Why We Are Here...

Well we finally made it to the Score complex in the DR.  We're currently settling in and seeing some of the area.  We thought during this time we'd love to share with you why we are here.  The videos are taken at an awesome beach near the place of our ministry.  We hope this serves to show you why and how God has led us to be here.  We had some problems uploading the videos so please visit this link to our Dominican facebook page to see the videos...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=146320545392367&v=app_2392950137#!/group.php?gid=146320545392367

Day 1 at the orphanages

We just wanted to update you on our time here.  Yesterday we got here and had lunch and went to the beach (which was amazingly beautiful) then we had dinner and got together to go over James 1 and 2.  Today we got up and went over James 3 and then had breakfast together then headed off to the special needs orphanage.  It was amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.  Some of the kids were literally tied to the bed because there was no one to care for them and the caregivers didn't want them to hurt themselves.  We felt so bad for them.  Most of them were boys because they were remodeling some of the orphanage so they had taken the girls to another orphanage for a little bit.  However, there were a few girls there and I got to hold one of them for pretty much the entire time.  She was scared when anyone would come near her but after holding her for a while she just kept taking my hand and putting it on her face (she was definitely a physical touch kid, which made my heart break for her because I knew she wouldn't get much physical touch being kept in a crib for 24 hours every day).  She had some sort of seizure disorder and would start shaking really bad when anything new happened but for the longest time we just sat in the chair and she just let me hold her (she definitely had severe mental handicap) she was probably around 3 years old and could not communicate at all and didn't respond to you at all.  But she was so sweet.  It made me really sad because so many of the kids seemed like they would be so different if they only had a real home to live in.  Some of the kids wouldn't even try to get out of their cribs because they'd never been out of them ever.  Reminded me of a story I read once about elephants in India.  To train an elephant in India you tie one end of a rope to the elephant and attach the other end to a stake in the ground.  When the elephant is a baby it will try to pull up the stake but can't because it is not strong enough.  Eventually the elephant quits trying.  By the time the elephant is full grown it is still attachedto that stake and doesn't even realize that a simple man could pull it out and even more easily for a huge elephant.  That was these kids, they had stopped trying.  They never attempted to get out of their beds/cribs (even the ones who were tenagers and young adults) because they too had learned from a young age that they couldn't.  That made me feel so bad for them, but the kids were happy for the most part.  They loved to smile and absolutely loved when Kasey played her guitar.   I can't wait until tomorrow when we get to go visit another orphanage.  I know that I will be emotionally wrecked after that one.  We were reading through the sponsorship manual that SCORE has for the kids at the next orphanage we're going to and some of the stories were so sad about how the children had ended up there.  Most of them have mom's who are prostitutes and the lady who runs the orphanage reaches out to them also.  We've heard she is pretty amazing and can't wait to meet her.  We are also taking about 7 suitcases FULL of clothes, toys and more for the orphanage tomorrow.  SCORE staff is completely overwhelmed by how much we were able to bring.  We've really been overcome with how much God blessed us through donations and extra financial support to be able to reach these kids.  Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us and given of their time/money/and love.

Halfway There!

We are officially on our way.  After a great "night" of packing our luggage we made a quick stop at steak and shake and then headed on our way to drive the 5 hours to Miami for our flight.  We had some awesome blessings already!  First three of our guy friends offered to drive us down which allowed us to get some much needed sleep.  Second, we had originally we had each planned to take all of our stuff in our carry on baggage and fill our suitcases with all of the stuff for the orphans that we had collected/bought.  When we started filling our suitcases last night we quickly ended up filling up three extra suitcases.  When we got to the airport this morning they had computer failure and allowed us to take the extra baggage for free, this would have been around $100+!!!  What an awesome blessing.  We will continue to keep you updated.  Below are a few of our prayer requests at this point.

1. Guitar strings for Kasey (Kasey brought her guitar to be able to play some songs to the orphans, however, in the airport 2 of her strings popped, pray we can find somewhere she can get new strings)
2. safety for our flight (please pray that we have safety on the flight to the DR)
3. Emotional Stability (during our preparation for this trip we have gone through and studied every verse in the bible that mentions orphans or fatherless, because of this we have come to somewhat begin to understand God's passion for these children. We know that when we meet them and develop relationships the need will become even more real. Please pray for our emotional stabilty both while there and when returning.)
   
