30/08/2026
WEEK 1 UPDATE‼️
This last weekend, all 10 of our Fall 2026 Climb students arrived safely to the Dominican Republic to kick off this 16 week semester! Take a look at what the first week in the DR looked like for us:
On Sunday, we all went to church together at a local pastor friends church and the students got their first exposure to Dominican Church and being pretty lost during the sermon. Although overwhelming, they will all grow so much in their knowledge and retention of Spanish! In the afternoon we took a tour of campus, the surrounding area, and the beach before we had Climb orientation to lay out the expectations and experiences of this semester.
On Monday, we headed to San Jose to where our Bible professor lives with his family. Dr. McClure has lived in the Dominican Republic for the last 17 years and has dedicated his life to building a church and making disciples in his community, helping other churches and pastors plant churches, teaching about missions and the Bible all over the world, and writing his own work. We are very lucky to have him guide us this semester through what is global missions and a college course on biblical hermeneutics throughout the four gospels. The students spent the afternoon with him getting to hear about his life, his ministry, and an introduction to what a missionary is and what our call as believers is.
On Tuesday, we headed back out to San Jose in the morning for an entire morning and afternoon of continued teaching from Dr. McClure. He laid out an extremely elaborate presentation of the gospel to display Gods existence pre-creation, the creation of mankind and our purpose, the fall of man, and the plan for salvation. He challenges students to challenge their own preconceived notions and beliefs about what they have known or believed to make them into better thinkers and readers of the Bible and find the truth of God in His word. We wrapped up with some cultural training about cross cultural ministry and specifically cultural aspects they will experience living in the Dominican Republic. It was a great way to kick off training before starting!
On Wednesday, we started our ministry with two sites! In the morning, we headed up the road to Lily House to meet the girls and get to know the ministry. The students helped to teach a brief lesson on the Good Samaritan and then interacted with the girls, practicing some Spanish. Then, we participated in a fun scavenger hunt partnered with them. In the afternoon, we headed to Pasitos to meet the girls at the girls orphanage. We arrived and got to know them which very quickly turned into playing and dancing. We briefly organized a time to learn names and get to know them and the students have a lot of names to learn!
On Thursday, we had our first full day off classes and packed in two Spanish classes. We are started off very basic to review a lot and moving slow but soon will gain more memory of previous knowledge and confidence to speak comfortably.
On Friday, we had a fun excursion day together to get out and get to know each other and see more of Santo Domingo. We went to the Zoo and had a blast walking around and seeing some peculiar animals. Then, we headed to the mall for the students to get some already craved American fast food. It was great to spend the day together and we had a blast!
On Saturday morning, the students Spanish professor came and spent time with them sharing about his life and giving encouragement on the importance of learning Spanish, applied to our lives and calling as believers. We are so fortunate to have such gifted and faithful professors. In the afternoon, we went to Consuelo to partner with a church to assist with the kids ministry. The students did AMAZING, as they helped be the houses for a teaching on Matthew 7, brought the energy for the kids, assisted with crafts, and overall did a great job connecting and teaching.
Today, we went to church together and have had a sabbath day of rest, some beach time, some hanging out together, some homework, and getting ready for our first small group.
This group is amazing and off to a great start! Keep a lookout for future weekly updates to live vicariously through the lives of these students!