March 6th

Hey yall’ greetings from the Dominican!

Today we woke up at around 7:00 and had a nice breakfast consisting of ham, fruit and toast. We left for church shortly thereafter, traveling with a baseball team from Lincoln, Illinois. Good thing we didn’t eat a lot for breakfast because the way they drive down here would put Nascar to shame!  We arrived at Church to a warm welcome full with smiling Dominicans. The kid’s immediately came up and held our hands. The pastor preached a message about who we really are and who we are trying to please in our lives. When we know who we really are in our relationship with Christ we stop trying to always be pleasing everyone else and start being obedient to him. He also talked a lot about stress and the want that Jesus has for taking that away from us. There will never be any good when we keep built up anxiety and worry in our lives. We came back to the SCORE complex and enjoyed some crazy good potatoes (not exactly sure what they were) along with some meat and salad. As a group of twelve we then split up as half of us went to the beach and the other half rode horses around town. Then we switched, I’m sure we will be super sore tomorrow! After dinner we had a great time with the team, we sang worship songs, journaled about our day and got serenaded by a Dominican intern singing in Spanish. We hung out, laughed, and enjoyed the cool calm breeze coming off the Caribbean.  Overall it was a very relaxing day, and will prepare us for the week of work and ministry ahead. Tomorrow we found out we are going to be doing a work project for a new church that was built in the area, putting up fences and working on the inside.

 - Becca and Miles  

Words from Becca:

I always find it an incredible experience when I visit churches in Central America. There is such a raw authenticity about them. They are not caught up in their traditions or trying to put on a show. During the meet and greet time several kids surrounded me, hugging me and immediately accepted me as a friend, no questions asked. One eventually grabbed my hand and pulled me to where she was sitting. The worship always gets me. Yes, it is in Spanish. Yes, I don’t always know what they are singing. But you know what that does not matter one bit. God was so present in that small church with everyone singing and clapping their hands. Listening to the little girl sitting next to me singing loudly to God reminded me about having faith like a child.

This is my first time experiencing the ocean. I was not disappointed. Yea, I have seen thousands of pictures of it, but seeing it in person gives you a sense of awe. As I sat on the beach looking out at the water and I could only see to a certain point, I couldn’t even fathom how far that ocean stretched. The vastness is not something I can wrap my mind around. I feel like it is the same way with God sometimes. I know the things He has done for me and His promises, but I can only see so far ahead. Therefore, I put limitations on things and tend to “put God in a box.” I don’t realize how big our God really is. What I do know of God is overwhelming and beautiful…yet it is only a piece. I feel like I need to let go of all my pre-conceived notions and let God reveal himself to me in his own way. On this trip my desire is to know God more. To empty me of myself and be filled up with Him.

Thoughts from Miles:

So the last couple of days have been an incredible journey for me. Before leaving for the Dominican I was pretty stressed and began to doubt my place with God and what exactly I am supposed to be doing with my life. I was looking ahead in the future for answers and just felt “off”. My prayer was for God to show me something and change my life on this trip. Well, the first night of the trip here I was in my room thinking about the day’s work in the orphanage. I heard worship music and a group of people were having worship and devotion’s. I walked in and sat in the back row. After worship a pastor from Cedarville, Ohio got up and spoke a message of not loving and trusting God so much with your mind as with your heart and truly falling in love with Jesus I felt the message was directly to me as he hit on key points that I have been battling with this past semester. At the end of the mini sermon, I felt led to stand up and give my testimony; I told them I wanted to make the step and receive Christ. At this point in my life I had never professed my faith like that; there was an overwhelming peace of obedience to that prompting. Before I knew it I was asked if I wanted to be baptized the next day after church. I said yes, and was baptized in the SCORE pool after church. I realize that I don’t need to figure out every detail of my life, but live each day in his presence and he will take care of the rest.  God has a plan for each one of us to grow different.   GOD bless         <3