   Thank you so much for your prayers, support and love!
   Here's a video and a couple pictures of a few of the girls on our way!
   
   
   
   
   
   

Follow us in the DR

As you may know we are going with SCORE internation on our trip to the DR.  You can follow updates about our trip on their website at http://scoreinternational.org/ click on select group and select Idlewild Baptist Church!  We also hope to post videos/pictures on here depending on internet connection!

In a years time...

I recently heard a quote that life is no more than a collection of stories.  If that is true this is sure to be one of the best stories our lives will represent.  In early 2010 we were just a group of girls in a Sunday school class who wanted to do something “big” with our lives.  During this time we were presented with the question “if you knew God was behind you 100% and you could do anything and time, money, friends, family, etc… couldn’t hold you back what would you do?”  This was a hard question to answer but after several weeks many of the girls opened up and began to share their deepest dreams.  “I’d move to Africa to help orphans” said one, “I’d become a famous designer and show girls that true beauty comes from their relationship with Christ not their clothes” another mentioned and still another said “I’d adopt terminal, special needs children and for the last few years of their life show them the unfailing love of God.”  Soon enough we realized that not only was God showing us some big dreams, but we also had several areas that overlapped each other in our passions.  We began praying that God would use us as a class to do something for Him.  We began discussing ideas such as helping orphans and underprivileged children and tossed around the idea of going on a mission trip.  A few months later a representative from SCORE international came to visit our college ministry and was talking about a mission trip to Alabama.  After this one of the girls in our class went up to him and asked if they ever had need for a group of girls to go on a trip.  The rep said yes specifically to do orphan outreach in the Dominican Republic, when could we leave.  We knew this was exactly what God had laid on our hearts and we began to pray about when to go.

We had tossed around some dates but the only one that worked for everyone was to give up our Thanksgiving turkeys and go during that weekend.  So we began to make plans.  We quickly calculated that the trip was going to cost us around $900 each ($8,100 for 9 of us to go).  This made us nervous as we are all in college, working part time or just starting out our full time jobs.  However, we were constantly encouraged that God would provide.  We made a decision at the beginning that we were going to do our fund-raising differently.  Yes we were going to send out support letters but we were also going to sacrifice on our own.  We wanted to give God our best for Him for this trip and we wanted to get over there knowing that we had given up part of ourselves in order to go on this trip.   We began to plan over 6 fundraisers we would put on along with making contributions out of our personal paychecks.  We knew this would be hard.  It would mean not being able to buy that shirt, that lunch or maybe even selling something we already owned.  However, during this time God used this trip to teach us about our trust in possessions.  You see during this time some of us were so convicted about what we put our trust in.  It was hard for us to keep that $20 in our wallet and save it for the trip when we visited Target and wanted to buy that new scarf but slowly God developed a habit in us for giving up for Him.  We learned the different between giving and sacrificing.  Giving is giving away something you may or may not need but sacrificing means giving until it hurts.  Would we really be willing to sacrifice for these orphans?  We were constantly encouraged by many scripture that talked about helping the orphans and by others that spoke of God providing for you.  We knew it was God’s will for us to go so we knew He would provide.

Fast forward 6 months.  We knew God would provide but we weren’t sure how.  About 1 month ago we met for our bi-weekly meeting/bible study at Barnes and Noble to discuss the trip.  We went around and each spoke about how much we felt God was lying on our heart for us to give.  Later on we found out that we had already met our goal for our money for the trip.   Through last minute giving, a change in ticket prices, and an unpredicted scholarship we would now have more than enough money without the money we were still planning on giving.  When we talked about what to do with this money we decided that we should still give what God had told us.  After all He had taught us so much about sacrificing and He had personally laid this amount on each of our hearts.  So now we’re up to date.  We know God wants us to use this money for Him so we are planning on going out next week and buying socks, diapers, wipes, shoes and more for these orphans.  Our goal at the beginning of this trip was to be able to give all we are and visit these orphans and see them as God sees them.  We’ve studied the verses that talk about giving to the orphans and now we are going to be able to do that with our time, efforts and finances.  God is so amazing.   We all knew He would answer our prayers but never imagined that this same group of girls that “wanted to do something big” would end up being part of something even bigger by the time one year was over.  We are excited to see the next step in where God personally leads us while in the Dominican.  Please continue to pray for our trip and check back for Part 2 of this story…

Why we are really doing this...

