The loooooove project!

I LOVE visiting Robersy’s family! Out in the village, surrounded by loved ones. With no electricity the stars just shine brighter. Then to wake up to the voices of whispers that echo off the tin roof. It is most definitely one of my favorite places on earth.

There are a lot of things and people I love… but this week (especially yesterday in the quiet of the country side) I’ve had a lot of time to think about this word LOVE.

I looove LOVE. I love TO love. I love to BE loved. I just LOVE love!

But as I sit with prostitutes and homeless kids in the street it is heart-breaking to hear their stories regarding love.

One young lady I meet with regularly tells me about her 10 “boyfriends.” They include a Korean, an Italian, a German and many more. She “loves” them… each one of them. And they “love” her.

Another young lady changed her appearance because she wasn't feeling “loved.”

A young boy shared stories of his father abandoning him and his family, which resulted in him leaving the home and living on the streets. He feels un-loved!

Another boy in “looooove” with a girl he’s met twice.

A 4yr old and 7yr old raped… their minds forever changed towards “love.”

I have been accused before about preaching on love. “Sarah, you need to preach hell, fire and brimstone!!! These sinners are worthy of eternal damnation.”

Yes… and so am I. But it was LOVE that changed it all!

Everyone can say John 3:16 backwards and forward, but wasn’t it LOVE that caused God to send His Son? (“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”)

It’s Christ that even gives us the definition of LOVE in 1 John 4:11-12 (“Since God loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”)

1 John 4:19 says we only love because He loved! (“We love because He first loved us.”)

1 Corinthians 13 shows us the importance of love since everything we do is like garbage if it doesn’t include love. (“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful…”)

To love is the greatest commandment and it’s our mark as a Christian. (1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”)

Love is mentioned 551 times in the Bible (NIV) as opposed to hate that is mentioned 80 times.

Then why is it that we are all “messed-up” in our views towards love!!!???

I know people that preach hate to homosexuals and spit at prostitutes… but isn’t it a lack of love that brought these precious souls (THAT GOD CREATED!!!) to the place where they are now.

Isn’t it an act of LOVE that will bring them to the cross?

I am not minimizing the penalty of our sin or the eternal consequence of rejecting Christ, but I know it was LOVE that saved me, for Christ IS LOVE… so shouldn't we LOVE?!

These thoughts that have weighed on my heart have led me to plan the “You are LOVED!” project.

For the next few weeks I will be collecting love letters to pass out to the girls working on the streets and the homeless children too. They do not have to be long, but we want to express TRUE LOVE! This means verses that express true love, tell them that you’re praying for them (and then REALLY do it), tell them how you experienced true love, and even how TRUE loved changed you.

If you live here in the Dominican or will be visiting the Dominican soon, then I’d love you to write them yourselves and give them to me. If you live in Bermuda you can give them to my parents or sisters and they will give them to me while I’m in the States.

If you do not, then you can send me a private message with a love letter in Spanish or English (I can translate) and I’ll print them out.

I plan to take these love letters out before August 21^st (and many times after if there is a big response!).

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us…”

Love changed your life… Love will change theirs too!!!

Let it RAAAIIIINNNNN!!!

It’s raining!!!

After what feels like months of no rain, it is a blessing to hear the thousands of raindrops mixed with the thunder and lightning crashing outside of our home. Let it raaaiiiinnnn!!!

But amongst the beauty of falling rain, there are these DISGUSTING little black flying ants. Oh my soul, they are so nasty… and worst is, I don’t know how the heck they get in to the house!

Doors and windows are closed, but these creepers find their way to the bed, the floors, the walls… NASTY! Just plain crusty.

But what about that beautiful rain…

The results of this week began a month ago when I first met a young man named Richard.

Each Thursday night, as we speak to prostitutes on the streets of Boca Chica, more and more homeless boys have been following us around. They are actually pretty respectful, have never asked for anything AND keep their distance as we’re speaking/praying with women.

I’ve had some pretty awesome conversations with a few of them and then each week I remind them of church and our “pick-up” spot. For a while none of them came. That is, until last Sunday.

Robersy always laughs at me since I get super excited if there is ANYONE waiting to go with us. Sometimes I wave prematurely and it’s just someone passing by or I have a huge grin across my face and then another car pulls up before we do… but this time… THIS TIME it was Richard!

God touched our hearts during that church service and we decided that we needed to take Richard to camp with us. We arranged a time and place, but the following morning Richard wasn’t there!

What?! Who doesn’t want to go to camp!?

