DR UPDATE

Hello!!

Coming live from the Dominican Republic!

A week has FLOWN by and it has been an amazing ride so far!

To start out from the beginning, I arrived in Santiago last Friday around midnight! Before the flight, I was able to meet and fly with 10 other girl interns which ended in us landing in the DR and immediately all becoming great friends! From the moment we stepped out of the airport, I could tell how different of a place it is compared to Haiti just from the look, feel, taste and social aspect of the country. It was one of those exciting and nerve-racking moments where I was seeing built gas stations and buildings, but still the hustle and bustle of how Haiti is.

To be quite honest, it is absolutely surreal being here. I have been waiting, preparing, and praying for this moment to be serving with MOH for months and now I’m here. If you are just hearing about Mission of Hope, their vision as an organization following Jesus Christ, they exist to bring life transformation to every man, women, and child in Haiti, Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic. With serving in the past with MOH during my high school summers, I knew I loved the vision and mission of MOH, but after training and learning so much more of the behind the scenes actions MOH is and does, it is just amazing.

Going off of that, they have a campus in Santiago and another in the mountains of Puerto Plata. For our first three days, all the interns stayed in Santiago to train and get to know each other. Let me tell you, when you put a group of young adults that all have the same passion for Jesus and missions and just a happy heart, it is the BEST TIME EVER. By the time I knew it, I was leading line dances for everyone on the basketball court, making friendship handshakes, finding crazy home connections, and then truly getting to the know the hearts of these interns from all over the world.

Continuing with how this week has gone, we’ve had 3 teams come in, most from the mid-west states averaging with about 20-30 people. On our first Sunday, we were able to go to a Haitian church with the pastor. As we walked in, the assistant pastor greeted us with mini cups of hot chocolate and a loaf of bread and butter and then the pastor’s wife gave each one of us a big bear hug! Hearing the worship and sermon all in Creole just made me realize how much love I have for both of these amazing countries. It continually grabs my heart to see and hear how we can all worship the same God while the language barrier is on the back burner.

From there, I was moved to the Puerto Plata mountain campus and said goodbye to all my Santiago besties until we see them again for the 4th of July! After finishing training, we took an intern exam, passed, and celebrated by getting tacos at a local restaurant in Sosua then greeted our team for the week which are all high schoolers from Indiana! For the past 4 days they have been here, we’ve built a wall for a local school, hosted a sports camp for the kids in the community, and SMT, which is short for “strategic ministry time”, where we go out in the community and talk to locals in order to build relationships and ultimately share the gospel.

In the short time I have been here, the Lord has already taught me so many things; one being, how to love. In 1 John 4, John writes about what is love, how to love, and how to love well. From reading through, my study Bible revealed that when we love one another, the invisible God reveals himself to others through us, and his love is made complete. It can be easy to say we love God when that love doesn't cost us anything, but the real test is how we treat the people right in front of us- our family members and fellow believers. When we ask Jesus into our hearts, we receive the Holy Spirit which gives us the power to love through Christ. "We love, because He first

loved us" 1 John 4:19. With this, it has changed my perspective on what "loving well" is. To fully submit and give myself up for Him to reveal Himself through me and use me to share His love to others.

Overall, I am so humbled, thankful and blessed to be here and cannot wait to see the Lord work within the DR, teams, and my own self in the next two months.

Thank you everyone who has been and is continuing to pray for me and take part in this mission for the DR!

Stay rad y’all,

Cay

~A couple prayer requests: Confidence to lead and share the gospel effectively, safety, and continued good health for the interns, staff, and incoming teams~