I went with ‘Arrived!’ in the end; after a long debate with myself over whether ‘Arriven!’ is even a word…! But as suggested, I have now arrived; I finally got to the Dominican Republic yesterday after RIDICULOUSLY long queues through Miami Airport the day before meaning my travelling that day started at around 08:00 UKT (UK Time!) and didn’t finish until around 22:30 MT (Miami Time) which is 03:30 UKT!!! So that was a long day! But I’m here now! And with the first team arriving this afternoon, I am rearing to go! So this morning I woke up all fresh (sadly not physically as the heat here means you’re almost constantly quite sticky) and sat outside my hotel room (where I’m staying with this first team as of later, before I move to an apartment in 2 weeks for the rest of my time here!) covered in Jungle Formula with my “uncommon devotional” (‘Message // Remix: Solo’) and my journal! And the reading for today was as if it was just speaking about my time here - Isaiah 61.1-3, 10-11. Verses 1-3 are just what I’m here to do; “to preach good news to the poor”, to “heal the heartbroken”, to bring freedom and comfort, care and “messages of joy in place of doom”. To tell people that they are “Oaks of Righteousness” to display God’s glory. To give them “bouqets of roses instead of ashes”. A lot of the people we’re going to be working with are incredibly poor; there’s no benefit system here, no help for them, and with the current deportation programme many of them are literally being told that nobody cares for them. But God does. And that’s what I am here to show them, with God’s help! To BE his love for them; his arms that hold them and his lips that tell them they are worth dying for. And verses 10-11 show the result of doing that - the difference it makes to me too! Because working under God is to partner with him. And to partner with him is to "sing for joy", and "explode in praise", to be ‘outfitted in a robe of righteousness and a bride’s jeweled tiara’ (or a ‘groom’s tuxedo’ if you’d prefer!). To work for God is to bring about his Kingdom; where he brings “righteousness into full bloom and puts praise on display before the nations.” Of course, it doesn’t mean I’ll be crazily happy all the time - though I do crazily happy quite well! - but it means I will have fearless peace and the joy that comes from knowing it is God’s strength in which I work, and not my own. A strength that can never come undone! P.S. I just went to church and rode on the back of a Moto on the way there and the way back! It was SOOO COOL!!! :-D
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So I thought I'd review my trips to Bailey's! When I say review... really just give you all food jealosy! Hahaha!!!
Bailey's is like a restaurant/café which is my new second favourite (after Grannies in Cotgrave, of course! :-D)! The only thing I've ever had there - and ever intend on having - are shakes and ice-cream, and so far, they are just the most delicious ones I have ever tasted! Of course, for my first trip of the year (technically my first trip was last year, but I can't remember whether I had the same as this time, or a fruit salad ice-cream... either way, I'm starting afresh with the reviews today!) I had a STRAWBERRY SHAKE!!! I'm not a fan of the Americanism 'shake' rather than 'milkshake', but to say that I have never discovered any actual milk here, I'd say it's likely to be fairly accurate! But it must have some kind of dairy/ice-cream/something in it, otherwise I don't see how it could be a creamy drink! Who knows?! But you know how strawberry milkshake (like my favourite; Crusha!) tastes of strawberry flavour - which, from the the amount I drink it, I must like - here, it tastes of actual strawberries. It's how I imagine it would taste if you had strawberries and a little bit of cream in a bowl (much less than I'd put on strawberries!), and you just turned it into a drink via magic! I don't know how they do it, but they do, and I am glad they do!!! It's the same with all the fruit here! It just tastes more like the fruit than the fruit does in England! I guess it's the sun-ripened, freshly grown approach rather than the mass-produced and shipped over; but whatever it is... it tastes GOOD!!! As you'll probably have noticed, I've been revamping my entire blog and it now looks quite different! If you have any comments or feedback about this, I would very much appreciate it in the comments section below as that would be really useful for me!
The main reason for this is firstly that it's summer, so I have the time, but secondly because I'm about to head out to the Dominican Republic for 3 months to lead Mission Direct 2-week trips, like the one I went on last year (see the posts I made after getting back from that here, here, here and here!!!)! So I wanted a new section on my blog specifically for that - as you can see in the new pages tabs at the top of this page - and also another section which will hopefully appear towards the end of 2015/beginning of 2016; but I'll leave you guessing about what that one might be! ;-) So I fly out next Friday (exactly 1 week from today!) and I ABSOLUTELY can't wait!!! Once I'm out there, I hope to write fairly often and share lots of photos, so do subscribe to keep up-to-date with all of that, and do tell me what you think of the new blog design! |
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AuthorI'm a recent Cambridge Theology graduate now studying for a Masters in Biblical Studies and blogging about all sorts of things! I'm interested in faith, Church, theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative, and all of those things - along with many more - come through in my posts!
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