Equipo Gozo (Team Joy) arrives in the DR!

Matt, Mitch, Allison, Courtney, Leslie, and Stephanie

Our group is finally all here in the Dominican Republic! It was a pretty eventful trip due to many travel changes. Matt and Allison stuck to the original plan and flew through Miami to Santo Domingo on Friday night. Leslie's elaborate travel plan consisting of four different flights also went as scheduled. Mitch and his travel group were delayed in New York and spent the night there in a hotel before boarding a flight to Santo Domingo Saturday morning. They arrived in the DR around 12:30pm. Courtney and my (Stephanie) travel groups were re-directed to Atlanta, Georgia and eventually made it there around 2:00am after many delays. We took a flight to Santo Domingo at 10:30am on Saturday and arrived in the country around 2:00pm. We are thankful that the Lord provided ways for all of us to get here safely and had a perfect plan all along. Multiple people got to hear the gospel, and one accepted Christ, in New York and Atlanta, which we believed was exactly what the Lord wanted. :) Our group had time to connect together once we were all here at the hostel and it was very refreshing. Last night, we got to go to a local restaurant called Adrian Tropical and enjoy some delicious local food such as chicken and rice, goat, and some tropical drinks. It was a lot of fun for everyone to be in the Dominican Republic together and enjoy a meal before the week starts off. 

We are about to go to a local church and worship with the Dominican people and we are very excited! God has already blessed us so much and we are very excited to see all that He has in store for this trip! 

Prayer requests: for the people who received a tract throughout the travels that they would see how much God loves them and come into relationship with Him, for our health and safety, for boldness, and that we would be filled with the Spirit.  

Please pray for our Bible Study we are planning to start on Monday.  We are planning to host a Bible Study on the campus here at 4pm Monday-Friday. Tuesday and Thursday we will be joining with the church from San Pedro, which hosts a Bible Study throughout the year during those times. Please pray for the Spirit to convict the hearts of individuals that get to hear the gospel.

A verse that Leslie shared yesterday that we have been encouraged by is Isaiah 55:12 - "For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

Thanks for all the support! God is using you wherever you are to help build his kingdom in the DR!

Because He loves,

Stephanie