Dominican Republic Mission Trip 2023

How God is encouraging me

When I went to bed last night, I was feeling pretty discouraged. I didn't feel like I had contributed much to the team yesterday. Sure, I helped paint and walked around with some of our team to connect with locals.

But last night, as I reflected on the day, I just didn't feel like I was personally making much of a difference. I didn't really take the chance to say anything during those conversations with locals. I didn't know what to say. Others seemed to have it covered.

Before I fell asleep, I began to pray and it really just came out as an apology. I felt that I wasn’t who I am supposed to be. If I'm being honest, I really just wallowed in my feelings a bit.

But God didn't let me stay there.

As soon as I woke up this morning I got encouraging news about a friend back home. When we went out as a team today, they asked for a handful of volunteers to go back and finish painting the house we started on yesterday.

Christopher was adamant he wanted to do that. I don't know why, but he's been looking forward to painting a house since he found out about the different projects we were doing this week. I am so glad we went back.

As the bare concrete blocks, mismatched paints, unfinished wood, and plastic sheeting was covered with new paint, I couldn't help but notice some of the things happening around me.

First, there were kids everywhere. We came to find out that the couple living in this home was unable to have children of their own, but had essentially become grandparents to all the children in the neighborhood. They began hosting a Bible school for kids in their home which grew to the point that it needed a larger space and the local church we are partnering with took them in. Several of the kids running around joined in and helped us with the painting. They were having fun. We worried at first that the inevitable drips may make a mess. But the woman who owned the home said she didn't mind. She was just so happy with how the paint looked on the walls and said she could have the kids clean up any mess they made (on her solid slab foundation floors). (We still tried our best to clean it up as we went.) In the meantime, she insisted on making us lunch.

Even more encouraging were the conversations taking place around me. One of the members of our team speaks fluent Spanish and was constantly having conversations with the owner of the home and one of our translators. I couldn't understand a lot of what they were saying, but I could feel the warmth and connections being made. As he and I later discussed, what happened in that house this morning is exactly what we came here to do. We showed the love of God to that household. And the ripples of that go on from there.

Yesterday, we spoke with some people who live down the road from the church we are working with. They were Catholic but one of the things they mentioned is that they have noticed how the church we are working with has done a lot to support their community. They introduced us to Ramirez, a man who was in a wheelchair but recently received important medical attention through the church. That was the result of a medical mission team that came through Mission of Hope to serve that same community.

That’s how Mission of Hope works. They partner with local pastors to provide support to meet the needs of their community. They don't make it about themselves. They make it about the local church. The goal is to get the people connected to their local church and local pastors so they can develop more long-term relationships.

Today, I saw in a tangible way how that process is changing the community we are working in. And, I saw that it's not about my efforts and abilities, but about how God uses our small steps of faith to accomplish much for His kingdom.

God also encouraged me in how He is growing Christopher on this trip. As I mentioned before, Christopher was eager to get back to painting that house today. He joined in and helped a lot with the painting. I think his presence may have made some of those community kids feel comfortable in joining in.

Then, we went to sports camp and he was having a blast playing with the Dominican kids. The language barrier was no issue. When it came time to do the Bible story, David and Goliath, he was selected to play the part of David. And he was so good with it. He took over the role and made it so fun for the kids. He was so excited to be a part of sharing God's message to these kids.

Tonight, after we got back, the Mission of Hope interns hosted a talent show for the mission teams here on their campus. Christopher wanted to sign up. He had been planning for it all day. He wanted his act to be a surprise.

I finally convinced him to let me know what he was planning a couple hours before the show. He said he was going to be the man with the "titanium head." I wasn't sure how that would work, but he was determined. So, we signed him up and I waited to see how it would go.

When he got on the stage, he confidently introduced himself, explained how he had worn a helmet when he was a baby and it gave him a magically hard head. Then he hit himself in the head with a rock. It's hard to explain in words how hilarious he was as he did it and it brought the house down. At the end of the night, he was voted the winner of the talent show! He's a local celebrity here on campus now. And he was just beaming all the way back to the dorm tonight.

Before I put him in bed for the night, I sat down with him to pray. We thanked God for a wonderful day.

As discouraged as I was last night, today has just been so encouraging. Please continue to pray for our team this week. We are halfwah through our project days. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us.