ODCS Missions

 Hi everyone! It's Coco. As our trip is coming to a close I wanted to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Me and Elijah started off the day by making eggs and sausage for breakfast. After eating and getting ready we went out to a local park to serve the community by picking up trash and garbage. On the way to the park I felt a leaf fall on my head. Issac made sure to point out that it was no leaf but infact bird poop stuck in my hair. Once the area was finished cleaning the group walked to a stand were we all got fresh juice to try. At the stand, two of the people that we prayed for the day before were working so we were able to reconnect with them. We got home and had salami and plantains which I might have a slight addiction to. Later, we left to play volleyball with the youth at Brisas which is where the Kefela Church has a program to reach out to kids there. While I have no volleyball skills, it was still an amazing oppertunity to fellowship with others. Tonight there...

Hello everyone! It's Kadence. Today was our 5th day of our trip down in the Domincian Republic the first thing we did was wake up and eat breakfeast we had Cereal and toast which me and Claire set up for everyone which was really good. Then we went out on the streets and shared the gospel to differnt people and prayed for them for things there going through and gave them crackers and coffee as a kind thing to offer them. After that we came back to the church and started to make lunch. We helped make sandwhiches and juice and then had it. They were so good. We then relaxed for little after and played Uno (which was fun) or took a nap to give us energy for the rest of the day. Then we went to New Jerusalem and saw a family there and prayed for them and talked to them about whats going on in there lives before praying for them. We then went over to there church there and sang songs and prayed for each other which was really cool to do. After that we came back and had dinner (which was...

Hey everyone, it's Kaity!  Thanks for reading our blogs, and keeping us with our adventures. Today we woke up bright and early, starting our day with breakfast made by Isaac and Coco. After breakfast, we headed to a beautiful park to evangelize to those we saw. We each were given a water bottle, which gave us an opportunity to start a conversation with someone. We were each encouraged to try and find someone to give our our water bottle, no matter how many people we had to talk to. It honestly was super fun, and we celebrated everytime someone came back to the group saying "No agua!" Elijah takes the win with the most water bottles given away, ending with a total of 6 or 7 (it was really 4). Afterwards we went and got some massive pizza! I'm talking massive, Costco size, pizza. So much better than our pizza at home. After eating, we went back to the church for Siesta time, which I slept for like another 2 hours. When I woke up, we were given a gift from someone from B...

 Hi, its Ellie. Today I started my morning off by making breakfast for the group with Elijah. We made eggs, sausage, toast, and I cut up some avocado. When I was setting the table when Elijah brought a dead cockroach to my face and it was quite disgusting and I almost slapped him haha. Then we got ready and had church. Isaac and Elijah helped with worship and Mr. Zaleski preached the gospel message to the church. A volleyball team came to church and after church we had a time to share our testimonies. I went first and explained how the Lord ahs worked in my life and brought up Matthew 16:24-26, and explained to them the importance of going against our flesh and taking up our cross. Claire also shared her testimony and Kaity shared a time where the Lord worked in her life. At the end, one of the girls actually gave her life to Christ which was extremely encourging, praise God! After, I spent a lot of time getting to know the volleyball girls and trying to understand them as we ate l...

 My name is Isaac Falk, and I have the incredible God given opportunity to be a part of this Dominican Republic missions trip. I started my journey today waking up from a delightful two whole hours of sleep! Suffice to say I was not the most awake person on their way to breakfast. However, that all changed when we were greeted the most incredible empinatas I have and probably will ever have! But, as amazing as breakfast was, thats not what made today special. The whole teams mission today was to go to a drug rehabilitation half way home. We were going to share the gospel, testimonials, fellowship and help wherever we could. We arrived and soon after we grabbed some chairs and headed outside together. We formed a circle and were treated to some Spanish songs of praise. What followed was a truly touching moment of openness, both from people on the trip and the people we had met there. I found myself with sincerest honor of being able to share a short devotional. I was accompanied by ...

ODCS Dominican Republic Missions Trip, 2026. Today's blog is from Elijah Taylor.      Today has been our first day in the Dominican Republic! As the team traveled from Cleveland to Atlanta, and finally the D.R.,we have been eagerly anticipating our arrival waiting for what God has instore for us for the first day. As we traveled to different places throughout our day, we have gotten to see how big our God truly is. And as we stepped foot in the D.R., God's beauty is desplayed everywhere through the palm trees, and the parakees that seek refuge in them. The people at Kefale Church have been such a blessing as they welcomed us into the country. We shared a meal and played some intense card games enjoying our time with one another. Tito, who is the paster at Kefela Church, showed us the history of how God transformed the church into what it is today. Now, as a team, we get to be a part of this transformation too! We came to the D.R. to serve, not to be served. As we step int...