Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

When people have asked lately how we’ve been, I’ve answered with “busy”. In the midst of multiple weeks of teams, it feels completely normal to be moving at full speed only to catch our breath on the weekend. Now that we’ve been on our break from teams, I realize just how crazy our daily lives are at times.

God sustains us, and I am so thankful for that. I believe that there are times when we are comfortable and we feel like we have control of the current situation that we don’t allow space for God to move. This has been heavy on my heart lately, and we have had some discussions with our US staff to discuss margin in our days. We need to allow space for God to move. It is humbling and scary at the same time to think about, but there is power in this. I’ve always been a planner, but in 2017 I started using my planner as a journal instead of an agenda. This helped me to note what was accomplished and my prayers throughout the week instead of constantly planning the next spare moment I had. This has been a good practice for me to remember. A lot of my role with SRI is to prepare teams for their week of ministry before landing in the DR, and I am thankful that God has gifted me with the opportunity to put people at ease so that they can serve in the communities.

We are just going into our final week of a four week break. The first week of break was spent organizing things around the guesthouse in preparation for our spring teams. The next two weeks were spent in Indiana catching up with family and friends.

Jeff participated in his first Dominican Pickleball tournament in the middle of March. He participated in the men’s advanced doubles and men’s advanced singles matches. Jeff and his partner placed 2nd in men’s doubles. It was exciting to cheer them on. The kids had a lot of fun too.

Following our weekend in Santo Domingo, we traveled back to San Juan for the kids to have a couple days of school before spring break. They wrapped up their 3rd quarter of classes, and we were able to get updates from their teachers. Both kids continue to grow in their understanding of the Spanish language, which is very encouraging. Braegan has become a little too social in the classroom, so we are working on that with her. Brantley loves being with his classmates and teaching them new things in English too. One of Braegan’s recent projects at school was to create a basketball court. Jeff and her spent quite a bit of time in the shed cutting wood and getting things measured out just right.

The first stop on our US spring break was to Carmel, Indiana where we spent a few days with the Zimmerman family. The weather in the midwest was a little cooler than we had anticipated. We enjoyed some good food and conversations. We spent an evening at Hoosier Heights, and the kids had a blast trying new challenges!

Following our time in Carmel, my mom picked us up and we spent the rest of our stateside time in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Brantley, Braegan, and I all ended up getting sick and were on antibiotics for the entirety of our time. Thankfully we are all healthy again now, it was a shock to our systems being in the cold spring weather as opposed to our Dominican sunshine.

Jeff enjoyed his time playing pickleball with his friends at Ace Pickleball. The facility is so nice, and every time he went he saw familiar faces.

Once the kids and I had a couple days of the antibiotics we were able to visit with friends and family. One night we went bowling and the kids had a blast. It was Brantley’s first time. Their favorite was when the cosmic bowling began!

We enjoyed some meals with friends and were able to spend some time with my grandma Shaffer. She’s had some health struggles lately, so it was good to catch up with her. Braegan has also surpassed her in height.

I was able to attend a women’s retreat Easter weekend, and it was just what I needed. A group of women from our church came together for a time of worship and prayer. We feasted on delicious food, the book of John, and fellowship with one another. I was humbled by the opportunity to be present in this space.

We enjoyed Easter Sunday at our church and then had a meal with my family. We haven’t spent Easter in the midwest in a while. The kids enjoyed opening their baskets and an egg hunt. I was even able to thrift Braegan’s dress!

This weekend we were back in Santo Domingo for Jeff to participate in the first international pickleball tournament at the Fiesta. Venezuela and Panama were other countries present. Jeff and his partner even secured a gold medal in advanced men’s doubles.

This upcoming week we have a few meetings in preparation for our next season of teams. I have begun communication with our summer VBS teams. It’s hard to believe that summer is just around the corner.

Prayer Requests:

• continued healing and rest for our bodies
• perseverance for the kids as they wrap up another school year
• upcoming season of teams