Hola! I want to
first thank all you have that supported, prayed and encouraged me on this
journey. I am so excited to be here in the Dominican Republic. It has been a
full week so far.
I am here in the
DR as an intern with Score International. There is a group of about 8 that are
here as interns. We fall under the leadership and guidance of Margaret, the
Score Intern Director. She is a wonderful, encouraging women who spends time
here in the DR and then goes back to the States to spend time with her
grandchildren. We meet each morning as a group for devotions, weekly as a group
to talk about what the week will look like, and the female interns meet weekly
for discipleship. I am staying in a
little apartment style housing on the staff side of the Score complex. I am
living with a score staff named Rachael who is a kindergarten teacher in the
states and here working on activities and scheduling for teams when they work
with the children in the different villages and with Kendall a college student
who loved to spend her summers here going out with the different teams that
come to visit.
Each day is
different and exciting in its own way. I was able to stay at the Emanuel House for
two nights (Monday and Tuesday) and spent some time observing and praying as to
how I could help. The Emanuel house is a day school for various age children.
They have classes for a group of students in the morning and a different group
in the afternoon. Emanuel House is run by a sweet lady named Mirqueya,: also Adrienne
a Score missionary (who moved from Atlanta a year ago to live in the DR) I have
been blessed to just meet these sweet women of God. I also got to meet and get
to know Jessinia (an intern at the Emanuel House and this past year was a GAP
student) a little bit, unfortunately her time here is almost done as mine
really just began. I am looking forward
to going back next week to the Emanuel House spend more time observing and
interviewing the teachers to learn more about each one.
One of the teams
on Wednesday planned a women’s conference for the mothers of the Emanuel House
children. I was able to go and be a part of serving the ladies there. It was a
great opportunity for these mothers that they rarely get to do.
Yesterday,
Thursday I went out with a team of mostly youth to a village about 2 hours from
the score complex. It area that we were in was absolutely beautiful. There were
these big trees that offered shade and a breeze from the wind while the group was
sharing and then a large open field with mountains as the backdrop to play with
the children. The youth sang songs, did a skit and shared testimonies to about
200 children! We then we served a meal made by someone from the local church.
I have decided
that one of my projects while I am here is to create a Teacher Appreciation
week for the teachers at Emanuel house. So I will spend some time this weekend
making gifts for these women to receive in two weeks during their teacher
training week. Please pray that this idea is well received and an encouragement
to the ladies for their hard work and dedicated to the children and to Emanuel
House. Also please pray that God shows me how I can best serve for the time
that I am here. I am finding that it already goes by too fast!
Walking by faith,
Jess
