May 20-26, 2012

SMI Mission Trip

May 27-June 9

There are still many stories yet untold, so I am hopeful that my teammates will email me some of their personal stories along with some of their pictures.  When they do I will post them here.

I have a number of pictures that I still intend to upload here, so please continue to check back.

I want to thank everyone for your prayers and support for this trip. Please continue to pray for the many people who prayed to receive Christ that their faith would grow. Pray for those who heard the gospel but were not ready — seeds were sown; pray that God would continue to water and fertilize those seeds. Since none of us knows how much time we have available to us, pray that they would not wait until too late. ~esm

The one room church at Boca Chica is small and without much outdoor space surrounding it.  The children’s ministry team, consisting of Dave, Josh, Katie, Jessie, Byron, Kara and Drew, began playing with the children on a side street, but even that seemed dangerous and there was no shade.  It was hard to stay hydrated.

But not just for the team members who were outside, but also for those inside.  Power to the building only turned on for about half an hour in the morning and another half an hour in the afternoon.  During that time we did enjoy the fans.

Among our patients today we had a number of Haitians, but thankfully two of our Spanish translators also speak Creole – thank you Sadrac and Mario!  We have had a number of babies including one that was 13 days old and another that was only 5 days old.  Mallory is our Chief Baby Holder; I’m pretty sure that’s her official title because there isn’t a single baby that has been near our team that Mallory hasn’t loved on.

The nice thing about the arrangements today was that our team was all in the same room.  The difficulty today was that our team was in the same room.  Well, initially anyway, after a short time triage moved outside to a tent.  Ben and Sara Anne did an excellent job getting patients ready to move through the system. 

Come for a walk with me through the building.  Patients enter the church on one end of the building.  On either side of that door are our message tables that the PT/OT team members use.  There is always a flurry of activity in this area.  Some patients will need to learn how to walk after an injury, others have back problems and may be on the table, still others are having hands or wounds looked at.  Linn, our OT, that wasn’t sure that our mission team would NEED her, even got to teach someone how to use the bathroom.  How exciting is that!  Well, for Linn it is because she knows that God arranged for her to be here just for such a patient!

Just beyond PT/OT are a few chairs for patients to wait inside.  Then the four medical stations are set up, two on each side of the room.  Casey, James, and Justin have been doing such a great job working with the students.  Thanks also for John and Dan this week and Brandon, Earl, and Stephen who helped out last week.  They have been truly amazing at how they have managed the work load of clinic each day.  They have all been so patient, helpful, and caring toward each of the students and the patients.  The medical stations will have anywhere from 4 to 7 people huddled together.   Between the two medical stations on the side of the room farthest from the street is a small room that appears to be the pastors office, but for these two days, it has been turned into a private exam room.

At the other end of the building from the entrance door, Marsha, Heather, Sam and Christen have the pharmacy on the raised part of the floor where the pulpit usually sits.  Lastly, just past the medical stations, on the side of the room closest to the street, is the evangelism area.  With limited space available today, there is only one small group working (other days have had two), but Bobby, Jan, Emily and Bella did a great job in a small space.  Again, we had people praying to receive Christ at all the stations.  Thanks especially to the translators who are very capable at leading people to Christ without someone telling them what to say!

Our sharing time this evening around the pool was very special.  Besides sharing, which included much thankfulness, we got to hear James’ testimony.  Then, Bobby had a word of encouragement for us, from Exodus, to not be like the children of Israel who had a front row seat to God’s miraculous work to get them out of Egypt, but immediately began to grumble.  His message reminded me of the passage that I had prayed for the team when we arrived at clinic today, and I realized that this was going to be a difficult day.  Philippians 2:12-18 which includes the verses, “do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights to the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”  Today our team did not grumble under the circumstances that we were given.  Thank you, Lord.  But, like Bobby reminded us, we need to present ourselves to do God’s work each day of our lives, not just while we are on a mission trip.  How will we respond to the trials that come our way at home?  How do you?  Do you really believe that God is Sovereign and works ALL THINGS together for His glory? ~esm

Lindsay and Travis, things were just not the same without you today. 

