Heyyy everyone!
Wow, can’t believe time is flying by so fast, we’re just over 5 months done with the race- only less than 4 left 😉
I hope y’all are doing good and figuring out how to use this new platform.. I’m still trying to figure it out myself, I don’t know how to send update alerts either, so I hope you guys are still able to find my posts.
Sooo I am writing this as I sit on base in the most beautiful Dominican Republic!! It’s been an incredible time so far. Actually, as I’m writing this, I only have about 4 days left at this ministry before my team separates to a different ministry. However, I can say that is has been my favorite ministry that we have been to so far, I really love it here.
So, who am I serving with? We are partnered with a ministry called Mission Of Hope (MOH), and their mission statement is “Changing hearts and bringing hope to individuals, families, and communities” and also “Transforming lives of every man, woman, and child”. This organization began around… 1989….(?) I think, and they started in just Haiti. I believe it wasn’t until 2019 ish when they expanded into the Dominican Republic. In case anyone doesn’t know, Haiti and the DR share an island, however, political tensions are extremely high. Especially in Haiti, things are rough right now. A couple years ago their president was assassinated and since then its been kinda wild, and their boarders are closed, it’s nearly impossible to get in. But even if you do, it’s extremely dangerous now that there’s an uprising of gangs and violence. So, with that being said, there are definitely a lot of Haitians here seeking refuge and safety, and I think MOH has a heart set out for specifically Haitians, because a lot of the ministry we’ve done here has been centered mostly around them.
It’s been pretty rough here in some senses, a lot of the Haitians that live here live in a state of constant fear. They live in fear from government and even spiritually. There is a lot of darkness that lies in the history of Haiti that effects them spiritually to this day from the past; ie. like voodooism and serving Satan. Anyway that’s just for a little background to show what we have been facing. As Christians, we face spiritual warfare daily, though, it has been strongly evident while residing in the DR.
Anywhoooo, what has ministry looked like?
Well, thanks for asking! So, week 1 of being here our whole squad stayed on campus and did campus projects. Why? Because this ministry actually just moved to this campus a week before we got here! Prior, they were at a different base like 2 ish hours away. So with that, we spent time here helping them settle down and settle in. That included unpacking boxes, landscaping, organizing rooms, landscaping, painting buildings, and lots and lots of landscaping. Did I mention landscaping? It was a lot of fun though, it was sweet being the first group to get to serve here.
Then, week 2, our squad actually just divided into 2 groups (which was such an incredible change from our usual 3 teams), and one group went to a town called Santiago to teach in a Haitian school and work alongside local churches to build relationships and evangelize within the community. The second group stayed here again to continue helping out around campus, as well as babysitting, teaching one of the ministry hosts sons, and creating curriculum for when we go out to the school.
Week 3, the teams just flipped locations. Fridays are our adventure days, Saturdays are our sabbaths, and Sundays we all go to church in the morning in the local town, Jarabacoa, and then do a little ministry later in the afternoon, but it always looks different.
So yeah, it’s been really fun, I’ve enjoyed it. Going out into the communities has been so sweet, even as it’s been hard. The translators here have very obvious passions for the Lord and speak many languages, and they have just been incredible to get to know more. Their passion for Jesus is so evident and helpful when we are speaking to locals because they obviously know the culture much more than we do, and can help guide us when trying to relate to them and staying completely biblical. Oh my gosh and the schools??? That has been such a blast. We were teaching English, but more-so just hanging out with them, and boy were they fascinated with my arm hairs, freckles, head hair, and even tattoos 😂. Its so cute and funny. I love them. Oh I almost forgot, the main language in the Dominican Republic is Spanish (kinda different Spanish than Nicaragua), but among Haitians they all speak Creole! Its really cool, very different. Its a mix between French, Spanish, English, and African.
I don’t have service much here so I will be posting this at a later time probably with multiple other blogs 🙂 Love you guys, thanks for catching up with me!
Love yall,
Lilli <3
