Dominican Details! - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

Hola from the Dominican Republic! As we hit the streets we were quickly immersed in the beautiful culture of the DR. To the left we saw waves crashing in from the ocean, to the right we saw tons of pedestrians walking around in a colorful city, and straight ahead was our destination- large mountains in the far distance with the tips of the mountains peeping through the tops of the clouds. This month we are living on a mountain in the town of Lajas de Yaroa and we are partnering with Hope 4 DR Now ministries.

As we made our way to our home for the month, a teammate and I quickly began working on our Spanish skills with our bus driver, David. The whole bus ride we were in complete awe of our first country. During the four hour ride we observed so many unique characteristics about the DR. Everyone seemed to be outside either driving, walking down the street, or just hanging out on their front porch. Some kids running around in the streets didn’t have toys to play with but managed to make treasure out of another man’s trash by picking up a plastic lid and throwing down the street to a friend it as a Frisbee. I’ve got stories about that trip for days.

After an 18 hour travel day we finally made it to our first home on the race! We pulled up to HOPE mountain around 10 pm, unloaded our packs and ate the delicious meal that had been prepared for us. We headed to bed completely exhausted but with fully bellies and eager hearts. The first day was spent relaxing and enjoying the property. Our hosts Vicki and Ruben got stuck in the States so we met with another HOPE worker, Kristain, who gave us all the deets about the town. She informed us of many of the common issues that have been going on with the people in the town. We also learned that the government has control over the electricity so it will randomly turn off and on for a few hours throughout the day. The government also has recently been keeping control of the water flow because they have been in a drought for the past four months. This means bucket showers will be a common activity for us this month! Wifi is almost non-existent but a 24 hour access code can be bought at a corner store. Even without so many things that we view as luxuries and comforts in the States, we have been so blessed to be partnering with Hope 4 DR Now.

(www.hope4drnow.org) HOPE stands for Helping Others Pursue Eternity and that is exactly what they do and seek this in any way possible. The three specific ministries our three World Race teams will be helping with during our month in the DR are women’s ministry, children’s ministry, and evangelism.

For the first week and a half my team (Kingdom Shakers) has been working in the women’s ministry for the first half of the month and door-to-door evangelism for the second half. The first few days were spent prayer walking around the town of Lajas, observing the needs of the community, meeting and building relationships with the women, and preparing for leading sessions for the women of Lajas.

The women of Lajas meet weekly at the community center to discuss the needs of the community, come up with plans to fill those needs, and make decisions which help unify the town. They come up with curriculums and share them with the community such as finding more effective ways to wash hands and teaching this to the children. They serve in many ways such as serving at the funeral home to relief the stress of grieving families. They help the community to become unified by making many of the big decisions within the town. Needless to say, these women have a huge influence within Lajas.

We are really excited to dig deeper into the community and the lives of the people on the mountain and to experience the love of Christ with them!