Up Next...

I've been back in the States now for about a month, missing Africa, but gearing up for 3 and a half months in the Dominican Republic to study abroad for the last 15 weeks of my college career!!!
I've had many opportunities to share the work that God did in my life during my 2 months in South Africa. I was privileged to take part in an evening service at my church back home in Illinois, where I showed pictures and did my best to convey all my experiences in a mere 20 minutes. I will continue to share pictures and stories from those months on The Journey, and even the ways that the trip has continued to impact me since my return to the States.
For now, I am continuing preparation for the next stage of my journey, where I fully expect God to teach me even more and bring more lifelong friends across my path. For the first five weeks of my time in the DR I will be taking intense Spanish classes, covering two semester's worth of material at the Students International base in Jarabacoa. These days will be full of 3-hour classes, studying, getting to know the other students in the program, and spending time in my host home with my Dominican family. The last 8 weeks of my time there will be spent at a ministry site set up by Students International where I will be interacting every day with the local people and experiencing daily immersion in the culture. My ministry site could involve anything from construction projects to physical therapy for handicapped children depending on which site I'm placed at.
Please pray for our team to continue bonding, as well as for the local missionaries and people preparing for us to come. We are truly going as students ready to learn a new language, culture, and way of life. Some of our team are freaked out by the unknown, some are ready to go with no worries, and some, like me, are still waiting for the reality of the upcoming semester to hit. In 4 days I will suddenly find myself in a place I've never been before, but I can hardly contain the excitement that thought brings me!