I read this today and felt it explained better than any post exactly why we are taking this trip, and even more so why we are following what we feel God has called us to do...


We have decided that teaching the Gospel without demonstrating the gospel is not enough. Good preaching, good doctrine, and being good people is not enough.

We have decided that having a good church club is not enough, good fellowship is not enough, and just being a member of that club is not enough.

We have decided that having good Bible studies is good, but not good enough, that just making it to heaven is not our goal, and that knowing about God without truly knowing and experiencing God is meaningless.

We have decided that having good programs is not enough; that change without transformation is intolerable, and that staying the same is not an option.

We have decided that gifting without character is futile.

We have decided that singing songs without worshiping is hallow and having meetings without God showing up is pointless.

We have decided that having faith without works is not enough and having works without love is not acceptable - that our function comes out of our relationship first with the Father and second with each other.

We have decided that reading about the book of Acts without living the book of Acts is unthinkable.

We have decided that confident faith is good and bold faith is better.

We have decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly, that believing in His presence without seeing it manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy, that believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd, and that believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous.

We have decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered - anything less doesn’t work for us.

We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God’s power - not the ones hearing about them.

We have decided that living saved, but not supernatural is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for.

We have decided that we are a battle ship not a cruise ship, an army, not an audience; Special forces not spectators, missionaries not club members.

We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers - pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build on those territories - but we are not squatters - people who take up space others have fought for without improving it.

We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous, contagious instead of quarantined, deadly instead of benign.

We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers.

We have decided that we are a mission station and not a museum


THEREFORE:

We honor the past - we don’t live in it.

We live in the present with our eyes on the future.

We see past events - successes and failures - as stepping-stones not stop signs.

We pursue learning in order to be transformed, not learning in order to know.

We are people of engagement not observation.

We focus on what could be, not on what is or has been.

We are not limited to the four walls of this building. Our influence is not restricted by location - not even the nations are out of bounds.

We raise up world changers - not tour guides. We train commandos, not committees.

We are a people of our destiny, not of our history.

We have decided that it is better to fail while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us than succeed settling for less.

We have decided that nothing short of His Kingdom come, His will be done in our world as it is in Heaven will satisfy.

We have decided that we will not be satisfied until our world freaks out and cries out “Those who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

These are some of the decisions that define who we are

as a community and how we live our lives.

These decisions are not destinations - but rather journeys - journeys along an ancient path - we have not found some new way - but rather rediscovered the path as old as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The same path followed by Moses, Joshua and Caleb - Paul, John, Peter. The path followed by the first century church - a church that revolutionized the culture of the first century and beyond.

It is a path that will impact the world we live in today. It is a path of Bold Faith - believing that what God says is really true and acting on it; Outrageous Generosity - giving our life away in order to demonstrate His Kingdom; Radical Love - loving God with everything in us and our neighbor as ourselves.

It is a path of liberty, freedom, and healing. On this path you find significance, purpose, and destiny.

This is a path less traveled – however - it is not a path only available to a select few - but to whosoever will - may come. It is for people of every nation, tribe and tongue -for those in any occupation or vocation.

No matter where you are in your life journey - there is room on this path for you.

Decisions That Define Us © 2005 David B CroneMay be used or reprinted for personal use. For use in audio or printed publication for profit, written permission must be released byauthor. Acknowledgement of author would be appreciated in all uses -audio and written form. Excerpt from the book Decisions that Define Us by David Crone.

