Biggest Event of the Year

I am so excited to tell you all about the awesome things that happened last week.

We received 60 students representing Campus Crusade from 5 different universities in the States to serve Vida Estudiantil at UASD during their spring break. All this month, we have been praying about how they can best spend their time here: meet as many students as possible trusting that God would help them find those who don’t have a personal relationship with him or need encouragement in their faith. 

I could take up the whole page telling you all the stories, but I figured I’d spread them out a little bit over the next week. This should be even more exciting as our Stint team will be following up with the students they have met, so you’ll get to see the stories as they’ve unfolded a little bit more!

One story in particular that I want to share now is about a girl two students from the University of Oklahoma met on Wednesday. In talking to Rosi, they learned that she was a Christian who was really struggling with her faith as she daily heard her philosophy teacher instructing opposing beliefs, even mocking her for what she believed to be true. She said that she wants her faith to be “rock solid,” but doesn’t know how to get there on her own. Through these students’ courage and persistence to speak to her in the Spanish they knew, Rosi was directed to people in Vida Estudiantil who were willing to meet with her to encourage her in her faith. In addition to this, Rosi admitted that before meeting them, she believed that Americans were all bad people who were thirsty for control over others. While it was difficult to hear that this belief is something she learned from her family, we were all excited about seeing one person at a time gain understanding of our motives and the genuine love we have for Dominicans.

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On another note, I must tell you that these students truly were a blessing to myself and my team more than anything. Not only was it exciting to get to talk to other Americans for a week, but they just did a great job of encouraging us and my spark for ministry here at UASD was re-ignited as I saw their enthusiasm to pour out their hearts into other students. It gave me such strength to finish the rest of my time here well and helped me re-focus on what I was sent here to do. As they asked questions about my life and work here in the DR, I became more confident that my job is really cool!