Dominican Republic - part 1

Since Sam and I are both teachers, we have the whole summer to do whatever we want! Usually, there is a good chunk of time devoted to missions in the Dominican Republic. Since we've been married, we've spent time in Peru, Mexico, and the DR. However, Sam is in love with the Dominican culture and the Dominican people, so it's really the only place we go to now.

Last summer, we didn't travel anywhere because we were waiting around for little Michael to get here and then spending all our time with him once he decided to arrive. Now that Michael was a year old, we thought he would be OK for us to travel. Sam was there for almost 3 weeks and I went for just a week. (The original plan was to take Michael with us to the DR, but after a lot of thinking, we thought it would be too hard on him. It gets SO hot there and he doesn't quite understand how to "suck it up". He also wouldn't have had his one year vaccinations, so we didn't want to risk him getting a disease. AND, we would have had to carry a truck-load of stuff just for him. That would have been slightly stressful.)

Sam led a youth group trip with some friends of ours from Indiana. We first met this youth group when we led a trip for them 3 years ago. They wanted to go to the same city and work with the same pastor and see the same people, so Sam helped that happen! The trip was 10 days long and the group has some excellent stories to tell! God used them so much to bring his love to the people in Moca, DR. I could go on and on about some of their encounters, but I will tell just a couple.

Sam and a couple of the youth were out going door to door. (Side note: Door to door ministry is widely accepted in the DR. The people are very relational and they love having you in their home to talk about anything. They are very open to hearing about the Gospel and hearing Truth.) So, they encountered a lady who had a very mentally disabled son. This son was locked up in a back room chained to the wall. People thought that he was demon possessed and they wanted Sam and the youth girls to pray for him and pray the demons out of him. Sam did not know the truth about this man, but everyone needs prayer, so they did just that. They decided that they were going to cover him in prayer and in God's love.

Sam had to approach the man like he was five years old. He was very timid and afraid at the sight of Americans in his home. Sam started the prayer like he was praying with a child and then it eventually grew to a more serious, deep prayer. The man was crying and in awe that someone was showing him love and compassion. They talked to the man and asked him "Do you love Jesus?", "Do you know that He made you?", "Do you know that Christ is King?". All the man could answer was a simple "Si" (yes). They tried to get him to speak the name of Jesus, but he couldn't get the words out.

When Sam and the group left his house, the mother of the man was overwhelmed with the love that was shown to her son and the son just sat and watched the group with a smile on his face. He was a changed man. He heard the Gospel and heard the name of Jesus and was shown love through Sam and the other youth. They were Jesus to him.

There are so many other stories, but it would take up many more blogs. The theme of the week was teaching the youth group to be warriors for Christ and to hate sin just like Jesus hated sin (think the story of Jesus in the temple). They learned a lot on this trip and they were able to grow closer to Christ as they shared his love and shared his Gospel with the Dominican people.