jaime/HI-MAY: bridging the gap.

One of the greatest lessons I’ve been learning here in the Dominican Republic? Remembering to always focus on the goodness of God going on all around me. In the midst of the struggles and trials. The goodness of God can always be found.

Bienvenido a Bienvenidos! We arrived when it was dark, but the welcome was as big as ever. We just arrived back to the capital after staying in a community made up of mostly Haitians for two weeks. As most of the team would agree, it was a place of difficult living conditions, but a place of a ton of growth as well. Needless to say, our good-byes yesterday were tough.

Throughout our two weeks there we had a wide variety of ministry opportunities. We spent a large portion of our time in a few schools teaching them about the love of God and how it compares to the skewed definition the world understands. We were quite happy to be done with those, especially after we did the same program 8 times in one day!

Another thing we helped out with regularly was the main focus of the ministry we were staying with. Three times a week (five starting this Monday!!) Pastora Veronica and her team of women cook for and feed around 150 children at lunch time. This ministry, Dale de Comer, provides consistent meals for children who would otherwise not know when they would be able to eat next. We helped hand out food, feed children, and just be an extra pair of hands during the time we were there. Yesterday we spiced the program up a bit and held a live “radio show” over the speakers to entertain the kids while they ate. Hey, you’ve got to be creative somehow!!

We also were privileged to get to help out with two medical clinics during the past two weeks. We spent our days assisting the doctors in whatever they needed, from bandaging wounds to mixing amoxicillin. It was an experience new to a lot of us and surprisingly very enjoyable at the same time. Each day that we helped we spent the evenings sharing stories of patients we worked with and awing over how God shows up in lives. It was a great way to expand our ideas of ministry in our heads, to see that it most definitely extends past the church.

Overall, our time in Bienvenido was blessed. We served as well as were served. We taught, but we also learned. And we loved, yet we were loved immensely more in return. Now we are settling back down here in the Alamo neighborhood in Santo Domingo, gearing up for just 13 more days of our time here in the Dominican Republic. We leave for a weekend trip tomorrow early in the morning and return Sunday afternoon. From there we plug right back into ministries here in Remanso de Amor church until the 17^th of May when we will fly back to Minneapolis. Pray for endurance for our team, strength to finish strong, and health for all of us as almost everyone has felt a bit under the weather the past weeks. We are praising God for all he is doing here through and in us, feeling so blessed to be able to work as his vessels here in the DR. Thank you for all your prayers and support, and we will see you soon!