo.com to find out how you can help.  Maybe you have a Sunday school class or a class at your school that would be willing to collect and donate supplies; maybe you could send a small monthly donation to make sure the folks running the program can continue to work with us or maybe you'd like to be a resource person for those who are coordinating the work.  Whatever you may be able to do would be greatly appreciated.  We will also offer sports, music and art so if you can help, contact Crystal.  You can also find out more information at:  http://www.internationalministries.org/projects/51

In March we had the pleasure of hosting two physical therapy missionaries from Santiago.  They encouraged to continue to build our physical therapy program and opened our eyes to the opportunities within the DR for education for our therapists.  We are hoping to really grow the program and encourage our therapists in their education.

Finally, this week we visited three prisons to offer medical and dental care to the inmates.  I plan on sending out a newsletter very soon about our experience but wanted to let you know that we saw almost 1200 people in two days!  We visited the prison in El Seibo which houses only men and is severely overcrowded as well as the men's and women's prisons in Higuey.  I am hoping that this ministry to a very needy population will continue with other teams but at this time we are only seeing this population once a year.  Next week we will be visiting the La Romana prison where there was recently a fire and some killings after a riot inside so we will definitely need your prayers on Tuesday!

Well, friends, I think that catches you up on what's been happening here in La Romana over the last two months.  I continue to try and care for myself with rest and personal development but always would appreciate more prayers for strength to stick to my boundaries!  I'm part of a wonderful book study on Friday evenings with a group of women who have become very close friends.  We are reading Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge and finding such comfort and healing in what we read.  Please keep our group in your prayers as well.

This fall I will be traveling in the Midwest and Northeast to speak to churches, schools, rotary clubs, etc about the work we do here so if I haven't seen you here in La Romana, hopefully I will see you in the fall.  When I have a schedule of my speaking, I will post it so you will know.

Many blessings!
Kristy

Martha's Flavorful Memory

Wow...what an emotional last few days.  Our dear friend, Martha Lamar, who was the head cook and hospitality person at the dormitory died late on Monday night.  It has really sent a shockwave through the whole ministry here in La Romana.  As I stood at the wake yesterday afternoon, there was crying, some wailing and generally a lot of discussion about the woman that Martha was.  I'd like to share one of those conversations with you now.

One of the most interesting conversations was with a group of translators.  As many of the teams know, Martha was the head cook and in charge of making sure that the dormitory had everything it needed when teams were visiting.  Having more than 60 teams this year, you can understand how much work this was!  She helped to coordinate the cooking for the teams during the day which meant that she not only had to have breakfast ready for upwards of 90 people by 7am but she also had to have their lunches ready by 8am so that they could load them on the bus for the day!  It was a lot of work but she did it lovingly and I don't think I ever saw her complain about doing it.  So, as I was standing with a group of doctors and translators at the wake yesterday, they began talking about Martha and her influence on their lives and work.  They mentioned that all of them noticed the change in flavor of the food on Monday (she was in Santo Domingo on a ventilator that day).  Each of them said that the food just wasn't as flavorful and all of them attributed that to Martha not helping with the cooking.  Incredible.  She even added her special flavor to the food each day.

I marveled at that comment because more than once I have complained about how boring ham and cheese sandwiches were after almost 12 years of seeing them daily with the team lunch (I started bringing my own lunch each day a couple of years ago).  How callously I said that!  Here was Martha and Tata 1 and Tata 2 and Margarita getting up while it was still dark to make sure we all had a delicious and filling lunch but my comment was only that it was boring!  Oh how I wish I had considered the labor of love put into those ham and cheese sandwiches.  And, I'm sure they didn't LOVE ham and cheese after putting together so many sandwiches each day for 12 years or more.  Who would?  But yet, they did it anyway and with a lot of care.  They also made rice dishes and empanadas for the teams and staff.  It was this rice that lacked flavor on the day that Martha died.

So I guess my thought for the day is this: first, consider what you say before saying it.  We have no idea where another person has been or what they have lived through or even what their motivation (or lack of it) is for this very day.  There's a well-known saying about walking a mile in someone else's shoes, and I think that's pretty important to remember before we begin critiquing a situation or a person.  Second, we should be telling the people around us HOW MUCH we care about them.  If you wait until just the right moment or wait for a special time to really express how much you love them, that moment in time may never come.  There wasn't a person at breakfast on Friday morning in the dining hall that thought this would be the last time they saw Martha's smiling face in the kitchen.  No one could have expected that and certainly no one thought they wouldn't have another chance to thank her for her service.  Finally, friends, PLEASE remember that how you live your life really does affect those around you.  The "flavor" you add to your world may be sweet and savory or it may be bitter or bland.  What flavor do you want people to remember about you?  When you are no longer part of this world, will your flavor be missed?

Each of us has such an important place in the lives we have been given, even when you aren't sure what that role is!  It is so easy to be overwhelmed or troubled by daily events and it is really easy to lose your joy in life as things just get in your way.  Don't let that happen.  Continue to be light in the darkness, hope where there isn't hope and a smile where there are only tears.  We really can make this world a better place.  Martha did and so can you!

http://www.myyogaonline.com//programs/de-stress-express/day-6

Five reasons to reduce stress.

This is a great article with a lot of sound reasons that reducing stress can help you overcome a lot of physical problems you may have. See what you think!

http://www.myyogaonline.com//programs/de-stress-express/day-6