Endings are always bittersweet. As we reach the end of our eight days of hard and exhilarating mission work in the Dominican Republic, we spent today reflecting on what God has done in our midst this week. Today started off well with a longer tie-down of sharing stories. We heard about good conversations that individuals had on campus this past week, and we rejoiced with all the seeds that were planted. We also cheered on those who were making plans to further disciple a couple Dominicans who were ready to lay down their lives for God.

This post is written at the end of four long days of sharing the gospel. While the heat can be exhausting, God has used that to refine us and help us to lean on Him as we share the "secret" of eternal life with dozens of students, day after day. It has been humbling to see how open the Dominicans are to listening to the gospel message. The gospel is indeed written on their hearts. Most of the people that we talk to believe in God and understand that Jesus has died for their sins. That might cause you to ask, "Why are we sending people to the Dominican Republic? Wouldn't it be more effective if we sent people where the gospel has never gone before?" But the fact is, most of the people that we talk to, although they believe in God, are not sure of their eternal salvation. They are not sure where they will go when they die and they are not aware that the Bible tells them they can know for sure. It must be explained to them, just as to someone who has never heard the name of Jesus, that JesuChristo is the only way to get to heaven. That if they have Jesus in their hearts, then when God looks at them, He sees the perfect life of His Son. This is a truth that can be hard to accept for many Dominicans for they feel that they must do something to earn their salvation. Although Jesus is a free gift, some are not ready to accept Him because it's ingrained in their minds that must live a good life in order to be acceptable to God. Many understand that they are sinners but don't understand that there is nothing they have to do before they can "walk across the bridge" of the cross to God, who is waiting on the other side with open arms. Please pray for those who are thinking about this big decision in their life right now and are not sure if they are ready to follow God; pray also that God would help them see that Jesus died for sinners and that God uses broken people.

Here is one encouraging story that happened today: a brother met "Alexander," and proceeded to share the gospel with him. He was very receptive of it and truly did believe that Jesus was the way, the truth and the life but revealed that his walk was stunted because there was no one to build into him. It was encouraging to be able to offer him the solution: La Vid. He was very excited about the opportunity to have other believers build into him. Unfortunately he was busy today, but he said he would check it out tomorrow. We were able to give him "Primeros Pasos," a Bible study for new believers, and a Bible, as well. We also told him that if he really wanted to grow in his faith he needed to belong to a family of believers that could strengthen him in his walk. Please pray that he would come to La Vid tomorrow and get plugged into a discipling relationship that would help him run hard for the Lord.

Thank you for your constant prayer and unwavering support for the work that God is doing in the Dominican Republic.

Love,
Team Nathan

As our week in Santo Domingo is coming to a close, we are beyond excited to share a few of the wonderful things God has done while we've been here. By the grace of God, our group has witnessed multiple people pray to receive Christ each day on campus. It has been a continual prayer that we would lead them beyond just a basic understanding of the Gospel and teach them how to study the Bible, the importance of fellowship with other believers, and how they can share the Gospel with others on campus.

A young man who accepted Christ on Tuesday returned on Wednesday to work through the first chapter of Primero Pasos. Another young man who we believe to be a Christian attended La Vid on Tuesday- the campus ministry. The message shared the importance of making time for God and being in the Word daily. He was really encouraged by that and has shared with us what he read each day when he meets with us. Two of us shared with a young woman who attends Church but wasn't sure if she would go to Heaven. After reading through the tract, she prayed to receive Christ. As we were collecting contact information so she could start reading her Bible with the women of La Vid, she shared with us how excited she was to share the tract with her friend she was meeting for lunch.

Although these are just a few examples of the amazing things The Lord is doing this week, it is so clear that He is at work here on this campus and in this city.

We begin each day as a whole for a time of prayer, worship, encouragement, and hashtags. It has been so refreshing to bring glory to God with our Nebraska brothers and sisters at our sides. We are beyond thankful for our time with them and encouraged by their personal testimonies of how The Lord has changed their lives and all that He is doing at Candlewood.

We are so thankful for your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for us!

