Sunday and Monday

Sunday: Our first morning in the Dominican included a visit to La Vid (the Life), a church that many of the staff and families of Doulos attend. We were caught up in the beauty of their worship, full of joy and gratitude to the Lord. It was very impressive to watch the key board player jump up and down like crazy while playing and singing. After church we hiked up to Spirit Mountain Coffee farm (the farm that helps to support Doulos). We learned lots about Coffee from Chad Wallace (one of the founders and directors of Doulos), ate raw coffee fruit, drank directly from the stream water and enjoyed the majestic beauty. It was also very special to be able to see all the work that the previous work team did to create the trail and bridges so that we could have a very intimate and beautiful hike. We even saw the rock that Ted almost killed Josh with and the boulder that Beau let get away from him:) For the evening we enjoyed a great dinner together and were led in our first official group devotion by Zach and Brock- they both shared out of Matthew in regards to worry and letting it go. It was a true blessing to all of us! We went to bed extremely tired and excited to begin our first day at Doulos.

Monday: We started the day with "Building Background Knowledge" we learned a lot about the current educational status of the Dominican and what Doulos is doing to meet the severe needs of this country. It gave us all a greater understanding as we begin to come along the staff and students this week. The rest of the afternoon we were unleashed to help teachers with projects and work on some grounds work which only resulted in one smashed thumb on Brock ( he is just fine). Tonight we have the opportunity to have dinner with members of the teaching staff from Doulos in their homes. We love and miss you all...more pics to come! (from lis)