Well the last two weeks have been truly a great rewarding and humbling experience. Our ministry contacts, Ruben and Vickie Dominguez with Hope 4 DR have been amazing. My first two weeks here have been great. Week 1 my team was assigned to provide devotions and activities for the missionaries’ children. There were 8 children, ages 4 to 14, and we had a blast. The desire of their parents was for the children to feel loved and to have fun like normal children, because being the children of missionaries is anything but normal. We played capture the flag, went swimming, hiking, hiking, and more hiking. We did morning devotions and taught the children various bible stories including Jesus washing the disciples feet, the feeding of the 5000, and we also talked about Spiritual exercise and how to strengthen their faith. On Friday we did not have all the kids so we helped another group host and English camp for local children. We have worship and devotion morning and night, Monday through Friday. Saturday was an off day and we spent it at a beach in Sosua. Sunday morning I attended one of the churchEd our ministry contacts planted in Santiago. The joy and worship we experienced that morning was overwheing.
Week 2 found my group doing door to door ministry. I was extremely nervous about this assignment. After talking with the missionary we were working with, I was completely at ease. We walked the streets of Lajas Monday through Friday stopping at people’s homes and spent time getting to know them. We talked about their families, jobs, issues they were facing and more. As the Spirit led we would share our testimonies, how the Lord was working in our lives, share salvation, and pray with them. the people were very welcoming of is and received everything positively. We also invited them to attend the local evangelical church service on Sunday. One lady we met prayed for salvation and another felt God calling her to go back to church. On Friday we went back and revistEd most of the people we met throughout the week. Saturday was another off day spent at the beach. Tonight my group is attending the local church service at 6pm.
During this next week my group is planning and preparing for the English camp on Friday. On Sunday February 1st we will head in to Santo Domingo for debrief And Around the 5th or 6th we will take a bus to Haiti. More details about our next ministry host will be shared once we find out sometime this week.
I am doing well and feel great. Please to continue to pray for me and my team as we continue to grow closer in our relationships and share in this journey. Prayer requests for the people of Lajas include lots of physical pain and physical ailments, prevalent alcoholism among males, infidelity is common, and most are concerned about their studies so they can receive a good job. Please pray for the missionaries and their families: Ruben and Vickie Dominguez (Star, Soli, and Jo-J), Matt and Terry (Alec, Marcus, Ellah, Maddy, and Issc) and tTony and Joan.
I hope you enjoyed this update. Talk to you soon!
Bryan