Please pray for:
- continued strength - that we would keep going hard for the gospel despite the week coming to an end
- our health - we would stay hydrated, safe from injury and protected from illness
- wisdom and discernment - who we should invest our time in in order to make the greatest impact for the Kingdom
- our Friday Night Fiesta - many of our friends would show up so we can celebrate this week and connect them with the local laborers
- travel mercies - start praying now that we would have no issues traveling, that we would be safe, and they we would stay mission-minded and alert to opportunities to share the Gospel

In Christ,
#wedonthaveateamname (Terry Amann, Jeremy Lukehart, Megan Lyon, Julia Merkel, and Samanthya Amann)

Hola from the Dominican!

We are excited to write to you about how God has been working in and through His people! We began our adventure with three flights and an overnight in the airport. It’s a rush to be on such a great adventure and reminded me of how we often seek adventure because of the great hunger in our soul. We search to fill the great need for something more. This great need is why we have come to the Dominican – to share with others the great God who fills that need.

As we flew we could see land for many miles and I thought of a great God that has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west and whose praise will come from every nation and tongue. As we began to venture in the Dominican we have faced the risk of the unknown and counted the cost as worth it. Psalm 105:4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. Though we have only been here a few days we have known our great need for salvation as well as His daily presence. We continually need His guidance, strength, and grace.

On Sunday we made our way to a camp to visit a church in San Pedro. We enjoyed the fellowship with dear brothers and sisters. It is a sweet blessing to worship in more than one language and to know that language is not a barrier to the praise of God. The pastor spoke about humility and reminded us that it will take daily perseverance to stay humble. We are who we are by the grace of God alone--not by human ability. Humility requires dependence and allows God to be at work as His power is perfected in weakness. The pastor prayed stating, “We do not have to impress you because you know us.” God intimately knows each of us and wants to help us live in victory each day. This reminder of humility set the stage for our trips to the university this week. We know that God is at work and desire for people to see more of Him than of us.

During the first two days on campus, our team joined up with a team from the Omaha/Lincoln church. We have enjoyed getting to know them and seeing God work through them as well. We start our days with prayer and worship, and then head to the campus to share the great news that God sent His Son to die for us so that we may know Him.

Just as our abilities to speak Spanish varies so do the abilities of the Dominicans to speak English. We trust that God uses our attempts to bridge the language barrier when the conversation seems full of confusion. Our hope is for people to come to know Jesus as their personal savior, to understand what it means to live for Him, and to get plugged in with the group that meets on campus throughout the year. It is fun to have people want to talk to us because we are white “gringos” but we truly desire that they stay for God.

On Monday we made many friends and were able to have a few lengthy conversations. A few of the guys in the group were able to meet with someone to talk about the validity of the Bible and what it is. We saw one person come to accept and put their trust in Jesus to be their personal Lord and Savior! Our time sharing was refreshing despite our growing thirst due to the heat. As we walked toward the building of languages to meet for Bible study a group of girls invited a few people from our team into their classroom. It was a class of students that were waiting for their teacher to arrive so they invited us to come and speak with them. We were able to share the gospel and talk about specific questions. One student was joking with us and then decided to ask a question about being close to God. While the rest of the group continued to share with the classroom I was able to step outside and talk with this girl about how her life had changed and she did not feel close to the Lord anymore. The things she once knew had encouraged her she did not feel like doing anymore. We talked for a few minutes before she had to leave but then were able to meet up with us for dinner and more conversation afterwards. She continues to share her life with us and we hope to have more conversations. It is a great reminder as we translate from English to Spanish of the simplicity of faith. One person simply stated, “You are a follower of Jesus, that is a Christian.” It is such a simple reminded of a wonderful truth.

Tuesday we headed to the campus again and spent more time sharing. Multiple people from the group shared that they had been encouraged by the depth of the conversation that they had been able to have. For example, I spent a few hours reading a book with a girl about the first steps you take or need to know when you first become a Christian. She had so many insightful answers as we talked through the questions and wonderful questions that we were about to answer with God’s word.

