A huge thank you to everyone who prayed J-Squad's way to the DR, because let me tell you, God is good! Our squad was split up on two separate flights to the Dominican, with my half of the team leaving early Saturday morning. Friday night of launch consisted of an awesome message, powerful worship and prayer and some great time with the squad, but also only an hour or less sleep for most of us. By 3 a.m. we were on a shuttle and headed to O'Hare. Travel went SO smooth with only one hiccup of a few stranded guitars that we had to go fetch, but again, God's hand was so evident in our long day. Upon arriving to Dominican in the early afternoon, my half of the squad took over/hung out in the airport food court for about 7 hours, where reality hit that we weren't in Kansas anymore. We passed the time drinking DR coffee, playing games, sleeping, reading and of course holding food court-wide dance parties with some of the locals. The second half of our squad arrived a little after 10:00 p.m., and we squished onto three buses to head to our sleeping location for the night.
The bus ride was long and bumpy and surprisingly freezing as the air conditioning was on so high you would have thought we had landed in the North Pole rather than the tropical Dominican. At one point I woke up from a half asleep nap and realized that three completely foreign Dominican men all owning visible shot guns were driving us in the middle of the night through winding roads and questionable locations and none of us could speak their language. I think it hit me that this World Race thing had actually started. =)
We arrived to San Juan de la Manguana around 3:00 a.m., making a full 24-hour travel day for half of our squad. We stayed at the missionary house of Miguel, one of our ministry contacts in DR, for the night and sunk into springy yet welcomed bunk beds and slept for 5 straight hours. It was heaven! At 8:00 a.m. the next morning (Sunday) we were up for a briefing of Dominican culture by Miguel and six out of the nine teams on J-Squad packed up and were picked up by their ministry contacts for the month who are located throughout the DR. My team and 2 others are fortunate enough to be staying in Miguel's missionary house for the entire month.
Sunday was a day of rest and recuperation for us, as we went to the supermarket to get a few groceries, get settled in our rooms/beds for the month and familiarized ourselves with the city we are staying in. The missionary house consists of 5 or so rooms filled with bunk beds, a large community area in the back, a spacious kitchen and three bathrooms. It is actually located in a very wealthy neighborhood of San Juan where many governmental officials live and security is high, which is nice in that we are able to walk around freely without fear of safety. Further into the city it is more lively and normal, but just after two days of walking around we've become really acquainted with it.
Today we woke up early and a group of us ran to a track and sports complex located less than a mile away where we were able to run, play soccer, and hang out with more of the locals. A friendly old man invited me to run with him around the track and as soon as we started it felt just like home. For those of you who don't know, my dad and I started running together at the beginning of the summer and I was quite sad to be losing my running buddy, but it looks like I may be in luck! His pace is exactly the same as ours was (fast as lightening of course) and while I can't understand a word that he says, I can't talk and run at the same time anyway. =) It was great and I feel so thankful to be able to continue doing something I have come to love.
We met with our Pastor this morning and found out what ministry for Team Ahava is going to look like the rest of the month… We will be traveling 45 minutes to his church every day where we will be preaching in the mornings and doing evangelism every afternoon. Our schedule is broad and flexible and I'm excited to see where God leads us this month in ministry. Due to the fact that his bus is broken down right now and couldn't get fixed until this afternoon, we were given the rest of the morning and afternoon to finish running errands and prepare for the week. We met our translator for the month, Hector, who is 18 and an awesome kid. He reminds me so much of my brothers in his humor and demeanor! He has already been such a blessing to us as he helped us get our SIM cards for our phones, helped us finish shopping, and took us to the outdoor market.
In just a few minutes 4 of us from our team along with Hector are being picked up by our Pastor to check out his church and our ministry site for the month.
Overall, our first couple of days in the DR have been so blessed. Whenever I should have been exhausted and totally spent, I was, but the Lord provided energy to keep going and pushing through. I'm so overwhelmed when I think of the fact that God knew when He created me that I would be here, on the Race, with these specific people and I'm so thankful. Every time I've wanted to feel sad or lonely or overwhelmed, God has pressed into me so strong that I'm so content and at peace. As I read my Bible in the morning, truth just soaks into me… He is REAL and HERE and ALIVE and His promises are true. I'm so ready to get started with ministry and see what God has in store for us this month.
Pictures to come later… Internet is quite sporadic here, as we have to walk a few blocks away to a local cafe for wireless. Thank you for your continued prayers and support!
Love and blessings!
