Yearly Christian mission trip from Wisconsin to Azua, Dominican Republic to feed His people both spiritually and physically.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Day 7 - Seeing God's Hand

The final day of this journey is always somewhat bittersweet. One side of the coin is being tired and looking forward to seeing loved ones after 8 or 11 days. The other side is that this place is a part of us. We will be leaving our “DR family” and there’s so much more to do.

After breakfast, the team went to the YWAM center for devotions. While we don’t actively participate, it’s relaxing and moving to just sit and immerse ourselves in the songs, prayer, and scripture readings of these young people from around the globe that God has called to his service.

Since we didn’t take a trip to the ocean yet this year and it’s only a few miles from YWAM, we drove down to the shore and found we had the beach to ourselves for a little walk. Not exactly to resort standards but a view found only in the Caribbean: bright blue water, palm trees, and mountains in the background. God may not have blessed this country with financial wealth, but he sure did with natural beauty.

A quick stop at the house to load the van and the team headed north to La Vereda. We have a soft spot for this very poor town. It’s some of poorest we see in terms of human needs but very strong in terms of spiritual wealth. The pastor and others continue to tell us that they are wealthy because they have Christ in their hearts. In fact, as we were blessing an elderly woman with food (who we also blessed with a mattress as she slept on a pile of clothes) we ran into a man of great faith. He earned money making coal, had lost his wife, had serious health issues of his own, and was raising 3 children. His thin tin house is pictured below. The team noticed his well-used pocket new testament in his back pocket and asked about it. Without hesitation he pulled it out and praised God for what he had! Not complaining, not asking for a handout, not blaming God or man, but praising His name in the midst of human hardship by anyone’s standards. Moments such as these can be both humbling and uplifting. 

While at La Vereda, the team played with kids and blessed them with food, bibles, and money for a small structure they needed to enclose an electrical box at the school.

At 2pm the team had an appointment to meet with the blind at their center in town. This is an annual ritual that is always inspiring as they never ask for money, only prayer and encouragement. While living with a significant disability in a third-world country they continually look for ways to educate themselves to ensure they are self dependent. In fact, a couple are teachers and one a lawyer! Dan blessed them with audio Bibles made possible through the Lion’s club. Another example of the “wealthy in spirit” blessing the “wealthy in possessions”.

The team then made some last stops to include checking on one of the church builds and delivering crutches to a young man they met the day before who lost a leg in a shooting. This is a “God story” best left to the telling by one of the team. An example of the Holy Spirit’s power and His ability to change hearts using simple Americanos.

While it was a couple of hours before the going-away party the team used that free time to finish errands or just relax. Chloe, Shawn and Deb used that time to walk a few miles down to the tidal flats looking for shells.

The house was full (50?) for the annual pizza party on the last night. Everyone (and their families) associated with the team over the past week comes looking their best for pizza, soda and cake. Kris, Alberto, and Nathanial are there to help with interpreting. It’s an evening of socializing with praise, prayer, good-byes and a few tears.

After cleaning up and a final team meeting to go over the last financial decisions the team was in bed by 12:30am to be ready to leave at 8am.

A final post will be written in the coming days to wrap up the 2015 trip.


God bless



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