The Blessings of the Lord

On Sunday night, we shared a time of prayer with family and friends in Bryn Mawr before tackling a long and exhausting day (Monday) of traveling to Juan Tomas.  The Lord blessed us with a relatively smooth journey to JFK and we were overwhelmed by the support we had from Delta employees throughout the check-in and ticketing process.  Navigating a group of 18 people through security wasn't too difficult either... so we are beyond grateful!  

This is the view of the school from the guys' cabin.

The best part of our traveling day was hitting the Shake Shack in the terminal as our flight was boarding.  Jeremy and Joseph were the last to board the flight, but the Double Smokehouse Burgers they enjoyed were worth any stress they caused the team! 

Right out-of-the-gate we have a team applying sealant to plywood for some renovated classrooms.

The process of claiming our luggage and working through required customs paperwork gets easier each year, and the team demonstrated a sweet spirit of unity in helping students (and leaders) that were coming to the DR for the first time.  

Lydia and Nanako are paint pros.

This morning (Tuesday) we woke up in Juan Tomas and enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship and Bible study as we worked through our first two studies in the first chapter of James.  We spent time focusing on the significance of James 1:22-25: 

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 

Rachel and Kai are helping Diego on construction in the recently expanded computer lab.

The Lord is so good.  We are beyond thankful for the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts today as we respond to the truth of God's Word and the power of the Gospel.  We are so eager to respond in a spirit of praise to the unmerited favor of Christ Jesus... and to do so in such a tangible way which will bless the various ministries here in Juan Tomas.

Abby and Dean are on paint duty.

Please pray for us today, as we face wet working conditions.  Everyone seemed to enjoy a restful evening last night as our team fell asleep to the sound of monsoon force rain hitting the tin roofs of our cabins.  Today, our energy levels our good, and we're enjoying a surprisingly fruitful morning of labor and service. 

Ian and Chloe have really enjoyed the first day of their first trip.

Nathania and Christina decided they would paint later on. Right now, they are excited about demo duty.

Lukas is our only guy that has been to the DR before. Already he is demonstrating an awesome work ethic.

Tyler was pretty dangerous in demo duty.

Annika graciously volunteered to oversee the tool shed.

Ariel (on the left) has worked with our team for six years. He serves as the music director at the church.

Please pray for our team.  It is so obvious that God is blessing our team at every turn.  The spirit of unity with the Dominicans is already very strong, and we are eager for our times of labor and fellowship that lie ahead.  And please share our blog with other believers that will commit to supporting out trip in prayer.  We are so thankful for the Proclamation Prayer Team back home, and we want you to know that God is blessing your faithful prayer support of our team.  We love you all very much... and God is using this trip and our relationships here to increase our love for Him. 

God is good, and we are overwhelmed by his many blessings.  Soli Deo Gloria!!!