Dominican Dispatch: So It Begins

Hey everyone!

I made it safely to the Dominican Republic last night! It was a rough ride, but we made it. I met a fellow new Doulos staff on my last flight, so that was nice not to be on my own the whole time. After lots of delays due to weather, we landed at about 10:00PM.

After we made it through customs and acquired our luggage, our recruiter was there at the airport to pick us up. We made it to Jarabacoa, the city Doulos is in, at about 12:00PM!

I'm staying with a host family to ease my transition, and I was surprised to find out when I arrived that they don't speak English! My recruiter totally set me up! Better get to work on my Spanish. I'm gonna need it sooner than I thought!

This morning I had a tour of the campus and my first day of training. I got to see the classroom I'll be working in, but I don't have a picture yet! The training went well, and I learned a lot, but boy am I tired! I'll have at least another week of training after this one. Lots of good stuff! It'll be great to settle into a good schedule.

I need prayer for energy; enough energy to make it through the training, to survive the humid heat, and to efficiently learn the Spanish I need to communicate effectively with my host family!

Thanks for all the prayer and support!

Random Note: I can walk to work! It's about a 10 minute walk.

Author: Timothy Bemenderfer (07/17/2023)