Archive for 05/13/14

Today was our third day in the Dominican. Our groups split up into a mixture of people from Walnut Creek and Candlewood. We started out sharing the gospel cold turkey with whoever we could talk to. Our group has the least number of Spanish speakers in all the teams. We were strategically placed in a spot on campus where there are historically more Dominicans who know a little English. Although some of our conversations were with people who only spoke Spanish, we were really able to see God come through in breaking the language barrier. We have Gospel tracts that are printed in both English and Spanish. We used these to communicate the Gospel as well as help those who speak a little English to be able to practice.

We all had great conversations all day long. After we broke off, one of the smaller groups was able to speak with a young man. We could tell that the Spirit was really working on his heart. We could see his heart soften. He asked really good questions. Although we didn’t speak Spanish well, and his English was broken, we were able to meet on a level where we could really love him and see God come through. He spent some of the afternoon with us, and we are praying to see him the rest of the week. One group met a man who was already a Christian, and they spent the whole afternoon speaking with him, getting to know him, and discipling him. He came to the bible study, La Vid, and he said he is going to bring his wife and meet up with us the rest of the week.

It is refreshing to not only be able to be a part of changing lives in another country with the Gospel, but also see our lives being transformed as we continue to share the Gospel with ourselves and be restored to our Salvation. Not only is the Great Commission going out, but the unity among the two churches is growing. Our group was able to bond today through lunch, dinner, and tie downs. We are looking forward to the rest of the week.

-Mo Town Eagles, Candlewood

Noah Carpenter, David Mortensen, Alissa Gentry, Kaitlin Goettsch, and Chelsea Liska

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)

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Dominican Republic Trip Day #2

First Update: De Barracudas Azulles

How wild are you feeling today?