We’ll we have finished our first week in the Dominican Republic, and I don’t really know how to explain it. There were so many emotions that hit me this week. Excitement, frustration… EXHAUSTION… This week has been an adventure to say the least. We have been doing a teen camp all week and if there is one thing I learned from it, it’s this, working with teens is hard, but working with teens when there is a language barrier is really hard!
There is a kid here named Brando, and Brando is a rough kid. He’s from the city of Santa Domingo and is the leader of the pack of kids that live there. Whatever he does, all the other kids do. He isn’t a bad kid, he has just been misguided his whole life. When he came here he was still trying to put up the image of the leader to all the kids, but then soon realized that his image doesn’t really matter. He stopped trying to be the center of everything, and started helping and respecting everyone. The other kids watched him be kind and respectful and soon after some joined him in helping others instead of tearing others down.
Now there were still some kids who didn’t follow Brando’s example and continued to be the same, but the point is that Brando had a change of heart, and by him acting upon that change, others decided to change as well. The actions of one person being willing and open to change had a positive effect on others. Can you imagine what would happen if we all were open to and willing to let God change our hearts? Imagine the changes in our life’s, our churches, our schools or work places, our countries… I see His named being proclaimed, His truth being spoken, and His love shinning bright to all the dark places in the world!
My prayer is that we all would have open hearts and that we would allow God to move in them in a drastic way. Let His kingdom be built!
