Dominican Republic 2018

Day 1 Afternoon – Dominican Republic

What. A. Day! I feel like I’m going to say that about every day…but is 7:00 here and everyone is in their room getting ready for bed. We are pooped from traveling to say the least but are LOVING every aspect of the Dominican so far. We faced a culture shock as soon as we landed when we realized that every sign was in Spanish and that we were dripping sweat from the humidity. We met up with our new friends from Score International and they took us 25 minutes away to Juan Dolio where we are staying. Needless to say, we are beyond fortunate to be staying in their facilities and to be under their guidance.

We got to the facility, ate a snack (Chelsea helped us discover that plantains are not equivalent to bananas), unpacked our bags, and did the first thing that comes to any girls’ mind when in the Caribbean…BEACH! As a group, we ventured through a local community and began to see the poverty of the country for the first time. We all began to imagine how the rest of the week was going to go, knowing that these are the communities that we are here to serve. How do we, a bunch of American softball players, serve a people group that is so vastly different than us? How do we love without making them feel like the victim? How are we going to SHOW the love of Jesus, and not just tell them about it? These are real questions that we have been wrestling with and praying through.

It’s not all serious, deep thinking. We saw a glimpse of the beach and darted towards it with utter joy like we had never seen a beach before. We jumped over waves, felt the sand in-between our toes  (providing a great exfoliation as Baylee put it), and watched the sun set as our long day of travel was complete.

Tomorrow morning we are playing a local university softball team and are excited to meet Dominicans that share the same love of the game that we have. We have no idea what to expect but are eager to get back on the field as a team! Talk to you tomorrow!

Prayer: that we stay safe in competition (it’s been a hot second since we’ve played), that we develop impactful relationships with the girls we play, and that we grow closer as a team!