Family Visit

well, well, what can i say? i just had a wonderful week with my mother and cousin/pseudo-sister audrey staying here with me in the Dominican Republic!! what a special time, it was amazing to share this experience with people that i love so dearly : ) thank God for His gifts like this to us!

we spent a busy week visiting barrios, helping at ANIJA, homeschooling the trautweins, and mostly getting ready for the big sponsorship project which i am now working on. mom and audrey really enjoyed being here, and i think this was a wonderful eye-opening time for both of them - there's something about actually being in a place that does so much more than pictures can ever do. a picture may be worth a thousand words, but a real-life experience can make you speechless! i'm very thankful too that my mom began sponsoring a little boy at the school, daniel, who's in preschool. he is such a sweetheart, and her help is very timely, as our preschool class is still very under-sponsored. i would definitely encourage all of you to go to a different country on a missions trip sometime in your life; it's so good to make oneself aware of what's really going on the world, and to realize that even those of us who live in wheaton or whatever are still part of that world. God has called all of us to be missionaries in the places that we are, but sometimes it's hard to know what exactly God wants us to do; but going on a missions trip can make God's calling in your life much clearer, as it opens your eyes to the needs in this world, and gives you a heart for loving all the different people in it. course, that doesn't mean full-time overseas missions for everyone - but it's good to see. anyhow, thats a little sermon for ya'll : )

other than that, please pray for me a few things: the trautweins are leaving on thursday for a month of travel in the states. please pray for a much-needed relaxing and renewing time for their family while there, and also pray for the safety of my friend katie and i, as we'll be staying in their house by ourselves. pray also that i would be able to get this project done and in the mail on time! thanks so much for your prayers, and for keeping up with me.

God bless, allison