The Give and Take

Week one of school? Finished! It was less crazy than either of us expected, and definitely went pretty smoothly. We took a trip to the beach the weekend before, which turned out to be restful and a great way to start of the year. So far, Nick's students seem to be intimidated by him and his threat of extra homework for people who complain about class.  He also asked them to answer questions on Friday to say how he was doing so far as a teacher. He got a lot of really positive feedback! We were both encouraged by that and it seems to be confirmation that we are in the right place doing the right things. (It's always good when you realize that).

I have fallen back in pretty easily to Doulos, even though my role is different. I get to teach the 11th grade English class, which was my favorite group of students to work with last Spring. It's great to be back with them! I am also providing ESL support in 5th and 6th grade English. I love working with that age group. It is just so different than high school (although I love high school too). I have just realized how much more quickly younger students trust adults in their lives. On the second day of knowing the 5th graders, one of the girls ran up to me after school and gave me a big hug...it was adorable. You don't get much of that from high school students!

Although week one of teaching went well (and we are so thankful for that) it came with some personal struggles and hardship. On Tuesday, we found out we had to get rid of Kenya. Our landlord told us we were not allowed to have pets, even though the couple who lived in our apartment before us had a dog. Thankfully another teacher at Doulos really wanted her. She picked her up on Thursday. Though it was sad, I think it is for the best. It gives us a lot less responsibility as we begin here, and we can go visit her if we want to.

Then on Thursday evening, I received a message from my mom telling me that my great grandma had passed away during the day. She had a massive heart attack, so it was unexpected for us. It seemed like everything was going so well at school, but then all of this was happening in my life, and it was a lot to take in. I also cannot be back for the funeral, which is sad, but I know my Grandma Bailey had a long life and that she loved the Lord. So there is that hope still. She lived for 91 years, and I am honestly just so thankful and blessed to have had my great grandma be a part of my life for so long. I know that is not the case for many people. But, if you think of it, be praying for my family. While things are going really well at school, these other events this week show me that life is hard and will be hard. And God is in control. I feel like God is showing me that although I may feel I have it all together and don't need any help, I do need him. I hope to keep that perspective throughout the school year. 

Here are a few pictures of my Great Grandma Bailey...she will be greatly missed!

This is her and her dog Heidi, who kept her company after my great grandpa passed away. She spoiled Heidi, and Heidi was perfectly fine with that! :)

Her 90th birthday party. I didn't make it to this one, but still am very thankful that Nick and I were able to go with my family to visit her this summer before our wedding. He was able to see how friendly and gentle this woman was to me growing up. We will miss her!

Settling in.

What a whirlwind. Nick and I have been living in the DR for a little over two weeks, and we have been married for one month. It feels like we have been here longer...it even feels like we have been married longer. I think it has to do with the fact that we have crammed in so many big events into such a short time frame. While some worry that going through so many changes so quickly after marriage can be detrimental to your relationship, we have only found it to be encouraging. We have had a great time here so far, despite some little blunders on our part here and there.

Nick and I moved right into our apartment when we arrived. We love it! Here are some pictures of the apartment:

This is our kitchen. We have already been able to cook some really good food in this place :) We also have had people over for dinner two different times. Which reminds me...I have a funny story. The first time we had people over, our power was out. This is typically a normal occurrence in the DR, so we let it go. However, it lasted much longer than usual, so we began to wonder. I walked out on our porch and realized everyone else had power except us. Turns out we didn't pay our electric bill! There is no mail service in the DR, so the way you get your bill is someone brings all of them in a bunch and puts them in the handle of a door near the front gate of our apartment. We did not really know this...but, thankfully we took the bill in the next day and it was fine. We could still cook because we have a gas stove, and the fact that the power was out gave us a great excuse to make shadow puppets and lay on our hammock.

Yep....we are getting plenty of use out of our hammock here. It probably looks like we don't do any work, but we do! I promise! But, I'm not going to lie, you should probably be a little jealous of the hammock, because it is pretty fantastic. 

Also, here is our room! We like the colors a lot. 

For those of you who don't know, we rescued a street puppy! We named her Kenya, and she is adorable. We are thankful that she is amazingly well-behaved for a puppy. She does get hyper, but she listens really well. She already knows how to sit and that she is not allowed to go into the kitchen. She's pretty much the cutest (see below).

The only bad part about having a puppy is that Nick and I now spend our time at home doing voice overs for what we imagine Kenya would say if she could talk. Not that she would, because she doesn't even bark! 

