It is still so hard for me to believe that I am here in the Dominican Republic and that I am actually doing this thing! My team has completed our first week of ministry, which currently runs Sunday – Thursday. This provides us Friday and Saturday for rest, errands, BLOGGING, and excursions if we wish. This is definitely going to prove to be much needed time for regrouping and recharging as the month progresses.
Each week will look differently as far as what we will be doing on a daily basis, but I wanted to provide you a glimpse into what our first week looked like.
Our primary focus this week was to meet the people in the community of Mogollon, about a 20 minute drive from our house, and to build relationships in that community. My team is partnering with a church there, pastored by two wonderful men with an overwhelming love for the Lord, Rigoberto and Manuel. Serving that church and that community, in whatever ways we can, will be our focus this month, whatever that ends up looking like.
We began our week by participating in their church service last Sunday evening. A few of the girls from our team led some worship, which was received quite well by those in attendance. Throughout the week we had the opportunity to go into the school (participating in a PE class and speaking in the classrooms about Jesus), walk around the community and visit with some of the ladies and children, and do activities after school with the community children at the church.
Two of the highlights of my week both happened on Wednesday. First, we were invited to enjoy lunch at the home of one of the families in the community. She cooked for us a dish of rice, beans, egg, and onions . . . seasoned and prepared Dominican style of course. It was the best thing I have eaten since I left home. On that same day, our team was able to go to the home of one of our host pastors, Manuel, and enjoy fruit while getting to know his family better.
I have to admit that I have never really experienced a community with so much need, yet absolutely no want. We are here to serve them, yet they want to cook for us and offer things to us. We are always greeted at every home or gathering with hugs and kisses and the warmest of welcomes . . . and the children literally race to meet us when we arrive (and to play with our “soft” hair). It is truly humbling to see how the Christians of this community love and worship the Lord and are so grateful for everything that they have. They are truly content in what the Lord has provided them and there does not seem to be any sense of entitlement. They are such a gracious and loving people and I am very much looking forward to getting to know them more and serving them the remainder of this month.
***We are having a lot of trouble with connectivity and being able to load pictures to the site but I promise to load more pics to the site as soon as possible.
