St John's Youth Missions

Day 3 was the most fun day we've had all week. We started the morning in the alternate location due to the lack of electricity in the Diocesan House. Although breakfast was a chaotic we were all refreshed from a great night sleep. We got out the door at a little past 7 and Ayana had to stop for a picture. Once we reached the church/school we divided into our groups and got to work painting. One group painted the main gate black, another group painted the front gates black, and another group painted the front fence pretty colors. After we had lunch we set up for another day of VBS. The craft for today was astronaut helmets made out of paper bags which was everyone's favorite craft and the kids looked absolutely adorable. We also learned a new song called "Somos Su Pueblos" which translates to "We Are Your People." The kids gave us lots of notes and some candy which made us feel very appreciated and loved. Then, when we were getting ready to leave we lear...

Hello! Today was the second day of service for us. I started out the day drenched in sweat as I realized that the AC at the Diocesan headquarters had turned off at some point in the night. After that, we all got ready and left to go to the church for service. I was in charge of scraping some of the old paint off of the walls of the church building, and the other groups painted the outside fences of the church and church member Ileana's mother's house. It was very hot outside, but God came with the blessing of rain to help cool us and everyone else at the church down. In between painting and VBS we had lunch, and church leader Katherin's family brought us coconuts to drink the coconut water and to eat the coconut meat. Some us liked them and some of us didn't. Soon, we started the second day of Vacation Bible School at the church, and I was surprised to see how all the kids connected with each other through faith, singing and dancing, games, crafts, and more. All of t...

Hello! Each day on our Mission Trip, we are asked to give ourselves to God, and then Ayana asks us to try to remember all the meaningful things about our day. People, service, or literally anything else. It's exhausting, or maybe that's the heat. Regardless, we are truly delighted with how easy it is to remember one good thing about our first day serving, because there are too many to count. We started with a Spanish heavy meeting with Father Beinvenidos, our first real experience with the language barrier. But the main thing to remember was the prayer said at the end, in Spanish, to us and with us. It reminds us that we are really all one people of God. And the reminders didn't stop there. We have really learned today how much Spanish we remember. Mason performed today as Mickey Wey for the Vacation Bible School skit with Ayana and a woman named Carolin translating. There was singing, dancing, red light/green light, Bible study where the only words understood to us was J...

Hello, all! Today was our first day in the Dominican Republic. Though, I guess I should start with yesterday. We arrived at the church at around 5pm on Sunday and left by 6pm. Arriving in Orlando later that night, we tried to get to sleep as soon as possible. Because of the flight schedule, we had to be out the door by 2:30 the next morning. I don't think I can say I got more than an hour of sleep. Nevertheless, we were soon on our way to the Dominican Republic and we couldn't be more excited for it. Today feels like it's going to be the longest day of the entire trip, and probably the most tiring. This definitely had its effect on our group-one mission tripper almost lost their airpods, passport, and wallet in their exhaustion. By this afternoon, we were all struggling to stay awake and taking any opportunity for a power nap. Despite our fatigue, however, we stayed focused on all the things we will be doing in the coming days. We walked around the city and bega...

Our St John's High School Mission Team will be leaving for the Dominican Republic on Monday morning! Our group will be serving the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic through painting houses, and leading a Vacation Bible School at a local Episcopal School. Please pray for our group: Laura Cruse Mason Cruse Rowan Cruse Ayana Grady  Laurel Lee Ben Osborne Luke Osborne Sally Thompson Maggie Welch We look forward to updating this blog throughout our week of service (June 5th-11th)!