We love her :) 

Just want to say thank you to all of the people who helped us get here! We hope that we can make good use of our time here and really make a difference for our students. School starts Monday, so we are busy preparing for the craziness to begin. Keep those prayers coming! We love you guys.

Into the blue

For some reason, I always imagined that life after I graduated from college would be easy.  I was quite mistaken. It is not that life is bad. In fact, life is great and I can't imagine it being much better. That does not mean it is easy. Change is coming, and it is coming quickly. I have to try to prepare with the short amount of time I have left.

For those of you who don't know, my fiance Nick and I are getting married on July 13th. Now it is only about five and a half weeks until we are married and our lives change forever. To add to that huge life change, we are also moving to the Dominican Republic two weeks later. We have one week in Hawaii for a honeymoon, one week at home to spend time with my family and pack, and then we are off to live in the DR for the next three years. Talk about a lot of change at once.

Nick and I have both felt led to spend some time overseas in ministry positions, and God has opened the door for us to go back to Doulos Discovery School, where I did my student teaching in the Dominican Republic. The staff made it clear at the end of my stay that I should come back with Nick after we get married. Nick and I thought it over and prayed about it, and we felt like this was the opportunity God was giving us to serve Him in a unique way. This coming year, and for at least two years after that, Nick will teach high school English, and I will teach middle school ESL (English as a Second Language).

For those of you who do not know much about Doulos, it is a private Christian school that uses Expeditionary Learning to provide a college preparatory education for students of all socio-economic backgrounds.  Students who would otherwise go to a public school that would provide an inadequate education can come to Doulos to get a Christian education that can prepare them for college and for life. This ministry survives and thrives on donations from American sponsors.

Nick and I love the mission and vision of Doulos, and we are so excited to work there next year. We want to be spiritual mentors to our students as we teach them.  We hope to have opportunities to be used by God in the lives of the students. We have opened our hearts and our futures to what we believe God has for us to do.

With this comes a need to raise support. In fact, we need to raise around $25,000 per year. In the midst of trying to plan a wedding (which is enough work on its own) we are also seeking support from churches, friends, and family. Although we are still in the first stages of our support, we have already had experiences where we can see God moving in the hearts of people who want to donate. However, we have also run into people who simply cannot understand why we would want to do this. I have explained what we are doing to people whose faces light up at the thought and are eager to help, and I have talked to people who look at us like we are crazy.

What I do know is this: God is in control. While I am tempted to worry that support will not come in, He has a plan. When I feel rejected by those who have to say no to us, He is there loving us and waiting to provide. We just need to trust Him.

Nick and I ask for your prayer. Pray that we can rely on God to take care of all of our needs in this exciting but stressful time. Pray that those who God is prompting to support us financially will step forward. Also, please pray that we can find a sending church who is willing to partner with us over the next three years. We appreciate every small prayer that is offered on our behalf or on the behalf of Doulos. Thank you!


If you feel led to support us financially or would like more information about how you can pray for us, please e-mail Nick or I at katelynnccassel@cedarville.edu or nclark@cedarville.edu

[Famous Last Words]

As I sit here and write, I have one day left in the DR. My time here has gone so quickly, and yet, I feel like a different person than the girl who got off the plane in Santiago three months ago. That girl was wondering if she had made the wrong choice. She wondered if it would have been better to stay in the States with her friends and her fiancé for her final semester of college. That girl thought that she might not be able to handle being away from everyone she knew for so long while trying to teach a group of students whose native language is different from her own.

However, I sit here feeling like a different person. I am a girl who has struggled while being here, who has definitely had days I wished I was home. And yet, I am much stronger than I was when I left. The night before I came, I was wishing I could turn back the clock to when I decided to teach overseas. I wanted to go back, to make the decision to stay in Ohio and do my teaching during the day and come home to friends and comfort at night. I cried while going through security at the airport (not the highest point of my life), but when I got on the plane, I felt peace. Ever since I have gotten here, I have had that peace. Through the good days and the incredibly bad ones. I knew I was supposed to be here, and I did not regret coming.