Whitney's Story

Recently, God has been truly opening my eyes to so many things…things that I never really thought about too much in the past. Through this bible study and through these girls, God has shown me my purpose here on this earth and goals to aim for each day I am alive. This is a pretty big deal for someone like me. If you ask anyone who knows me, they would tell you that I am a very indecisive and unsure person. I have never really known what I wanted to do with my life and what God created me for. One of the questions we were always asked in our bible study class was “If you could do anything, and you knew God was behind you 100 %, what would you do?” I never had an answer. I was waiting for a clear and obvious sign from God himself. I didn’t want to make a mistake, mess up my life, choose the wrong path, be a disappointment, or fail to do what God had called me to do. So I waited in uncertainty and did nothing. Slowly, by being in the Word, God has shown me my place in this life. The answer was always right in front of me, written in the Word of God. I am called to live sold out for Christ. I am to completely surrender my whole heart, mind, body, and spirit to Him. He has to be my reason for living and breathing, my reason for speaking, and my reason for singing. I am called to spread the good news of the gospel, to share my faith with boldness and confidence, to stand up for what is right and what is truth, and to be radical in my Christian walk. My goals are to love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to share what He has done for me. My purpose is to share Christ’s love with others and give them the hope of their Savior. My plan is to help others, love on others, impact others, encourage others, and influence others. My mission on this earth is to make disciples of all nations, glorifying God in all I do, being pleasing in His sight. My desire is to help others come near to God and develop a relationship with Him.


One of the most important things I have learned and come to realize is how incredibly important orphans are to God. I learned how all of us as Christians are called to care for the fatherless. God wants us to show His love to them. He wants us to share with them that they all have a heavenly Father that cherishes and adores them. They need to know that they are wanted and accepted. They need to feel important and valued. They need to know that they will never be forgotten and that God is right there with them every day of their lives.

This would be my first ever mission trip. It would also be my very first time out of the country. I am so excited to see these beautiful children and to help out in any way I can. I want to love on these kids and be used by God in every way possible. My prayer is for my heart to break for what breaks God’s heart. I want that to be my focus.

Thank you for your prayers!

Our First Fundraiser = A Lesson in Faith

Last night was a lesson in faith. We needed it. During the planning of this trip at some point all of us have wondered how we are going to afford $890 each. Most of us are in school and those of us who are working make pretty much just enough to get by. We hoped that we would have the faith we prayed for. The kind that was so convinced God would provide but with such a long time before the trip we often got sidetracked by worry. We’ve all assured each other that God would come through for us but often would question ourselves about that very same statement later on. Last night we had our first fundraiser. It was a small fundraiser that provided dinner to some college students we knew. We didn’t expect much, after all we weren’t enlisting our parents friends we were enlisting people like us who also are in school or just started working. We were warned that these dinners usually only bring in around $150 and that we may not even make back what we spend on food. So we planned to get the supplies for the food with our own personal money. We got together early that afternoon and put together a dinner for an estimated 50 or so people. When we got to the location we setup and prayed before everyone got there. As we went around praying so many of us prayed that God would prove our faith wrong and show up and provide for us. Well show up He did. We actually ran out of some of the food because we had such a good number show up! As for providing financially, we made over $300, double what they thought we would make! I love when God shows up like that. It was like He wanted to reassure us that yes, He would provide and yes, we are supposed to go. 2 Corinthians 5:7 is such a simple verse “We live by faith, not by sight” but such a hard one to actually apply. However, God is showing us more and more each day that our attitude during this whole trip should be one that makes that verse known to everyone around us. Faith… Will you help us by praying that God would continually give us a stronger faith in our personal walks? We could definitely use your prayer to remind us that if it is His will, nothing can stop us.

Sarah Ashley's Story

When I was about 14, I took a powerpoint class, and our assignment was to make a slide of everyone in the class including their career goal and an interesting fact about ourselves. When I was asked, I said that my career goal was to be a missionary and my interesting fact was that I wanted to adopt 42 children over my lifetime. I am not sure why I said 42, but when I said that I felt surety in my answer. Soon after that I even named and mapped out the rooms of my first 12 children! At this time in my life, I knew that God was calling me into mission work. Living in a hut, serving Christ in another land, fascinated me. From the moment I first heard about Amy Carmichael in the 3rd grade, she was my role model; she was the topic of many of my reports and projects for school. I loved how God had used something she hated about herself, her brown eyes, to rescue girls in India and, ultimately, lead them to Him.

I have always known God was calling me to be a missionary, and in ninth grade, I learned that I did not have to go overseas to be one. During high school, I went from wanting to be an author of teen and preteen books, to wanting to be a director of a girls’ camp, to wanting to become a fashion designer and be a missionary in Hollywood. Even though I still have those dreams and am actively pursuing them, God has also given me the desire to be a missionary in another country. This past year, God has taken me from desperately desiring an amazing relationship with Him to being fully surrendered to His will for my life, holding nothing back. He has my whole heart and my life is not my own. My soul’s purpose on this earth is to bring His name glory. I have my class on Sunday to thank for this change in me. As a class, we have been reading through some books that have really challenged me and somewhat changed the way I view Christ and some of His teachings. This change has prompted me to really examine my life and see if He truly is my number one priority, not just something I add on at the beginning or end of each day.

