WHY SHOULD I FEAR?

One month. “Like Jesus in the garden/Will you take this cup from me/Like Jesus in the garden/You don’t call where you won’t lead/I wanna love like you love/Anywhere you are I wanna be there/It’s written on my heart/You’re all I’ve ever needed” [I don’t wanna go- Chris Renzema] After a whole week at the Santiago campus, I moved back to my home in Puerto Plata this past Sunday! It was such an honor to lead alongside two other interns with my home church, Rio Vista Community Church! It was so fun seeing familiar faces and being able to serve again with Rio Students! Working with local Pastor Wendell, we hosted kid’s clubs, painted his church, had sports camps, which turned into us playing older Dominican Republics in an INTENSE soccer match, but ultimately got to grow in close relationship with Pastor Wendell, his pregnant wife, and his congregation. His smile lit up the room and was truly a disciple of the Lord. Being in Santiago, I was able to grow closer with the other interns and staff there. They took me in like family and it was so fun being able to grow that friendship we all established at the beginning of training! I LOVE MY SANTIAGO-IANS!! Moving back to Puerto Plata has been an adventure and a half from jumping right into another team. I was so excited to tag along with this team to work in the community that has my heart, Ascension. This community is where most of our translators live and each time I have gone to this community, it has felt like home. My heart longs to stay longer and help, pray, play with the people that live there. Although exciting, these past two days have been emotionally and physically draining. This past Friday, Papito’s (one of our translators here in Puerto Plata) brother, at 16 years old, past away in a horrible motorcycle accident. As interns, we are with these translators who are all about the same age as us (18-23) every day and each and every one of them have become family to us. As we consider them our brothers and sisters in Christ, it hurts to see someone we love hurt. Monday, a group of us interns went to Papito’s house to pray for him and his family. I can’t even begin to explain the grief that was in that tiny home.

[Lord, I pray for your protection over this home, this family, this loss of a brother of our own. We grieve a missing part in our family here, but we know your plan is much bigger. We know in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 you say, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Although death is hard, especially in a community where everyone is family, we know he is in a better place. He left an impact on this community with his smile, with his heart for you, Lord, for his humbleness and servant heart that only came from you. Although I personally did not know him or Papito well, my heart breaks for the tears that have been poured around me with my family of translators. I pray for this family to lean on you, to trust you, and to know that you grieve alongside them. We know that he left an impact for you. Let that shine throughout Ascension and beyond. Amen.] As I said in a blog earlier, sadness is hard for me, but I’ve been able to pray earnestly and seen God work within me to be able to turn my joyful spirit into love and to pray and be there for my family here. After everything that day, I felt weird; it was one of those feelings where I was confused where my emotions were at, and also the quick change of scenery from moving. But after praying and diving into His word, this Chris Renzema song just popped into my head. “Like Jesus in the garden, you don’t call where you won’t lead” “like Moses in the desert, I can't fully see your plan, still your love doesn’t stop” “Like Israel on the shore, all I see is crashing waves, through the wild you make a way” Woah! “You don’t call where you won't lead”. That’s huge! It was a reality check of, God has called me here, okay, why has He called me here? To serve. To be a disciple of Him. To make His name known. Now He’s called me here, now He’s leading me and I’m here to be His servant. He put me and my co-interns here not only to lead teams from North America but to ultimately show God’s love in the family He has made for us here. Okay. Got it. From there, my friend and intern, Bailey, had the amazing opportunity to name a baby in Ascension a few weeks back. Fresh out of the womb, we were able to visit the house where the mom explained that baby Faith was not taking breast milk good and was diagnosed with Asthma. As I had grown up with a mild form of Asthma, I’ve always known that dairy of any kind will act up your airwaves and can cause you to have an asthma attack. Alongside asthma, this baby was sweating up a storm. As there’s no fans or AC, it was truly a very hot day. As Bailey picked her up from the bed, her clothes were soaked and she left a sphere of sweat on the bed. With no money to treat the baby, you could see the fear in this mother’s eyes. You could feel her urgency and fear that her baby could die. It was one of those moments where all we could do was trust that God will provide and heal this baby and provide it with the medication needed. We prayed; we hugged.

Oh man. God has ultimately been teaching me how to fully surrender and how to be reliant on Him. Reflecting on myself, I’ve always been a person where if something happens and there’s a part of me that knows that I can do it by myself, I don’t want others to help or feel like I don’t need anyone else’s help. But when I’m placed in situations such as these few I have shared, you can’t do that alone. Sure, you have friends you can talk to or you can try and love, but that is not Jesus. 2 Chronicles 14:8, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let no man prevail against You.” This verse is a perfect description. My study Bible explains, “the secret of victory is first to admit the futility of unaided human effort and then to trust God to save. His power works best through those who recognize their limitations.” Wake up call!!! Can’t do it on my own. Full submission, full commitment, full diligence. Jesus calls us to love, to be patient, to be kind, to be strong in the battles for He is with us. The Lord calls us to uncomfortable places for Him to work within us and for us to ultimately give up ourselves for Him. God is good. I’m officially halfway through this internship!!! But God doesn’t call us to stop but to GO. I’ve been praying for God to give me more of the intentionality of growing deeper relationships and shining His light further for I only have a short time left. So, as I go into this last month, I ask for prayers for my team and me to not be quite or sad, but to be EAGER and EXCITED for this last month to POUR into these communities!!! Stay rad y’all, Cay <3

FAMILY. I can't tell you enough how much I love these people and others that are not pictured!! Each one calls me their younger/older sister. Alexander, Mariella, Wander, Rony, Reilly, Reiny, Esperanza, Alicia, Pablo, Oliver, Elson, Wilson, Peter, Enock and the list going on... Man, I LOVE THIS PLACE. ​