God’s grace is incredible and goes beyond our insecurities or failures. As a group we have been reminded that we do not need to measure our own success because we know that God is at work bringing about His purpose and plan. Even when our plans appear to fail, God’s are not weakened. We are not what we do or what we have--even if we have a lot. In a land that knows poverty, we have learned of the riches of God.

Continue to pray that we have the humility to depend on God’s Spirit to guide us and to be tender to His conviction. Pray that our group would have unity, as ‘they will know that we are Christians by our love’. We pray that you are aware of the adventure that God is leading you on even as you continue in the mundane. Praying you are encouraged.

Erin, Emmie, Devon, Kaden, and Zach

Hola from Santo Domingo!

We have only been here two days and it has already been quite an adventure! Yesterday the rest of the teams got in and we went to dinner at a local restaurant that entertains with traditional Dominican dancers. They demonstrated and then invited us get up and dance with them! It was quite a riot! Over all it was a pretty relaxed day getting everyone settled in and spending time getting to know those from Nebraska and the southeast Great Commission leadership training group.

Today we went to pastor Sabinos church in San Pedro which is about an hour and a half drive front Santo Domingo. We were able to worship God with some of the locals and hear a message about how humility is unifying...truth! It was translated into English for us by Thomas from the SE training group. We then had lunch and hung around the camp playing games and going to the river. There were lots of animals, including but not limited to, wild horses, pigs, goats, and a peacock for good measure.

We hung out at the camp until it began raining. The drive into the camp consists of driving through a large field with more animals so it is an adventure on a good day!! Today however, provided to be an even bigger adventure as the weather caused the field conditions to worsen. We were in a very large charter bus so that we could all ride together. The field consist of some larger hills and valleys, as we started up the smaller of the hills the driver realized we were beginning to get stuck. This lead to the men getting out and pushing the bus out of the deep mud multiple times. This was a good example of Matthew 17:20 "because of your little faith' he told them 'for I assure you: if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." In this case it was a bus not a mountain. With Gods help, lots of prayer, and a crazy group of men that bus made it out of the field and we were able to continue on our long journey back to Santo Domingo.

Over all Gods grace and power has been shown through the safety He has provided us. We are excited to see what adventures He gives us as we start out on the campus tomorrow to share! Pray for grace and God's wisdom to flow.

With Gods love,
De Barracudas Azulles (JD & Abigail Vandenberg, Michas Smith, Muje Dimoh, and Sara McConkey)

I got the call from David at 2:34PM this Thursday, “Korey, how wild are you feeling today?” My reply was something along the lines of “Not too wild, just chilling. Why, what’s up?” I had a feeling something wild was about to happen. “Well, we have a last minute opening for our mission trip to the Dominican Republic, and the plane leaves at 7:00am tomorrow morning. Are you in?” Anyone who knows me knows that this would be impossible for me to pull off. I agreed that I would pray about it and get back to him within the next hour.

The next hour was pretty amazing. After much prayer and many phone calls, everything seemed to fall in place. I truly believe everything happens for a reason, and it became clear that God was leading me to the Dominican Republic. Fast forward 15 hours, and there I was standing at the Des Moines airport getting ready to board several plane flights for Destination: Dominican Republic. “Day One” was filled with many flights and airports, and we couldn’t have been more excited to land in the Santo Domingo airport. So much so, that we gave a round of applause for the pilot as the plane landed. I thought to myself, “This is going to be an amazing journey.”

Ultimately, however, this story is not about me. It is about God’s grace, and how He works through people at just the right time, leading us to do amazing things for Him. All we have to do is accept Him into our life and trust that He will follow through. It’s a story about how God genuinely cares for us and works through those who are faithful, allowing us to be vessels for the greater good of His people, to serve them and spread the good news of the Gospel throughout all the nations. And so there you have it — Day One from the perspective of “The 11th Hour Man”. Many more stories and updates coming soon!

Shine On,
Korey from Team Catalyst (Catalizador del equipo) — Shaly, Alicia, Katie, Audrey, & David