So I have been on The World Race for about 2 weeks now. Each day has seemed to have something new and exciting for me and my team to experience. We have been able to start relationships with some incredibly awesome kids who, despite having the worst living conditions I have ever seen, have so much hope gleaming from their eyes.
The first week here in the Dominican Republic we started off by helping our wonderful ministry hosts out with building a bathroom for their vacation bible school kids camp. We worked hard throughout the day moving piles of dirt up a mountain bucket by bucket in order to level out the floor of the bathroom. After that we were able to experience what it was like to be shin deep in cement as we shuveled and carried bucket after bucket of cement to the new bathroom floor.
After we had finished getting everything ready we now awaited the arrival of 90 non-english speaking kids. It was amazing to see how tightly you could bond with these kids just by showing them love despite the lack of communication that came with the language barrier. We all ended up with our personal favorites at the end of the week and saying good bye just after such a short period of time of getting to know them gave us a little preview of what’s to come the rest of the year as we go country to country sharing the love of God with the world.
After camp my team headed down out of the mountains of Lajas into the city of Santiago where we would reside with what seems to be just one big block party of a family. Every morning we have been taking a 45 min bus ride into a town called Cien Fuegos (100 fires) where the power of God has been working the past 7 years to bring the town fom what I hear was complete darkness to what is now a town with hope spreading from street to street despite the horrible living conditions.
I want to introduce you to a few kids who have all seem to have taken a little piece of my heart these past couple weeks.
First up is Genvrich. He’s a bit of a troublemaker at times but it’s so easy to see that he is just in need of Gods love. Genvrich and I had a tight bond at the kids camp and he really reminded me a lot of my best friend growing up. Oh.. did i mention I got a new nickname? “El Oso” aka “The Bear” is what Genvrich was calling me all week and it wasnt until the very last day that I finally learned what it meant.
And then we have Miss Graciela. Throughout the week of Kids Camp, Gracielas counselors were having a hard time getting through to Graciela. She seemed to have quite a bit of darkness clinging to her so on the last night of camp I thought that I would use the authority and power that is in the name of Jesus to break the chains holding Graciela back from what her Father has for her. It truly is incredible to see the difference before and after Jesus came and set her free. She is now such a loving and beautifully bright child of God as you can see.
Meet Mariandy.. She lives in what would barely pass as a shed here in Cien Fuegos and yet look at this smile. Mariandy is probably one of the brightest most intelligent young girls that I have met and don’t even get me started on the hope that radiates from her eyes and smile in this small little dark town of Cien Fuegos.
I apologize that it has taken me so long to update everybody but as you can imagine everything that has been going on has been rather hard to process. I want to thank all my supporters who made it possible for me to be here. I know that I am where God wants me right now and I still need the help of every single one of you. It has been such a blessing to be here but I only have enough funds to cover the first 3 months of my trip. So please continue to pray for me and also pray about supporting me financially. Don’t feel like what you have to give isn’t enough because God has shown me how when we all give a little we can really do a lot. There is still lots of work to be done and without your help I won’t be able to make it to Asia and Africa where I really feel God has some amazing things planned to happen for his kingdom.
