15 students, 9 adult leaders, and 4 children went to Hato Mayor del Rey in the Dominican Republic during the week of June 15-22. We all went on a missions trip to a place called Meeting God in Missions. The purpose was to serve, to connect with local people & local youth, and to tell others about Jesus.

Writing about experiences like this doesn’t become any easier with time, I’ve realized. It’s been 8 years since I went on the Around-the-World semester and it’s just as difficult to sum up everything I experienced now as it was then.

Meeting God in Missions (henceforth MGM) is surrounded by lush, beautiful green forest in any direction that you look. We stayed in the dorms, ate delicious meals there, had devotions, worship, and team-bonding time.

Where MGM is located is almost deceptive because so many other areas in the DR including all the villages we visited throughout the week weren’t in nearly as well-maintained of areas.

Our first full day there was a Sunday so our team loaded up into the back of a cow truck (our primary transportation for the week) and drove to a local church. The people of the DR are immediately welcoming to any newcomers. They invite the newcomers/outsiders to lead worship or to give the message on the spot.

We also took a hike later in the day and were able to climb up high to see so much of the natural beauty that could be found. We found mango trees that you could pick the fruit right off of and eat.

Each morning began with personal devotions at 6am after the gentlemen were awakened by our faithful alarm clock Doug Bierer at 5:45 each morning. Group worship and devotions took place at 7. We would all sing “I love you Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you, oh my soul rejoice! Take joy my king, in what you hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear” before we went down to breakfast.

Monday’s day of service was the one that impacted me the most. I work for a church. I work in ministry. But I wouldn’t say that I’m the most comfortable in telling complete strangers about Jesus. So naturally, I felt led to head up our prayer & evangelism ministry during the week. It began with Micah, Angelina, and I going around with our translator Pedro. We’d walk into people’s yards and just strike up a conversation with them. We prayed over a man over 100 years old, a grieving widow, and a woman who’d never accepted Christ.

After lunch I went out with some others to continue praying. We walked down a long rural street that didn’t seem to have anyone living on it. All of a sudden we turned a corner and discovered an entire neighborhood teeming with people. We began talking to some people gathered around a fountain at the end of the street. One man suddenly became very passionate and began speaking an elevated voice, seemingly angry. Pedro let us know that this man was angry about Christians who went to church and talked about the Bible but didn’t seem to be kind or treat others very well. Then my student Sarah began to share about how she’d had similar experiences but that it’s possible to find authentic community that is passionately following Jesus. The man seemed grateful that someone had understood how he felt.

After praying for this group, we continued into the town where we met with a woman who shared with us that in her opinion, their village had been forgotten about by the church and even by God. I shared with her that it was inspiring to me that even in such tough living conditions the people seemed to be helping each other get by and that I believed in a God who never abandons us even in the midst of diffiulty.

Our days consisted of many moments like this. Lots of prayer & evangelism and children’s ministry (bible lessons, gospel presentations, games, crafts, painting nails, baseball, you name it). But we also had special moments where we shared the gospel with Haitian men who were working in the sugar cane fields. We prayed over them, gave them some food, and some supplies to help them in their work.

There 80+ local youth living in the DR who came to the MGM center on Wednesday and we put on a one-day conference including games, teaching, worship, and lunch. I got to share (with the help of my brother Pedro) with these youth that their identity lies in Christ and nothing they do can earn His love or ever take it away.

We also got to help give goats to families with great need to help them provide for their families.

An amazing gift for me was watching my students step up in huge ways. Praying for total strangers, preaching the gospel, leading worship, and even testifying in local churches about what God had done in their hearts and in the DR itself.

Friday we had a day to get some R&R at a local beach. In the evening we had a chance to reflect on all that God had done in our team’s lives that week. Almost all of our students shared what God had done in their lives. Some shared that they’d found friendship and community in Christ that they feared had been lost. Some shared that they’d found new purpose in Christ. Some shared their passion and heart for serving God wherever they might be.

The impact of a trip like this is always a question worth considering. Fito, one of our leaders who is originally from the Dominican, told me that no one can come and undo the great economic disparity and hunger issues facing a more poor country like the DR. But the impact of someone traveling to another country from around the world to tell them that Jesus loves them is certainly not nothing.

I’ve been reflecting on how we desire to go and serve others when we do mission work. And well we should. I mean, Jesus commanded it after all. But there’s people serving the Lord in the DR 24/7. Most truly stated, we joined with the Lord’s work already being done there.

It’s certainly not about us. We aren’t doing the fixing or the saving. We’re participants and witnesses to the work God is doing in the world. And I couldn’t leave this experience as the same version of myself that entered it. I did in fact meet God in missions. So maybe, at least a portion, of why we go on missions trips is because God will do a work in us.

Gloria a Dios (Glory to God)

Hallelujah

Amen.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” -John 16:33

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” -Ezekiel 36:26

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This post was contributed by Will Bakker