I can’t believe the first month of the World Race is over. It has truly flown by. I wanted to take some time to share what we did in the Dominican Republic. I apologize for not updating sooner and more often. This next month I will be better about sharing all that The Lord is doing in and through us as a squad.I will start by telling you all a little bit about where we were. We worked with a wonderful missionary couple, Rueben and Vickie Dominguez, who lived way up in the mountains, in a town called Lajas. It was beautiful up there and so was there home. They lived on 10 acres of land that we got to hike and explore. There was a river that ran through the property and a small waterfall that we could shower in if we wanted. We had plenty of sleeping options. There were dorms for us to sleep in, plenty of trees to set up hammocks, and a couple areas for tents. I did a little bit of everything as far as sleeping went but sleeping in my tent or outside on the couch that was on the porch was by far the most comfortable for me. They also had a pool that we got to jump in a few times and that was incredible. Even with the very cramped spaces, all the bug bites, cold showers, rain, and mud, it was a month that I will cherish. Now, a little bit about the ministry we did.
My team is called Team Overflow. This month was especially stretching for my team. We did different ministries each week and in each of those ministries, at least a couple of us were pushed outside their comfort zone, or struggled in some way. The good news is that The Lord showed up, and everyone put their heart into everything they could. The first week we got assigned to street evangelism and house visitations. This was the week that I personally struggled. Street evangelism has never been something I was comfortable doing or enjoyed, to be honest. We started by going house to house knocking on doors. The Dominican people are very hospitable and put more value on relationships than most other things. The vast majority of the people that we came into contact with invited us into their homes to sit and chat. Most of the people in Lajas were also Catholic, so they were familiar with the things of The Lord, and wanted us to pray for them. The first few days were the most difficult because we spent very little time with each person or family. It seemed as though we would come in, sit down, pray, and leave as quickly as we came. By the middle of the week, as a team we approached the ministry host and expressed the The Lord was calling us to spend more time with the people we come into contact with and get to know there heart. After that we were able to get to know who they were as well as share a bit about ourselves. That was wonderful. During that week we saw people healed physically, and even got to lead a woman and her daughter into the Kingdom. What a blessing! We also got to meet a couple that I will never forget. Their names were Epifeña and his wife Alejandrina. They were both in their mid 90’s and were married for over 70 years. Epifeña was blind. He had been for 8 years. If you were to look into his eyes, you would be able to tell and I think he knew this because after we came in and sat down he covered his head with a blanket. A woman we were with who was leading us around the town had said to him “that is not necessary.” and pulled the blanket off. She takes care of the couple in the afternoons and knew them for years. We got to sit with them for a while, pray for them and hear there story. Shortly before we were going to leave, Epifeña asks Tony, our ministry host for that week, to hand him his accordion. This man who is blind and seemed ashamed of it when we got there, started playing his accordion and even sang for us. It had brought some of our team to tears. It was by far one of the most beautiful things that I had ever seen. We got the chance to revisit them and when Tony asked if he would play for us again he said “I always love to play.” And his wife said “I always love to hear you play.” So he once again, played and sang and it was such a blessing to us. Here is a picture of Epifeña playing.
This was just week one. The weeks to follow were also amazing. The second week we were assigned to a construction project. The project was to dig out and build a space for future teams to meet, hangout, and eat. We did a lot of digging, I mean A LOT! In fact, all we did that week was dig and move dirt. During this digging we uncovered a boulder that was easily 1600 lbs and had no way of moving it. At one point our squad leader was trying to break off pieces of it and crushed his finger nail. It turned into quite the ordeal. He ended up passing out from all the blood, then had to go to the clinic, where he had to get shots of Lidocane in his bloody finger, and they ripped off the nail, which I’m sure you can imagine was extremely painful. He took it like a champ, though and is doing well.
The third week we got to pour into the children of two missionary families. In total there were 8 kids ranging in ages from 4-14. In the mornings we would do a short devotional with them, then hike the property, or play capture the flag. Then in the afternoons we would play cards or watch a movie, or basically anything else we could find to do. One day they older boys and I went to a colmado to buy some avocados, and tomatoes to make guacamole. The limes and cilantro grew wild there and the rest of the stuff we needed we had at the house. The next day they brought tortilla chips and we all ate the guacamole while watching a movie.
That was my experience with the boys. It was so nice to hangout with them and show them that, not only do we love them, but Jesus does too.
This month was full of wonderful experiences, and even some challenging lessons, but overall it was a month of incredible growth and I can’t wait to see what The Lord has for us in Haiti. We leave tomorrow and I hope that as I go there you will follow in your thought, and prayers. I love and miss you all. God bless.
