Never in my life did I think that I would find myself in Titayen Haiti writing a blog about a month just spent in the Dominican Republic, nor did I realize how full that month would be when I walked into it. Here are a few truths of what I experienced, some of the things I fell in love with, a few really fun times, and an update about where Gap O is!
Dominican people are the absolute best. They were hospitable, open, and loving. Most people were living in poverty, but some of the people we met were some of the happiest people I’ve had the privilege to talk to. Meeting people with such hard physical circumstances who had Christ really gave a new meaning to what being wealthy looks like.
Hope Mountain ministry is absolutely incredible. I have never been treated so kindly, welcomed so openly, and treated like family by complete strangers. If I thought I knew what pure love of Christ looked like before the DR, then I absolutely know what it looks like now. If it’s true that love moves mountains then I would bet Hope for the DR will too.
I am NOT used to living with so many people. I get overwhelmed sometimes at home with just two people, and I just spent a month in a cramped basement dorm with 17 other girls, and over 50 people living on the same property. Talk about community living. It’s hard in the sense that it’s new, and that you’re never really alone. But unbelievably refreshing in the sense that people here truly have the desire to serve. The energy and honest hope to just help in anyway translates to our squad helping each other in any and every way. It translates to having the chance to go to anyone in this giant group of people and talk to them or have them there for you. It translates to simply asking and having any number of hands laid on you right then and there to be prayed over. Community is tough, but the lessons and the standard of missional living it sets hopefully will also spill over into life after the race.
Over 800 children from Haiti are taken to the DR every month because of trafficking. There are thousands of children and women here who are stuck and have no where to go. Sex trafficking tourism is huge in the Dominican. We had debrief last week in the city for 5 days, and the amount of disrespect we were shown as well as witnessed towards other women was sickening. It hurts me to think that while it may have been hard for us being there and experiencing that first hand, millions of women in the DR experience that every single day. Over 50% of the population is living on less than two dollars per day, and the water is not safe to drink unless purified. Please please pray for the DR.
Language is NOT an obstacle that the lord cannot over come. The relationships and the conversations I had with people who I could hardly talk to completely shocked me. We played with kids all the time and got so much more attached than then I thought we would in one short month. If you put yourself in a situation to be used by the Lord, then he’ll use you, even if you don’t feel equiped.
Dominican Hot chocolate is the absolute, without a doubt, BEST Hot chocolate I have ever had in my life. Ever…
I’m finding out that it’s easy to just float through the race. Nothing will change you on it’s own. I have to choose change and growth and actively pursue it each day.
Life here feels surprisingly normal. I’ve heard a lot of racers say that it feels like normal day to day just like home. We aren’t here doing amazing world changing things everyday. It’s just life. Meals and hanging out and talking to people. Walking around villages and not preaching to people, but just taking the time to get to know them. Small moments can have really great amounts of impact.
Our team has had 3 adventure days, in which we got to go to two absolutely beautiful beaches, a small island, and then hiking and waterfall jumping. I feel like we have been served more then we have done the serving. Hosts have received us in a way I don’t think anyone was prepared for.
Gap O as of this week is in Haiti for one month. We are staying with Mission Of Hope, an organization I’m learning has had indisputable impact on how far Haiti has come, especially since the earthquake. We visited a village called Minoterie (MIN-A-TRY) two days ago. It is 615 houses with no electricity and no running water. Houses are one or two room cement blocks, painted in bright blues and pinks and greens. Every family in that village was taken out of a tent and put into a sturdy home by Mission of Hope. There is village after village all lined up that are just like that, except not all of them have had help. People here live in tents, sheets of metal and random pieces of wood, or in houses that are only half built. Everyday so far we have left in the morning and spent the day walking from house to house. There is no time limit on how long we stop. It could be for 5 minutes or an hour. It’s hard to sit down with people who have next to nothing and tell them to humble themselves to a God they don’t have a relationship with. But it’s been 3 days and I have already seen women come to Christ, had at least 10 people ask us to pray for them because they want Christ in their life, and been able to encourage individuals who won’t go to church because they don’t have good enough clothes, or hair that is too long. Change is already happening in Haiti, people here are rising up, Mission of Hope is doing great things for these people, and I’m excited for the rest of the month and what it is going to bring.
Please pray for us all as a squad this month. Voodoo and devil worshipping is a common practice here. We have already met people who have witness of this happening in their communities. There has also been a lot of illness since we got to Haiti and in the days leading up to our traveling. People have been diagnosed with multiple issues, so please pray that each of us are protected, surrounded by angels, and kept healthy and safe.
Thank you for reading! If you’re on my page you’ll see that I still need help with support! To continue the race I have to be funded by December, any and all help would be an amazing blessing:)