Lisa, have a safe trip home tomorrow.

Nancy L., thank you for the gift of our ice cream treat!  We will all enjoy that on Thursday night!

Please also pray for our teammate, Katie, whose Grandmother passed away today.  She is anxious to be at home with her family and will get back Friday.  Pray also that she will have no flight delays.~esm

Today we got a slightly earlier start out to Consuelo because this was our last day there and only a half day.  It was much hotter today and more humid, but that did not deter the people from coming. 

The Evangelism station did not get too many visitors today because so many members of the team are taking opportunities to share with their patients.  Again we had people praying to receive Christ all throughout the building.

For the afternoon our team had an option to go visit the “state of the art” hospital nearby, go back to the village where we worked last week and visit an orphanage, or just stay at SCORE to rest, go to the beach or go to the pool.  The majority of the group chose the hospital tour.

The folks who went to the hospital all prepared themselves for much poorer conditions than what they would expect in the states, but even at that, they weren’t prepared for what they experienced.  First of all, everything is extremely dirty.  Dr. Bob, who works here at SCORE, says that he has a vision to get the local churches to “adopt” an area of the hospital to clean once per week.  Can you imagine a hospital where the rooms aren’t even cleaned once per week?

On Casey’s tour he walked into a room still dressed in scrubs from our clinic earlier in the day.  The patient was excited to see an American doctor and immediately showed him his x-ray.  There was no question that the man had a broken leg…the bones were sitting on top of one another rather than in line.  Casey asked him how long he had been waiting.  His answer was two months!  Not 2 hours or 2 days or even 2 weeks, but 2 MONTHS!  (Next time you want to complain about your wait at the doctor, think about this man…and the many others who experience the same, and remember to thank God for your comforts and pray for people in places like the Dominican Republic.)  Then Casey asked him why he was having to wait so long.  His answer was that he could not afford to buy the screw to repair his leg.  Dr. Bob said that even if the man could afford the screw, the likelihood that he would have surgery was minimal.

Another group of only 14 headed back to Quisqueya.  Drew was especially interested in following up with Mickey and John; both had prayed to receive Christ at clinic last Friday, one was the young man who had been a gang member.  We did not have a plan for how we would find them when we got to the village and we only had 30 minutes to spend there.

As we pulled up, John came running out to see us.  Drew hugged him and then asked him if he knew where Mickey lived.  As he began to point down the road, from that direction on a motorcycle came Mickey!  These were divinely arranged appointments.  Mickey invited us to his home to meet his mother.  Since Friday, Mickey’s countenance had completely changed.  Gone was the darkness.  His face shone with the light of Christ!  He also had already attended church on Sunday.  While meeting with his family he showed Drew the book that he had begun to read, John Piper’s, Don’t Waste Your Life, in Spanish, of course!  Thirty minutes was not long enough for this reunion, but all were happy to have spent even that little time back at Quisqueya than not to have gone back at all.

We pressed on to the orphanage.  While traveling we took the opportunity to lift up praises to God for how he worked everything out.  Ian, who is always prepared, had our song book with him so we were able to sing several songs before arriving at the orphanage. Again we only had a short time to spend there before returning to SCORE for dinner and evening worship.  The children at the orphanage were precious.  From the moment we walked through the gate the children ran up to us and grabbed us by the hand and led us off to some activity – basketball, football (American soccer), playing on the playground, dancing…Some of the children became territorial about “their” Americano.  We enjoyed loving on the children, and it was heart breaking to leave them.

Tomorrow we head to Boca Chica for two days. ~esm

Yesterday in the children’s ministry Travis and Lisa had been playing with the children all morning and did gospel presentation in the afternoon.  Travis noticed one girl, Rosie, who was eager to answer all the questions they were asking the group, but he noticed that when he asked who went to church and who loved Jesus, she did not raise her hand.  He asked Lisa to take her to the side to talk with her.  Lisa had had good interaction with Rosie already, but their special time together created a bond.  Rosie, however, said she was not ready to ask Jesus into her heart, she seemed to be afraid of what she would have to give up.  Lisa asked her to think about their conversation overnight and if she wanted to talk to Lisa again tomorrow she would be happy to see her, even though Lisa would be working in a different station on Tuesday.

