This will be our last family blog on this platform, it feels strange to say that after almost 11 years of serving in San Juan. I cannot express the amount of gratitude I have for your support after all these years. I have a few thoughts to share as we wrap up this season in the Dominican Republic up.

In May of 2013, 11 years ago, Jeff, Braegan (4 months old), and I were preparing to move to the Dominican Republic. We sold all of our belongings in preparation to start our life as a family serving in San Juan de la Maguana through SRI. In Genesis 12:1, “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’”

The ministry of SRI has been a part of our family for decades. The calling that God has placed on our family’s life is significant and we continue to be obedient to His leading.

Today we are preparing to return back to the United States to continue serving with SRI in a leadership role. We are once again leaving our possessions behind for another international move.

We do not want to lose sight of the simplicity of life that we have experienced over the past several years in the Dominican. We are passionate about building relationships and want to create a space where relationships can grow deeper.

A few months ago I shared about a retreat I attended. I met Danielle, she has gifts of discernment and hospitality, with a background in interior design. She offered to take on the responsibility of assisting with the design and furnishings of the house. With just over three weeks left in the Dominican Republic, we have a lot that we are still doing while here. We are currently on a break without teams, and we will host 2 more teams before we fly to Indiana at the end of June. I’ve had a lot of people ask me recently how I can give up the control of furnishing and decorating our new house. If you know me well, you know that I have a type A personality that likes to take charge, but when I gave my life to Christ I gave Him control of my life. I surrender. This is evident in how I go about my life as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. God has entrusted people and things to me, and they are not mine. It is so freeing to not hold on to all of the things and details. My hands are open. If you are interested in helping with the furnishings, you can check out the Go Fund Me page that was created for this purpose. We also have an amazon wish list that we created to begin outfitting the house with essentials.

In addition to this my parents have been spending their evenings at the house cleaning, painting, and helping to prep the floors for installation.

I love watching home makeover shows, it’s great that you can see everything from start to finish in an hour. I can tell you that it is challenging to be living in the DR and choosing paint, flooring, and appliances over FaceTime. I am excited to see how everything comes together at the house when we return.

The past month has felt odd, there’s excitement and sadness. When we flew back to the Dominican last month after closing on the house, I realized that was our last time flying “home” to the DR. All of our future trips will be a week or two at a time. The DR is no longer our place of residence. I have managed to compartmentalize very well, and I’m not sure if that is healthy or not, but it has helped me to be present where I am.

I am looking forward to still getting able to be in communication with teams as they prepare to serve in San Juan. I am also looking forward to getting to pour into our staff and finding resources for them to help equip them to better serve abroad.

The Zimmerman family arrived to the DR on May 26. We enjoyed spending time with them in San Juan. There was a farewell party hosted at Central Church on Wednesday, May 29. It was a beautiful evening of celebration. Braegan’s worship dance team danced to two songs, school administrators presented plaques for our years of ministry with them, and several pastors prayed over our families and the future ministry of Solid Rock International. I am so thankful for the family we have here. We have deep roots, and I look forward to continuing to cultivate these relationships in the years to come.

On Thursday evening, we enjoyed a dinner at the clinic with the Canario family and members of ACPSI.

Following the team’s departure on Friday morning, the Zimmerman family and US missionary drove to La Romana to spend a long weekend together. We enjoyed many laughs and made memories. This trip was planned many months ago, before any of us knew about the transition.

Ways you can be praying for us:

• Jeff has a stress fracture in his left foot that needs some time to heal (6-8 weeks). This is challenging when we have an international move less than a couple weeks out. We believe the initial injury happened during pickleball.
• Braegan and Brantley complete their school year on Friday, June 14. Prayers for a positive closure to their Dominican education.
• I currently have all of Blue’s paperwork to travel to the United States. I submitted my application for him to the CDC this afternoon. Prayers for safe and smooth travels with him.
• We have sold a majority of our furniture and plan to get that delivered to its new homes in the coming days. I told Braegan that it is exciting that memories of our family will be shared among San Juan in new homes.