ROCC

After a long flight, we have finally arrived to a beautiful sunny day in The Dominican Republic. We are so excited to be here to serve and are ready to see what God has in store for this week. 

To get our day started we enjoyed a delicious breakfast made by our hotel owner, Frano. We enjoyed fruits, coffee, pancakes, french toast, an omelette of ham and cheese, and sausage. 

During service this morning we heard a testimony from Liz about how God can help us overcome any sickness we may have.

Brett, our fearless group leader and pastor, preached an awesome message about loving God with all of our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourself. Pastor Jeorge translated the message into Haitian Creole. 

This afternoon after a short siesta, we were able to hear from Pastor Jeorge and how he became a pastor of a Haitian church and a Dominican church. We also got a chance to hear his vision as a pastor for the Batey's and his community. We are so thankful for Pastor Jeorge and all of the work he does as a pastor.

Last night after dinner, we also attended a Dominican service. We heard a testimony, sang worship songs, participated in a communion ceremony, and heard from Pastor Brett. It was really cool to be able to observe and participate in two different cultural services and be a part of the global church. 

This morning we went to a predominantly Haitian community to put on a VBS/Sports Camp for the kids. We sang songs, played games, and ministered to them. The kids had so much fun and we loved that we could demonstrate the love of Christ through this ministry.

This morning we went back to Santa Rita Community and we split up into two groups. Then, we visited homes and blessed several families with a bag of groceries for the week. We were also able to pray for each family. It was a very powerful and moving moment for each of us. 

After a siesta, we went back to the baseball field in Santa Rita community and we put on another day of sports camp for the kids. We played baseball, soccer, basketball, and volleyball. We made sure all of the kids got a chance to rotate so they could experience all of the activities. We also had a large group that enjoyed coloring. 

Our PPM leaders, Luis and Pastor Jeorge got a chance to share a testimony and a message. We also got a chance to pray over the kids and have them commit to serving and continuing in their relationship with the Lord. It was an incredible day of ministry and one we will never forget.

Tonight we participated in a farewell service. We worshipped, prayed, shared testimonies of our week in The Dominican Republic, and we celebrated Pastor Jeorge's birthday with a card from the group and cake. 

After service, we had a barbecue and served hot dogs to the church congregation and community members. It was a great end to our ministry here in The Dominican Republic. 

To celebrate an awesome week of ministry, we went to Playa Bayahibe. We had so much fun swimming, relaxing, souvenir shopping, and just hanging out together. 

We had our great last dinner at restaurant Punto Italia in La Romana. The team enjoyed some good tasting rice, meatballs, lasagna, fish and vegetables. It was a great last dinner for a great week of hard work for the Lord