Okay y'all so here's an update on my life for the month of July…
So we all meet up at launch for a few days to go over some more training and practice some real situations we might run into while on the World Race. It was great for informational purposes, but even better to become closer as a squad in Christ. We had training sessions, started making decisions as a team, and even got to control our own food budget.
In the wee hours of the morning on July 3rd, we made our way to the airport with all our packs and excitement. Even in lines at the airport we had opportunities to share what our group was doing and why (God never stops providing those opportunities). After landing in the Dominican we quickly found our host waiting with buses to take us to Lajas (our first location). The ride was gorgeous because Lajas is literally on a mountain. We set up our tents and got ready for our first night of many on this incredible journey.
For the first few days, we prepared the location for a teen camp that our host was going to run for a week. This included clearing areas for large community tents, building another bathroom outside, preparing stations for each day of camp, gathering and organizing supplies, and other general preparations. Each World Racer was given positions and responsibilities for the next week. I was placed as a team counselor and involved in the drama team. As a counselor our days were completely filled. We slept with the campers in tents, ate meals together, went to all the stations each day, supervised the team during free time, made up chants and dances, and anything and everything in between. Each team had one translator, but we found it wasn't absolutely necessary very often. We had so much fun communicating and connecting through broken Spanglish and hand motions. God really used those moments to show himself and his love. He really blessed those times and allowed connections to made with these Dominican teens.
Every night there was worship and a message brought to the whole camp. It was amazing to see the kids respond to what was being said and to be able to pray over them. After pouring so much love, energy, time, and Christ into them over the course of a week, it was hard to say goodbye. We came to know many of their stories and knew what kind of homes they were going back to. Homes of brokenness. Homes that don't welcome name of Jesus. Homes where they feel trapped. Homes where they are silenced and mistreated. As they left, their tears were not just tears because they didn't want to leave camp. They were also tears of knowing what they were going home to face. Knowing what opposition these precious hearts are going to have to fight in a place that should be safe is hard to think about. It's these moments where my trust in the Lord and in his Spirit is really put into practice. Trusting that his Spirit is going to use the time we spent with these teens and he will continue to cultivate and grow their relationship with him. This was the start of me giving up control of my ministry and truly placing it in God's hands. God really challenged me with this for the whole month as you'll see in my next blog…
Thank you so much for reading and your interest in what my team and squad is doing and experiencing. As most of you know, I'm still in the midst of fundraising while here and I am about $1,500 away from my next deadline of October 1. I would love if you would choose to sponsor me as I follow what God is calling me to for these 11 months. Click the "Support Me!" button at the top of this page or contact me for more info on how to donate. Also, feel free to email me with any questions or prayers at [email protected]
Thank you all again:)
