The first weekend of October, 2011 marked the first national camp-out for Christian Surfers Dominican Republic. Participants traveled together from all different parts of the country to arrive Friday afternoon at Macao Surf Camp in Playa Macao, Punta Cana. There was a large bus of 25 surfers from Cabarete, a van full of 8 from Nagua, A Caravan of vehicles from Santo Domingo with over twenty total, and all the local crowd of Playa Macao. We were also joined by a small group of guys from Christian Surfers USA who assisted in preparing meals, tents, and whatever clean up or other needs became necessary.
With all the planning we did however, it was God whose perfect will took control of our weekend. There were a lot of surfers there who were not Christians and the forecast predicted that there were not going to be waves the whole weekend. In preparation for this - we prepared a bunch of different activities like a tandem surf contest, paddle races, etc. We figured we could still have fun and were hoping that the lack of surf would encourage people to look to God. However, once Friday arrived a storm that had already passed by us decided to turn around and come back to give us chest high waves. We were stoked that we'd at least get a little of surf in for all the guys, but by the time everyone arrived the waves grew to over-head. In fact, setting up camp was a bit of a challenge because all of us wanted to be in the water. We had dinner that night and worshiped God together fireside.
When we woke up the next morning, the waves were still over-head and glassy and remained like that the whole day. What was so awesome about the waves - there was not one person there who denied that it was God who had sent us the waves for the weekend. In fact, we postponed our morning worship service b/c everyone was so stoked on God and surfing His creation. During our Saturday evening worship service there were some of us in tears just realizing how Great our God is. The next morning - after breakfast and worship all the participants received a Surfer's Bible and a Christian Surfers DR t-shirt (thanks to Cobian Sandals/Pacific Summer Surf Shop) before we all went our separate ways.
The guys from the USA also brought down a big bag full of girls Cobian sandals donated by Beautiful Feet. The local Punta Cana Chapter of Christian Surfers DR donated all the sandals to the girls at the local public school. It was a great lesson in giving for the local guys and a huge blessing to the local school in which many of the students come from under-privileged families.
The theme for the weekend was "identity" and we feel like everyone was able to find themselves as part of the ministry of Christian Surfers DR, but more importantly - part of God's Kingdom. Thank you to all who blessed this event with prayer and please continue to pray for us as we continue demonstrating God's love to our surf community.
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