Mission Trip Report Day Four:

We were told that today would be the hardest day of the trip, physically, and emotionally, and what we saw did not disappoint. Our task to day was to travel to Redemption School, set up a clinic for the school children and a few of the community residents, provide recreation and games as well as to do some door to door evangelism, inviting the residents to come to the clinic in Sosua tomorrow (Tuesday). This small gesture was sometimes harder than other times. Why? Because it is hard to knock on the front door of a house that doesn’t have one… a front door that is.

It is not hard to imagine the squalor that I saw; I have seen it before – believe it or not, in Houston, Texas, north of the downtown area, between the I-45 and US 59 freeways along West Little York Road. There were houses made of cinderblock and plywood and houses made of stucco and tin. Many of them lacked simple niceties – like the aforementioned front doors, and rain-proof roofs, so it was a surety that they lacked luxuries like bathrooms, running water, electricity, and elegant comforts like mattresses. Unlike the hovels in Houston, however, these “houses”, all 300-500 square feet of each of them were packed tighter together than yachts in the Knoxville marina on the weekend of UT’s homecoming game.

But beyond the architectural anomalies of the village, the more taxing aspect emotionally was the fact that most of these residents didn’t exist. Oh they were there alright, the three-year-old running around in the streets, splashing in the “grey water” (ask a plumber), without a stitch of clothes on, his older brother, possibly five, wearing nothing but his bright yellow underoos, and all of the older boys and girls wearing, most likely one of the two sets of clothing they call their own. In the background, sitting in the doorways and congregated around porches and shade trees, were the parents – few if any of them even close to fifty years of age. I could see them, I could wave at them, I could shout “Buenos Dias!” at them, and I could shake their hands, but legally, they don’t exist.

In the Dominican Republic, as in the United States, there is a rampant problem of illegal immigration from an adjacent country. In the US, it is Mexican immigrants. In the D.R., it is Haitians. In the U.S., if these illegal’s have children; their offspring are immediately American Citizens. In the D.R., if an illegal immigrant has a child, first of all it will have to beat major odds to see six months of age, let alone reach six years, but more significantly, the child is NOT automatically made a Dominican citizen, entitled to all of the services and benefits available from the government. In fact in many cases, no birth certificate is even issued documenting the event, and the fact that they exist, thus they become illegal ghosts (legally) – now there is a costume to work on for next Halloween!

Like the proverbial starfish in the much cited story of the man on the beach (Google “man on a beach with starfish” if you don’t know it), we brought a small respite of hope and health to this community and to the children of Redemption School. Each child received an EENT exam (eyes, ears, nose, and throat) and was given a general cursory once-over for other issues by a nurse. They also received a dose of anti-intestinal worm medicine, and a Dum-Dum lollipop. All in all, a 60 to 90 second process, maybe three minutes if you include the processing and record keeping on the way in, and the hugs on the way out. If there was any suspicion of a medical malady, they were whisked into an audience with one of three doctors on site for further investigation. We saw over 100 children today alone, plus several dozen adults – most, if not all of them, legally invisible illegal immigrants; but each one a starfish on the sand. We may not be able to keep the waves from pushing them back onto the fabled shore, but for a brief moment in time, they were awash in a sea of God’s love, manifested in the stethoscopes, thermometers, bandages, pills, vitamins, and other medicines, as well as the smiles, hugs, and of course Dum-Dum lollipops, from the missionaries that visited them today.

And lest I overlook the rest of our group who were engaged in equally significant “starfish throwing” activities, let me commend the teams that led the children in games, crafts, and other activities, challenged some of the older teens to a game of 3-on-3 basketball, and who went door opening-to-door opening with invitations to come to the clinic. In every activity, with both words and deeds they were also telling these poorer than the poorest of the poor that there is a God who loves them, a Christ who died for their sins and giving them the opportunity to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That is the real goal of this mission trip. Saving someone from an early death by giving them life-saving medical attention profits them not if we don’t also give them an opportunity for an eternal life in heaven.

Thank you, thank you, to every one of you who has prayed for us. Thank you also to those of you who have forward word of our efforts to others with an exhortation for them to pray for us as well. We have been blessed and protected, and I know that it is the strength of your prayers that keeps us surrounded by guardian angels.

