Epic Quest DR 2010

Today is our last day in the Dominican Republic! Through all of the work projects, church services, teachings, and ministry opportunities, our team has grown close together and close to God. Many of our participants have stepped out with the love of God in ways they never have before. A few days ago Juwan, Eric, and Tanya went to the bank with Ned to exchange currency, and they ended up praying for the security guard!

One of our participants, Sarah Jane has an awesome story. A few days ago during a time of prayer she heard God’s voice for the first time! He said, “Tell them.” She’s had a health problem for a while, and she’s never really shared much about it herself, until this trip. The next day, coincidentally during the time they ended their teaching on Hearing God’s Voice, she felt like it was time. She shared with everyone about her problem. “Everyone laid their hands on me and I felt the healing. I felt like everything inside of me God tightened up and pulled together, like everything got healed!”

We put the teaching into practice that night. The kids asked God what we should do that night for ministry and they felt led to go minister in a nearby park. Sarah Jane said, “We decided on it, we did it, it was all on us, so it really felt good. And I got to pray for two people!” We performed our dramas after inviting people from the neighborhood, and playing basketball at the park. We had good interaction with them, and one man who Tanya felt led to watch, was crying by the end of our program. These kids haven’t ceased to amaze us throughout the entire trip. Most of the staff will stay here in the Dominican Republic, and four will bring them back to Orlando for debriefing and graduation. Our last day has been long, and we are sad to see them go, but so excited for what God is doing in their lives.

Wednesday evening Andrew Carleton, one of our participants, was healed of a sprained ankle, the day before we left for the Dominican Republic! Andrew is fifteen years old and lives with his family of 12 nearby in Orlando. In fact his whole family was there when he was healed!

Andrew sprained his ankle at a birthday party right before joining us for outreach training. At first the doctor thought he had fractured his fibula, but when his father took him to the radiologist they found out that he had a double sprain. They also found out that it was going to be 4-6 weeks before he could walk on it again, let alone play sports! Andrew was disappointed to come into training on crutches but he had such a great attitude about it, and many times assured us that God was going to heal him.

The church that was housing us, New Beginnings, invited us to share the dramas and testimonies we had been preparing at their Wednesday night service, our last night in Orlando. Several leaders and staff came to join us, along with the Carleton family who are already a part of our extended YWAM Orlando family. During worship Andrew was actually not praying for healing, he was praying to God about forgiveness, and decided to give the trip up to Him. He prayed, “If you don’t want me to walk on this trip it’s ok” then he felt like he should put some weight on his ankle. He did and it didn’t hurt, so he decided to go up on his toes, which used to be the worst pain he would feel. Again it didn’t hurt, “I got a huge smile and my jaw ped. I tapped the person next to me and told them what happened, and then I ran to my dad and gave him a hug.” Our whole team became so excited and amazed, and that night Andrew shared the testimony of our first healing, his own!

"I never thought that would happen to me, I was blown away... It really brought the team together in a whole new way" Andrew explained. Jesus healed Andrew´s ankle during worship before a church service in Orlando right before we came to the DR! Check back for the rest of the story with pictures later. We apologize for the gap in our updates, with our limited internet access it can be hard to get our news up, so we will soon have more pictures and stories to share with you.

After our training time in Orlando, and Andrews healing, our travel to Barahona went very smoothly. It is the fourth day and we have already had three church presentations. The kids are performing their dramas, and sharing testimonies. We are happy to hear that many are enjoying our performances, but more importantly that God is touching lives, and changing hearts. Just today one of our participants Abby got to minister and pray for someone for the first time! All of the staff are so impressed with these participants, their attitudes and servant hearts have been invaluable during our time of ministry here. The team is growing closer, our performances are getting better, and as the kids are learning and growing, we are learning so much and growing with them. Again, please check back for more stories and pictures, blessings.

Well everyone, the EpicQuest 2010 DR team has safely arrived at their final destination of Barahona DR!

After 14 straight hours of traveling our group has made it to our ministry location.  Please check back in the next couple of days to see what they a re doing in terms of ministry!

We have received all of our participants and have been having so much fun! We are learning dramas together, getting to know eachother, and going through teachings every day. So far we have taught on evangelism, quiet times, and on sharing tesimonies. We are lodging at a church here in Orlando called New Beginnings, and we have been asked to share tonight at their Wednesday night meeting! Check back for more info, stories, and pictures, coming soon!