As I spent some time reflecting on our ministry I also wanted to make sure all of you know what ministries we are involved in each month. Our blogs usually focus on one particular thing which is great but it makes it hard for all of you, our family and friends, to see the big picture of what we are doing each month. I thought it would be helpful at the end of each month to touch on all the ministry opportunities we had. Enjoy!
Dominican Republic
We worked with Hope for DR. We stayed in the mountain town of Lajas at the Dominquez’s house. Steve and I lived in our tent on the mountain side where we heard lots of dogs and roosters every morning. NO ALARM NEEDED!
Our first week of ministry we helped with some manual labor work on the property. They needed a meeting place to hold bible studies, kids classes, and have events where it could be covered incase of rain. We had a plot of land but the only problem was it was at a slant and we had to level the land by hand with shovels!! Our first week we built a retaining wall made out of tires and leveled the land and built a stage area in the corner.
BEFORE
AFTER
The second week we had the opportunity to write a girl’s curriculum which would be used at their school for the girls to help break the trend of young girls moving in with men around 15 and having babies. We wanted them to see God has great plans for their lives and that there are healthy ways of having relationships.
Steve and Tanja writing away!
Our last week in Lajas was doing door to door ministry. Our team got to go out and just learn about their families and their lives and share Jesus with them. It taught all of us how to authentic love people for who they were and show them the great love God has for them.
Haiti
We had the privilege of working with Mission of Hope this month.It was a month with our whole squad so all 50 of us were together. They are a larger organization that started by a couple simply saying yes to God and being faithful with that. Twenty years later this organization can hold hundreds of volunteers and has a huge variety of ministry!
We did a lot of time in different villages. During the morning we would visit homes with our Village Champions who work with the local church in that town. We would ask them about their needs and see how the local church could help them and also gathered some information for Mission of Hope. It was a time where we learned as a team to listen to the Holy Spirit and see how he wanted us to talk to his children. In the afternoon we would do a kids hangout time where we would play and share a message with them.
We also had the privilege of doing a a full 3 day camp for the orphanage that was on the Mission of Hope property. We had kids from ages 3-21 and did 3 sessions a day. We had to come up with crafts, teaching, music, and a schedule. We pulled together and loved on these kids with all we had.
Our team got to help with cleaning up disaster relief from the earthquake 5 years ago. There was a giant warehouse filled with all the donated supplies for disaster relief and we went through all the meds and supplies and helped restock the clinic on the property and organized materials so they are able to use them again. It was a dirty task.
Mission of Hope building. That is where we stayed and we met as a team at night on the roof. We watched beautiful Haiti sunrises and sunsets every day on that roof. It was a beautiful time connecting with the Lord.
That’s about it! Please stay tuned to next month and further blogs! Thanks for joining us on this journey!