Nick wrote me a letter before I came that had a lot of positive reasons for why I was coming here to help me remember why I wanted to in the first place. That letter has proved to be true in every positive area he pointed out. (He is pretty good at helping me stay positive about things that seem terrible to me at the moment). Because I have been here, I have gained great teaching experience in both Language Arts and ESL, I have become much healthier, Nick and I have been able to grow in our relationship greatly despite the distance, and I have learned better how reliant I am on God for every need. I would not trade this experience for anything. Not even the couple of days I left school just to go home and cry made me wish I had never come. Those days were important, maybe even more important, than the days I came home feeling pretty good about myself and my teaching. It is through the struggle that we grow.  That is scripture focuses so much on suffering.

“but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint…” (Romans 5:3-4)

“for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29)

“for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…that I may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-10).

Suffering is an important part of becoming more like Christ. I think this suffering is something I have gotten only a taste of here, but it has been teaching me.  It has produced endurance in my faith, and I believe that I now have an even deeper hope in Christ. I pray that this (along with my growing Spanish skills) will not leave me when I leave the DR.

I took some pictures, and I had a lot of happy moments, but I also feel as if I suffered. I suffered while doing work that Christ had for me to do. It was hard, and it was not always fun. However, the reward I see in my life is evident. I was not here on vacation, I was here on a mission, and I like to think it is a mission that I will continue on even once I leave the DR.

        So if you ask me "How was it?!" when you see me next, know that I am not going to respond saying "It was good!" because it was so much more than that. And, despite the fact that I am getting pretty sad about all of the goodbyes I will have to say today, know that I am excited to see you (as in my family and friends) when I am State-side again.

Cliff-Jumping, Kayaking, and Cross-dressers

It’s Semana Santa, folks! In other words, it is spring break. I will not lie, I was greatly looking forward to a week off of school. I had a pretty rough stretch there for a while, and it was nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I had a lot to look forward to, because I have had a pretty wonderful spring break so far.

I was able to go on a few little trips, which were all equally wonderful. First of all, I was finally able to go to 27 Waterfalls! I first heard about this place on my ride from the airport to Jarabacoa right after I had arrived in the Dominican. The longer I have was here, the more I heard about it, and the more I heard about it, the more I knew I needed to go before I left the country. Basically, you hike up a mountain for a while, and then you jump and slide down 27 different waterfalls. Sounds pretty amazing, right? Well, I was finally able to go with a group of Doulos people on Saturday. Because of recent storms, there has been some erosion and we could not jump in the first half of the waterfalls. We got to do the last twelve, however, and those are the biggest ones! I jumped from some pretty nice heights, landing in some rather chilly river water. I loved it. Our guide said I was “muy valiente” at the end of the trip when we were walking back. Either he was saying it to be nice, or he was worried that I was maybe a little too brave for my own good, considering I practically tripped every time I stepped on a rock, and yet I still wanted to jump off the highest cliff three times in a row.  Either way, I was flattered.

After this, I rode in the back of a truck for about an hour and a half to get to the beach. Tina and Joe Atkinson graciously allowed me to stay with them at their beach condo for the night before I headed to a resort the next day with some girls from staff. Their condo was beautiful. The location was in the middle of a busy beach town, but it was very private and blocked off from the other locations. I was able to go swimming in the infinity pool, walk along the beach with Max, Emily, and Ana, and relax on the back porch in the evening while looking at the water.  It was much better than the alternative of riding home in a cramped car just to ride back to almost the same place in a cramped car the next day.

Finally, on Sunday, I was at the resort with five other girls who are on staff at Doulos. We went to an all-inclusive resort for two nights and three days. (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for paying!) Other than the very frightening entertainment (cross-dressers dancing to Spice Girls and Dirty Dancing), we had a great time. (There were some good entertainment options. We watched an African show that had some pretty great dancing, and we watched a magic show where the magician danced to the song “Sexyback” while holding a rabbit, which he turned into a chicken, and then a goat. That part was pretty impressive. The dance was the best part, even with the impressive tricks.) I got a massage, laid on the beach, swam in the pool, walked along the shore, and kayaked in the ocean. On top of all of that, I did not even get a sunburn! (success!) Overall, I had a pretty great trip. I am so thankful the girls invited me! It was nice to get away.

