Housing: There was one dormitory for men and one for women. Which was super nice, but crowded since there are several teams in one location this month. So, I set up my tent and hammock for all living/sleeping purposes and love it!
Food: No complaints! Beans, rice, plantains, yucca, potatoes, fried cheese (YES), salami, a little chicken, a little salad/slaw mix, oatmeal, cream of wheat, and COFFEE.
Town: Lajas, DR
Ministry: HOPE for the DR. http://www.hope4drnow.org My three ministries have been:
1. Writing a girls’ discipleship curriculum– This ministry has a school in San Fuegos. There are many challenges and barriers for those kids. Our job was to create a teaching curriculum for the young girls for implementation into that school. My team had the honor of starting that curriculum, so we created the outline which included 12 core characteristics, one for each month. These included courage, love, beauty, restoration etc. Our hope and prayer for this is that it speaks life and healing into those deep places of their hearts that have been abandoned, abused, and neglected.
2. Prayer walking/learning the art of prayer- We were able to spend the week praying over the town of Lajas. Part of this ministry was also developing relationships with the people of the community which was great!
3. Construction– We worked on building an outdoor covered pavilion/stage area on the property of HOPE that will allow them to both better accommodate teams and serve the community.
Off-days: THE BEACH. Gorgeous. We went on 2 of our off days. The last day, we had a day of relaxation at our compound which included movies, naps, and cuddles with my teammates.
Top Moment: Being invited into a sweet lady’s house named Maria who loved to let us practice our Spanish. Everytime we try to leave her house she begs us to stay longer. Relationships are where it’s at. Also, a shoutout to Dallas, a Peace Corps girl stationed right by our ministry site who we got to hang out and have a cool connection with.
Most Challenging: Being around people 24/7. Finding introvert time has definitely been tough, but God is teaching me a lot through that too.
What I’m looking forward to about next month: Haiti is my only repeat country out of the 11, and I LOVED it when I was there last. Also it’s our “All-Squad” month, so all 50ish of us will be together. We will be able to get to know the 2 teams better who were in a separate location from us last month.
