I admit, I have not been able to blog as much as I wanted to this past month. Good wifi has been incredibly difficult to come by and so the only times I have been able to blog has been on my off days at the beach. Speaking of the beach, I want to clarify some things. I’ve posted and shared photos of our off days on Facebook, but that is just ONE day each week. While at H.O.P.E. 4 D.R., our schedule looked something like this:
Monday-Friday: Wake up – 7 AM | Devotion – 8 AM | Breakfast – 8:30 AM | Ministry – 9-11:30 AM | Lunch – 12:15 AM | Ministry – 2-4:30 PM | Dinner – 6 PM | Devotion – 7PM | Bed – 9:30 PM
Saturday: Wake up – 7 AM | No Devotion | Off-Day Activities – 9-5 PM (| Lunch – 12:15 AM ) | Dinner – 6 PM | Bed – 9:30 PM
Sunday: Wake up – 7 AM | Worship/Sermon – 8 AM | Breakfast – 8:30 AM | Rest Day – 9-6 PM (| Lunch – 12:15 AM ) | Dinner – 6 PM | Worship/Sermon – 7 PM | Bed – 9:30 PM
Days were busy. I struggled to find my quiet time with God. In fact, I’ll just be vulnerable (since that is the theme of this year) in saying that I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve opened my bible in Lajas. There is one time that I woke early (6:30) to spend time with the Lord and He used the wind during my worship to flip the pages of my bible to a page that provided something to share with my friend, Jessica, my team, and my squad. It was so awesome.
There was a lot of spiritual warfare going on. Spirits of terror appeared. Girls, including myself, were being attacked in the dreams, being reminded about their past. One night as I lay in my hammock, I felt a hand rub my leg and a spirit of terror came over me. We were in constant prayer over sleeping areas. We were in constant prayer for protection over our minds. Satan is not happy with the revival occurring in Lajas and he was attacking. The last few days, though, were peaceful for the most part.
Ministry-wise, my team participated in taking care of the missionary kids, door-to-door evangelism, and helping build curriculum and activities for the English camp and class Kristin, a missionary here, runs. Each of these ministries lasted a week. It was difficult switching so often because I felt like we were leaving the ministry as soon as we were getting the hang of it. But God worked in so many awesome ways through these ministries and I feel like He used us well to reach so many people.
Our hosts were Reuben & Vickie, who live in the D.R. here in Lajas at the H.O.P.E. 4 D.R. compound. They fed us three meals a day, each an authentic Dominican dish. Chickens were butchered on-site three times during our stay. We had pork just once as a special treat. Fried cheese, fried yucca, fried eggplant, rice and beans, oatmeal, cream o’wheat, mongoo (mashed sweet potato and plantain). We probably had more…but it was basically these meals on repeat.
But yeah… that is an overview of my month in the D.R. Once I get more energy I will be able to discuss more specific stuff…
