It’s been a busy couple of days! God is undeniably at work. On Sunday we did our first ministry in Guatchupita. Guatchupita is the slum of San Juan where we are spending all of our ministry time this week. It’s very easy for us to quickly love the people and the kids that swarm us each time we cross the bridge that leads into this area. It’s a pretty cool site to see as our students are joyfully embraced by these kids.
Today (Monday) we did was our first VBS and it went well. 100+ students came and they were excited to be there to say the least. The team lead by Emily and our translators did a fantastic job and I think the kids really got the lesson. One of prayers has been that we would form relationships very quickly…that’s definitely happening and very cool to see.
This morning one group did a service project which was picking up trash. It was great to see some of the people of the city jumping in to help out. The site looks much better. Yesterday the team that did the service project began to dig a channel that will help the water drain out of a part of the city where the water sits after it rains causing bacteria to grow. Getting this problem solved will help with the children’s health.
Other teams have been doing prayer walks. These teams walk the city and instead of engaging in ministry they pray for the other ministry teams. Yesterday afternoon their prayers were answered as a man named Carmello prayed to receive. It was a powerful time with this guy.
Another ministry activity is called ATL…Ask The Lord. During these times students are lead through a process where they start with a blank slate for the 3 hour ministry block and they seek God for direction and guidance. There are often times some pretty unforgettable signs of God’s presence that are seen during these times. Students will often comment even years later at how they saw the hand of God undeniably present in where and what they were led to do during their ATL’s.
Some other highlights…the food has been great! We got a special treat of some great tacos at a restaurant last night…it was a great boost after a long day of ministry. All in all the team is working very hard and with a lot of passion for the people of D.R. and with great Kingdom intentionality. I’m really proud of each of them.
Tonight we’ll finish our ministry time at 7:00…we’ll then walk back to where we are staying for dinner (stopping for a surprise dose of “bon” aka ice cream…shh…don’t tell). Then later tonight we’ll have a meeting with the leadership of the camp that we’ll be going to at the end of the week. The weather is hot…our tans (burns) are looking good!
Please continue to pray that God would show up in powerful ways. Pray that students would have the energy to continue to do ministry at this pace throughout the week. Pray that our hearts would be forever changed by what we are seeing. One student said to me yesterday that he has never seen anything even close to the poverty and the need that we are seeing each day. Being here as a father of my own small children I found myself tear up a few times today right there in the midst of playing with the kids. This trip is definitely reshaping our world views and energizing our compassion/passion for people and our desire to see God change lives. Thanks for praying…we are seeing God answer your prayers.
I hope to give you an update later in the week. Internet accessibility and scheduling make it a challenge but we’ll do our best to keep in abreast to what’s happening. God bless from the D.R.!