Day 1: 2025 Dominican Republic
We made it to the Dominican Republic!
After a long day of travel, we all arrived safely to our hotel in Santo Domingo. Thank you for all the prayers that got us here, they were very much felt. We were nervous we weren’t going to make our first flight out of Nashville due to the spring break travel (although, we arrived 4 hours early)! By the grace and provision of the Lord, we made the flight with a couple of minutes to spare! Once we all got to the hotel, we had an orientation meeting with our group. We shared some logistical details, sang a hymn together, prayed, and shared what we were most excited about for this week. Tomorrow, we begin our construction projects at Mission Emanuel in Cielo! Please continue to pray for us as we step into this work. We love you all so much and are so thankful for your prayers, the Lord’s protection in travel, and a place to lay our heads!
This is a lovely prayer that Josh Stevenson shared with us tonight:
“Pray that our family will be a team, that we would submit to one another in humility, and that the kids will see and participate in God’s work and experience His heart for the poor. Pray that our group would grow in trust in one another, we would cooperate and depend on one another and be unified in spirit. Amen.”
Our kids and youth are excited to:
Enjoy sports, pool time, and warm weather
Spend time with the kids of Mission Emanuel
Try new foods and experience a new culture
Meet new people
Receive a new perspective
Have and attitude of gratitude
Our adults are excited to:
Serve and spend time with family
Work with our hands and build something meaningful for others
Develop new relationships and deepen existing ones
See how God is going to show up (even in our fatigue)
Observe God at work in a different culture and way of life, seeing Him through the lens of others
Share new adventures
HOw we saw god at work today:
Today, we saw God's hand at work through His provision, safety, and community in the way He got us all safely here.
prayer requests:
Please pray that the Lord provides us with deep rest at night and a rejuvenated energy with joy in the mornings
That God is the main focus and that He is glorified in everything we do
That God would keep everyone safe from injuries, sickness, and exhaustion
Pray for strength, endurance, and energy for the physical labor, that God would sustain us physically and spiritually through our work in Cielo and with each other
Team unity, patience, encouragement, and a servant’s heart