Dear readers, I apologize for the late blog post. This blog was written a couple weeks ago, but I had some technical difficulties getting it up. here it is:)….
Well, it has been almost a week since I have arrived in Dominican Republic. I can assure you that I AM in fact alive and ready to share a tiny tidbit of what life has been like for me here.
After a 3 hour flight and a 7 hour bus ride, my squad and I arrived at Hope Mountain late on Monday night. When we rolled out of the bus in the wee hours of the night, we were greeted with a warm meal. Our hosts are incredibly welcoming and so hospitable. We set our backpacks in the dorms and knocked out for the night. When I woke up on the morning, my eyes immediately shot across the room to the window. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Here is a picture of the view:
We are on top of a mountain in the middle of the rainforest and it is BREATHTAKING.
On our first day here, our hosts gave us a day of rest, which was so gracious. We got a tour of the property: the rooftop/treehouse, the kitchen where Elva and Margarita cook, the pools, the waterfall, and the place where the animals live. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like:
Above: our dorm room
Above: the outside of the girl’s dorm room building and the rooftop
Above: the waterfall where we spend free time at and occasionally shower in
Above: a view of the pools from the rooftop
Above: the host house
Above: a better view of the host house and pools after it rained. (Taken from the rooftop)
Above: my lovely friend Grace petting one of the horses. (Other animals not pictured: goats, chickens & puppies)
It’s absolutely beautiful here, especially when it rains, which is quite often!
For those of you wondering, here is what a typical day for me looks like:
I wake up around 5:30 to have alone time to read the Bible before our day starts. I usually sit on the roof and watch the sunrise, which is absolutely breathtaking. Around 8ish is when we eat breakfast which has been lots of different things. Sometimes it is something simple like hard-boiled eggs and bread, other times it is a traditional Dominican dish. It’s all delicious and Elva makes sure we eat good. After breakfast we begin our ministry time. Each team does ministry together and all of the teams rotate between different ministry roles. So far, our team has done a prayer walk through the neighborhood, we have been assigned hospitality(cleaning and serving food), and we have helped our Host Vicky with administration which was working on a PowerPoint about Sex trafficking. After our ministry time, Elva rings the bell and that is how we know lunch is ready. We have had many different meals, but many of them have included rice, beans, plantains, potato-like roots, and other stews. We all eat meals as a squad. Usually, we have a little bit of free time. In my free time, I enjoy journaling, painting, lying in a hammock on the roof, talking with friends, swimming in the waterfall, feeding the goats, and playing with the puppies! In the later afternoon, our squad has been meeting to plan a festival for the neighborhood community. This will take place tomorrow. At the festival, there will be games, crafts, skits, and dramas. Our team is in charge of crafts. We are making tambourines out of paper plates and pebbles. We have also been learning and practicing 2 dances as a squad to perform at the festival. We usually have some free time after our meeting and then it is dinner time. In the evening after we eat dinner, we meet together again for teamtime. Teamtime differs depending on the day. This may look like listening to worship music, sharing our story, or reading the Bible. It’s been real nice here. God is working on my heart and I’m just navigating who I am and who He is and what my role on this earth even is. It’s not easy. But He is so gracious and patient with me as I ask questions and try to organize my thoughts. I would love for you to pray against confusion and pray for clarity as I seek the Lord. If you’ve read this far, you’re a real trooper. Thank you for taking time to read about and invest in my heart and life here. There is so much power in prayer, I can not tell you how much I appreciate your prayers! If you have any questions or just want to talk about life or God or anything, leave comments or email me! I would love to hear from you! Your words/thoughts/stories/questions are so important!
Sending my love!
Yours truly,
Paige
