Finally. The dream becomes a reality. The ever present looming deadlines are past. The beginning of the unknown is made known. One thing is for sure… there is no turning back!
14 hours in a car. 2 days in a hotel. 16 people packed into a transport bus. 46 lbs of luggage. 39 racers. 4 hours on a plane. 6 hours in a bus and finally we arrive in a little village named Lajas on the top of the mountain near Puerto Plata. There are 19 girls living at the missions organization Hope for the DR. The property is so beautiful here, the view is spectacular and it is a blessing to serve the people on this mountain.
There are three aspects to ministry here: Women’s ministry, door to door evangelism and children’s camp. My team spent the first week and a half serving in women’s ministry. We had the opportunity to prayer walk, meet with some of the women and prepare a Bible study for a mothers group. We also planned an event for the women that specifically spoke to them about their worth and identity in Christ. It was amazing! What the women of Lajas had to share was inspiring and I honestly believe that I learned so much more from just being with them then I ever could have from home.
This week we are serving by doing door to door evangelism in the community. Honestly, going into this week I was a little skeptical. I am not the type of person to love evangelism… it is not my gift, but I know it is why we are here! Our mission is to share the love of Jesus in any and every way and it has blown my mind. Everyone in the community has opened their hearts and doors to us. They have shared their culture, language and stories with us. God has revealed Himself to me in the smallest of ways that have already begun to change my life.
SOOOOO NOW… I am ganna tell you a little bit about how we have been living! We have a dorm that all 19 of us are sharing, we have bunk beds and matrasses… which has been a total blessing. We do have running water for a lot of the day but it turns off randomly so sometimes we do bucket shower. WE HAVE REAL TOILETS! That is my favorite thing about life here… seriously its no joke. We have local Dominicans that come over for every meal to cook for us too… I know what you may be thinking but it has been a total blessing! We have been able to experience real Dominican cooking and build relationships with some really influential women in the community.
Everyone here at Hope has been such a blessing to our race. 3 weeks in and I feel like God has just so blessed this ministry. It is so exciting to see what God is already doing in our lives, our relationships with one another and our relationships with Him.
More to come I promise but I wanted to give you an update!
Also…. today I found tons of spiders in my clothes and it was gross… I have had the creepy crawlies since lunch!
Exciting news to come in my next post so check back soon!
If you feel led to give please feel free! Click the donate button at the top of the page! I am still in need of just under $4,000! 🙂
