Yesterday morning, my team along with 6 other teams from my squad left Santo Domingo, DR and headed to San Juan, DR for our first month of ministry. Let me tell you, it’s no easy feat getting 49 people and their 50 lbs. backpacks into two small buses, but we managed to do some creative packing and find everyone a seat to safely make the 4 hour trek. We are all living together this month at an Adventures in Missions base, but each team has a seperate ministry contact and will be doing different service projects. My team has been told we will be doing anything from running Vacation Bible School for kids to teaching English – basically whatever our contact needs us to do. I’m excited as we already had befriended some kids in Santo Domingo, and you can tell that the kids in the DR are very loving and seeking affection. I am guessing we’ll have fun playing charades to communicate as no one on my team speaks Spanish 🙂
While there are 7 teams here in the DR this month, the remaining 4 teams from my squad are in Haiti. At the end of the month we will switch and each of the 7 teams here will go to a seperate location in Haiti. I’m hoping I may be able to communicate better there if they speak French!
I’m so thankful for all of your encouraging comments on here and on Facebook. I have definitely already felt out of my comfort zone – when you’re a large group of Americans you tend to stick out like a sore thumb and thus get honked at and pointed at a lot – but I know it’s good for me and God is going to teach me a lot this year. I’m also already learning that when my worldly comforts are taken away, He is the only one I can look to for comfort.
Please pray for our minisry this month and that we may be a blessing to those we serve. Pray also for protection for our team & our entire squad and for good health. I am fortunate to have refrigeration here for my insulin and my blood sugars have been normal thus far – praise God! I had been very anxious when I left about my diabetes but a couple nights ago my teammate Derek prayed that the spirit of fear would not have a hold over me and I can truly say that right now I have a sense of peace. I am trusting that if I am faithful to stay healthy that God will take care of me!
I miss all of you and pray you are doing well. I’d love to hear from all of you this year and stay in touch. Blessings!