Trying to forget about it, we carried on and had a FANTASTIC first 2 days at camp. The teens were pumped and God mightily used the counselors and speakers for His glory.

On Wednesday night a group of ladies staying on the camp grounds asked to go on street outreach with me and guess who we ran in to :) Turns out he was embarrassed to go since he didn't have a change of clothes. Maybe I should have mentioned to him that his bag was packed on Sunday after church with donated shirts, shorts, toiletries and a Bible! LOL.

So Thursday morning we headed to camp!

Then following the very first message, Richard accepted Christ as his Savior!!!!

It was an amazing week over all filled with testimonies of decisions from the teens and a LOT of fun.

Point is, the blessings poured down like rain, overflowing and abundant. LOVE IT!!!

But then those little black nasty bugs enter my heart and mind.

Soooo… we take him to camp, he gets saved and then we take him back to the streets?! It doesn't make sense! God don’t you have a solution!?

The huge storm on Saturday night didn't help since Robersy and I were up and down all night thinking about Richard.

Where is he sleeping? Does he have shelter? Should we go find him?

Bugs of doubt, fear and just a touch of anger.

“God, why did you put him in our life if there’s nothing we can do to help him?”

Fast forward to Sunday morning.

We stopped by the “pick-up” spot early since Robersy was preaching in another church, and there he was… Richard and two of his friends (Input lots of premature waves and plenty of freaky smiles! HAHA!).

On the way to Los Montones (where Robersy preached) these 3 kids shared their stories, their struggles and their dreams. Three precious souls that God created!

 During Robersy’s message God pricked my heart and swept those nasty little bugs away.

Check out 1 John 3:18, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

And what is truth… John 14:6, “I am the way, the TRUTH and the life…”

We may not have a lot to offer, but we do have the Truth and HE is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

I trust God has exciting things planned for these 3 special boys and the other Boca Chica street kids so, God Almighty…

LET IT RAIN!!!

Leftovers are yucky

Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God’s point of view (and lest we forget, His is the only one that matters), they’re evil. Let’s stop calling it “a busy schedule” or “bills” or “forgetfulness.” It’s called evil.

God is holy. In Heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have. “But something is better than nothing!” some protest. Really, is it?

Crazy Love, P.92

Does this convict you? It convicts me. How many times have I offered less than what God is worthy of? I’m not talking about financially giving necessarily, although that is a part, I’m talking about me. All of me.

Lately I’ve heard a lot of complaining from short-term missions teams and not just from SCORE teams (in case I get fired :) lol but it’s true… I’ve got a LOT of different ministries represented on my FB).

Air conditioning is not working, it’s hot, there are mosquitos, the food isn’t good, the TV isn’t working… AH, the satellite went out and I missed .5 seconds of the World Cup.

OH.MY.SOUL!

Friends if you are coming on a mission trip don’t expect it to be comfortable!!!

It’s going to be hot and sweaty, the people are going to be dirty and they are going to have GERMS! Electricity will go out, buses will break down, you are not going to have organic milk or Splenda and the internet is not going to be top quality. But QUIT THE COMPLAINING! You are in a third world country!!!

It actually makes my heart sad. Yesterday I had a bit of time to think about it as I sat in the dark on my porch because, YES, the power was out. I thought… wow…  we hear testimonies from people who “gave their all to Jesus” to spend a week serving in the DR, Mexico or Africa, then complain because it’s not comfortable.

Friends, we are SO thankful to have people give up a week or two to come and serve beside us… but if you are coming then TRULY give up those weeks.

Give up comfort.

Give up the “expected.”

Be flexible.

Yesterday we picked up a homeless boy for church and I thanked God he couldn’t speak English since he didn’t understand the complaining.

Pancakes were cold? This is the first thing he had eaten in 2 days.

Church service was long? This was his first time at church… EVER! And he was excited J

Seats were hard? He sleeps on the street.

Let’s agree to give all of ourselves as we serve.

Here’s a glimpse of mission reality:

I’ve lost count of when the electricity goes out, I just keep candles in I place I can navigate to in the dark.

We have a rat that visits our closet every night and has eaten a pair of my flip flops and although the package of rat poison says “the contents of this package can kill up to 15 rats” this little sucker is a survivor!

We don’t have air conditioner or a generator… and we are alive.

1.5 weeks before the end of the June we ran out of support because of bills and moving costs (even though rent is cheaper) so the dogs and us had to eat cereal almost every day until July’s support came in.

The last time I bought an item of clothing for myself was in February when I visited the states.