Please pray for:

There was a young boy with an aggressive fungus on his foot that was treated by the doctor today. Also, pray for his sister who was not seen by a doctor, but who was reported to have had the same type fungal problem “all over her body”.

Pray for the medical team and for their health and stamina. They have a long (possibly longer) day tomorrow.

Pray for the ministry teams that are bringing the simple yet powerful message that God is Love, Jesus is Life, and Heaven awaits all who trust in Jesus and believe.

Pray for Redemption School - the teachers, the headmaster, and the students. As they daily live by example, the promise of God, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you”.

Mission Trip Report Day Three (Bonus Report):

Once again, being without a watch, I retired to bed and quickly fell asleep only to awake at 3:00AM ready to take on the day. I tried to go back to sleep, but after tossing and turning for a few minutes, I relented and pulled out the computer to type the following:

After dinner last evening, we were privileged to hear words of encouragement from Jeanne DeTellis. She is one of the co-founders of New Missions, the organization that we are working with and for this week. What a delightfully charming woman she was. With her plain spoken, and sometimes brash candidness, she described the early years of sleeping in tents on the ground, walking for miles to get drinking water, and living daily by faith that God was in control and would provide.

She told us how she and her late husband George, began this effort in 1983. They were from Massachusetts, and after serving in a pastorate for twenty-five years, answered God’s call to begin an outreach program in Haiti. They started a church and school in five tents that was blessed by God and grew to where it is today – twenty-five schools and churches, a high school, a Bible College, a medical clinic, and a Missions Training Center. Many, if not all of the schools and churches are lead by alumni of those early classes, so it is truly a self-fulfilling missions effort ministering to over 11,000 children. Today, Jeanne’s youngest son Tim is the only non-native Haitian in the operational administration. His role is primarily to be a facilitator and organizer for the shipments of food and supplies from their sources to the warehouses, and then to the schools and mission outposts.

After seventeen years in Haiti, New Missions began a new initiative in the Dominican Republic in 2000. Focusing on the northern coast of the country, four long and bumpy hours over a mountain by car from the population center and capital of the country, Santo Domingo, the outpost in Sosua is near Puerto Plata. It has grown to five schools and three churches, and ministers to over 700 children, providing food, clothing, education, and the love of Christ.

At the end of her presentation I was awestruck by this fiery, wiry woman of God who was as passionate about her work as anyone I have ever seen. To watch her get misty-eyed recounting the horrors, and the miracles, she witnessed after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, and to see a brief glimpse of the tempest fury that she keeps remarkably bridled when talking about the gross inefficiencies of government-sponsored relief efforts, is to witness a modern-day example of the passionate, committed, firebrand evangelists of long ago.
What a privilege and what an honor it is to be a small part of something that has been blessed by God so marvelously and so miraculously. I have been told, and can now testify that missions work is truly a double edged sword, changing both the ministered and the minister irrevocably forever… and it is only the end of day three!

Mission Trip Report Day Three:

Today is Sunday. Even in the Dominican Republic. My day started very early, but not by choice... My watch battery finally gave up and died yesterday. Not a problem because time is not a priority for Dominicans and I am simply part of a herd anyway; I just need to be sure to be at the same place that everyone else in the group is.

So after dinner, exhausted and t...ired from the day's events, I crawl in to bed and after finding out the winner of the GA/FL game and the Clemson/Ga Tech games (which I will not reveal here since at least on member of our team recorded the games and wants to be surprised when he gets home), and went to sleep. This morning I woke up refreshed, invigorated and ready for a great day. I showered, dressed and decided to check into Facebook and e-mails before heading down to breakfast. Boy what a shock when the computer clock said 3:30AM! Needless to say, I went back to bed for another 3 hours. I will hopefully be able to acquire a CR1620 button battery on Monday and once again become a slave to the sixty second circle of life.

When I got up the second time, I again dressed and after double-checking that it was indeed 6:45AM, went down to the dining area with a little side trip to the beach. I did not go for a walk in the sand but did scope it out. One day this week I will venture into "la playa" but I won't have my "Sunday, go-to-meeting" clothes on then.