[here is a picture of the group I went with]

However, despite the niceness of the resort, it got me thinking. Being at a resort in the Dominican does not feel like being in the Dominican at all. In fact, I almost forgot where I was. For all I knew, I was in Florida or South Carolina. The comforts you find in the States were everywhere, and the Dominican culture was squelched from the resort life. Being staying in the Santiago airport for three days would be a better picture of Dominican life than staying at a resort. I just wonder how many people come to the DR to stay at a resort and then perk up and say “Oh! The DR? I’ve been there!” I would argue that no, you really have not been to the DR. Sure, you have stepped foot on Dominican soil, and you may have even helped their economy a little bit. However, the Dominican you saw inside the gates of the resort is a completely different place than what lies outside. I wish those people could experience the true Dominican Republic, not just nice resort side. They are missing so many great things, and some pretty eye-opening things as well.  Do not get me wrong, I do not think it is bad to come to the DR and go to a resort, I just hope that people understand what they see at the resort is not truly a picture of the DR.

Aside from that rabbit trail, my trip was great. The day after I got home, however, I was sick all day. I had some sort of stomach thing going on. I felt nauseous all day and had some sharp pains after I moved too much. I slept for a long, long time (12 hours one night, 2 during the day, and about 14 hours the next night), and it went away. I could not believe how tired it made me. I guess someone I know had a similar sickness last week and slept for 18 hours straight and was fine. I am just glad it is over.

Now I just have a wedding to go to on Saturday, church for Easter on Sunday, and less than two weeks left in the DR! Time is flying by. I will be seeing you people very soon!

Dios es Fiel

(God is Faithful)

I hope you all (as in probably like 5 of you who actually read this) enjoyed my last post about my many blunders.  It was written with a highly sarcastic and self-deprecating tone.  I have had to just laugh at myself for many of the little funny things I have done, and I hope you got a laugh out of it too.

However, this post will take a very different tone, because I decided it is time to share some of the ways that God has been faithful to me while I am here.  This is good for me to write about not only because you get to see what God has done, but it also forces me to sit down and really think of all of the ways He has been faithful.  Maybe even in ways that I have not yet recognized. I often struggle with being truly joyful, and I think this is because of how little I really go through and list reasons why I am thankful to God for what he has done and is doing in my life.

 So, here it goes.  God is faithful because:

• overall, I have had excellent internet access, which has allowed me to talk to many friends and family members via Skype
•  after suffering from headaches for a couple of months before Christmas, I have been headache free for 2 months!
• I have not had any sort of notable sickness since I have arrived
•  I have a wonderful host family here
• umm, hello, I get to be in warm weather in February!
•  my schedule here allows for me to have a super regular (and healthy) sleeping pattern
• God has provided me with awesome friends (Jen & Julie!) who are making decorations for my wedding while I am gone
• I have been able to have many moments of solitude, prayer, and reflection here that I wouldn’t probably have gotten if I was at college
•  God is teaching me to rely on Him and to be content in Him
• Nick and I have grown a lot in our relationship by being apart…we are both learning even more about each other even though we are far apart
• as much as I still feel like a failure at Spanish, my speaking skills really have improved a lot since I first arrived
• I have been able to have a really healthy lifestyle here (exercising more regularly) that would be more difficult in the cold Ohio weather
• I applied for a job while I was here and got a Skype interview!
• I have been forced to learn to ask people for help (aka: asking for rides home when it is dark and I am far from where I live, asking for help in understanding Spanish words I don’t know).
•  I am having to experience some pretty hard and lonely days. This is showing God’s faithfulness simply because he is getting me through it, and I know he will be helping me until the end of my time here

And finally, God is faithful simply because He is God. His steadfast love endures forever.  Even on days where I feel like things are falling apart, He is faithful.  Even on days where I dream of being in the Miami airport simply to know I am closer to home, He is faithful. I just hope I can be as faithful with the time he has given me here.

I hope some of my struggles and successes here can be an encouragement to you. While it is getting hard to be here away from everyone I love, I am trying to find strength in knowing that Dios es fiel.  Even on bad days, I hope to have an attitude that reflects this.

If you are praying for me, please pray that I can keep my mind in the present and finish this experience strong. I am nearing the end of my time teaching, but I do not want to give up simply because I am going home in a month.  A month is still a long time, and there are plenty more lessons for me to learn. However, being a person who likes to plan ahead, it is hard for me not to get in the mindset that soon I will be back in Ohio with other things to do and think about. Please pray!

-Katie

#thatawkwardmoment…or should I say, all of those awkward moments.

