This week was a little different! We started with a long weekend in Sosua, since it was about our halfway point of the whole trip. Sosua is a city on the coast, about 4 hours from where we live in Jarabacoa. We spent the weekend there as a group resting and really praying through what the Lord has for us in the next month. We had time to process what God has done in our hearts up to this point and posture ourselves for the next period of ministry. It was a great time to be in God's creation on the beach and build even deeper relationship with each other. I was so grateful for the opportunity to continue to grow in relationship with the amazing people God has blessed me with! That space really helped me find the Lord in my heart, and I felt positioned well spiritually to step into the next things God has for me.

October 17th-20th

Because of the debrief weekend, we didn't start ministry until Tuesday. Sadly, I missed Tuesday because I was sick and had to stay back at base to rest, but I was back with everyone on Wednesday! Praise God! 

This week, we had a great opportunity to be a part of another ministry and bless them! We got to meet a family that is originally from Ohio and moved to the DR about 6 years ago. They have an amazing story that they shared with us! God has been preparing them all this time to plant a trafficking rehabilitation ministry in Jarabacoa. Their hope is to plant a help center in Sosua in the future as well because that is a heavily trafficked area while their rehabilitation base will be in Jarabacoa. That was something that really weighed on my heart as we spent time in Sosua over the weekend, because it's hard to miss the darkness and depth of the things happening there.

They started everything from scratch and now have multiple housing buildings on the property and a lot of people on board for the next steps of their ministry! We had the opportunity to help them with their chapel building throughout the week. It's one of the last buildings that needs finished, so we helped them sand and prime the outside and inside of the whole building. It was really cool to work along side many of the people who are a part of this amazing thing God is doing! I also really enjoyed getting to know the family (Parents and 4 kids) that have really given their lives to the Lord and are ready for whatever he has for them. I look forward to seeing them again before we leave, and I hope to hear more about their ministry as God grows it!

Prayer Requests:

-Pray for their family as they continue to step into what God has for them, pray for each of their hearts as they near the time to start accepting people into the ministry

-Pray that God would use their ministry to impact more people than they ever imagined it would. Pray for each heart that enters that they would find Jesus and know how loved they are.

-Pray for my team as we continue to step into more weeks of ministry, I think burnout is creeping in and we want to be able to serve God with our whole hearts, so pray that we would be present each day and not burned out!

Pictures!!