The church service was wonderful, and the sermon was written just for me. The topic was "Transitions" and how even in transition times - especially in transition times - God is with us. With references to Abram's near-sacrifice of Issac and the burning bush episode with Moses, and others, I was encouraged and challenged. One particularly poignant point was the fact that when God had Moses remove his shoes because was on holy ground, he removed the insulation that separated him from the dust that God had created him from. Moses, for all of his faults and failings was chosen by God, but first Moses had to remove the barriers that were his protective insulation that shielded him from a oneness with his maker.

With out droning on about me and my life, suffice it to say that When you turn fifty, you go through a transition. When you leave the safety and comfort of your home, job, family and "life as you know it" and travel to a foreign country, even if only for a week, you go through a transition. When you and your wife bury her mother and begin the hard decisions regarding her father who is in failing health, you go through a transition. It was comforting to be encouraged and reminded that God is faithful to be with us in times of transition.

After the service, we returned for lunch and freshening before heading out again, some of us to a community center for funb and games with kids of the area, and others of us to the clinic to pack up "Go Bags" for our trip to a school some miles away where will set up a make-shift clinic and treat both children and adults. My task was to outfit a triage and treatment bag for wounds and injuries. I felt like I was trying to put all of the things we used to carry in the Roswell Fire Department Rescue trucks (and more) into an athletic bag. I'm hoping that I have enough of the right things. It is now "free time" before dinner. Many folks are playing in the waves on the beach or enjoying the swimming pool before dinner. Me? I'm blogging.

Please pray for:
The continued safety and health of our team - so far so good.

The English speaking church at Sosua. Today their pastor announced that he had accepted a call to be the youth pastor at his home church in Tennessee. You could tell his heart was heavy as he related the struggle he went through in making the decision.

The patients that we will see tomorrow at the school.

The doctors, the nurses, and one humble EMT who will be called upon to diagnose and develop treatment plans for the patients without computers, a PDR (Physician's Desk Reference - an encyclopedia of medical information), or possibly even electricity.

The evangelism team that is reaching out to the people of the DR with the story of the love of Jesus and His promise of salvation and eternal life. Not because of what we've done, but because of what He did, we have a promise that will last for an eternity.

Be a blessing to someone today.

Scott Straw

Mission Trip Report Day Two:

After a good nights sleep it was time for the first full day on the ground and "in-country". This really has a double meaning because there are cows that free-range all over the area, grazing and meandering, with the occasional, appropriately timed bellow.
As we were having our morning orientation and devotional, there were several of these interruptions. One of our leaders, who reports to have been given the gift of interpretation, confidently reports that these outburst are, roughly translated (because these are Dominican cows and it has to be translated from "bovinese" into Spanish, and then transliterated into English), "Amen, preach it!" and "Halleluuuuujah". I guess the spirit can moooove in cows too.

After the orientation we were witness to the drama skit that some of the team are doing. Using the international language of mime, they depicted the creation of the world, the creation of man, the fall of man as he chases after happiness in drugs and booze, fortune, and "female company" (tastefully depicted) and finally the redemption of man through the death of Christ and his resurrection - all in less than 10 minutes.

Once we were dismissed to our assignments, we began to sort , organize, and prepare for an afternoon of work in the areas of construction/maintenance, medical clinics, and street ministry. We came back to the hotel for lunch and then hit it hard for four hours (although it really seemed like only two at the most).

We are blessed to have several medical doctors with us, and they used their talents and gifts to perform several outpatient surgical procedures, and to see several sick children and adults with various maladies.

Although I am under oath to stay positive on this trip, I must digress and rant about something that really got me hot. Over the years the clinic has been gifted with maybe two dozen or thirty glucometers (the things that take a drop of blood and measure the sugar content). Sadly, they are useless without the test strips that plug into the test device and receive the actual blood droplet. And, as I discovered today, every device uses a unique strip. There is no such thing as "generic". Even different models made by the same company require their own unique strips. I think that is stupid! If you would like to donate strips to go in the meters the clinic has, or meters to go with the strips that the clinic has, send me an e-mail at this address: kb4kbs(at)gmail.com. I will get for you the mailing address of the clinic and you can be a missionary angel without getting your passport stamped!

