After months, and weeks, and days of preparation, we are finally here in the Dominican. We got our first glimse of this beautiful country out of the plane windows. For me, that was when I realized that the dream had become a reality. That night we got on the bus and drove 2 hours to Azua, the community where we will be serving. This culture is a bit confusing at times; Dominicans take pride in there apperance and always look clean and presentable even thought the house in which they live may be nothing more that 4 concrete walls and a tin roof. Our hosts are the nicest, most most hospitable people I have ever met. The majority of us are staying with pastor Rau’l and his family and the rest are close by the church members houses.
These past couple of days have been humbling. As we walk through the poorer”streets” of Azuato get to the ministry sites we see malnurished children and dogs and hard working people. Despite all of this, the morale of most locals is high and the church members are so devoted and excited about God.
For the weekend we headed back to Santo Damingo, in a loud and smiling, fun filled bus for a youth convention. All the youth in Rau’ls church plus us spent the weekend eating amazing dominican food, singing praise songs in 2 languages and putting on a yrad sale that will help fund the constuction center next to the the house we stayed at. This house was older, but so beautiful. Some of us felt that our team was the most spoiled AIM team ever. I prefer to call spending time with cute kids in a bigh house with a pool a BLESSING.
God has already shown us so much and I can’t wait to see what He will do through our ministries. We are teaching English lessons 3 times a wek, VBS twice a week and have preformed out drama/ mime once so far….it’s going to be big. We have already started to build relationships, and through these we can share Jesus.
As far as individuals: Hannah has been an encouragement, Natalia a caregiver, Jake has made important decisions, Amanda has experienced new things, Besty used her talents for God’s glory, Derek has built genuine relationships with the locals, Anika has been a blessing to the kids, Erin has been a prayer warrior, April has persevered, Esther, has been our wisdom, Christina has been our joy, Haley has been a servant, Katie has been a leader, Kameryn has shown compassion, and Sean has been a true leader and protector. Please keep lifiting us up in prayer and we will see you all soon
Michaella
