Week 2

June 8: This morning we woke up and headed to Vagamundo (our favorite coffee shop here) and relaxed before the next team arrived. The River Pointe Church team joined us around 3:30pm, and we sat with them for their orientation. Once everyone was oriented, unpacked and changed, we headed to Ricardo’s for more of his amazing Mexican food. After dinner, Nate and I sang some worship songs in the stairway leading up to the roof because it has the best acoustics in the house. This moment was incredible because we were not even a minute into the first song and the three teenage girls from the team came and sat on the stairs and worshipped with us! We sang so many songs and even threw Shallow in the mix at the end. It was such a cool moment because we had just met the girls hours prior and they already wanted to worship and sing with us! After we worshipped, Carson, Nate and I sat on the roof for 2-3 hours just talking about life, our struggles, and how God has been so faithful in all of our ups and downs. And to wrap up the night, Nate taught me how to play a little guitar!

June 9: Sunday calls for church!! Today’s service was pretty long (just about 3 hours to be exact), but it contained a great message on Romans 3:22. This verse talks about how there is no difference between a Jew and a Gentile, so there should be no difference between any two groups of people. God loves everyone equally and we shouldn’t think we are above any others because of our circumstances. I think that was something our group and team really needed to hear because even though we are in the country to help and serve the Lord, it doesn’t make us any better or any more qualified than anyone else. Also, it tied into a message our friend Migue talked about this past week. Migue lives in Tamarindo, and he explained that there used to be a lot of ethnic division between the Haitians and Dominicans in the community. However, as they got to know the Lord better, the two groups started being kind to each other, and now the ethnic division is almost nonexistent. By knowing God and loving our neighbors, we can ALL get along with everyone we come in contact with. No one is as righteous as God, so we shouldn’t act like we are. After church, we headed to a fort in Puerto Plata that had a beautiful view of the ocean and a couple of ice cream shops nearby. We fed SO many pigeons and ate ice cream while enjoying our restful Sunday! At the Mak House we played cards and Nate taught me, Scott and Anthony more guitar! It was a great day to prepare for the long week we had ahead of us.

June 10: Monday consisted of a school tour with Makarios’ principal, Ryan. We also toured Tamarindo with Migue. After our tours with the team, we had a VBS prep meeting with Milka (the VBS leader and translator). I had a raging headache during all of this though, so after the meeting I took a short nap to rest my head. When I woke up, Nate and I practiced for English Worship. Earlier in the week, Nate and I volunteered to sing for English Worship (the place we went to last week where missionaries can worship in English), so we practiced “Reckless Love”, “O’ Come to the Altar”, and “How He Loves”. When we were practicing, I had the BEST Jesus moment. We found out Scott Denton was super good at piano, so he played that while I sang and Nate played guitar. While we were singing, Scottie, Scott’s daughter, came into the room and started singing along with us. For those of you who don’t know Scottie, she is beautiful, so incredibly loving, and she is on the Autism Spectrum. However, when she came to sing “Reckless Love” with us, she sang her heart out. In this moment I had to fight back tears because it just shows how God reaches everyone, no matter how they were blessed at birth. So in that room, us three were playing while Scottie, Heather, Mrs. Amy, and Carson were all singing along. It was an incredible way to worship God together, and it moved all of us so much. After we were done practicing, we performed at English Worship and it was an amazing experience. To glorify God in a church I have seen grow so much over the years was such an honor. Once it was over, the interns all played cards and chatted for a long time at the Mak House. We discussed our highs and lows of the week since we hadn’t kept up with them much, and it was incredible to see how this place has been affecting everyone’s heart. Unfortunately, one of my lows was that I have 5 cysts under my arms, so we’re all praying for fast healing!!

June 11: Today I started the day at Soccer Camp!! This is intended for teenage boys to keep them out of trouble in the summer. In the Dominican, there isn’t much to do in the summer unlike in America where you can go to camp or on a vacation. Therefore, Makarios sets up practices and games for the boys to play soccer, and they play for a few hours a day. They also have to memorize a bible verse or else they can’t play in the games that occur on Thursdays. This week’s verse was Romans 10:17. “Así que la fe es por el oir, y el oir, por la palabra de Dios.” Which is translated to “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” After showing the guys the verse, we helped Cakito (an employee of Makarios who runs all sports camps) organize teams, jerseys, and playing times for the summer. Once that was all done, we had our first day at VBS (WHOOP!!). It was in Chichigua, and it was so much fun! The theme of the summer is “Christ is My Superhero”, and the kids were so joyful and knew all of the words to all of the worship songs we sang! When bible, art, and games were over, we headed back to the Mak House for dinner and to babysit the missionary kids while all of the parents went to celebrate the birthday of a Mak employee. We had an ULTIMATE dance party with everyone and it was safe to say we made some new friends that night! It was a super long day, but such a rewarding day to love on all of the kids and share the word of God with them!

