June 14, 2016 Coley Swegheimer First UMC Orlando

This whole entire week has been extremely surreal so far. It still hasn’t sunk in that today was our last work day at Cuesta Arena. I feel like it won’t sink in until we are are getting on the plane to leave the Dominican. The devotion this morning was focused on how God provided for David when he became king. This is easily a crucial lesson that we can take back home to Orlando. God always provides no matter the situation. Sarah said a phrase to me that struck me as truly important. It was “Walk behind God, not in front of Him.” So much of our everyday lives we get caught up in the earthly distractions instead of truly being immersed in God’s presence. We try to over analyze and plan every last detail that we fail to realize God is always going to be there for us.This phrase continued to show meaning when we were at Cuesta Arena. We found out how the Dominican Evangelical Church started its work in Cuesta Arena. Just a dream and scarcely any funds. Also we found out that Cuesta Arena did not have clean water and a school just eight years ago. It’s genuinely heart lifting to hear a success story about how an entire community was turned around with just a few people willing to help and God’s hand guiding people. Living in the Dominican for this week and working alongside the people has allowed me to clearly see not only how God is working in other’s lives but in my own life. I know that I will be taking the “Dominican way of life” back with me. I had multiple experiences this week of the Dominicans serving us even though we were here to serve them. My personal goal is to take this selfless way of living back to Orlando. It was bittersweet leaving Cuesta Arena and La Otra Banda. I know it will be hard to part with the people we have been working with all week but we will be taking so much knowledge, experiences, and memories back home with us.