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Day 5 DR Spring 2025

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  Hey, guys it’s Anna, Will, and Debi. We started off this morning by having Sunday Church service. Pastor Tito preached a really great sermon and their worship team led the songs. We had many people that we invited to church throughout the week show up, so that was very encouraging to the entire team. Some of the girls even mentioned that they wanted to return to the church after this Sunday so that was also very encouraging for the team to hear. To conclude church service our entire team went in front of the congregation to sing “In Christ Alone.” After the church service we were all able to gather in a different spot to try chocolate and hot chocolate. We talked to people we’ve never met and were able to support the organization selling the chocolate to us. Everyone was able to get together and greet one another. The surrounding was amazing because everyone was nice and very welcoming. There was not one person that treated us differently. We were all united and full of God's lov...
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Day 4 DR Spring 2025

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  Hey guys, it’s Lily, Sariyah, and Lilliana! We started the morning with a delicious breakfast made by Will, Lilliana, and Lexi. After breakfast we went to a park and played with the kids from Las Brisas. They were so sweet. While we were there Anna, Ava, and Lilliana shared their beautiful testimonies. Lily also did a devotional for the kids. We ate lunch with the kids, played with them, and invited them to church. We then drove back to the church and had a long siesta. Some wonderful ladies made us a delicious dinner. Then we went to another park to debrief. It was so full of life and so fun. Joy and Sugeylis brought us cake to eat while we were there. Then, Cheo taught us merengue.  It’s Lily, I had an amazing day today. I met so many new friends. Elismar was one of the girls I met today, she was so sweet and spoke pretty good English. Me and Anna hung out with her for the majority of the time at the park. I also had the opportunity to share the gospel today through a devo...
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Day 3 DR Spring 2025

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  Hi everyone, it’s Lexi, Ava, and Nate! It’s day 3 here in the Dominican Republic.Today Nate, Lily and Anna made an extravagant breakfast, including blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, and delicious fruits. Once we were done eating, we all got ready to go play an intense game of basketball and volleyball with students from a private school here in Santo Domingo. We unfortunately lost the majority of the games but we still managed to play with lots of effort in the scorching heat. While at the park with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ we took the time to pray with each other and we expressed our gratitude towards each team. Lily, Nolan, Will, and Nate gave 4 of the students their shoes as a sign of appreciation. We also gave them ODCS basketball shirts, so that they would remember such a great day. When we were done playing basketball, and volleyball we went back to Kafalé and had a delicious lunch and some down time to rest, before going out to play another round of bask...
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Day 1+ 2 DR Spring 2025!

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Hi everyone it’s Nolan and Ellie. We arrived safely in the Dominican Republic on the 19 in the afternoon. We got to the church, Kefalé, in Santo Domingo, and ate some scrumptious dominican chicken rice and beans at the church. We then got paired up for who will be making breakfast each morning and went shopping with each other to plan for our meals. Then we went to night church from 7-9ish.    Day 2 woke up and had delicious empanadas made by pastor Tito’s wife, sugelys. We got to a private school in the morning and it was French celebration day at the school. After we sat through a little conference, there was a fashion show. It was so fun to see them post and walk down the run way. Our favorite part was when a boy and girl, probably about 4 or 5 years old, walked down and posed, they were adorable. After, Nolan, Nate, Will, Mr. Bendik, and Lily played basketball. It was a full game of competitiveness and fun. We ended up losing 83-79. We play them again tomorrow and don...
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DR Winter 2025: Day 6- Last Day!

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 Levi: This trip has contained so much action with many good memories and lots of fun. Today, all that we had done definitely started to set in. Wth only 4 people at the table by 8am, when breakfast was supposed to be, you could tell we are all starting to get tired. And even though breakfast may have been a bit quieter than usual, a bit of bacon put a little pep back in our step. After breakfast we all grabbed a towel and some extra clothes to head out to the beach. It was about a 2 hour drive, and the view on the way there was really special. Inevitably a few of us started to get carsick, but it was a very fun drive nonetheless. One thing that has been great this week has been the food, but today for lunch it was back to my roots with chicken tenders, french fries, and bbq sauce. Fire! Then off to the beach we went to all laugh and swim together. That was an absolute blast, and being able to look at the mountains while swimming in the ocean is something I'll never forget. Before ...
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DR Winter 2025: Day 5

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 Kaitlyn: Hola! We started out today with an amazing breakfast of pancakes and fruit from Ellison and Spencer. Then we headed out into the community for some street evangelism with crackers and coffee. We had the opportunity to pray for many people and spread the message of the gospel. After that we went back to the church, ate lunch, and hung out for a little while. Then we made some sandwiches to take with us to Las Brisas. When we arrived at Brisas, we set up a volleyball net and got ready for hours of fun! We made bracelets, played volleyball and baseball, and pet a super cute puppy. It started raining while we were there, but that made it all the more fun. When the rain stopped, we performed a skit we made for the kids and handed out the sandwiches. After that, we sadly had to say our goodbyes and head back to the church. We ate dinner, had debrief, and hung out for the rest of the night.  As we're nearing the end of the trip, we would love prayer for these things: - Pers...
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DR Winter 2025: Day 4

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Today we have two more students giving their perspective on the day! ___________  Jie Jie: Today was a wonderful day! We started off this morning with breakfast made by Julia, Bryn, and Kaity. It was muy delicioso and we all had fun conversation around the table. Afterward, we all finished getting ready for Sunday morning service and did our daily devotions. We wore our best clothes for the service and were well equipped with our Bibles and notebooks. We began the service with prayer. Different members of the congregation and our team prayed for one after another like a family. The worship team sang in a combination of Spanish and English and we all tried to follow along with the Spanish lyrics on the screen. Then Levi introduced the song our Missions team was singing, which was "Reckless Love." We gathered on stage together and poured out our hearts to God in worship. Mr. Zaleski preached a message about marriage and its importance to the church. The main points were this: m...
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