Dominican Dispatch: Settling In for Year Four

This past month was full of re-establishing routines and learning new ones. Right after landing, my first priority was to start getting my new, empty apartment somewhat furnished and livable so that my new roommate, my Dominican coworker Lisandro, could move in. He's one of the coolest people I know here, and I'm excited to share more of his story in a future update!

As I was working on the apartment, I was also attending two weeks of All Staff Training at Doulos. This entailed lots of devotions, worship, and incredibly riveting meetings about policies and stuff (slight sarcasm). While the meetings about policies part of AST may not have been the most thrilling for the fourth year in a row, it was such a blessing to begin this school year worshiping the Lord with my coworkers and friends!

Part of my role at Doulos is photography, so I get the privilege of capturing meaningful moments every day.

AST wrapped up with Open House, when we invite all students and their parents on campus to meet their new teachers and set the tone for the whole school year.

Then the highly anticipated day arrived: the first day of school! To get a good idea of what day one looked like, check out this short video I shot and put together for Doulos social media!

I always love seeing students step back onto campus after two months of summer break. They know they're coming back to a place where they're known, loved, and cared for.

Another place our students are being poured into is Young Life. Lisandro and I, along with the rest of our team started the first two weeks of YL with a big game night and Bible study. My group has about six students, and for the next couple of weeks we're going to focus on learning about the purpose of prayer.

At Doulos, I get to be the small group leader for the 7th grade boys. These guys have a lot of personality. I've known them since they were in 4th grade, young enough to attend motor lab. So far, we've been challenging each other to pick a character quality, like one of the fruit of the Spirit, and think about it throughout the day. I also supervise their lunch period, so I get to spend time with them then as well.

Speaking of the motor lab, another significant part of my role is bolstering the motor skills of nearly all of our elementary students this year. Last year, I worked primarily with the 3-5-year-olds in the motor lab, which was super fun, but I'm grateful for a change of pace working with the older students.

So far, God has clearly blessed the beginning of this school year, helping me settle into good routines and giving me opportunities to have a broad yet deep impact this year.

Thank you for continuing to follow along, faithfully pray, and support this ministry as I begin my fourth year serving here in Jarabacoa!