Missions Trip to Bani

Last weekend (Saturday – Monday) we left our home in Juan Dolio and travelled across Santo Domingo to end up on the other side of the city, in a town named Bani. Those names probably don’t mean much to you, but in essence it means that we left our beach comforts, crossed the capital, and about two hours later ended up among some of the mountains of the Dominican Republic. It was a fantastic change of scenery for all of us.

We went to Bani as a sort of mini-mission trip, and we plugged into one of the churches there. The pastor of the church (Vernon) opened his home for us to sleep in, and although quarters were certainly cramped, it felt like home. Their hospitality towards us was superb! And if I started telling you about the food – the amount of food, the quality of food, the yumminess of the food, and… Well, pretty soon this would turn into an Anthony Bourdain blog instead of a blog about our mission trip. Suffice it to say, everything was absolutely mind-blowingly delicious!

Of course, mission trips are supposed to be about “ministry” not just the food and the hospitality, yet I think that a lot of the ministry was in the sharing of food (breaking bread together is a form of communion) and hospitality is a Biblical imperative (Romans 12:13). What I’m trying to say is that we were ministered to during our stay there.

Whenever anyone engages in missions, whether full-time or short-term, one always walks away blessed. I’ve worked with enough groups to recognize that God seems to have a pattern of out-blessing those who are available to be a blessing. Every short-term group that rolls through the DR comes expecting to be a blessing in some way to the Dominican people, and yet they always leave happily humbled at having been so deeply blessed by the Dominican people. This is magnificently illustrated in II Samuel 7, but I’ll save that for a later blog…

Anyway, we did accomplish what we set out for which was also to minister. Our ministry focus was divided into both helping repair the church building and helping encourage the Church body. We succeeded in some of the church repairs by painting, cleaning, and more. We also succeeded in encouraging the Church. Saturday afternoon we played softball (and other games) together. Then one of our students shared the Gospel with a translator. That evening we helped lead youth group. We led their games, helped with their music, and one of our students shared her testimony in Spanish. Sunday morning some of our students helped in children’s Sunday School – all in Spanish! Then during the morning service we prepared some special music, shared another testimony (in Spanish), and translated the message. For the Sunday evening service we prepared some special music, and two more of our students shared their testimony in Spanish. It was very encouraging for us to see our students boldly connect with Dominicans in Spanish after only a few months of studying the language! We also helped encourage them by just giving them an opportunity to get out of their own community. We took a lot of the young people out to a nearby beach and just had some good old fashioned “fun in the sun.” And, of course, it’s all fun and games until some of the students decide to throw their leader into the ocean…But it’s okay I’m plotting my sweet revenge on them still. J