Hello everyone,
Can anyone else believe that in less than 3 days, we will be getting in a van to head down to LAX and then hop on an airplane where that plane will take us to the Dominican Republic! Yes, the Dominican Republic, it’s crazyyy! But this week has been exciting, fun, busy, and overall, a week where we can just come to God and say thank you for all the blessings that he has given us. Some things throughout the week that happened were listening to the speaker, hanging with the catalyst couple, doing a couple hill walks, having another theme dinner, and working a little bit of overtime. This week has been busy, but it has definitely been good for all Joshua students.
The speaker this week was Dave Hansen and his mission this week was getting us prepared for the Dominican Republic. One thing that stuck out to me was Dave said that you need to have 3 things to be prepared for the DR. Those 3 things consisted of having an open mind, having a humble heart, and having a servant’s heart, “and you will have the best time while you are there”, Dave said. As Daves main goal this week was getting us ready for the DR, I think that I can say that I walked out of Daves messages and can use what he said in everyday life. I am so excited that the staff decided to pick Dave as one of the speakers, and I can’t wait to see him in the near future.
We had another Catalyst couple and this week was John and Aubri Foster. They were such a blessing to have up here as we got to hangout with them in the Catalyst apartment and play games and eat so much food which consisted of chips and salsa, M&MS, turkey wraps, mac and cheese, spinach dip, and so much more. John and Aubri really showed me how to stay happy in the hard times and trust God that he is working in those times. I’m glad that they came up this week and I hope that they might be able to be another catalyst couple again in the future.
We had another themed dinner and this week’s theme was Winter Luau, and this dinner was so much fun. We started off the night by going and eating dinner which consisted of katsu, white rice, macaroni salad, broccoli, and for dessert, pineapple upside down cake. After we finished eating dinner, there was a photo booth set up where we all got to take pictures in our Hawaiian outfits. Then we got to do a game of limbo and finish off the night with a corn hole tournament. As me and my partner made it to the semi finals, we were not as good as Cooper and Noah who won the whole tournament. This night was so much fun not just because of the theme but more importantly, because of the people i was doing it with.
As this week comes to a closing, and as we are heading to the dominican republic very very soon, i ask that you keep us in your prayers for safe travels, but also pray that we can work in the kids and parents lives that are at the Dominican Republic and just bring the light of God to them and to the workers in SI (Student International). Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post, and just remember that God loves you, and I love you too.
-John 3:16
-Current JWI Student,
Ben Lawler