garner
garner
Dominican Republic 2010
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mber Garner is a 2010 Belmont University graduate who earned a degree in journalism. She is passionate about serving people and ready to see what God has in store for her on the island of Hispaniola. Read More About Amber →

Glory Strength

Sometimes you think you can’t do things, and then you do.  Liz, the executive director,  recently went on a tour of the United States and the field director Melissa came here to hang out with me. There were two days difference between their comings and goings and my Dominican family helped take care or me. Ernistina is the director of the club, her sister Marlenis a teacher, and they have adopted me into their family.  Marlenis hung out with me for a couple days in between Liz and Melissa and the water went out.  I may have explained this before, but sometimes when the electricity goes out so does the water. When the electricity kicks back on usually all you have to do is prime the pump and water is restored. On day 1 of the drought I didn’t know how to prime the pump so I had to wait for an instructional email. I don’t know if you’ve ever been without water for any period of time but it makes doing anything difficult. When I got the email the next day I was so excited. I was at the club hanging out with the kids and everything was going great. Until I tripped over my computer chord.  We were listening to music with some of the older girls and I got up to go check on the other class. I tripped over my chord and my computer fell a foot to the ground. It landed on it’s side and I picked it up and everything seemed fine. We left for siesta time and I turned my computer off. When we got back I went to turn it on and it wasn’t working. I tried to do all these repair menu things and nothing worked. Then I lost it. No water, no computer, no one else to handle these problems. Also, you may or may not know, I don’t speak great Spanish or drive here which makes everything that much harder. Taking motos everywhere is fun and a little stressful at the same time. I got home and tried to prime the pump, but it didn’t work because the water tank was too low. I tried a few times and not even a trickle from the faucet. This is when I sat on the couch to evaluate my life. At this point you may be thinking, “Am, what’s the problem. These are fixable things, no big deal.” Here, like I said it’s harder, it seems like a big deal. My computer is my life line and I’m a hot sweaty mess; no water, no shower.  Anyway, back on the couch assesing the situation.  I was sitting here breathing and thinking and something a great friend said to me when I was in Jamaica came to mind. He was talking about glory strength. When you feel like, “That’s it, I have nothing left to give.” You find it. Inside yourself, the little bit left that God has given you to do what He has planned to get done. So, I’m thinking about that and how earlier in the day I had been telling my boyfriend about the water and he was telling me how many people in the country, or the world dodn’t have water, ever. I didn’t want to hear it at the time, but as I sat gathering my glory strength that was what I thought about. He was right. In Haiti people share wells. If you upset the person that owns the well or can’t pay the fee, you don’t have water. At the barrios we work in they use the dirty ocean port water or again share a well. Everyday is a struggle for water.  So, I got up and talked to my Dominican family and they called the water people for me. They were at the house the next day by noon, I primed the pump and water was restored for 400 pesos. Easy. I called, they came, filled the tank and done. In the barrios there is no tank to fill. We are blessed beyond belief.

One thought on “Glory Strength”

  1. Amber,
    You have no idea much I needed to hear this story today! I’m so glad I decided to get on FB before I went to bed, lol. I’ll send you a more detailed email soon.
    Miss you!
    Sam

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