Dominican Republic Day 3 YAH!!!!
This morning started bright and early with a morning wake-up call by a rooster named Rick. As we stepped out of our rooms we stumbled upon a new sight; our first morning without rain in the skies or on the ground! As 6:30 approached we began to see the herd of students make their way towards the chapel where we gather every morning for our daily devotional meeting. Today we focused on Daniel chapter 1 verses 4 through 20. Eric, the Assistant Director of Students International here in Jarabacoa, led our morning worship and transitioned right into teaching us about Daniel and the pressures that he faced as a young man of only 14ish years of age. Eric pointed three areas of struggle that Daniel faced while being held captive, those three areas were: Identity, conformity, and last but not least boundaries. It is extremely interesting to think that we, in this day and age, struggle with those three issues and Daniel struggled with the same things way back in biblical times. After devotional time we ate breakfast as a group and watched as everyone began to part their own ways to head out to their ministry sites.
I, Colby, am in the community health care site, which is led by Fernando Gonazalez and Katie Wulf. Today was a relatively easy and relaxed day for us as we didn’t have any patient care today. Instead of going to one of the 7 different clinical sites that SI puts on, we decided to head over to the nursing home to visit of Katie and Fernando’s old patients, Carlos. While we were at the nursing home we ran into the physical therapy group, the special education group, and the media group! We had an awesome time of worship and just hanging out with the people in the nursing home. Once we finally left, we made our way to one of the baseball fields right by the medical and dental office to have lunch. Siesta time is a real, beautiful, and blessed two hours in the day when literally everyone in the Dominican Republic goes home to take a nap. After wiping the drool off of our chins from a much-needed nap, we headed into one of the communities to visit a long time friend and patient. When we arrived she greeted us with a hug and welcomed us inside where she then proceeded to make us Dominican coffee- its like regular coffee but with about one fourth of the cup being sugar! Talk about sweet!!!!… But really, its some of the best coffee I’ve ever had! “And that’s all I have to say about that” (Forrest Gump). Now on to Grant’s day!
HELLO! I have had the privilege to work in the Media Site this week, I was suppose to be in Men’s Social Work Site but our Site leader Jim has been stuck in America… But its okay because he got his visa – Praise the Lamb! Michael, the Media site leader, has been teaching me a lot over the past few days. Some of the most impactful things thus far that I have learned are not only can smiles be seen but they can be heard. Have you ever thought about that? I challenge you right now to look at a picture of someone smiling and try not to hear the beautiful noise that comes from it. Also even though we are the media team and it is our job to go around and capture the moments at all the sites that God is creating. Michael taught me that some moment are just meant to be enjoyed. This brought me back way back to the first Day of Joshua when I learned our theme which is, “Be Still and Know”. Its so crazy how much that comes up in life when everything is moving so fast and God just calls you to slow down and be still. If you know me you know that’s not an easy task to be accomplished but Michael was able to explain this to me in a way I’ve never heard before and it’s a total answer to prayer because I think I’m finally starting to get it! WOW mind blown! God is so rad! I could go on and on about how amazing God is and how many awesome things he is doing but fun fact its 8 minutes past bed time. Its been real! You know you Love us! XOXO –Joshua
DR – Day 3 from Joshua Wilderness Institute on Vimeo.
