MVC and the Dominican Republic

While I've been enjoying the beach down south for a couple of days I've had family and friends of Mountain View Chapel serving the Lord and the people of San Marcos in the Dominican Republic. Kris Janezic does a wonderful job of shooting lots of video and each day he makes a short video recapping what they've done. These videos have been so encouraging to me and they are also a great way to keep up with the team and know how to pray for them specifically. They were also able to Skype with their church family on Sunday morning; thank the Lord for technology! I want to encourage you to watch each video...the majority of them are under 5 min and I promise they will bring smiles to your faces! The children there are beautiful and you can see the joy radiating from them and also from the team members. They are returning home to Virginia tomorrow so I just watched the video of their last day there. It is so powerful and I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with emotion. 


One of the things I learned about during my camp and was reminded about in this video is that all good things come to an end. My heart breaks tonight for the team members and for the people they touched in the Dominican...goodbyes are so sad. I know what it's like to have to leave people you love knowing you may never see them again. Being separated from people so close to your heart hurts, like no other hurt. Especially when you are forced to come back to a society full of selfish people who have all they want yet constantly complain. Air conditioning is nice but you would give it up to sit in the heat with those precious people. There are so many things that cause your heart to hurt after such an amazing adventure comes to an end. But what I've learned this summer is that we all must come down from our mountains. No matter how good they are and how exciting, there are experiences off the mountain that we need too. Also, leaving the mountains in our lives gives greater value to the mountain. The people and places of each of our mountains become precious when we must leave them. The most important thing though is this: don't forget the mountain. We must never forget what we saw the Lord do on our mountains. When our valleys get dark and dismal, we will need to look back and remember. 


Here is the last video, I'm hoping you'll take a few minutes to watch it. It will definitely be worth your time. I was amazed at the powerful act of simply serving the Dominicans by the team members. Tears were rolling as I sat and watched this, imagining the Lord Himself doing that very thing. 

Here's the churches website: www.mountainviewchapel.net. You can watch the rest of the videos there and also download podcasts from the church. It's located in Stanardsville, Virginia.