Dominican Republic: Surf & Serve 2023

This years Surf and Serve in the Dominican Republic was such an amazing time. We had a team made up of people from 3 chapters in Florida and North Carolina. We were blessed to partner again with Ninos de la Luz working at their boys home on the island. The team this year had a pretty solid list of jobs. Everything from demolishing the boys old gym that had been infested with termites to prepping new beams and setting the new structure in concrete. The team also worked on the lower house replacing beams for the porch awning that had also been eaten away by termites. One of the biggest projects of the week though was taking lower gate for the property and carrying it up the hill to re-weld new wheels to help it roll on its track. The gate took the whole team to lift and was a great way to finish off our week, with Jon and the boys. We were fortunate enough to have a house with a pool so we had the boys down for a pool party and BBQ halfway through the week. It’s always great getting to spend time with the kids as they’re in school most of the time we’re there working. God showed up in so many ways this trip from conversations during the projects to the teams time at night sharing their testimonies. There was so much common ground between the team members and it was awesome to see each person be able to relate and encourage someone else on the team. Of course the surf is also a factor on this trip, most of the week was fairly small and windy which gave us more time to work on projects but at the end of the week we were blessed with a new pulse of north groundswell that lined up perfect for a day trip to an amazing spot. An entire day of pumping surf and a feast on the beach later, the team packed it up and got ready to come home. Please be praying for the Dominican Republic as there is so much need, thankfully there are amazing ministries like Ninos de la Luz, Christian Surfers DR which had their annual contest in Santo Domingo that same week and a new ministry connection in Raiz Ministries, a local organization that works with girls in at risk communities.