Day 6 Students Dominican Republic Trip

This morning began, as with every morning of this trip, with a rooster crowing in the distance as the sun crested the ridge above our compound. As today was Sunday, our team, along with the other team that accompanies us here in the Dominican, was split in to groups of three so that we could go out and go to three different local Churches located throughout Jarabacoa. My site compatriots and I, along with Cheyenne and Kamera, two of the other guests here at the ministry, went to a Church near the center of town named Iglesia Cristina Nueva Vida which I am told roughly translates to the Christian Church of New Life. It was one of the more amazing experiences of my life, although I could not understand the words that the people were singing, I could hear how passionately they were crying out to the Lord and felt surrounded by the presence of our Almighty God! The Pastor, who we could understand because of the amazing translator who works at the Church, talked through the account of 1 Peter and the importance of the qualifications for the elders. When the service concluded, we met a few locals in the Church who spoke English and talked with them about their lives. Upon returning to camp we gathered together to eat lunch in the dining hall and fellowship together before the rest of our Sunday commenced. Upon writing this, a lot of us have just finished up writing letters to our Donors thanking them for their wonderful support, and to any of our donors reading this right now, thank you so much! This afternoon we're planning on going for a hike to the top of this hill that overlooks part of Jarabacoa so that we can worship and lift His name to the hills. Hopefully tonight it will rain, as it has most nights. The rain here is so therapeutic and provides such a peaceful and calming noise. A lot of our team who like myself are big fans of rain, like to go sit on the walkway in front of our cabins during the rain which is such a fun experience as we share stories, fellowship and laugh together as the rain falls down upon us. We are only about halfway through the trip so far and so much change has happened in my life and the lives of my teammates, God has convicted us, challenge us, brought us together and shown us His Glory and how amazing His glory is. Tomorrow, Sarah, one of our leaders has to leave us and go back to Colorado which is very sad as it has been so great getting to know her and her life story, it also means we will have one less person at our site which means we will have more work to do as a group which will be nice. At the current moment as I am writing this the rain has begun to downpour and I just realized my laundry is still outside so it will not be drying anytime soon, just another die of the rain I guess. It truly is amazing to see how Christ works through every little thing in this country, from the people, the pace of life and the weather. I cannot wait to see what else God will do this week.

- Josh Price