Hi everyone! I hope you are all have a great week—happy hump day! J So I first want to say how much it means to me to have your support—I’ve been seeing God move in some big ways lately, and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for this journey to the DR. I am so grateful for your prayers and just for your love—I’m blessed with so many incredible people in my life!
We had our first missions meeting on Sunday, and everything went really well. There are 12 of us going from DCC, and I am so excited to get to know all of them as a team. We discussed a lot of the basics—where we are going, when, how, what we’ll be doing, etc.
I’m sure many of you are wondering what in the heck I’m actually doing while I’m there, and the short answer is, I don’t know exactly. I could be doing anything from construction, to Vacation Bible study, to working with youth students, to helping with local businesses. We’ll be serving wherever God is moving and needs us to be. Our church has a partnership with the ministry down there, and here is some more info on where exactly we’ll be going, the partnership we have, and some of the things we have done in the past:
Our Service Journey Practices in the Dominican Republic
We journey together to the city of Puerto Plata, DR and partner with a church called A Light on the Road Church, in the neighborhood of Aguas Negras (“Black water” – which is a slang term that basically means “sewage”). Such a nickname does not reflect the beautiful simplicity and love that we have experienced in this community. We seek to serve alongside and learn from this sister church community as they also seek holistic redemption and restoration in their community.
Through this partnership we have been able to serve the various entities of the churches ministry within the community. Including:
- -A boys and girls club that focus on creating positive outlets for youth to dream about living life abundantly inside and out of the slum community. While higher education is an unrealistic dream for many kids in the community, the boys and girls clubs promote, mentoring, positive role models, creativity, and community action for kids of a wide variety of ages.
- -We support a sewing shop and co-op that generates income for the community organization and elementary school. We have also been able to purchase many of their products for sale in the U.S. in support of their ministry.
- -Effective education is a big problem for the children in the community because many students because of their poverty and/or undocumented status (Haitians) do not have appropriate credentials for school. The church has started an elementary school for the community. We have supported the school through teacher training, curriculum, and teacher compensation.
- -There is a small health clinic in the community that we have helped to develop through consultation, medication supply, and facility development.
- -By partnering with other local NGO’s we have been able to participate in the construction of several homes and buildings for the organization. We use these projects as a platform for building relationships within the community.
- -There are other various projects that have given us the opportunity to build relationships, and support the ongoing work of A Light in the Road Foundation. These include:
o Promoting the financial sponsorship and implementation of bio-sand water filters in the homes of families and schools .
o Supporting VBS programs in the community (Vacation Bible School)
o Various art and sports projects that help facilitate the churches outreach and engagement in the community.
If you have questions about this-- let me know! I'm happy to share with you! I've continued reading the book I told you about in my previous post (Serving With Eyes Wide Open). It's continuing to teach me more about gaining a wide perspective on the world-- to go into this trip with an open heart and open mind, willing to serve, but also finding humility-- knowing that we are going there to make a difference and to serve selflessly, but that there are things we can learn from them, too. I also learned at our Missions meeting that the community predominantly speaks Spanish, and so I'm hoping to forcefully teach myself Spanish over the next 7 weeks so that I can at least communicate with them, rather than just smile and wave. Thankfully, a few gifted Spanish speakers have agreed to help me with this endeavor (thank you Annie, Nathan, and Rachel-- and Kelly for the book!)! Hopefully I'll be able to learn a little something :) Si??
Thanks for your prayers and for following along! I'll keep you updated!
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