We have been serving in the Dominican Republic with Hope for the DR in a beautifully quaint mountain town called Lajas de Yaroa. God spoiled us with the most incredible view:
We have 3 teams each serving in a different form of ministry this month- 19 amazing women. We are all sleeping in bunk beds in a sweet little dorm:
Bug nets are a must because lizards, huge spiders, and critters like to visit us. We also had a snake encounter- sorry to Lajas for all of the screams.
There are chickens who love to pop in the middle of whatever your doing. My teammate Kirsten sat on one hiding behind a pillow.. seriously weird things like this happen daily:
Our hosts have been a pure example of what it looks like to serve. They cook us three meals a day. Breakfast is usually something like grits, cream of wheat, or cereal. My favorite breakfast is bread with peanut butter dipped in hot chocolate. Lunch is usually rice and beans, salad, and meat. The meat is delicious, but beware.. bones and extras are left in. Dinner is usually potato-like sides and sausage:
There are also little shops nearby where we stock up on cookies. You never know what you’ll walk into:
My favorite is getting a coconut from here:
My team began our first ministry with kids camp. We planned and held camp in the compound we are living in twice daily. We taught the children Bible stories, danced to songs, played games, did crafts, and split them into groups to go deeper. The toughest part was the language barrier, but we pushed through, and by the end of the week we not only gained respect from the kids, but we also get attacked by love when we see them in the town. We learned of the heart-breaking experiences these children hide behind their beaming smiles. Many come from broken homes, alcoholic parents, losing family members to illness, and face bullying by other kids in school. It was a gift to pour into these sweet souls:
Our second week we focused on women’s ministry and home visits. We held a Bible study at the town meeting and it was incredible. After my teammate KP shared her testimony, two of the women shared with us hardships in their lives. One had 3 children and lost one in a motorcycle accident, lost her husband when the children were young, and had to work endlessly to provide for her family. She never once lost faith in Jesus, and you can feel her strong faith when she boldly speaks. The other found out at a young age that she was adopted by parents who found her in a dumpster. Her mom was a prostitute who had babies and abandoned or sold them. You could see the pain in her eyes as she asked for prayer for the pain.
The home visits have been my favorite part so far. These people selflessly invite us into their home, and pull out every chair they can find to give us a seat. The bare simplicity behind the tattered colorful walls is eye-opening:
This incredible man, Epifianio, and his wife Alejandrena were the first to invite us in. They have 9 children and 35 grandchildren. Epifianio is 99 years old, blind, and loves to sing and play the accordion:
After we left we asked if we could pray for them. I don’t think Epifianio quite understood that we were translating the prayer, because he kept bursting out in song when we would try to translate. It left us all in laughter. We finally got the prayer out and left with happy hearts.
The sweetest ministry ever was with Della Nira. This selfless woman invited us in her home and we had such a wonderful time that she invited us back the next day for dinner. She had a 10 year old and a 6 month old precious girl. We came back and experienced a true example of hospitality. She treated us to delicious coffee and conversation, then we spent the afternoon salsa dancing. She invited us in the kitchen to help cook. We had the best spaghetti ever, plantains, avocado, and rice and beans…. yum:
We have had the blessing of 3 incredible adventure days. The first one we hiked up waterfalls and slid/jumped our way back down:
The second we had the most whimsical traveling experience to the beach. We took two packed guanabanas (buses) down the mountain. It was a cozily bumpy ride.Then we transferred to motos!!! Craziest experience ever, it was exhilarating. Thank you Jesus for getting us there safely:
Then for the way home we packed 17 people into a tiny blue rusty truck… 4 up front, 2 on top, and 11 crammed in the back. It was a 2 hour ride full of laughter, bumps, freedom, and funny looks from the people we passed:
Yes… there is a truck under us.
And for the 3rd we spent the day in the city- we went to a mall, a grocery store, Sweet Frog, a monument, and TGI Fridays. It was such an unreal treat that we sang the national anthem as we pulled into TGI Fridays.
And most importantly, huge shout out to my incredibly beautiful team. These women show me every day what it looks like to love, serve, be a true friend, and a strong woman of God:
In order: Kirsten, Anna, Kimberly, Sara, Kayla, Hery
On February 4th we will leave Hope for the DR and begin 4 days of debrief. Debrief is where our squad and leaders get together to unpack the month we just had. Then off to Haiti!!!
Next month is all squad month!!! That means our entire squad will be living and serving together in a compound in Haiti. I don’t have too many details, but I have heard wifi may be very limited if even possible at all… getting used to this reality (hence the whole month packed into one blog) I will give you more details as I find out more.
Meanwhile, back at home, my amazing church had a meal fundraiser and were able to raise $1500 to add to my world race fundraising. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS HAPPEN!!! This is a huge chunk and we are getting close to the end goal!!!
Thank you all so much for the prayers, incredibly sweet words, and helping to make this possible. God is amazing!!!!!
