Our Mission is Hope
We just finished our third week of ministry here in Santiago, Dominican Republic. We have gotten the honor of partnering and coming alongside an organization called Mission of Hope. This is their mission statement “As an organization following Jesus Christ, Mission of Hope exists to bring life transformation to every man, woman, and child. Mission of Hope currently works in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Key West, FL. We believe nations can be transformed one life at a time by focusing on nutrition, education, medical care, and church advancement.”
We got to be a part of the education and church advancement projects and it has been incredible. Our ministry for the entire month has included teaching English classes to little youngins on Mondays and for the rest of the week we spend the day out in communities and villages doing house visits. These visits often include a lot of shy smiles hiding behind shame, some long silences lol, a lot of questions, real life moments with real people, quite a few tears, fear, prayer, and some really vulnerable and difficult moments. It has been one of the biggest honors to be welcomed into these peoples lives with such hospitality and kindness. It has been an even bigger honor and privilege to get to bring the Hope and love of Jesus Christ into every space.
As I am sitting and reflecting on this month I cannot stop the tears streaming down my face (y’all I am crying all the time now!! Praise God, He changed my heart of stone to flesh!!!:D). After months of ministry consisting mainly of construction/manual labor my heart has been desiring so heavily to get to spend my days meeting and connecting with people right where they are at. Although I was very excited to get to do just that, going into this month, I was nervous and a little scared because I knew we were mainly doing evangelism. And I always thought evangalism was a one size fits all, meaning you must share the Gospel in every single conversation and always must have all the answers and right things to say.
But these are a few things that the last three weeks of ministry have taught me:
- It is not our job to change people or say the perfect thing, the pressure is not on us. It is an honor and privilege to get to be used by the Lord as a vessel to share His love, God is the only one who changes hearts.
- Our only requirement is to obey the Lord. And obeying looks different during every interaction. Sometimes it looked like not saying much and listening, sometimes it was sharing my own testimony of how God has worked in my life and changed my heart, sometimes it was singing a song (even if I sound terrible lol), sometimes it is as simple as a smile, sometimes it was sharing the gospel, or sometimes it was playing catch or kicking a soccer ball. Sometimes it is crying with those who are hurting and laughing with those who are happy and sitting in hard questions with those questioning.
- God shows up every time you step out in faith.
- Leading with gentleness and vulnerability and transparency is the best way to create a space of safety and openness.
- Everyone is a lot more alike than we want to admit. There are so many of our brothers and sisters that are lost and hurting and searching for fulfillment just waiting to hear the Good News.
- Kindness and love bridge gaps when language isn’t shared.
- You can’t fill others when your cup is empty.
The Lord has been showing me what His heart breaks for and breaking mine right along with His. This month has easily been the most challenging/out of my comfort zone and sometimes uncomfortable but has equally been so so beautifully sweet to see the true life and joy and hope that the love of Christ brings. Seeing the Holy Spirit move in men and women, to see entire demeanors change into joy, to see and experience the Holy Spirit leading and guiding conversation and showing up when we had no idea what to say/do.
I can’t even put into words how much this ministry and all of the people in it have impacted my life and how much they mean to me.
We have created such special bonds with the incredible men of God that spent everyday with us bridging the gap between languages (they all speak at least 4 languages!!) Outside of being incredible translators they are all using their extra time to pursue their God given talents and passions. I am a better person from growing and learning with them/from them.
This was just one of the very beautiful divinely appointed interaction.
This man and I had a lot in common. Wouldn’t assume so huh? When you get to know people and their stories you’ll be surprised at just how alike we all are (I know I was). Like him I spent years searching for fulfillment for my soul and I got to share my testimony of the ways that God came in and changed/healed/and fulfilled my heart and soul.
We were able to copy some Bible passages for him in Creole until he is able to get a Bible of his own. He is very excited to start to go back to church and regive his life to Jesus.
This picture encapsulates the chaos of our squad and the month 🙂
