May We Have Eyes to See How God is at Work
April and May looked like youth events, moments with young adults, academic reinforcement, a retreat, a SENT team and more…
Over the last couple months, there have been lots of little moments with the young adults I get to work with here. Some things were planned, while others happened spontaneously.
On Easter Sunday, I had planned to make lunch for a few of the young adults who were going to come and help be clean up an area in my apartment building so that we could use it for a youth night the following week. Well.. a group 2 or 3 quickly became a group of like 8 of us and I was praying that the food I had in my slow cooker would multiply haha. But I love these real moments with this group as we just “do life” together.
The following week, we had a youth night at my apartment. This evening had 20+ people coming over to hang out and eat hot dogs.
Also that same weekend, I had a group of young adult girls come and have a sleepover at my apartment. It was fun to get together with them, especially because not everyone live in Santo Domingo.
And finally, one evening the young adults went over to Doña Maria’s house to have “habichuelas con dulce” and celebrate a couple of the birthdays in the group. As we were all spending time together, it was brought up that one of the young adults, Gerlado, had a basketball game that evening and so a group of us quickly decided we were going to go watch and support him.
I love getting to spend time with these young adults outside of the walls of the church. It’s these moments of showing up, or inviting people into your home, that cultivate trust and relationships which leads to deeper opportunities for discipleship and mentoring.
In May, we also had the privilege a group of youth (11 to 16 year olds) to a mall in another part of the city for lunch after church one Sunday. The marjority are a part of the Academic Reinforcement program at IB Emaus. For many in this group, it was their first time using the metro system and visiting this mall. We ate pizza, chatted, and walked around together. It was a great afternoon, even with the typical chaos (haha).
I hope that these moments are as special for this group as they are for me. I also loved seeing the young adults show up, attend, and continue to foster relationships with these youth.
This is a very special group of youth and I know God is at work in their lives and I am thankful to be a small part of it.
There were also a couple other events that happened which were connected with the different parts of our partner, IBAREDO.
One was that JUBAREDO (the youth board) hosted their second concert. This concert was in the northern region. It was a night full of joy and it’s great to see that the ideas and plans of the board come to life.
The second was the first annual gathering for MIBAREDO (the women’s group). There were around 70 women from the 3 different regions who attended this one day event. I know God has big dreams and plans for this group.
In April / May, there was also a SENT team from Woodstock Baptist who came to see how God is at work in the northern region. We spent time learning about the academic reinforcement program, children’s groups, attending different services, learning about the small group movement and their intentionally to multiply, and worked alongside the church as they continue to build a building with a space for a kids classroom (amongst other things).
I love to be able to help guide people as they experience how God is at work in other places, see what we can learn from each other, and are challenged in their personal faith and walk with Christ.
It was also special to have a group from WBC come, especially seeing I grew up as a part of that church. Though maybe a few embarrassing stories might have been told about me from when I was a kid (haha), it’s a cool experience to show people who have impacted my life growing up about the life I get to be apart of here in the DR.
In April, I was also able to attend a weekend women’s retreat for women who are working / serving in other countries.
The first picture is of my small group for the weekend. It was good to learn from and together with these women.
The airport picture was with two women I met who also live in the DR (but in the North) who I got to spend some extra time with as the three of us were put on standby on our flight leaving Panama and had to stay an extra night. It was nice to connect with others who live in the DR.
And the 3rd photo is with Kallie Hutton (who serves with CBM in Bolivia). She has attended this women’s retreat for a couple of years and was a big encourager to see that I attend as well. I loved getting to spend some intentional time with her over the weekend.
Now we can’t forget about my goal of having some more fun this year. I have loved how many of you have reached out about this being a great goal for the year. I hope that it encourages you to get out and have some fun.. because God is fun and there is joy in serving.
Now there was a lot of fun that happened between all of the times with youth, young adults, SENT teams, etc.. But a couple other things over the last couple of months:
– Visiting a new coffee shop
– Attending my first concert here in the DR
– Getting to spend time with my whole family in Ottawa for my brother’s wedding.
– Going to a tulip festival
– Trying a new restaurant in another city.
– Getting up to see a beautiful sunrise at the beach during the women’s retreat.
And more…
Prayer Requests
- Be praying for the academic reinforcement that takes place in several churches within IBAREDO as they take a break in the program for the summer. Be praying for volunteers as they take a break but also begin thinking and planning for the fall.
- Pray for all the summer ministries that will be taking place within IBAREDO churches. From camp in july, to VBS through the summer, to small groups for kids, and more. Be praying for the pastors and leaders and they serve and reach out to their communities.
- Be praying for a SENT team that will be coming from Atlantic Canada July 12 to 21.
- Be praying for the creation care program that will be beginning again this summer with a new group of youth. The Lord worked in incredibles ways in the first group and so be praying for this new group as they spend 3 different weekends together over the next number of months.
- Be praying for a new English class that I will be teaching at IB Los Cocos. I’m excited to get to know this group of youth even better as we aim to meet weekly in-person over the summer.
