Live.Love.DR2011.

I am sitting in a coffee shop and thinking about all of the memories from the 8-day project to the Dominican. There seems to be too many for my mind to be able to comprehend. From the grand entrance of Molly (we were SO glad to see her), to embracing our new team member and friend and brother--Will, to the group naps on an airport floor and we were just getting started.

• waiting in lines to get visitor cards in Santo Domingo, jumping into a line that moved us (probably illegally through customs) to a group prayer at the airport 
• a different person praying every time we travelled or worked
• a plethora of cool power tools and being taught by the girls how to assemble a wall panel
• singing worship with the lights blacked out
• Kola Real breaks and fruit in the morning
• the sauna room at VBS where I hi-fived my way around the room so I could get out to return to oxygen
• trying to remember what to do with my toilet paper and what water to use brushing teeth
• seeing progress made immediately and hearing how fast we were going from the Time team
• yelling at benches because every piece seemingly was a different size
• making the TV news in Milwaukee and showing Benjamin and J.C. their faces on WISN 12 and watching them run around and tell EVERYONE about it
• seeing Noe pull a large wooden stake out of the ground, scream, and be sure we might be killed by him (what a gentle giant who made us all smile)
• Kari's phone being abducted by the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park (true story)
• Kyle putting a nail in his hand and running randomly around the beach with a sea eel in the same hand
• being flipped by 12 foot waves hoping my shoulder would stay in place
• seeing a building come together, piece by piece, person after person, and the ceremony to hand key over in which student after student prayed, thanking God for what was taking place and praying for that church and for the people in the village to know Jesus

But my favorite moment were the conversations with the students in which they shared their belief that they will never be the same. This was an experience of a lifetime. It really was. I have never seen anything like it. And it was an experience full of joy.

The Dominican will amaze you with its beauty and turn right around and break you with its poverty. Yet wherever we turned there was JOY. Joy. How could this be? Joy is not defined by what we have, that much we must learn from these people. Joy is defined by who we are serving, who we are with, and who we are becoming.

We served God, his son Jesus Christ, and were led by the Holy Spirit.
We were with a phenomenal team and always with welcoming and loving people.
We were becoming students, adults, people more like Jesus.

May we never stop becoming. May we never be without this joy. It should never be dependent on what we have...it should always be centered on the love that is so amazingly given to us by Jesus.

Live.Love.DR2011.