I've always seen pictures people posted of the Dominican Republic when they were on their honeymoon and I can now confirm, it is just as beautiful in person as the pictures make it look. The water so blue, picturesque palm trees everywhere, and those sunsets... wow!!
But greater than the scenery was the content of my trip: a spiritual renewal which I needed more than I realized after only three months on the field. When I first learned in January that I would be coming to the DR for this retreat, I was a little sad that it was happening 3 months into my time here in BA, but I have to say, I was ready for a break from the city! To see old friends, meet new ones, and worship in our heart language was such a blessing. Not to mention our guest speaker for the week was David Platt, and if you've ever heard him speak, you know that man is anointed! I loved everything he had to say.
Rather than bore you with all my sermon notes (ha! as if David Platt would ever be boring), I will just share one thing that he started with one morning that was overwhelming in the best of ways. He had us write down what we thought God would say to us if we were sitting with him in a room all alone, head-to-head, toe-to-toe. We had 5 minutes to think about it and write it down... When time was up and Platt told us what he thinks God would look at us and say:
"I love you so much."
That simple.
Something about those 5 words and nothing else was just a weight lifting off my chest. Here I was writing down things that I had failed at, what I had done wrong....essentially condemning myself, and all I needed to know was that He loves me.
In Romans 8:1 Paul tells us that "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life
set me free from the law of sin and death." What joy! I so wish you could have been in the room with me to hear all of his sermon's last week, they were so good for the soul. But really, he was just delivering truth from God's word, the ultimate good for the soul.
We were so spoiled last week. As I was in the jacuzzi tub on my hotel balcony (yes, that actually happened), I felt like I was eating from the King's table all week long. But the more I thought about it, this is a real life picture of how God
wants to treat us. I'm not saying we deserve or should be staying at all inclusive resorts all the time, but God delights in giving us good things! [Luke 11:13] Can I just say it is
so good to belong to the King of kings?
I can't finish this without giving recognition to the reason this was all made possible: YOU! Yes, if you're giving to Lottie Moon Offerings then you sent me there. Also, I should just say that all of the other missionaries from the Americas said in all their years of serving, they've never seen anything like this put together. They had to save for this for 2 or 3 years to pull this off, so it's not like we're going to have this again next year. It was a
big deal to all of us. So again, thank you.
Now for the fun part, pictures!
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| flying out from Buenos Aires, the city is overwhelming |
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| mi familia on the beach :: all the Argentine M's got together one afternoon |
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| I'm really going to miss quiet times like this |
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| beautiful mosaic art |
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| me and David Platt, nbd |
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| full size rainbow that ended in the ocean :: Great is Thy faithfulness |
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| hammocking on the beach?? Yes please! |
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| sunsets were unreal here |
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| resort at night |
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| blessed to meet so many career ladies and hear their stories |
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| seriously, so blue |
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| local market |
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| AMP FPO 1.14 :: the best Americas family ever |
