It has been 16 days since I finished my mission training with MTI, 15 days since Troy and I got engaged and 5 days since I landed in the Dominican Republic. Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts during this time of transition. It is definitely a challenging one, yet extremely rewarding at the same time! The Lord blesses His children when they dedicate their lives to doing His will (no matter what it may be) and I know that I am right in that spot because the Lord has been blessing me NON-stop!  The Lord has directed my path in such a clear way and being in the DR for the next two years is absolutely where He wants me to be! There are two verses that have been resonating in my mind ever since I have been here.

Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you”.
Proverbs 3:6 “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take”.

For those of you who have experienced change; wether it be the change in houses, State, countries, jobs, aspirations or whatever it may be, you know that change can cause different levels of chaos and stress. Change however, can also be very exciting and thrilling. In the past 5 or 6 days, I have experienced the joys of change and the difficulties of change. Neither of which go without the constant presence of the Lord!

Some joys that I have experienced are for example; the fact that I am living with a wonderful family for three month. Josh and Vicki Mathews and I are living in the same house. They have been missionaries with “Students International” for the past 3 years and are following the Lord’s call back to the States. When they depart this beautiful island in October, my two roommates and I will be living in their house fulltime. God has been so good in how He has provided for us through this house!! Unreal!  I am so blessed for their gracious hospitality in allowing me to move in right away, while they are still living in this house. Another Joy is that I already have friends in Jarabacoa. After student teaching here for two months I gained a good number of friends at Doulos Discovery School, which is the school that I am teaching at now! I was so comforted by fact that the Lord gave me friend back in the fall and I am able to reconnect with them again before a new school year begins.

There have also been some difficulties in this transition, again however, do not go without the constant presence of the Lord! . Being away from my fiance Troy is not easy! The Lord guided our lives together is such a perfect way and now He has lead us apart for a short season. He has blessed the two of us in such an amazing way and we both could not be happier with where the Lord has lead us…Together! It has been hard being away from Troy and knowing that I am to plan a wedding long distance is not easy. However, as those two verses keep reminding me, the Lord is never far! He is right beside me and holding my hand through ever little bump, whispering comforting words into my ear and giving me countless blessings along the way. One blessing is that my internet is on an inverter, which means when the power goes out in the house, the internet does not. Power can go out for an entire day or two at a time so it is a tremendous blessing to know that Troy is always only a text message away no matter what! Troy – my dear fiance and best friend! He is by far the greatest blessing through all of this!! He has also been a phenomenal support and source of encouragement over the past few days in the DR! He is filled with love for the Lord and from the Lord and pours out his love onto me on a daily basis! Even though it is hard being apart from one another, we both have peace in our hearts and assurance of where we are both supposed to be during this year. The Lord is using him back home in the US and the Lord is using me in the Dominican Republic. We know that the Lord is going to shape us and  use in so many ways as individuals during this year apart. We are so excited to see how we can combine our passion for the Lord, skills and abilities for the glory of the Lord once we are married.  The possibilities are endless!!! Another blessing is that I have a wonderful family back in the States and at home in Switzerland ready to help me with wedding planning. Troy’s family is absolutely amazing and could not be more thrilled with the Lord’s plan for both Troy and I. They have already expressed so much interest in the planning of this wedding, so I know that I have been blessed with great help!!

The Lord has blessed me with those two verses and they have been my strength. I am so blessed to have the Lord’s presence at all times! I could not imagine doing something like this without the Lord’s guidance and certainty of provision!

To give you an idea of what my last few days at work have looked like; I have been going to school everyday and meeting with my boss and other staff that are new to the school. There are a total of 10 new staff this year, which is their biggest incoming staff they have ever had! COOL! We have been going through new-staff stuff in the mornings (vage I know) and taking language classes in the afternoons. Taking Spanish lessons has been so fun! It has been a great refresher of what I already know and a good encouragement, in that I have not forgotten everything I know 😛 This week, I will continue to meet with the new staff and then mid-week we will transition into meeting with all of the staff at the school. I am so excited to meet with everyone later in the week! It will be so great to see our entire team of teachers together for the first time!! School will officially begin August 22nd. Until then, I will be preparing for my first year of teaching!! WOOHOO! I am so excited! I am ready to finally use my gifts and talents from the Lord in the classroom! I am equally as excited to meet all of my beautiful first graders!

