Hello everyone in America, it has been quite a long time since I caught you all up on ministry and life in the Dominican Republic and well, now, Nicaragua. For some unfortunate reason I couldn’t get my blogs to post in the DR, but now that I am in Nicaragua they seem to be posting just fine. I apologize for the lack of communication.
My first week in the DR I began writing this blog about our first day of ministry, unfortunately you all never got the chance to read it but living in the DR was an amazing chapter of my life and I wouldn’t want you all to miss out on hearing about what life and ministry was like! I hope you enjoy this brief recap!
“We have been living in the Dominican Republic for about a week now. Today we started our first day of ministry outside of quarantine. The campus here is gorgeous! There is a pool, volleyball, and a basketball court. This has been a really nice shift from being inside our tighter quarters in Romania. We are accompanied by a small black dog named “blackie” and “piggy” the local orange tabby, along with amazing and selfless staff. The food here is amazing, I didn’t realize how poorly we cooked food for ourselves in Romania till I got to taste food that is well seasoned.
I chug about a gallon of water a day in order to stay hydrated enough to make it through the incredibly hot days here. We are kinda in a tropical paradise, I often find myself sitting in awe in the mornings and nights gazing at the sunrises and sunsets. Ministry today (being our first day) was really sweet too! We started off today doing SMT-strategic ministry time. We go into the community and talk with people in their homes, hear about their lives and share the love of Christ with them. This morning, in our first home, we talked with a father and played with his young daughter around the age of 2. She carried a bag of frootloops in one hand and her eyes sparkled at each one of us as she waddled around handing out frootloops. When she came back to me I offered to hold her in my lap and she accepted, leaning all of her tiny weight against my stomach and cronching on her breakfast. After a short while she climbed down and walked around some more, then gestured to me to hold my hands out to her in a bowl shape. When I did, she gifted me with 4 soggy fruit loops from her mouth accompanied by her rainbow saliva. Even though I would normally want to complain or be grossed out, it really warmed my heart. “
It’s been quite a long time since my first day of ministry in the Dominican Republic, but there have been countless moments like this first one. The Lord answered many prayers about how and who he had called me to serve, after the race, through ministry in the DR. We had the opportunity to teach English at a school with children of all ages. It didn’t take long for me to realize that working with kids is definitely something the Lord has placed on my heart and it will be something I pursue after my race is over. I was also 1of 9 racers chosen to participate in an internship opportunity through Mission of Hope. This looked like meeting families and churches from the United States and guiding them through a week’s worth of ministry. I honestly loved doing the internship! When I started it, I expected the people who came to be people who grew up in the church, but most of them were newer christians. It warmed my heart to see these families on fire for the Lord and hearing their unique stories of how they came to Christ brought a new meaning to the word Testimony. It showed how God’s glory will be shown through people’s lives and not a single relationship or interaction goes without purpose.
I know my favorite part about ministry in the Dominican Republic was definitely spending time with my team and our translator Christian. From the many hot bus rides with hair blowing everywhere to endless games of Settlers of Catan and Wizard. Looking back, it was hard and homesickness was evident, but I’m so blessed to have lived it! In between visiting homes and teaching English, we had so many sweet, serious, funny and fruitful moments and conversations that I know I will cherish long after this trip. Throughout our time in the DR our squad said goodbye to 9 of our squadmates. Honestly, it was really hard to say goodbye to the friendships we made and accept the fact that it would be a long time till we would see them again. They followed the lord’s calling on their lives to go home for many different reasons and I am truly proud of them!
I am going to save my stories about Nicaragua for another post, but I hope this gives you a small picture of the incredibly busy and exciting life we lived in the Dominican Republic. Also if you are interested, I posted pictures a couple of times on my Instagram throughout our time.
