Eat at Los Amigos February 1st

On February 1, 2010, 20% of sales for the day at Los Amigos restaurant in Maryville, TN will be donated to Reach Haiti Ministries, the mission organization that fellow Maryvillians Mike and Andrea (Puckett) Brewer operate in Haiti. The picture below is of Mike and Andrea with the children who live at their orphanage.

The following link will take you to their web site where you can see pictures of how they were affected by the earthquake on January 12th, read information about their children, and discover ways you can get involved.

Reach Haiti Ministries 

This second link is for directions to Los Amigos restaurant in Maryville

Los Amigos 

Buen provecho! (Enjoy the meal!)

 

Riding in Style

 

I took this picture today while riding down the highway. Yep, this is how they do it here. Fit as many people as you can...the more the merrier. (That is, if you're a Dominican native. The volunteers don't ride as such.)

Meet Yennifer...

I love all of the kids who live here. Each and every one of them makes my heart swell, and my life has undeniably been enriched by the friendships we've formed over the past year and a half. 

Today, I want to tell you a story about my friend, Yennifer (Jennifer if you speak English). Yennifer is my favorite 4-year-old best friend, and if I could be her mom, you could bet your (insert something of highest value) that I would in a heart-beat. The picture below was taken on her 4th birthday. 

Although she looks super precious in her pretty little party dress, one of the things this sweet baby is infamous for are her extravagant temper tantrums. Poco a poco (little by little), she's learning that using her words versus screaming and crying yields more fruitful results, but change definatley doesn't happen overnight. 

The story goes as such...

Today, while playing cards at the mesita (little table), Yennifer got frustrated at one particular moment and decided to call me some choice words. I immediately stopped the game and told her that I could not play with people who were going to call me such ugly things. Instead of throwing a fit (progress), she just hung her head and sulked. 

While she sat there, I first let her know that it hurts my heart when she calls me things like that, and shared with her (using language for a 4 yr. old) that when I was reading in my Bible the other day, I read that the things that come out of our mouths are reflections of what's in our hearts (Matt. 15:17-20). I asked her if she wanted cosas buenas (good things) or cosas malas (bad things) in her heart, and she replied, "Cosas buenas." I then said, "Okay, before we play any more card games, I'm gonna say something nice about you from my heart and then you tell me something nice about me from your heart." Yanina, another one of the kids, had come up at this point, so we all went around talking about what good friends we were, how we liked when the others laughed or smiled, and that we all loved eachother. We could hardly finish because we were are smiling so big and giggling so much. Right as we finished, the girls were called in to eat dinner, and I think we all walked away feeling a little bit more loved. 


On a bigger scale, the Lord's been teaching me a lot about love vs. legalism lately. While applying for teaching positions a few weeks ago, I came across a school motto that read, "Do the right thing because it's the right thing to do!" At one point in my life, I would have done everything possible to adhere to this statement because I knew it would make everyone think I was a 'good girl.' While I never want to tire of doing what is right, I'm learning to do those 'right' things as an outpouring of my love for Jesus, my Audience of One.