Dates: April 22-30, 2023
Location: Constanza, Dominican Republic

Our 2023 Service Season is off to a great start! Our first team of the season headed to Constanza, Dominican Republic to serve our partners Kids Alive International. The team spent an action packed week filled with sports, painting, and some great team bonding. Check out the daily recaps from their week below ⬇️

Day 1

Our team had their #TravelDay as they headed to serve Kids Alive DR for the week! ✈️🇩🇴

The boys on the team started at SFO and headed to Miami to meet up with their final trip participant! 🙂

Team Constanza connected in MIA and flew into Santiago, Dominican Republic. They enjoyed a beautiful drive with great views as they made their way to Constanza. They settled in and met the team hosts and some staff. Later, they grabbed some pizza and had a debrief as they prepared for an eventful day the next day! 🇩🇴✈️🍕

Day 2

The team had a Dominican breakfast that was fried salami, fried egg, fried cheese, and mangu. Then, they saw the potential new baseball field and toured the safe haven & school. They sorted the donations they took with them into the donation room, aka La Plaza. The kids can access La Plaza 4 times per year (before school starts, Christmas, Spring, and at start of summer break). 🍳🧀⚾️

Later, they visited the Divino Niño statue. The owner beat cancer 3 times and got diagnosed terminal a 4th time. He had a vision of his mom telling him he needs to go back to God. He went back to his faith and was healed of his cancer. He built the statue as a tribute to God and his Catholic Faith. After the statue, they ate Pica Pollo, the McDonalds of Constanza (in terms of popularity, it’s delicious fried chicken & plantains). 🙏🍗🍌

The team moved into the new team house as they had stayed in the old team house the first night. After settling in at the team house, they headed to A Punto de Nieve. They have very good dessert and smoothies, shakes, and café (coffee). They went to church and met the last two participants of their team back at the team house for dinner. Two of the Little League team’s coaches joined their team for the week. They did intros with them and got to know them over dinner. 🇩🇴☕️

Day 3

The team started the day at the school sharing how God has impacted their lives with the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders and getting to know them by asking questions in English. They played soccer, volleyball, and basketball with the students. They ate lunch at the team house and headed back to the school to paint the back wall of the second story of the classrooms by the soccer field. 🏫⚽️🏐🎨

Later in the day, they headed to the baseball field with the coaches and a couple of Safe Haven kids for practice near Barrio Las Flores. They shared a quick prayer prior to practice and used every inch of the field. The team ended the day with a trip to ice cream after a delicious typical Dominican dinner of beef, rice, tostones, avocado, and salad.⚾️🙏🍦🥑

Day 4

The team started the day at the school sharing testimonies and practicing English with the students. They played kickball with 4th grade, soccer with 6th grade, and did a Q&A session with the 8th graders where they got to know more about each team member. After lunch, they painted the back of the second story of the kitchen. ⚽️🎨

Later in the day, the team visited a few homes in the community. During these visits, they bring the families food and supplies for 2 weeks. The parents in one of the home visits may be onboarding as house parents for the Safe Haven. What an honor to meet them! 💚🏠

They watched batting practice for some of the top-tier younger kids in the baseball ministry and some of our team got a few swings in. Everyone was impressed with Zoie’s (a team member’s) swing! After dinner, they walked to the softball field near the team house to watch men’s softball. The best part is that two of our team members play in this league! The team felt like Constanza locals tonight and are looking forward to tomorrow! ⚾️🇩🇴

Day 5

The team headed to the school again for some Q&A and kickball with the 6th graders. Later in the day, they helped kindergarten, 2nd, and 3rd grade practice their English and played some games. 🏫⚽️

For lunch they had sancocho at the Safe Haven. The team split in half between the blue and yellow house to enjoy fellowship with the house parents and kids. Sancocho is a Dominican stew filled with a combination of meats and vegetables. In the afternoon, they finished painting the back of the cafeteria. 🇩🇴🎨

The team enjoyed fruit shakes on the way back from baseball practice before dinner. Dinner on the team house roof was special as they enjoyed lentil rice with beans, meatballs, salad, and arepitas de maiz. They ended the night with a devotional and some games. ⚾️🥤🙏

Day 6

This was the last day as a full team serving in Constanza. They started the morning at the school again sharing testimonies with students before joining them for sports play at lunch time. Later that day, the team supported the middle school aged children practice their English by drawing traffic signs and writing the English name above them and participating in dramatizations. They said their goodbyes to the teachers and students of the school and headed back to the team house. 🏫⚽️🇩🇴

Back at the team house, Team Captain Jorge prepped lunch. After lunch, the team and a few of the kids at the Safe Haven headed to Aguas Blancas, a waterfall in the Constanza mountains. They watched the baseball ministry’s Little League semifinal game after they got back from the waterfall.The day ended with a goodbye dinner as the two local Dominican coaches serving on the team went home before the rest of the team had an early departure to Monte Plate the next morning. 🌊⚾️

Day 7

After an early morning wake up call, the team drove from Constanza to the Santo Domingo site. Once at the school, they played soccer with the students during the morning. They ate lunch with the students at the school while one team member headed off to the airport. ⚽️

Following lunch, they helped clean the cafeteria and had a little break before the last hour of recess. They finished the school day with soccer and chess and headed to stay at the team house in Santo Domingo once the school day was over. They enjoyed a walk to Pizza House for dinner along with a stop at SweetFrog for froyo. After an eventful day, they finished the night with a devotional and prepped for the visit to Casa Monte Plata the next day. ♟🇩🇴💙

Day 8

The team spent the morning with the kids at Casa Monte Plata helping fix their bikes and teaching them ways to maintain them! 🇩🇴🚲

Then, two more of the team members departed for home and the remaining two were joined by missionary and staff member, AP, on an evening in the capital. ✈️💙