Well, we're finally back! And we all survived two weeks in the Dominican Republic! The trip was amazing. Our thirteen girls from Wheaton Academy worked so hard and accomplished a ton at the orphanage, Casa de Monte Plata. They acheived so much more than we ever thought was possible. In two short weeks, the girls leveled by hand mulitple huge piles of rock, dirt, and solid clay with just shovels and pickaxes. They poured a new section of a basketball court and laid new sidewalks with concrete. And they led a VBS for a group of 20 Dominican orphans who did not speak a word of English! The girls poured their hearts into the work and into the lives of under priveledged children, leaving that small orphanaged changed in real ways. Throughout the trip Jesus' words from Mark 9:37 rang in my head: "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." These girls saw the face of God in those childrens' eyes. Thirteen girls from the suburbs of Chicago left everything they knew for two weeks and entered a world unlike anything they could have imagined. It rocked them, broke them, and hopefully....changed them.
Here's a photo collage of the trip. Enjoy!
