Meet my team!

Now that I am in Chicago at briefing, I have finally had the opportunity to meet everyone on my team! I’ll tell you a little bit about them so you know who you’ll be praying for this year :)

(Stole most of this from Natasha’s--of my teammates--blog…she wrote everyone’s biographies so well! I did write her biography though)

-- Jimmy (23) is from University of Arizona (Tuscon) and studied math. He went to DR for a summer project last year, so he knows the church leadership we are going to be working with and some of the students. He has amazing stories about how he got to share the gospel with students there... in a nutshell, the professors allowed them to take up class time, take the students outside, and talk to them... and then bring them back to class! How cool is that?

--Robert (23) is from Arizona State University (ASU). He has already worked for one year at ASU with Campus Crusade and for the last year and a half, he and I led freshmen small groups together.  Rob answered the call to STiNT in DR at a training weekend in April. Rob had thought to continue serving at ASU, but the DR team needed another man (so Jimmy wouldn't be alone), so Rob stepped up. This story is super amazing too! God used crazy circumstances and calls to get Rob to commit to DR.

--Brianna (25) (pronounced Brye-anna--> the anna as in banana... she is very particular about this!) is a highschool Spanish teacher in Georgia. She has been teaching for 3 years and loves everything Spanish! She is the sweetest and most encouraging girl ever. And she laughs a lot. She likes to exercise (so glad to have workout buddies!) and I know that I’ll learn alot about how to share my faith in another language from her as she reads from and memorizes Scripture in Spanish!

--Natasha (21) is from Rice University in Houston, TX and received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry in just 3 years! She comes from a bilingual home as her parents are from Latin America, so she has excellent Spanish skills as well. She is creative, likes to cook (which I’m super excited about), and loves to dance. She’s very insightful and humble and I’m looking forward to learning from her tenderness!

--Jessica (Me, 22) is also from ASU and have had my heart set on serving in DR since November of 2009 when I heard about how fruitful that year’s summer project was (the same one that Jimmy went on!) While I’ve had 6 years of Spanish education, I am really excited to coming home fluent (hopefully).

Other people we'll be getting to know:
--Braulio is the pastor of the church that has played a critical role in casting vision throughout their community to reach college students in Santo Domingo. They have been praying Matthew 9:37, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few,” in anticipation of the formation of our team.

--Leyla has works for the local church we are working with and has partnered with Campus Crusade during last summer and this summer to reach out to students on campus. She will play an integral part in getting us up to speed on what the campus is like and what needs the people have.

--Prospero is Leyla's husband and a lawyer for the church. He is also involved in the ministry.