​Hello Everyone!!

We have officially ended our first whole day in the Dominican Republic!! To say we are exhausted is an understatement— you won’t believe all we have fit in this very first day. The morning started slow, everyone waking up around sunrise to have their cup of Joe. The team met for breakfast before departing for our Sunday church service in the village of El Peñon. The theme of the sermon was the goodness of God in our lives. I encourage you to read Romans 12:10-13. The love we receive from Jesus translates so much deeper when we share it with others around us– and we are so excited to be returning tomorrow to put these words into action providing dental care. It’s a pretty amazing experience to provide care in the exact same building that we worshiped our Lord.  The day did not end there. Once we returned to SCORE, we had a wonderful lunch and team meeting. After attempting to assemble cardboard dental chairs, we got our scrubs for the week. I think this got everyone more pumped up to get to work tomorrow. The truck is loaded and we are ready to roll. After prepping for our first big day, we had some time to relax on the beach. Honestly, there wasn’t much relaxing–rather, there was spikeball, football, and exploring. I will say we have quite the active and go-get-them attitude in this group. I mean, you should see us playing games at the end of the night. There are tons of laughter amongst our friendly competition. Our post-dinner meeting involved times of sharing our testimonies, singing worship songs, and reflecting on the good individuals have provided throughout the day.

Thank you so much to everyone who is keeping up and reading this first message. We really appreciate all of the prayers you have sent our way. I promise we all miss our loved ones so dearly, but cannot wait to share that love and laughter with the local people. Everyone is eager with anticipation to grow in their faith this week. There will be more stories to come and more lives to touch. Our biggest take away from the day is: enjoying God’s creation around us and hearing the wonderful message from a local church.

For our first daily shoutout from Nathan Vincent:  “First, I’d like to thank God. And then my family. All my coaches. Specifically Coach Gummadi and Coach Winters. Lastly, I want to thank all of you for reading this for your continued support, prayers, and love.”

All Glory Be to God,
Margaret and Margaret