Hey!
If we haven’t met yet, my name is Isaac, and I am one of the interns this summer. We recently returned from the Dominican Republic with twelve high school students, and I’d love to share some ways we saw God at work!
We spent seven days in the DR, with four days at a Vida Joven camp near La Vega and three days with families in Santo Domingo. We served alongside our new friends by building benches, moving rocks, and playing silly games at the Vida Joven Club (our version of a neighborhood youth group gathering). The mission of Vida Joven, both at the camp (Pico Escondido) and the over 45 clubs and projects in the DR, is to reach teens (and as a result, families) for Christ. We participated in a Super Club and witnessed the excitement and joy facilitated by the leaders. One of the coolest yet most challenging parts of the trip was the homestay, where we lived with some of the Vida Joven volunteer leaders.
During this homestay, I had a meaningful conversation with our host about the importance of the Holy Spirit in his everyday life and what it means to constantly invite God into our decisions and actions. He challenged me to live each moment, making each 
decision filled with the Holy Spirit, and reminded me of the importance of constantly inviting Him into our lives.
It was an amazing trip, full of growth, fellowship, and joy. While some of us may want to continue living on Dominican Time (as schedules there are not nearly as rigid as they are here), our new friends taught us the importance of being people-oriented and living in the moment God has us in. We are all so thankful for what God is doing in the DR and how He invited us into partnership for a week, as well as for what He stirred up in our own lives.
Isaac Eilmes