So let’s just start with the most obvious recurring awkward moment of my life here: my Spanish. My Spanish is just embarrassing.  My Spanish teacher (aka: my host mom, Nelly) was having me write sentences in my Spanish notebook, and one was asking me to describe my Spanish. I wrote the following: Mi Español es triste. (Translation: My Spanish is sad).  She tried to convince me that I was doing well, but it’s hard to really feel that way. I know how little I can communicate with those around me.  Everyday, I get a ride to school from our neighbor, Pedro.  I am really thankful to not have to make a half-hour walk every morning, but getting a ride does come with some pressure.  Every morning before I go out to get in the car with Pedro, I think “Oh, no, I am going to have to say things to him…in Spanish. AND try to understand his incredibly fast Dominican Spanish.”  If you know me well (or at all, really) you know that I am not a morning person. I can hardly even talk to anyone in English within my first hour of being awake. So this has been a huge challenge for me, and sometimes feels like a point of stress in my daily life.  However, Pedro has been very patient with me, and he even told me the one English word he knows: “spoon.” We had a good laugh about that, but most of the time I feel like he probably thinks I am unintelligent simply because I do not know Spanish. It is frustrating not being able to express my thoughts and feelings as easily.  And, let’s just face it; mornings are just never the time for talking (if you’re name is Katie Cassel, at least).

As for other awkward moments, I have tripped several times while walking down he sidewalk. Which doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but this was during the time when I was new in town and so all the people on my walk home just stared at me, or the guys would make comments to me as I passed. So tripping was perfectly mortifying to me, because it already felt as if people were a little too interested in watching me uncomfortably walk home. (Now that people recognize me, I am greeted with smiles instead of stares, so it is much better).  Then there is the time I fell right out of my chair. Yep, that’s right. It was probably my second week at school here. I tried to get up from the table at lunch, and it all happened so fast. I struggled to get my leg out from around the table leg, and then I was down. The other staff members made sure I was okay before laughing a little. I don’t blame them…it was probably a hilarious sight. There was literally no reason why someone should fall on their face while trying to leave the lunch table. I like to defy that logic with my awkwardness, and I am quite good at it.  Last Saturday I also managed to trip out of a bathroom (there is a step down as soon as you walk out the door). I actually hurt my ankle pretty badly, and had to take a moto-concho for my long walks the next couple of days.

Then there are the burns.  I was warned about the motorcycle burns. I was fully aware of how to get off of a motorcycle in order to avoid such burns.  Did it matter? Nope.  After my trusty moto-concho driver Roberto took me to my house last Saturday (after tripping out of the bathroom and hurting myself) I managed to burn my leg on the exhaust pipe. So I have a nice big round red welt on my leg to show for that.  If that wasn’t enough, this morning, in my extremely sleepy state, I picked up my straightener so awkwardly that I burned my thumb so badly that my fingerprint will probably never be the same.  I think I subconsciously wanted another embarrassing story because I knew this was the blog post I promised for the week.  Yes, that must be it.

Of all the other awkward moments I can remember, most of them lead back to my keen observation skills, which usually just make me seem like a creeper.  I am a people-watcher.  A lot of times, in social situations that are new to me, I stay in the background and just listen to conversations rather than participating.  Therefore, I tend to gather a lot of information about people, their families, and their lives without them really learning anything about me.  This is something I actually really like to do, but when I choose to reveal the information I know it kind of makes me seem like an almost-stalker.  There have been a few occurrences where people have been confused how I know who they are even though we haven’t technically ever met.  “Well, umm..three days ago I saw you come to school and talk to your husband, well I assumed he was your husband because you kissed him when you came, and then he took your daughter and held her, but umm…yeah I just figured it was you so can you give this to him? Sorry.” That is a good example of what my response was. 

However, something pretty cool happened the other day that was not awkward at all.  One of the teachers on staff at Doulos is having a baby next month, and people were throwing a baby shower for her.  I don’t know her super well, but at the last minute, I decided to go up to the two women who were planning it and donate 500 pesos, about 10 dollars.  I almost didn’t, but when I saw them both standing there in the parking lot I just decided to.  When I walked up I told them that I wanted to chip in to the fund, and they were really excited and asked how much I had. When I told 500 pesos, and they looked at each other and smiled.  I guess that they had just counted all the money and were exactly 500 pesos short.  If was good to know that my contribution, though really small, was obviously needed.  I think God is showing me that I’m not doing everything wrong. Which, I won’t lie, is pretty encouraging.

I realize this post is incredibly long. If you made it to the end, well, you must be pretty bored.  I just couldn’t cut short all of the awkwardness. I told you I had a lot to share, so here it all is. Hope you got a laugh out of at least one of my stories J