The last few weeks have flown by; I can hardly believe that next week is the last week of August! As I sit here and reflect over the past few weeks and months, I just keep thinking about what a sweet summer it has been. With all of the changes and transitions going on within the ministry (Zimmerman’s stepping down, Buchers taking over as directors and moving back to the States, Hector becoming the director of operations in the DR, Katelyn being gone for the summer) I was curious how this summer would go. I am happy to share that we had a really good summer in San Juan! I loved getting to watch Hector step into his new leadership role. He is such a great leader and I am so grateful for all that he brings to the ministry. I am proud of Kelsi and how she covered the role of guesthouse host this summer. I am grateful for our summer intern, Riley, for all that she did to help make things go smoothly. And of course I am thankful for all the wonderful teams who served with SRI this summer!
We finished out the summer season with one more VBS team and two barrio teams. Our final VBS team had a lot of children on the team, and it was so fun to see them prepare for and then participate at VBS. Our final VBS site was the biggest one of the summer – 140+ children attended both days! I have loved attending a day of VBS with each team this summer and just watching those seeds of faith being planted.
The following week we hosted a medical team from Minneapolis, MN. I love our summer VBS weeks, but it is always nice to get back into our normal rhythm with medical teams. We had a great week of barrio clinics, and I loved seeing all of the education moments throughout the week. I myself sat with the providers any chance I got…I loved learning from all 3 doctors and hearing their thoughts on different situations. Katelyn arrived back to San Juan at the beginning of the week, and it was good to have the whole team back together. That week we also hit our 30th unit of donated blood at the clinic which was very exciting!
Our final team of the summer was a group of nursing students from the University of Tampa. Our first barrio clinic that week was at a small tin-roof church. It has been a hot summer, so my first thought was “I am glad to see there are at least a few fans in here!” Well, I soon found out that most of the province of San Juan had a scheduled power outage for the day so when the fans went off an hour or so later, the little church quickly got very warm with 30-40 people in there. There were 2 large trees next to the church so during our lunch break we moved the clinic outside under the shade of the trees. I loved seeing the team’s flexibility!
The end of summer teams sadly meant that it was time for Riley to head back to the US. Riley was such a great fit for our team and a huge help around the guesthouse. Her positive attitude, baked goods, and love for Jesus were a blessing to us all this summer. Sweet Riley, thank you for serving with us this summer – I am praying for you as you begin this next semester of nursing school!
Last week was another full week. Sunday after church Bianca and her mom gave me a lesson on how to prepare chenchen, a common dish in San Juan that I love. Monday we went to the beach to celebrate Katelyn’s birthday (a week late). On Wednesday I went with the girls and some members of our church to El Cacheo. Our church in San Juan visits the communities in that area twice a week to teach the children a Bible lesson and do home visits. As I was walking through the community rounding up the kids, I couldn’t help but think how important it is to develop these relationships and pour into our neighbors. That is something I love so much about the Dominican culture – the importance of community.
In the last year Euclides has started a foundation: Fundación Eres la Esperanza del Futuro (Fedelfu for short, You are the Hope of the Future Foundation in English). Their mission statement is “Caring for and empowering impoverished families in San Juan, Dominican Republic, by giving them education, resources, and support to break generational poverty”. On Saturday I was able to help at the foundation’s first official activity, a back-to-school event. The girls all got their hair washed and styled, I painted fingernails, and there were barbers to cut the boys hair. Everyone was fed lunch and given a bookbag with school supplies. I am really proud of Euclides and love his heart for the people in his community…I am excited to see all the good that can be done through his foundation!
Outside of those events, I cooked a few dinners to share with friends and worked to wrap up things (work and personal) to be able to travel back to the states for our summer break. On Tuesday I traveled back to Illinois where I will spend the next few weeks with family and friends.
I will end this blog with a song that a friend shared with me the other day. It is based on Isaiah 6:8, a verse that holds a lot of meaning for me and is a prayer for my life.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here I am Lord, send me.”
Prayer requests
- A good balance of rest, work, and time with family/friends over the next few weeks.
- Discernment about some upcoming decisions.
- For the ministry of Solid Rock and our fall teams.
- Safe travels back to the DR next month.