Thank you friends for investing in my ministry, whether it be through words of encouragement, prayer or financial support! The Lord will use anything you are willing to give Him! Please continue to pray for me. Here are some specific prayer requests for you to pray about.

• Pray for my ability as a first grade teacher and that I would feel competent in the demands of an elementary teacher.
• Pray for my finances that the Lord would continue to provide for me so that I may reach my financial goal for the year.
• Pray for adaptability and flexibility as I entre a new culture that I would acquire the culture and language smoothly.
• Pray for my first graders, that their hearts and minds would be opened to discover the glory of the Lord!
• Last but NOT LEAST. Please pray for Troy and I that we would maintain a Godly, Christ-centered relationship away from one another and serve each other to the glory of Lord.

I cannot thank you all enough for your support and words of encouragement! I have felt the results of your prayers! Please continue to be prayer worriers for the glory of the Lord!!! Also, please continue to pray for opportunities to support my ministry financially. All information for giving is located at the top of this page under the “Support” button.

Hello dear friends!

I am happy to tell you all that Troy Gerent and I are engaged! I could not be happier and more thrilled to share with you the story of how Troy asked me to marry him! As many of you know, information tends “fly” over my head. There are many things that I do not catch on to right away and this story is definitely one of them! Troy managed to surprise me!

Friday July 13th, I had just arrived back from a three week long trip to Colorado Springs. Troy picked me up from the airport and drove me back to the house that I have been living in since January (his grandmother’s house).

Troy discovered his new found love for Sushi a couple months back, so to celebrate my return from CO (what I thought was just a celebration of my arrival) we went out for Sushi on Saturday night. Troy and I really enjoy this restaurant because there have been many fun memories filled with laughter and great conversation and the food is delicious!  Before leaving for dinner Troy told me that he had a present to give me. He finds so much joy in giving gifts, and was thrilled to be giving me his new gift. After trying to convince me him in telling me what the gift was and to give it to me early during dinner, he told me that he would give it to me at the lake. Our plan (to my knowledge)  was to go out for dinner and then sit by the lake. Little did I know…

After dinner we drove to lake Erie. Our first date took place on lake Erie so we love returning to that same spot! We walked on the beach and made our way over to our special rock that we like to sit on. When sitting on the rock you get a beautiful view of the city of Cleveland, especially at night when the city lights are glowing in the night sky. After a few minutes of sitting on our special rock we see fireworks going off above the Cleveland Indians baseball stadium, PERFECT! Next, Troy pulls out a couple boxes. One of them holding a brand new iphone and the other a matching protective case to the one that he has. (Mine of course was a pink case 🙂 ) After shrieking over my new iphone and Troy showing me a few of the bells and whistles, he tells me that he needs to use the restroom. (This is an important part of the story 🙂 ) As he climbs down from the rock, he tells me to press the “Phone” button on my new iphone and listen to the recorded voicemails in order that they appear. I was beginning to get a little suspicious but Troy announced that he needed to use the restroom so nonchalantly, that I thought he was telling the truth.

I sat on the rock looking at Cleveland and listening to each voicemail. Troy had his closest friends and some of his family members record a message for me. I thought that this was just part of the present and didn’t know that he was going to be proposing that same night. (Again, oblivious!) After listening to the first one, I began to cry because of the heartfelt messages and I was so touched by what everyone was saying. By the third message I finally got the hint that Troy was about to ask me to marry him, which of course led to more tears! His mom and dad were the last two messages. At the end of his dad’s recorded message he said: ” I believe you are to stand up and turn around because Troy has something to ask you”. So naturally I do as he says and I make sure that I am doing this as slowly as possible as to fully enjoy every single second!!!  I stand up and turn around to see Troy walking down a set of stairs infront of me. He walked along the edge of the water to where I was standing, and helped me down off of my rock. (At this moment his younger brother Tyler appears in the distance shining a light on the both of us, creating a spot light.) Troy got down on one knee, shared some amazing words and asked me to marry him! I SAID YES !!!!! 🙂 🙂

The ring is absolutely beautiful! I am so thrilled and couldn’t be happier! The Lord has brought Troy into my life and has blessed me so much! Troy’s love for the Lord is so evident and I am honored to call him my fiance!

