Dominican Republic Missions Trip Blog - 2011

Back from the Mountains

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We’re back from Jarabacoa (which was more beautiful than any of us imagined); we’re checked back into our home away from home; and we just finished a time of prayer, praising God for all He has done and all the prayers He has answered, and one thing we know… you must have been praying! Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Here are just a few of the many answers to prayer.

-We had safe and smooth travels.

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-Though it rained on the way up to the retreat, the weather was wonderful!

-The time Pastor Chris spent preaching/teaching went incredibly well. The adults had a Question&Answer time at the end of the sessions and the people were really engaged with heartfelt questions about issues they were struggling with.

-The time with kids went really well! A few older bi-lingual teens from the church helped out with translating. They were awesome! Kelly Webb was a huge encouragement when she told us she was impressed with how prepared we were. That compliment came at just the right time too!

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-The time of fellowship was sweet. Kelly was praising God for the relationships that were built between people at their church. The retreat provided an opportunity many have never had to build relationships with other people from the church. We enjoyed the fellowship too!

-Worship went really well! Gregoris, one of the song leaders at the church, helped lead the singing with us, and I’m telling you, Dominicans love to sing! It was a beautiful sound!

-Encouragement. There are many stories I could share on this one, but for now, I’ll share just one. I overheard a man talking to Pastor Chris as Pastor John translated, and he said something along these lines. “Before coming here, I was depressed, but now I am encouraged, and I’m not just encouraged, I’m encouraged in Christ and for Christ.” He said something similar to me before leaving, though I didn’t have a translator to tell me exactly what he said, I could pick up enough of what he was saying, and his expressions and the repeating refrain of “thank you so much,” communicated the blessing the Family Retreat was to him.

Proverbs 16:9 keeps coming to mind. “The heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Now that we are on the tail-end of an amazing week it’s clearer than ever, that God has gone before us the entire way, from when we started talking with the Webbs about this trip in May of 2010, to now, looking back on a week that included a lot of what we had planned, but even more that God had in store. Thank you again for your prayers and support as a part of this team. You have played an invaluable part.

As hard as goodbyes are and as much as we hate to leave, I know we are incredibly excited about coming home so we can share with all of you what God has done, what He is doing, and about our brothers and sisters in Christ at Vida Nueva here in the Dominican Republic.

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