Rosie did return today and she was ready to pray with Lisa!  Immediately, Rosie was so excited about her new faith that she asked if she could share the Evangicube with the other children.  Praise God! And pray that Rosie will continue to share her faith with other children in the community who were not able to come this week.  Pray also that the local church would provide her the discipleship that she needs to continue to grow.

Drew also was able to pray with a 60+ year old man today.  Archemedes initially thought that he would get to heaven by his good works, but he was burdened with a load of his sin.  When Drew explained to him that Jesus had paid the price for his sins through his death on the cross and provided the way into heaven through his resurrection, the man was ready to pray.  As Drew was leading him in prayer he said, “And Jesus, I know that you love me…,” the man began to weep a deep sorrowful weep, but as they finished praying those tears turned into tears of joy!  Archemedes realized that he truly was forgiven for all of his sins and that God did indeed love him.

God is working in so many lives and there are so many stories to tell…  One thing the team is really beginning to notice is what a great connection they have together as brothers and sisters in the Lord.  They are looking forward to how God is going to continue to use them to impact their class at UAB.  Your prayers have helped them to have this unity, so continue to pray.

Pray also for Travis and Lindsay who return home on Wednesday.  They have been coming on the SMI trip for three years now, and have fallen in love with the Dominican people.  They feel a calling to return to the Dominican Republic to continue to minister to the needs here.  This would be a big step and there are many details that would have to come together.  God is directing their paths as they seek to bring glory to him.

Continue to pray for the health of the team.  Several have been sick, a few have even had to miss a day of clinic to recuperate.  Even with what seems like a disappointing set back has been used by God as an opportunity to spend a long quiet time with him! ~esm

Today we went to Consuelo about a half hour drive to the east along the coastal road. When we arrived there were already patients and children waiting for us.  Our team accessed the space that was available to us and made the decisions about which stations would be located where.  Then as a team we all prayed together for the work God would accomplish through us here.

Immediately the team got the supplies unloaded and the stations set up.  The first station open was triage, but even the first few patients don’t get much assessment there before going directly to the medical stations.  Besides medical, we also have eye glasses – though we’ve been working with a dwindling supply of only reading glasses — Physical and Occupational therapy, Evangelism and triage.  Our team has and will rotate through these various stations throughout the week.

We have a number of translators from the area that assist us with our work.  We could not do this without them.  Many of us have developed very good relationships with these additions to our team.

Work at the clinic continues until noon, when we break for lunch.  SCORE provides us sandwiches and chips.  A bonus this week is that the church ladies also cook us lunch – today rice and chicken – very good and prepared with much love.

The afternoon starts another round of the same.  We stop taking patients around 4 pm and once the last patient makes it through the system, we pack up and leave.  Our host church is allowing us to keep our supplies here for the night, so we do not have to completely pack up everything.  This helps as everyone is usually pretty tired by the end of the day’s work.

We head back on the SCORE buses.  A few of us will catch a much needed nap, but many of will chat about our day.  This is a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know each other better.

Dinner was pasta night with a choice of either creamed chicken or spaghetti.  The cooks here do a wonderful job.

We had a time of evening worship after dinner which included a testimony from John and Beverly.  John is a graduate from UAB medical school.  They shared how difficult their marriage had been without much preparation as to what marriage would be like and the strains brought on by medical school, residency and starting a practice.  God is gracious and merciful and helped them to seek the help that they needed from his word and from a community of believers.  Thank you for sharing.  We all were encouraged by openness! ~esm

this is Ian’s foot after stepping on a sea urchin…

it was only painful after they started digging all those spikes out. ~esm

 We started off the morning by loading up and heading to Pastor Aubie’s church. I’m already pumped about this church service because a guy named after my alma mater’s mascot was going to be preaching. Turns out, we were welcomed into the church with a tiger walk-type greeting by the congregation and Aubie was even wearing an orange colored shirt. I’m seriously considering leaving one of my Auburn shirts for this guy and possibly suggesting an eagle flight prior to the service.