I hope that I was able to portray the story with as many details as possible so that you all can share in the excitement! I want to remember the moment for the rest of my life and am glad that I have a blog to write it all down on! I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I loved being apart of it and sharing it with you all !!!!

Thank you friends and family that have been praying for me over the past few weeks! It has meant a lot to me to receive messages of encouragement and words of prayer! The body of Christ is a wonderful place to be and I have been so blessed to be in His presence along side friends and family!

As many of you know I spent the past 3 weeks in Colorado Springs, Colorado. During my time at Mission Training International, I made it a point to not blog because I wanted to soak up every ounce of information from the conference and be able to process the next step, which is to move to the Dominican Republic. So here is the follow up blog post to my time at MTI.

My time is Colorado consisted of many different kinds of emotions! It was adventurous , educational, relational and motivating. Let me begin with talking about the Colorado Springs fires, where 244,000 aches of forest were burned and over 600 homes destroyed. On the third day of the conference we were told to evacuate from our location in Palmer Lake. There was severe fires burning through the mountains in Colorado Springs and Waldo Canyon, and the Mission Train International building (MTI) was very near the fires. We evacuated 40 minutes away from the mountain range to a church. The church family welcomed us with open arms! Once again, it is amazing to see the body of Christ at work! As soon as we got there the senior pastor welcomed us and showed us to our respective Sunday school classrooms, which were to be our bedrooms for the next few nights. All 70 people attending MTI got an air mattress to sleep on! None of us were expecting to be so nicely accommodated as to receive an air mattress. The blessings just kept pouring in because the conference was not put to a stop, due to the fires,  but was able to continue as planed. We spent three nights at the church and were told that we could return to MTI’s building because the fires had gone down and were starting to be contained. I am so thankful that the Lord protected out entire team as we made the shift to a different location and back to our “home” for three weeks.

MTI was not what I was expecting it to be. I was under the impression that I was going to  learn how to be a missionary. Being a missionary kid, I thought it was going to be easy…but was I ever WRONG! MTI was not about teaching me HOW to be a missionary, rather is was about preparing my heart, mind and body for the mission field. It is hard to try and sum up the SPLICE (Spiritual, Personal, Lifestyle, Intercultural, Cultural, Endure Enjoy) program at MTI. They wanted to make sure that my mind and heart was in the right place. I spent a lot of time working introspectively, getting to know myself, how I work as an individual and as a member of a team. The acronym for the conference was SPLICE, which stands for “Spiritual, Personal, Lifestyle, Intercultural, Cultural, Endure Enjoy”. We talked and worked through each aspect of S.P.L.I.C.E and how it applies to being a missionary in a different country and cultural than our own.  From this experience I can definitely say that my heart and mind is better prepared than what I thought it would be, thanks to the conference! I am very grateful for my experience with MTI and highly recommend it to any missionary obeying the Lord’s command to going out into the mission field. They will prepare you and give you successful tools to help you learn to adapt and acquire the culture and language of where you are going. If you have any questions about MTI and their SPLICE program, please feel free to email me! I’d love to answer any kind of questions you might have!!

On top of all the learning and knowledge gained, the Lord also provided me with some great friends!! These new  friends of mine all went through the program with me and are going to some super cool places around the world and doing some amazing work for the Lord!! We’ve got Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, Burundi, Mali, Spain, Thailand, Laos, Honduras, Romania, Napal, Dominican Republic and a few others. It was so great to see and hear how the Lord will be working in other parts of the world and to share in this pre-departure experience! This new family that I gained in the past few weeks will remain in my heart, as we shared many sides of our heart with one anther in preparation for work abroad. I am so blessed to know that I not only have my friends and family back home praying for me, but also a whole crew of people serving the Lord in all corners of the world.

If you reach the bottom of this post CONGRATULATIONS! 🙂 My heart has so much to share that it’s difficult to condense everything into to a few words. If you could continue to pray for me as I prepare for life in the Dominican Republic. Here are specific things you can pray for:

• Pray for my ability as a first grade teacher and that I would feel competent in the demands of an elementary teacher.
• Pray for my finances that the Lord would continue to provide for me so that I may reach my financial goal for the year.
• Pray for adaptability and flexibility as I entre a new culture that I would acquire the culture and language smoothly.
• Last but NOT LEAST. Please pray for Troy and I that we would maintain a Godly, Christ-centered relationship away from one another and serve each other to the glory of Lord.