Outta control and glad for it!

It's been a crazy ride these past 2 weeks of being sick and even though it hasn't been quite a bowl of cherries, I believe it's through the struggles and the more difficult times that we learn more. So there's been a lot of learning going on the last two weeks. If I could sum up the past 2 weeks all into one sentence I have realized more than anything "I am not in control." That's such a scary feeling at first, but after awhile you begin to realize it's the most freeing sentence you could ever experience.

Cool God moment: I had been back at my host house for one day after getting over "Dang-gay" fever and all the other fun stuff I had, and it was in the middle of the night where I started to get bad stomach cramps. Too make a long story short, they were pretty painful and I didn't know what to do about it, but I just decided to try and tough things out. That day I continued to battle these horrible pains, not knowing why they weren't going away. My parents called that night and being on my last string I let it all out and told them how sick I was feeling but didn't know whether to call the director again or if I should just tough it out or what. After about 10 minutes of frustration and indecision, Cheryl Troyer (the directors wife) walked into my house. What was she doing there!!?? I was SO relieved to see her but so confused at the same time! She told me she had been on the internet reading about a bacterial infection that a girl from our team had and she just got a strong impression from the Lord that she needed to go check on me. So in the night she drove out to El Callejon, to find me in need of some help. So after my Dominican family prayed over me (which was another God moment) we headed to the hospital. Even though I didn't end up having that serious bacteria, I will never forget how God took care of me that whole night. It's been amazing at how he has provided in every situation, throughout this semester. Seeing it in other people's lives while we've been here too has been incredible. We are SOO blessed to have a Creator that loves us and that we can call on in the midst of fear, frustration, helplessness...we have the ability to call on Him when things in our life are out of control because Praise the Lord, he's in control! There's no better feeling than knowing that and experiencing that.

We've been here at the base the past few days with half of our team while the rest of them climb the mountain, Pico Duarte. Even though it was a big bummer I couldn't go, looking back on these few days I am so glad I have been here. Being there for a friend who needed support was the first reason and last night was the second. The Troyers' church is having a retreat here at the base this weekend, so everyone from the church is staying in the dorms and then there are services that go on throughout the day. They brought in a guest speaker from Puerto Rico, so Monica and I had fun hanging out with the Troyers and people from their church last night. We went to the service but really fought to understand what he was saying. We understood the worship songs, but as soon as he started speaking it went over our head. It's weird because you can pick out all of these verbs and words that you know, but it's hard to make sense of it all when he's talking so fast and it's all in different tenses...craziness! We understood that the main thing he was talking about End Times. Later we asked Troyers what he was saying and boy did it blow me away. There is so much going on in the world presenstly that I was so unaware of. We had a really long conversation with them that was incredibly eye-opening. I went to bed last night once again feeling the amazing feeling that I am SO out of control, but Praise the Lord I know the one who's in control....and I am able to have a relationship with him!
Blows my mind...