My ‘By the Numbers’ blogs during my World Race always seemed to be a hit. Therefore I don’t see why I wouldn’t continue the tradition now that I’m back out on the field, packing a backpack again, hopping from country to country again, sleeping in a sleeping bag again.
This month has been an interesting one. I could describe it in a plethora of adjectives: beautiful, surprising, difficult, hot, rainy, itchy, sandy, prayerful, peaceful. Squad leading is no joke. It’s also the greatest honor and adventure. I grew so close to my original squad in 2013, and I didn’t know what to expect when I was assigned to a new one. O Squad is the perfect fit. It’s always funny/not funny at all that God knows what he’s doing. They love me well and they let me be exactly me, not whatever person I think they need as a leader. In fact, they encourage me to stay true to that person, they don’t want the other version.
So month ONE. Dominican Republic. This is January.
17—number of Racers I led/flew with from Atlanta—JFK—Santo Domingo
10—date in January that we flew out of the country
5—number of hours we rode in a bus to get from Santo Domingo to Lajas de Yaroa
47—number of people+bags we crammed into two small busses
6—number of teams I lived with up on the mountain at Hope4theDR for the beginning of the month
22—number of women we fit into our tiny dorm room—this also means 22 less floor space to walk around and 22x the fun!
16—number of bug bites on my left leg after 24 hours of living in the DR
6—number of ministries our teams got to be a part of at Hope4hteDR: prayer walking around the village, door-to-door ministry, looking after the Dominguez’ children, construction of a new pavilion on the property, writing curriculum for a new women’s bible study and lesson planning/implementation of kid’s camp and English classes
6—number of years ago Vickie and Ruben Dominguez and their 8 children came to the Dominican to start Hope4theDR. The two of them and their beautiful children were such a blessing to me and I’m lucky to have been mentored by them in the little while I was there. Check out their website HERE.
20—date that I said goodbye to my coleaders and everyone up on the mountain and came down to Santiago to live with Kevin’s team at a different ministry site
lots and lots—number of cell phone minutes I blew through after moving away from Dani and Ryan
4—average number of miles we walked in Santiago each day
3—number of hours we spent at Mariana’s house one afternoon after she cooked us a delicious lunch and brightened our day
6—number of days I spent in Santo Domingo prepping for and leading our month 1 debrief for O Squad! It was a phenomenal and also crazy busy few days where we got to meet up with our squad coaches and mentor, and pour into our Squad with teachings, worship, one-on-ones, etc. We were truly blessed.
Dominican, you are a country that could be felt and seen in beautiful ways and I thank you for your hospitality. Until next time!
