Tim and I worked at a very special place called Doulos Discovery School from 2009-2014. This expeditionary learning school is found in the mountains of the Dominican Republic in a town called Jarabacoa.

The summer of 2023, Tim and I got to go back to be a part of the school’s 20th reunion, and I had the unbelievable privilege of connecting with one of my old students named Jenniffer.

I first met Jenniffer as a sophomore in high school when she was far too cool for me. Y’all are in for a treat! Her story absolutely blows me away. As a 19 year old alone in the United States, she was faced with a tough choice when her Visa ran out.

She decided to stay in order to work and send money to her family back home in the DR, but when she got pregnant as an undocumented immigrant, life felt overwhelming and looked really bleak. But before we get there, Jenniffer takes us back to the beginning of her life in a poor neighborhood in the Dominican Republic. 

Show Notes: 

Doulos Discovery School:https://www.doulosdiscovery.org/

Memorable Quotes:

• “My mom’s faith has made an incredible impact on my life, now that I can look back on it, I can see it. Not when you’re a teenager.”

• “Then I got pregnant, which was definitely not a plan of mine. I really wanted to go to college and I really wanted to grow differently.”

• “I moved 6 times in 3 years.”

• “When you’re in the dark tunnel, you pause all your dreams, you pause all your goals.”

• “I think that the way God works is unexpected.”

• “It was really rough, being in a country that you are not familiar with, living by yourself, working by yourself, feeling very lonely, because you’re not able to see your family. I had no family on this side of the world.”

• “I had really dark moments mentally, obviously financially, but mentally was the hardest.”

• “It’s been a lot of dark moments that make those bright moments look 100x better.”

• “I can never forget every single person who has had a hand, that God sent to take care of me.”