When I heard that our class had the opportunity to go on this mission trip, I was ecstatic because I had been wanting to go on another one since my first mission trip to Belize in 2008. This trip to the Dominican is an answer to prayer; I believe that this is God’s way of bringing me back to a dream that I once held but pushed aside in the business of life. As I look back on my life, I am noticing that conversations, experiences, and desires have been leading up to this moment in my life. I truly believe that God has been preparing me for this trip, and that He will use this trip to prepare me for future ventures. I am excited to be a part of God’s plan to love these children!

John 14:12-13 (New International Version):

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”

Katie R.'s story

First of all, I’m not  blogger. But I’ll give it a try :]

I was raised in a christian home, went to church, knew every story, every verse. and every song. I asked Jesus into my heart about a hundred times, I’e prayed so many prayers, and re-dedicated a billion times. Then about a year ago I realized all of that really meant nothing. i believed in God, but he was not the Lord and leader of my life. We tag-teamed it. I would let Him lead on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, or whenever I was at church, and then It was my turn during the week. This is such a hard way to live life and follow God at the same time. Actually impossible. In January of this past year I did some serious re-evaluating of my life. I wanted to live my life Completely sold out to Christ. I completely changed how I lived my life. Changed what I did with my free time, the music I listened to, my schedule, and even my best friends. It was incredibly hard. But something I needed to do in order to live for Christ. I knew I couldn’t have both things.  I started waking up really early to do devotions, changed my work schedule so I had time to go to church, and started surrounding myself with good Christian influences.

I have been on so many missions trips in my life but only one that had really made an impact. In March of 2010 I went to Haiti. It was one of the hardest and most heart-breaking things I have ever done. I saw a life extremely different to the one I live. Everything about it just broke my heart. I fell in love with every person there, and even more in love with God. It was in Haiti where my passion and desire for missions, and kids started. After that trip I knew god was calling me to missions. To give up my life and everything I have, for Him. Even if that means leaving the comfort, my family, my friends, and all my material “necessities”. God has changed my life in so many ways. I am able, ready, and willing, to go wherever the Spirit leads me. I am continually surrendering my life to Him everyday, and truly learning what it means to live in the Spirit.

It’s awesome to watch the girls in our class as they go through similar things. To see how we can pray for and encourage others because we know exactly what they’re going through. All of the girls have incredible hearts for God, and missions. This trip will be such a great experience for us and to just let God use us and work through us. We all know that it’s nothing we can do and not for our Glory, but for the Glory of God!

"So you cannot become my disciple wihtout giving up everything you own"

Luke 14:33

Caitlin's Story

When I was in 10th grade I went on my first overseas mission trip to Ecuador. Until that point, I had planned on becoming a veterinarian. That trip changed my life forever! I had always heard of people changing their plans and becoming missionaries and thought “that will never be me”. HA! I remember sitting during worship on night thinking “God what are you talking about? Me a missionary? I love my family, I love animals, and I have this plan all worked out. I don’t want to go away and never see my family and friends again!” But after a few months of fighting with Him and gaining wisdom from family and friends, I knew I did not have a choice. Each summer for the next three years, I took a short-term overseas mission trip to Peru. I fell in love with missions. My passion continued to grow stronger and I could not imagine how I would live without it. In fact, I began to see how God was preparing me for travel even before I was born. During my parents 1st two years of marriage they were in Japan because, my dad was in the military. My parents raised our family traveling all over the United States camping with mainly necessities. More importantly, my family had a very strong Christian background. I grew up in my church and realized I was desperate for Christ at 9 years old. I remember sitting in my pastors office talking to him about my salvation and he asked me if I had prayed the prayer I said yes, of course, did not want to give him the wrong answer! I remember closing my eyes and saying, “Lord, please come into my heart”. I know I did not realize at that time how that would alter my life forever but I knew I needed Him. I continued to grow and learn about God’s love and His sacrifice for us. In high school, I really began to understand that being Holy (separated) was the only way we as believers were ever going to make a difference in this world. (Something I still struggle with today.)

