Everyone Needs a Support Network (month 6.5 in the D.R.))

I have always wanted to be able to make a prayer
card. You know, they’re the little postcards
that “Christian missionaries” send out to their prayer and financial supporters each year, showing photos of what they are doing in their work and lives in their “foreign land”, so that their supporters know how to pray, and how to encourage them, and how to be a part of their work – whether that work be
medical care for people in war torn countries, teaching soccer as a way to build community in South Africa, or starting a church or a school or a foster care system in Bangladesh or Morroco or Laos. I always thought – `what a neat idea.’ People who receive the little postcards then put them on the fridge and keep the missionaries in their prayers and thoughts throughout the year. Sometimes they even send “care packages!” Hooray!

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So, this is the first Christmas that I made one – a
prayer card. I thought I’d make one since I now live in the Dominican Republic, and I am doing Humanitarian work, and definitely on most days could really use the prayer support and encouragement of at least 100 people! I waffled a bit before making the card, though,
thinking that perhaps since I’m not an “official” missionary sent by a church,
but rather a humanitarian worker getting paid by a non-profit (albeit not much J) to work in the D.R., that maybe I didn’t “get” to consider myself ‘official”
enough for a prayer card.

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I mean, other people go to jobs all day in the U.S., and
take care of their families, and volunteer to mentor local kids in their towns
in North America – and they never send out a prayer card asking for others to remember them, and support them, and hold them up in prayer before God, so that God will guide them in their
everyday tasks.

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But then I thought – you know, probably everybody should send out prayer cards. We should all take a few photos of our work, our family, the kids we mentor, the organizations we lead, and we should make a little collage and send it out to at least 15 people who love us and really know us, and can really use the information on the card to pray for and support us in
our daily lives throughout the year. (I think this used to be part of what happened when most families used to send Christmas letters every year. Some people still do this, but I think the practice is waning. Yet I know that during my childhood my mom always used to put 15 or 20 of the photos and letters that came at Christmas each year on the fridge, so we could remember
those families and what they were up to, and keep them in our minds and hearts throughout
the year.)
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Well, it’s Christmas again. And we’re all having an important impact on some part of the world right now – whether big or small, and we need the support of others, and their prayers, to
help us `keep on keeping on’ in the work we’re doing throughout the year.
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So, above is my Prayer Card, with photos of a few of the things that I am involved in here.
Thanks for your support, prayers and encouragement. (And special thanks to those of you who’ve sent encouraging facebook notes and emails, offered to send a care package, and helped
to manage my house and other life stuff in the U.S. while I am gone. You know
who you are! And you’re wonderful!) Let me know how I can pray for and remember you in the things you’re doing in your life as well!
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A lot of new friends in the D.R and old tried-and-true friends in the US have supported and helped me in my work and life here thus far through Health Horizons. And while there is not nearly enough room in this (overly-long) blog post for all of them, I want to highlight a few here for you to see, with photos and Thank you notes :
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Thanks to my neighbors Tata (with toddlers on bench) and her mom Fefita (with Candle, above) and their entire extended family, for welcoming me and making me a part of their family when I was new in Montellano and knew nobody; for helping me learn Spanish, for teaching me about culture, food and politics, for introducing me to their entire neighborhood - now my good friends - and litterally keeping the light (er, candle) burning for me when the power went out, repeatedly.

Thanks to my Friend and Colleague Luz (laughing with me) who has shown me what it means to truly love and care for others above and beyond yourself.

Thanks to my co-workers and friends Willy, Claudia and Carlito (shown here push-starting a moto for some stranded high schoolers) who have shown me what it means to truly go out of your way for others.

Thanks to my colleagues and friends Estela (feeding a pig and laughing with her neighbors) and Dania who have taught me not to take myself too seriously!

Thanks to everyone at Raleigh Mennonite Church, especially Karin, Todd and Janet, Brenda and Craig, Amy, Anne, my entire small group, the MYF and the MYF parents and the youth team, the IDR young adult group, and all the rest of you, who have shown so much support as I made the decision to move here, and who continue to support me with prayers, notes, emails, and more.

And huge thanks to my Mom and Dad for all their help and support! Thanks to all of my relatives who are keeping in touch! Enormous thanks to the Goalies - who have bent over backwards to keep me connected, though I'm so far away! And to all my old colleagues at CAS, ATC and ACC who continue to keep in touch across the miles!

What a wonderful support team I have! I'm so grateful for all of you - those in the U.S. and also those in the D.R! Thanks for the continued prayers as HHI's work will get busy again here as Christmas comes to a close! Happy New Year to All!