 The service began by the congregation singing a few songs in Spanish like “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” and “Shout to the Lord.” Those songs were amazing before, but singing them in Spanish made them even better because it reminded me of how in Heaven, there will be no language barriers between believers. After our praise and worship time, we all listened to Pastor Aubie talk about spiritual gifts and challenged us to carry on the great commission even after these two weeks are up in the Dominican. Despite the air conditionless sanctuary, it was a very enjoyable Sunday service.

 Other than Ian being serenaded by Ben and Josh for his birthday, not much happened the rest of the day. We were all so tired from our fun day that the majority of us passed out for a much needed afternoon nap trying to regain the energy needed for the next day’s clinic. ~ll

Today we had a much needed break after working five hard days at the clinic. Despite rumors of a tropical storm, we had the most beautiful day we have had since we got to the Dominican, as evidenced by all of our sunburns. Our options for spending the day in the sun were taking a boat to Catalina Island or driving a few miles down the road to a resort called Barcelo.  Lucky for you, Lauren and I (Jessi) chose different ways to spend the day so you get to hear from both of us. First, Lauren will share her story:

 The resort was pretty much like a cruise, minus the ship, so it was a great option for those of us who get seasick! When we first walked in, we were greeted by flamingos, parrots, and peacocks in the courtyard.  In the resort, there were two pools—one by the beach and one tucked away from the beach.  The landscape was gorgeous, and our wristbands provided an all-access pass to food, drinks, snorkeling, and a padded chair on the beach.  The food was wonderful, despite the fact that some of the pastas included in-tact tentacles… We were able to stake out a section of chairs in the shade to chill on the beach for the day.  While some were playing volleyball, I went snorkeling, which turned out to be pretty awesome.  A few of us went searching for the putt-putt course, but walked away deflated when we discovered our ticket to play was our drivers license.  A few other interesting things that occurred were that Justin hit a policeman with a Frisbee, Sam busted some dance moves, and Drew cut his knee on a rock.  Most of us (especially the guys) had to be dragged out of the resort because we did not want to leave, so it turned out to be a pretty good day!

 And now for my story… this one day on Catalina Island…

We left SCORE early to take the hour bus ride to the port in La Romana, where we boarded a boat to start our journey.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and we camped in the front of the boat to watch the shore drift out of sight.  About half a mile out from the island, we stopped to enjoy some snorkeling in a coral reef.  Ian was the first to jump off the second story of the boat into the warm, clear water, and most everyone else quickly followed suit.  I was a bit wary of the jump, so I took the conservative route and jumped off the bottom floor of the boat, flippers and all.  It took me a bit to learn how to use my snorkeling equipment, so I inhaled several mouthfuls of very salty water before I finally mastered the art.  Everyone loved it.  We saw all different colored fish, as well as a beautiful reef across the ocean floor.  We had several waterproof cameras and enjoyed taking underwater pictures.  After snorkeling for about 45 minutes, we boarded the boat and drove a few minutes more to the island shore.  It was breathtaking, with bright blue water, palm trees, and fine sand.  Best of all, it was completely secluded—the eleven of us probably made up a third of the people there!  We swam, tanned, jumped off a cliff (except me, of course), played volleyball, and ate some good, local food, all to our hearts’ content.  Some of us also got massages, which I hear was pretty nice. I had an amazingly relaxing day, and the bus ride home was silent as we were all exhausted and content.

No matter what group we were in, today has been a great day for bonding with each other.  After a week of being together, we have become not only a great mission team, but a family as well.  Hopefully, today has given us a little refreshment, which will come in handy during our clinic days next week. ~ll & jl