I hope that wasn't too negative. Thank you for your indulgence, I feel much better now. We are back at the hotel for dinner now and while I type, others are feasting... I much prefer feasting so this is the end of the entry for today.

Please pray for:
Two small boys (brothers) who both have pneumonia. They were seen by our doctors today an given some medicines.

The continued health of the team. With nearly sixty folks, the odds favor someone getting something. Lets pray so that we tilt the odds in God's favor.

The continued safety of the team.

The outreach of the team to the community. In addition to the natives there are a large number of "ex-pats", ex-patriots of other countries, primarily the US and Canada, who are living here in the Sosua area. We have "English Church" tomorrow, and while most of the attendees are regulars, pray for the curious and the seeking whom God directs our way.

More firmly in His grip that I have ever been before,

Scott

Mission Trip Report Day One:

We all arrived safely. I met the group from the First Baptist Church of Orlando in Miami and we flew to Puerto Plata, at Sosua, Dominican Republic on THE daily flight.

We put all of our bags (over 100) on three vehicles that look like safari trucks, with bench seats down the back and canvas tops, then piled people in to them as well. Everyone fit save for seven of u...s and about twenty pieces of luggage, so we hired a taxi van and crammed the rest into it for the ride to the clinic where we will be doing medical mission work. We off-loaded several dozen bags of supplies and with the added room were able to dismiss the taxi. After a brief greeting and overview we were dismissed to the hotel that will be our home for the next week. We will have a deep orientation in the AM. After dinner tonight, a large contingent from our group went to a church service held under a tent adjacent to the clinic. Of the nearly sixty mission volunteers, at least a third, if not half of them are fluent in Spanish. Another third are like me and know enough to get into, or out of trouble.

Accommodations are better that you'd find at a church camp, and are roughly equivalent to some of the La Quinta, Fairfield Inn, and Best Western hotels that I've stayed at in the Southeast US. The food is buffet style with an open bar (note to my Methodist friends: yes, that includes beer and spirits).

Once we were checked in and before it was dinner time, we walked a few blocks to a general store and bought drinks, snacks and water, water, water. Along the way we stopped and at a shop that was an Internet Cafe and money changer. The exchange rate was 37.50 Peso for a dollar. At the Hotel it is 36,and at the airport it was 34. I'm still wrapping my head around the dollar-to-peso equivalency, but as an example, to supplement my stick deodorant, I bought a can of AXE spray deodorant (and while no one applauded I'm sure they are very glad). The can was 105 pesos (or so) which was less than US$ 3.00. (37.50x3=112.50). By the end of the week I'll have gaters on my sleeves and be wearing a green shaded visor...

Pray for:
Good Weather - it is hot, like upper 80's to low 90's, but a sea breeze is often easily found. Storms would not bode well for the outdoor construction efforts.

Good Health - the food here is safe if it is "peeled, boiled, or fried" and the water is safe for bathing, but like anywhere, even the US, there are microbial components present in the in the tap water for which we are not immune. In time our bodies would adjust and build up resistance, but the initial result of introducing foreign
critters and chemicals elements is a forceful rejection and ejection. I'll let your imagination take it from here.

Plenty of evangelistic opportunities - Did you know that the Dominican Flag is one of few, if not the only national banner with a book of scriptures on it (in this case, it is La Biblia), yet less than 5% of the population profess Christianity or any religious convictions (Thank you Sr. Felipe Bullington). We will be doing medical clinics, construction, street evangelism, casual evangelism, and Backyard Bible Clubs. We won't win the entire island to Christ (this trip), but maybe we can get a good start.

Feel free to copy and paste this, and e-mail it to your friends. If you are not one who prays, but you know someone who does, please send it to them with the note, "friend, I'm not into this whole 'praying for folks' thing, would you do it for me?" I promise that they will understand and gladly intercede on your behalf (and maybe for you as well...).

Blessings from the White-Unto-Harvest fields,

Scott Straw