Dominican Republic 2024 Day Nine
We want to start off by thanking all of you for reading our blogs and the continuous support and prayers that you have been sending our way. We can really feel that God is working throughout this team and the work we are doing here in the Dominican Republic.
Our day started with our last morning devotional which consisted of our regular reflections on either the previous day or today (that is up to the person). We then took the time to each have a 360 moment. This is when you choose a spot anywhere that we have been and just sit in silence. You take the time to recognize God through your 5 senses, and turning in a 360 in order to take everything around into consideration.
After the morning devotions we had breakfast and then went with Angie and Christopher to separate classrooms in order to participate in the ESL (English as Second Language) done here in the compound. It was an amazing opportunity to work alongside the children and get to hear how God is working through the teachers’ and children’s lives. During our time with them our job was to ask basic conversational questions such as “what is your favourite animal, colour, etc.”. We were really impressed with how far along they have progressed even though some of them have only been working on it for less than a year! Matt had a cool conversation with one of the classrooms he was in. They asked him to pray for them and their future endeavors. This is amazing considering one of them was the only Christian in their home and the other two came from Christian families!
After lunch we had the opportunity to walk to the nearest gondola station. These are intended to make travel from the smaller towns to the major cities easier, which is helpful for work and school. For us personally, it was really cool to see Santo Domingo from a bird’s eye view. The buildings are colourful, the music was lively, and it really hit home that we were in a different culture. On Laura’s gondola with some of the students, there was a wonderful Dominican lady that joined them after the first stop. She was very friendly and asked us if we were Americans but smiled when we said we were Canadians. This goes to show you that their culture really is more of a “hot climate” as back in Canada this would be a rare occurrence to speak with a stranger! Also, when we got to the last stop, there was a really cute dog that was laying there but then it started wagging its tail when we got close. It made everyone happy especially Kathryn and Laura, and gosh did she need a win (and if you’ve kept up to date with the blogs, you’d know who we’re talking about and why).
Once we got back to the compound, we jumped right back into the final push of construction. This consisted of painting two water jug holders. This may seem like an easy feat but the braincell had clearly been with the other group as they painted the outside bars before the inside, creating a catastrophe. Everyone painting resembled that classic cartoon with the small blue people who wore white hats (and more recently had a movie with the legendary Neil Patrick Harris). Yes, we are talking about the Smurfs. Also, Kathryn unintentionally, once again, has blue hair and she’s not mad about it. The other team (reminder, the ones with the communal braincell) was working hard by moving gravel, sand, and hand mixing concrete one last time. This concluded our final full day here in the DR.
Thanks again for coming along on this adventure with us. We encourage you to ask any of the team members about their experiences so that they get practice sharing their stories so that God is ultimately glorified. Please feel free to reach out to anyone who has been on the trip, including ourselves, because our prayer is for this team to grow in numbers so they can bless this community tenfold. We don’t want this to be the end of the conversation, but instead an opportunity for God to put a calling in the lives of our youth to step up and serve God and others using their gifts and passions.
Many blessings,
Tymon, Kathryn, Laura and Matthew
