Boot camp has been extremely fun and exciting the past few days!

Greetings Friends and Family of the Dominican Republic Team!

Boot Camp has been extremely fun and exciting the past few days! Praise the Lord that we have been excelling as we work together as a team in the obstacle course each morning! We have been getting more and more people over the wall every day, and all of the kids have a great time. I have so much faith in them to be able to work together to serve God in the Dominican Republic because of our ability to cooperate on the OC.

We have had wonderful experiences in each of our classes as we learn new skills to take overseas. First, the team has started off the morning classes with block laying class. Everyone seems extremely enthusiastic and willing to work hard in order to learn these building and construction abilities. We have also had classes in Advanced Evangelism, where we learned useful tactics for spreading the Gospel everywhere that we go. The kids were able to practice talking to others about Jesus and sharing their faith in different scenarios. Lastly, we have had the opportunity to engage in Drama class! We have learned different skits and dramas that will be used for our evangelism presentation. Some of the kids were working on the skit, Colors, which effectively shares the story of Jesus through different colors symbolizing aspects of the Gospel story. Other team members had the opportunity to express their creativity in creating their own drama about David and Goliath! We were able to come up with a skit that shows the love and faithfulness of God through obstacles. 

We have advanced our team unity through work periods and team Special Blessings (SBs). We have been working at digging up and replanting banana trees around the Teen Missions base. Praise God that we were able to serve the ministry by planting 14 trees! Although we would rather not have to serve SBs, the team made the most of it with positive attitudes and willingness to serve the Lord. 

We are so grateful for your continued support and prayers. We would be appreciative if you would continue to pray for team unity as we are getting ready to travel overseas. We also ask for prayers for good health, as a few of the team members are still adjusting to the heat and humidity here in Florida. I am so proud of every single one of the kids and all of their hard work and determination to serve God, both here at boot camp and in the DR!

 Here are some testimonies from the kids! 

 Ellie S.

 "Boot camp has been so fun so far! The food is amazing, the obstacle course is fun too. I jumped for the rope in the slough today, but I fell in. I miss being home, but TMI is starting to feel like home now :) "

 Audrey W.

 "I'm sweaty, disgusting, and my blisters have blisters, but I love Jesus so it's awesome. My team is great and I love them all. I'm super excited and I love the hard work."

 Jane B.

 "Boot Camp has really brought our team together! Running the obstacle course has unified us and showed us how to work as a team! I look forward to it more every day."

Hunter B.

"Boot camp has been fun. My favorite class is wood work, but I wish I had AC."

Thomas M.

"I have learned so much about construction. I am very satisfied with the boot camp experience."

Arielle G.

"Boot Camp has been very difficult, but has also been very fun. I've met many new people, and I have got to know them. I've learned lots of new things to grow my faith also!"