Trust me, this is not a sob story because I can tell you about fellow missionaries and local friends who have it WAAAAY tougher… but please understand, we are SO HAPPY!!! It took me a while to think of those examples of “struggles” because that is the norm now! But I can tell you in no time of all the blessings that we’ve experienced this week alone.

Girls want to leave the streets.

A homeless boy came to church and will attend camp with us!!!

A group of people at church got baptized.

Lily House girls are pumped to work at and attend camp!

A group bought pizza for Robersy’s baseball team and they stuffed their faces :)

We go to camp tomorrow (as do over 200 teens!)

More than this… we have families and friends who love us and support us. We have a ministry team who work their butts off, but take the time to encourage each other. You see… when you give Him everything, the blessings abound!!!

“This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have.”

Whether that’s on the mission field or wherever you are… don’t give Him leftovers!

Want to pray for us?

Alright folks our prayer letter has been sent out!

That means if you haven't got it either you aren't on my list OR I need your updated email address.

Please email us at rslara14@gmail.com or send me (Sarah) a FB message and I'll add you to our prayer letter contacts.

We appreciate the prayer and support as we dive into summer ministry.

Will you dive in with us?!

Downsizing and praising Jesus!

So I actually DID write a post last week, but craziness brought me home VERY late in the evening and I didn’t have time to post. But I will post two night so I don’t have to repeat :) Remember I wrote it when I was sick, so forgive any bad grammar or negativity, LOL!

As for this week…

Good news is we are finally moved to our new apartment!!! It took us a week to get here, but it was an absolutely CRAZY week of translating and serving, so it was totally worth the stress. Right now I just have a LOT of laundry to do, but it should be a “normal” week unless …

OH MY SOUL, I have to share this. Right when I was typing that sentence my phone rang! I was going to say “unless God has other plans”… God has other plans I guess. Well at least tomorrow morning. Just going to play with some babies in a maternity ward with a group. This will be good research for plans FAR FAAAAAAARRRRRRR in the future! HAHA.

Anyways, where was I!?

This past week was not only busy, but it was a TOTAL blessing. I served with a youth group from North Carolina (Made me miss my Edgees in Bermuda!!!) and it was fantastic visiting many of the ministries that SCORE works very closely with. From Lily House (I even got to sneak there about 3 times this week! Lol) to Pasitos, to feeding villages and learning about how to provide clean water, it has been great to see how other missionaries are serving and what God is doing close by.

Robersy stayed busy too. As well as coaching and discipleship he had groups come and visit his practices and of course he did most of the moving and running around for the apartment situation.

One of the things I realized this week is how thankful I am for the body of Christ! I must of said “thank you” a million times this week because I was just SO grateful for people who stepped in to help or encourage us. I know I posted about it on FB, but so many interns, baseball boys, missionaries and friends really came to our rescue. It made a week that could have totally caused a heart attack a LOT better!

So that is what God is doing in our lives lately! I’m going to leave you with some photos of last week and of our new place. Enjoy and know that we are praying for you. Please send us specific prayer requests if you’d like! Rslara14@gmail.com

Youth group

JJ sharing his testimony at youth group

Baseball ministry with Robersy

Guest room/office... COME AND VISIT!

Our room

Kitchen/living room

View from the kitchen

Bathroom

Home sweet little home :) Thank you LORD!

GOD BLESS!!! 

Last weeks missing blog!

Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.

The good news – it wasn’t pride after all. I can handle 9 miles and I can do it well J yay!

The bad news – I’m really sick. I have Chikunguya.

I’m usually a pretty good sick person. 2-3 days tops and I’m back to my normal energetic self. But this virus is straight from Satan himself! Seriously. Check it out (http://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/)

In the first few days I had severe joint pain. Couldn’t walk, lift my head, bend my fingers, NADA! Fever, chills, headaches, backaches, just very serious overall PAIN.

Then in some sick deal, my body traded the pain for nausea.

Then it decided it wanted a little of that pain back to go along with the nausea.

Then it gave those both up to take on an extreme allergic reaction to the virus flowing around my body. This includes itchy skin and a full-body rash.

Currently I’m still rocking that rash while the rest of my body is too swollen to wear wedding rings or high heels.

Bear with me for this last part. I think I would have dealt well with the whole thing, HOWEVER, to get rid of the pain I took Tylenol, for the nausea I took nausea medicine and for the rash and itching I took Benadryl. So from Sunday to the following Sunday this is how my days have looked…

Wake up

Take Tylenol

Take Benadryl

Take nap

Wake up

Eat lunch

Take Tylenol

Take Benadryl

Take nap

Wake up

Clean/pack a section of house if able to walk

Eat dinner

Take Tylenol

Take Benadryl

Sleep

To some people that is an awesome week! To me it was the MOST BORING WEEK OF MY LIFE!!! I’m done with being sick. So please, dear friends… PRAY THAT THIS GOES AWAY!!!