June 12: India, a missionary that has been teaching at Makarios for three years, had her going away party with her students this morning. We set up a pool for them in the backyard of the Mak House, and they celebrated all that India has done for them with cake, pizza, and LOTS of water fun! While this was going on, however, I was able to chat with Mrs. Amy for a good two hours in our apartment. We just got to talking about everything I’ve been struggling with over the past few months, and I got lots of new perspectives and advice on many things. Amy is such an incredible listener and I admire her oh so much for how she supports me and loves everyone. The main thing that I learned from talking to her was that I need to grow in my faith before I can start worrying about everything else in my life. My relationship with Christ comes before my relationship with others because He will show me what I need to do to have successful relationships with people if I follow Him first. After our chat, we had lunch and shared our testimonies with our friend Migue. Once we were done, we headed over to Chichigua again for another successful day at VBS. Also, the Mak Band came to the Mak House again to perform with us and the singer asked if I could join her for a song! It was a full day filled with meaningful conversations and we ended the night with cards and highs and lows!

June 13: Today was a VERY full day! Nate and I started the day at soccer again, and we watched as the boys played against each other in two games. Cakito has a rule where each boy has to recite the bible verse of the week or else they can’t play. It was incredible because everyone recited it perfectly, and the only person who messed up said the wrong number of the verse (he only had to sit out for 5 minutes since he recited the whole verse). After the games, we all went to VBS and the team did a great job wrapping up the week with a fun skit of Jesus walking on water. Once we were done with VBS, Cassidy and I decided to go to the basketball game in Poncho Mateo. Just like soccer camp, basketball camp is another activity Makarios sets up for teenage boys in the summer. The same rules apply, and we were able to make it to the beginning of the second game!

June 14: Today Emily and I had a discipleship meeting since my actual mentor is out of town for a wedding. Throughout the summer we will be having many discipleship meetings with our mentor, so the first one was to talk about ourselves and the things we have been struggling with. Lately, I have been struggling with relationships with people, forgiveness and being distracted from the Lord, so it was awesome to hear Emily’s advice on how she has dealt with similar issues. After our chat and breakfast at Vagamundo, we met the team at Cabarette for beach day!! At the beach, I was able to share my testimony with a girl who was questioning her faith, and it was so rewarding to hear what was going through her mind in this decision. Her and I have similar family and friend situations, so I pray that she took something away from this trip and the intentional conversations she had this week. Once we got home, we all hung out and I was able to have another deep conversation with Nate and Carson. They are such amazing listeners and I aspire to be more like them in that aspect.

June 15: This morning was the last morning with the River Pointe team 😦 I am sad to see them go, but I am praying that they take something away from their experience here because there was so much good that happened this week. Before they headed to the airport, we had lunch at Crazy Ranch and enjoyed the last few hours with the team. After lunch, the interns went to Adrienne’s (a missionary here) going away party at a local beach. There were so many kids to play with, and the adults even played a baseball game with sticks they found on the beach and a tennis ball! It was so cool to see all of the Makarios employees enjoying their time together outside of school. It truly is a loving environment and the relationships those people have will definitely last a lifetime. At home, Anthony took me on a moto ride since everyone headed to the grocery story while I was in the shower HA! And when they got back, we made a huge American dinner with hotdogs, hamburgers, mac and cheese, chips, cookies, and pie!! It was a good change from chicken and rice, so we all had full tummies. To wrap up the night, we all cleaned the kitchen, played cards, listened to music, and eventually sang! It was a great way to wrap up our first week of work! (P.S. my cysts are healed whoop!!)

This week, I have been having a lot of intentional conversations with many people about life and the things I am struggling with. Everyone has been so willing to listen, and I am feeling so loved here. After having talks with Amy, Emily, and all of the fellow interns, God has really put on my heart that I need to be obedient to Him first. Just like I’ve been listening to other people’s advice all week, I need to start listening to what God is telling me. I’m spending too much of my energy talking about the problems I am having without actually spending time with God and telling Him about them. I think that God is putting another word on my heart for this summer, and it is “listen”. I need to be obedient to His word and listen to what He is telling me through it. Before I can even start figuring things out with my struggles from back home, I need to create a Christ centered mindset and heart first. I am so excited to widen my knowledge of the Lord and really open my ears and my heart to the things He has planned for me. This summer will be a great cleanse of my everyday life and a time to spend my day with the Lord and people who are going to encourage me in my faith every single day.