We woke up the next day to a beautiful sunrise over the ocean and were ready to go explore! We loaded into the vans to go to a local church and the service was truly incredible. Most of the service was spoken in Spanish and roughly translated into English, but I left completely in AWE of how big God is. It hit me that He understood every word in Spanish and English. That he is not just my God in America, but he is the God of this nation in the Dominican Republic and is the God of the entire universe. My thoughts are miniscule compared to the matchless knowledge, wisdom, and power that God has. After we returned to the hotel we had a little down time which made for an awesome opportunity to reflect and rest. That night we went into the community we would be serving in for the next week, and attended an outreach session where we fellowshipped and worshiped together with the Dominican people. The Dominican band played first, and then they asked our worship leaders, Erica and Gabby, to come lead us for a few songs. And let me just tell you they did an incredible job. They started singing the last song of their set acapella, "From the Inside Out", because we didn't have a track. The coolest memory for me (I'm getting goose bumps while write this again) was when the Dominican band knew the song and while Erica and Gabby were singing, they started looking at each other in excitement like "hey we know this song" and picked up their instruments and started playing along with Erica and Gabby in perfect harmony worshipping the Lord together as one people. It brought me to tears, just seeing the unity in the body of Christ. Knowing that the cry of all our hearts, Dominican and American, is to bring Him praise!

From the Inside Out: (Hillsong United)

A thousand times I've failed Still your mercy remains Should I stumble again Still I'm caught in your grace Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades Never ending, your glory goes beyond all fame

Your will above all else My purpose remains The art of losing myself in bringing you praise Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades Never ending, your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart, in my soul I give you control Consume me from the inside out Let justice and praise Become my embrace To love you from the inside out

Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades Never ending, your glory goes beyond all fame And the cry of my heart is to bring you praise From the inside out Lord my soul cries out.

For those of you who haven't heard I recently have taken a part time job serving as the High School Ministry Assistant for our church here in Tampa called South Tampa Fellowship. One of my first jobs was being in charge of planning this trip to the Dominican Republic for 46 students, which has humbled and stretched me in the best way possible! I wanted to share some of what we experienced while we were there, just to share with people and serve as a reminder to me of how God moved in incredible ways on this trip. Slowly I want to try and make sure these stories make it to the blog. I figured it would be easiest to break it up day by day! We arrived to the Dominican Republic on Saturday afternoon. After we had made it through the airport and through customs, we had about an hour bus ride to our hotel. We managed to arrive at our hotel just in time to catch the most incredible sunset over the ocean. DR is truly a beautiful island with crystal clear water, beautiful beaches, and tropical plants. That night we got to meet Kenneth and his wife Valerie, the missionary team we would be partnering with for the next week. They are incredible and have such a heart for the Dominican people. Kenneth cast the vision to us of what the next week would look like and how he wanted us to help partner with him! Here are a few pictures from the first night! Stay tuned for more :)

Love,

Annabeth