Picture taken when I felt a LOT better :)

Today we begin super sports week/Kosmos/moving week/still getting over being sick, etc.

So we are gonna need some MAJOR prayer!

We are thankful to serve, but want to do it with a pure heart so more than anything we do ask that you pray for our attitudes.  We will be mainly translating and hosting clinics. We’re excited, but of course with so much on our minds we just need to FOCUS.

On an exciting note, a friend is here this week so we get to see DEAN! There is something exciting about sharing air with a fellow Bermudian J

So that is life.

Crazy.

But we love it <3

Trusting HIM each step of the way!!!

PRIDE HURTS!

PRIDE HURTS!

I know this because I’m sitting in absolute pain because I just HAD to run 9 miles cuz I wouldn’t let a high school kid beat me. Okay, so he’s a marathon runner…  I’m determined. Okay, so he’s 18… I’m 28, that’s still young right? He’s enrolled in the Marines! I’m in God’s army!!! Haha!

The perfect leg rest

Actually, to tell you the truth it was an awesome run and the pain is totally worth it! The knee brace, Tylenol and Epsom salts will get me through! And pride will get me up tomorrow morning to run again J

Giving it your ALL isn’t a bad thing. In fact, that’s what we’re called to do. (1 Corinthians 9:24)

HOWEVER, there comes a time when we need to take a step back and rest a bit. I’ve been convicted of this a lot lately, but when is it the appropriate time to rest? Life keeps slipping away and I’m exhausted! It seems that whenever that moment arrives, something else comes up!

I don’t know if you’re like me, but many times I’ve got to SEARCH for time to rest. Put it in your schedule; make it a part of your day… FIND TIME TO REST. That is my advice today! To me and to you... REST! Right after I finish this blog, that is what I plan to do :)

This week has been B-U-S-Y!

As mentioned in previous blogs, we are in the process of moving… but sometimes, especially here in the Dominican, moving involves waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Still, we have packed all we can pack and now we wait.

Meanwhile, ministry continues!

At Lily House a new class has been added to the afternoon schedule. SELF-DEFENSE! It is so much fun not only teaching the ladies how to defend themselves spiritually in discipleship and devotionals, but now I am learning along with the girls how to defend ourselves physically! I tried out my new moves with Robersy and, well… I need to practice. Defending yourself is an even bigger challenge when you’re 5’1’’ and can be lifted off the ground!

On Wednesday Robersy has started a new study with his baseball players, while I attend a Bible study with the women from church. Both studies were great! Robersy had awesome reports about some of the older boys wanting to stand up in their Christian walks. He challenged many saying, “Where are you going to be in 2015? Are you going to be right where you are now?” We should ask ourselves the same question!

The women’s study went great and we learned the importance of GOD FIRST in our lives… that is until a lizard landed on me and the Dominicans starting cheering and congratulating me. Apparently when a lizard falls on you in this culture it means that you’re preggo or about to be. LOL! I’ll keep you up-to-date on that one!

Thursday night ministry was AWESOME. Rachel (intern in San Pedro) and I had talked about how we needed to do something for her last night of ministry (until God shows her that Boca Chica is exactly where she needs to be, since I need her in my life!!! Lol). So we made little baggies of toiletries and tracts to hand out to 30 women. Of course, there is always a crowd when we’re giving away free stuff, but it allowed us to meet many women that we’ve never met before.

As well as meeting knew ladies, it was great to sit and chat with our regulars. Please specifically pray for Y and G as there is interest, but still no commitment. This week I challenged Y to read Romans 1 of the New Testament we gave her. Key verses are highlighted, so pray she reads and sees the light!

Friday and Saturday I was in bed with a cold, but once again it was cool to see our youth group leaders step up to the plate. JJ, a summer intern, even shared his testimony in Spanish! So proud of what God is doing through our missionaries, interns and students.

So that is a summary of our week in the Dominican! Seeds still being planted, fruit still being grown… race still being run.

As always we covet your prayers for our spiritual lives, marriage, and ministry.

ALSO, please specifically pray for our friend and founder of SCORE, Ron Bishop who is currently barely holding on to life. He was hospitalized earlier this week with a blood clot, but with other major complications things are worse. We beg God to do His will. God is on His throne and may do what He will, but more than anything we ask God to cover Ron’s family with peace and understanding AND if it be His will, we want to see a miracle!!!

GOD BLESS!!!