We landed in the Dominican Republic last weekend, and began the last portion of the race! For the months of April and May, my squad is living with Hope Mountain Ministries in Lajas de Yaroa, Dominican Republic. Our base is in a little mountain town, about 45 minutes from the nearest city, and an hour in the opposite direction to the Atlantic coast. Needless to say, this is an extremely different setting than our base in touristy and populated Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, so ministry here also looks a bit different than what our squad experienced before this.
A significant part of our ministry these next two months will be towards women who have been abused, prostituted, or recently rescued from the trafficking system. The Dominican Republic is ranked third in the world for exportation, and the trafficking rate in this country is also extremely high. Additionally, there is not much help for the women here, so Hope Mountain, the base where we are living, has filed with the government to become the first safe house for rescued women in the country. and that’s a huge deal! what that means is that the hundreds of women who are dumped on the streets, will now have a place to go, and not only a place to provide for their physical needs, but a place that they will hear the gospel. Praise the Lord for that!
There are four teams on my squad, and each team is doing a different type of ministry each week. Because it could be any day that our hosts receive approval to open as a safe house, each type of ministry is working in a different way to the same goal – preparing the base to become the safe house.
To give you a quick outline of ministry here, there are four categories: outreach, creative, admin, and property, and the teams on our squad rotate weekly. This past week, my team was in charge of outreach, so our ministry included putting together ingredients to deliver meals to some of the families around us, and writing notes to both those families as well as women who are already involved with the base.
The creative team put together a collection of skits and videos, working with the admin team who outlined lessons, all to be used for a youth and women’s program at one of the base’s church plants. The property team also worked to prepare the base in practical ways, by laying sod and pouring concrete in the walkways and shared areas on base.
To sum it up, ministry is mostly on base here, and full of things to look forward to!
I’d love to also share some ways you can be praying for my squad during our next two months in this country! First, you can pray for health. Our bodies are still transitioning from living at sea level to living on top of a mountain, as well as transitioning to new diets and sleep schedules. Transitions like these often naturally leads to some sickness, so I’d love prayer for health and energy as we continue to adjust.
Another way you can be praying is for our hearts to be present here! We’re in a stage of the race where the end feels so close and still so far, so pray that we would have strength and grace to be present where our feet are, even when summer and college plans feel pressing.
And lastly, pray for the base! Pray that Hope Mountain receives approval quickly to open as a safe house, and pray that the women in the Dominican Republic would hear and come to this base, and more importantly would hear and come to faith in Christ.
Thank you for continuously partnering with me through reading my blogs and praying! I’m excited for what’s coming, and can’t wait to share more!
happy Easter week 🙂
<3 Rachel
