“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; Yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work and meditate on Your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your might among the peoples.” Psalm 77: 11-14

As 2024 comes to a close, I can’t help but reflect on how the Lord has been so good to me this year. This year has had its share of heartbreaks and struggles, but He has been in it all with me and has been at work in and through them. As Sarah mentioned in her blog, it’s sometimes extremely difficult to write these blogs. Full time ministry is hard. Living abroad is hard. There are many tearful nights when we feel like we’re drowning and can’t see or understand what the Lord is doing. The needs of others can be so overwhelming that it paralyzes you. The disconnectedness and missing family and friends back home (especially during the holidays) can break your heart in ways you never imagined. And we spend some nights wondering why the Lord brought us here for it to be and feel like this. But we know that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. 

I think about Paul’s time in prison and wonder what it was actually like for him to face each day. He doesn’t give many specifics about how he suffered there, but one thing he does throughout the book of Philippians is rejoice in the Lord. He has an unshakable joy because he rejoices in the Lord. Oh, how I aspire to one day have that unshakable joy. He reminded himself how the Lord had been good to him and sustained him. So, I’m going to challenge myself to do the same. This list is obviously not exhaustive, but merely a small fraction of the ways the Lord has been faithful to me this past year. 

The Lord has blessed me with a loving, supportive family that never ceases to encourage me and pray for me. Not a day has passed since I left home that my dad hasn’t texted me, “Good night, love you.” (Just don’t tell him I told y’all that. He gets embarrassed! Haha) Through Snapchat, I’ve been able to send and receive pictures and videos from my mom, sister, Grandma Betty, and Aunt Tonda. It has brought me so much peace to be able to do life with them from a distance and stay connected even though we’re apart. They really kept me up to date on all the happenings at Christmas and I am so thankful for that! 

The fact that I’m still here is a way that the Lord has been faithful. If you’ve heard how I came to be here, you know that for almost 4 years my family, friends, and I were praying for this – to live, work, and serve here in San Juan. I was originally only supposed to be here for 6 months and I have now been here for a year and 3 months! The Lord was working in so many ways I couldn’t see at the time and I’m thankful that He has led me to where I am today. 

The Lord was with me and my family as we walked through the loss of my Paw John back in March. Although I didn’t get much of a chance to process things and mourn in physical proximity to my family, it was perfect that the Concord team arrived at the guest house on the day that he passed. They really loved on me in a way I couldn’t have imagined any better given the circumstances. And God is in every detail. During their nightly devotion that night, they sang “How Great Thou Art” which was one of Paw’s favorite songs. They couldn’t have possibly known that, but it brought me so much comfort that the Lord gave me that “God wink” (as my friend, Megan, calls them). I am so thankful that I was able to go home for the funeral and be with my family for a little while. I still think about him so much and wish that he could be here to get to hear about what I’m experiencing, but I know that he’s in the sweet presence of Jesus, fully healed, able to walk and see, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the peace in knowing exactly where he’s at. I am also so thankful for my Grandma Betty, who is one of the strongest women of God I know. I’m thankful that the Lord chose me to get to be one of her granddaughters and to have been able to grow up seeing what full surrender, faith, and trust look like lived out, especially in such a heartbreaking season. Her faith in God’s goodness and sovereignty have always inspired me and I truly wouldn’t be who I am without her. 

The Lord was near me in the heartbreak and helplessness I felt after hurricane Helene devastated so many communities that are near and dear to my heart (Western NC, Camp Linn Haven). He cared for the people in the areas surrounding my hometown in the wake of the hurricane. He brought the community together in such a beautiful way and I am thankful to have seen how my friends pulled up their boots and got to work on serving and loving my home community. It really eased my heart to see them since I couldn’t be there to help with the disaster relief. And I still see the Lord working in and through that awful disaster. 

God has answered prayers through friends from back home who have been intentional to stay in touch with me. Shout out to my friends Savannah, Heather, Liza, and Megan who have loved me so well over the past year. Thank you also to Matt (from my home church) who has loved my family really well and kept in touch! The Lord has also answered prayers through my church family and supporters who are fervently praying for me and reaching out to check in every now and then! 

He has blessed me with deepened friendships and a godly community here in San Juan – friends that I can go to when things get hard and who rejoice with me when things are good; people that pray with me and for me and just make my heart glow when I’m around them. 

The Lord has blessed me with people who have come in and out of the guest house – people who inspire me so much with their hearts for Lord and to just love and serve people. I would list names, but that would be a very long list! But I absolutely LOVE when team members keep in touch and they become good friends. There are some pretty incredible people who are part of the Solid Rock family if I do say so myself! 

I’m so thankful that the Lord blessed me with Dolly. I didn’t want a dog, but when she showed up, I just couldn’t say no and I’m so glad I didn’t! 

The Lord allowed me to go back to Spain this summer and to travel around the DR. He’s supplied my every need this year and then some. 

As I’m writing this, I keep thinking of more and more things to be thankful for, but I’ll stop here. How can you not have abundant joy when you reflect on how good the Lord has been these past 12 months, even in the midst of heartbreak? 

Life Updates: 

We had our Staff Christmas party at Cayena Hotel Boutique. It was a sweet time together where we heard a devotion from Pastor Enol, played Secret Santa, ate a traditional Dominican Christmas dinner, and had some really good cake! 

I went with a group of friends to a Christmas farm in Baní! It was nice to get to something Christmassy! 

Kelsi hosted a sweet going away party for Yomalis and we had a little too much fun sharing some ghost stories! 

Kelsi, Sarah, and I took a mini vacation in the capital. We got to spend some time in the colonial zone. I found a new museum called La Casa del Cordón that I REALLY enjoyed (you should check it out the next time you’re in Santo Domingo). We spent a few hours by the pool, got to see the new Wicked movie (and I LOVED it!), and made a PriceSmart run for upcoming teams! 

Kelsi, Sarah, Hector, Yunaris, and I had a silly Christmas pajama photo shoot in the mall! 

We spent Christmas Eve at Adia and Monchy’s. I always love spending time with my Dominican family <3 

Then Kelsi, Sarah, and I made a traditional American Christmas dinner on Christmas Day complete with spiral honey glazed ham, green beans, mac and cheese, and baked carrots! 

I had a lot of people I wanted to show my love to for Christmas, so I decided to bake gingerbread cookies and Amish friendship bread (without a starter). I had a lot of fun baking and delivering these goodies!  

The pups are doing well! They’re very friendly and starting to develop some personality! They’ve been given the names Peanut and Hazel for the time being. We’re still looking for homes for them (and yes, we are actually looking for homes, it’s just not going too well). 

Well, that’s it for me! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and am praying for a new year full of blessings!

Prayer requests:

• Prioritize my time with the Lord going into a busy stretch of teams
• Grow in my reliance on the Lord
• Prayers for the SRI team and ministry as a whole for the upcoming year- wisdom, discernment, strength, peace, obedience, compassion, patience, love, that the ministry would remain Christ-focused and be fruitful