Well, as most of you know, it has been over a week since my last post. I'm so sorry for the delay, but this past week has been so busy! Our first group arrived last Tuesday. They were the East Hill youth group from York, Nebraska, and they were absolutely incredible! They were so prepared and such a great first experience with the groups. It made me so excited to meet all of the other groups that come. I'll give you all a quick overview of what went down last week.
The group arrived Tuesday night and we went through orientation at camp with them. Most of them were newcomers, so they had never experienced this place before. It was exciting to get to see their reactions to everything. Wednesday morning, we had Community Day in Rio San Juan and a VBS here at the camp for the kids in Bobita. Community Day is where we take our groups into the homes of people in the city for them to meet families and eat lunch in a family's home. My group of five people from East Hill and Chad all went to Anna's house. She was so sweet and the meal she made was great. I'm excited to get to know her more over the summer. East Hill had planned a wonderful VBS for the afternoon. The kids really loved it, and I loved seeing how excited they were about everything. Thursday was Puerto Plata day. On this day, the group goes to Puerto Plata and visits the hospital and a dump there. The hospital is so different from hospitals in the States, and to be honest, it's just pathetic. However, the East Hill group was so kind to the people in the hospital and I know they were able to ease their pain even if just for a little while. After the hospital, we visit the dump to deliver care packages to the people who live there. This is always a hard day, but the East Hill group handled everything so well and I was so proud of them. On Friday, we spent the morning praying over the city of Rio San Juan. We all went up to a hill overlooking the city and prayed that God would pour His Spirit over the city and open the hearts of the people who live there. It was such an uplifting morning, and I think it was definitely something we need to do if we want God to bless our work there. That afternoon, we had a VBS at the Outreach Center for Rio San Juan. Once again, it went off without a hitch, and the kids loved it. On Saturday, we had a work day at the entrance to the city of Rio San Juan. We planted palm trees and flowers to beautify the area. Sunday was spent having church here and then taking the group to Rio San Juan for a Cultural Safari. This is where groups get to go around Rio San Juan and explore while trying to communicate with the people to answer questions. My group did a great job, even though we finished last. :) Monday morning was another work day at the entrance to the city. We poured a concrete sidewalk around the trees we had planted. Monday afternoon was the group's beach day. We were blessed with safety and a fun afternoon spent relaxing. Yesterday morning the group packed up and left. We all went to drop them off at the airport and pick up Jordan, the final intern arriving this summer.
After Jordan arrived, I felt like our team was finally complete. He is such a nice guy, and I'm glad that we're all finally here. Once we picked him up, our entire team ate together, played volleyball on the beach, and spent the evening celebrating Audrey's birthday. I cannot describe the love I already have for these people and the joy I get from being able to work with them to serve the Lord. Just to let all of you know, here is who our team consists of: Norm is the director of the field program in the DR, Chad is the assistant director, Evan and Rachel along with Rosi and Ronald and their son Kevin are over the work in Rio San Juan, Porfi and Carla and their children Abi and Dani are over the Children's Home in Bobita, Luckson is in charge of most of our work projects, and there are six interns that include Glenn, Carter, Jordan, Nikki, Audrey, and myself. In addition to all of these amazing people there are multiple Dominicans who work closely with our team to help us with as much as possible. Please keep our team in your prayers as we work together to make touch the hearts and lives of these people and share the good news about Jesus with them.
We have this week off and we're spending today debriefing. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. You don't know how much it means to me. I love you and miss you all!
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