Sadly, my last mission trip overseas was the summer after my first year of college. I remember flying home and upon return bursting into tears on a friends shoulder because I did not know why I had returned to the States that year. Since then anytime, I became interested in a mission trip or researched an opportunity God shut the door. Looking back, I feel as though it was to get me through college because He knew if I left again I was not coming back. I finished school last summer and immediately found a full time job, which I love! But, I never gave God the opportunity to open a door for me long term in between school and a career. However, God works in many ways and this will be my first overseas mission opportunity in 5 years! I am very excited to spread God’s love to the orphans in the Dominican as well as the workers who spend day in and day out with these precious children! This is the re-beginning of many mission opportunities to come!

My heart is to reach those who have never felt the love of Jesus and who are longing to fill that void in their life! God has called us to be a “living sacrifice HOLY and PLEASING to Him”! Romans 12:1-2. A living sacrifice that is what I want to be called!

Kristen D's Story

Ok I'm not really good at this so please forgive me in advance.  This past year I have completely given my life to Christ. Yes I grew up going to church, but it never really clicked for me. I have learned so much and my # 1 prayer has been for God to use me. When I started attending this college age class it was perfect, it's what we were learning about. Completely trusting in God with everything and letting the Holy Spirit take control of your life. When Courtney mentioned this mission trip to the Dominican, I was excited and yet so worried about finding the time to take off work and money. So I've been praying about it, and I recently got back from a mission trip from Alabama. It was so amazing to be one of God's tools in his big project.  I was working so hard in the dead heat, cleaning, sweating and getting up at like 6 everyday. And it was so great because I did it all for Him.  I want to go to the Dominican and do it for HIM! I want to show Christs love to these children. God wants to use us and in the process he wants to transform us. I truly believe this and when we go out into the world, out of the comfort of our lives, homes, work and churches and see life in other places, and show the LOVE of Christ it will make a difference.  I am so excited for God to use all of us and have us all  grow closer together and even more excited for us to grow closer to HIM!

Courtney's Story

About two years ago I felt challenged to read through the New Testament daily from Matthew to Revelation without stopping. I had heard the majority of the stories over the years but hadn’t really read them back to back. During this process God started revealing to me a love for three people groups: the poor, orphans and widows. He also showed me how it was my calling as a Christian to care for these groups. I felt like I helped two of them, poor and widows. I would feed the homeless on Thursday nights and minister to widows throughout the year with an organization I was involved in. However, I realized very quickly that I did little to nothing for the orphan, probably the most vulnerable group of all of these. I then began praying for this group. During this time God really started to grow in my heart a passion for this group of people. He also started to grown an awareness through me in a college age Bible Fellowship class I taught. At the beginning of some of my lessons I would ask the girls in my class “If you knew God was behind you 100% and could do anything what would you do?” I thought this question would be for their benefit and help them to look beyond their own power and rely on God but little did I know it would also be used by God for my benefit. Through the answers to this question I started to ask myself what my own personal answer would be. The reply I quickly felt was something to do with orphans. I began to personally answer this question every week with “I’m not sure exactly what but something to do with orphans and raising awareness for them”. I also realized a couple of weeks into this question that several of the girls in my class also had a passion for reaching young children. At a Tree (college –age) service a few weeks later I approached a director of score and asked him if it would be possible to setup a mission trip specifically for the girls in my class. He said yes, would we be willing to go to an orphanage in the Dominican as he had just spoken with several of the orphanage directors and they were in great need of people to just love on the children.

I knew immediately that God had a plan. This trip is a result of the prayers of over 20 girls. However, those prayers weren’t “God send us to the Dominican” those prayers were “God if you could have us do anything with you behind us 100%, what would it be?” I know that God has great plans for me and for the girls in this class. I hope that you would also be willing to open your heart and ask God that same question “If He would have you do anything, what would it be”? Thank you so much for visiting our blog and I hope through reading these posts you learn more about us, orphans, the Dominican, and the God who has tied it all together.  I also hope that God reveals to you the reason we are doing everything.  Not to point to ourselves or any organization but to point to Him.  We hope that we are able to be a living example of Matthew 16:24-25 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."  That is our goal with this trip and daily, to lose our life for His life!