At work in the Dominican Republic

Serving in the Dominican Republic can be done in many ways....here's one way we served: DR Team 2 at work

GEN 1:9 - On the Way to the Mission Field

[Note - we have no wifi or internet access. Telephone calls are expensive. So communication is difficult and rare, but we'll try to post as often as we can! Thanks for understanding. ]

Excited, sleepy, apprehensive, curious, scared, shy, exuberant, relieved - all these emotions and more were being felt by the team as we boarded our flight at 7 am Friday morning.  There are 23 of us from Hope Chapel's Generation 1:9 Youth Group and we're finally on our way to the Dominican Republic. We were stunned that we ended up checking 17 bags of VBS supplies and baseball equipment! All of our personal gear was carry-on so we had the room. We made our connection in Miami with about 15 minutes to spare and arrived on time in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic (DR).

Resting after a long day.

HOT! Well, we could say it's hot and humid, but we've decided as a team not to complain. We are in this boat together and we're going to work to make this time in the DR a great success. So, as a team, we'll work to make the boat better every day - be friendly, help one another, be patient, be flexible - more than flexible, we'll be fluid, as changes will come every day. DR Rocks!

Our dormitory is the 3rd floor of a Methodist church. Lots of bunks, good bathrooms, and lots of windows. There is no air conditioning, but there' s a good breeze and lots of fans. We have a common room/dining room on the 2nd floor. Oh, speaking of dining - OMG! The food! It is amazing terrific! We've eaten beans and rice and a kind of spanish rice and a kind of BBQ chicken and some amazing beef-tips, salad and the fruit! Wow, the fruit is the sweetest and tastiest fruit! Utterly amazing, the food here.

Castle of Diego Colon

Our schedule is pretty full this week, but we'll have some play time too. Friday we spent the day unpacking, figuring out how the toilets and showers work (you have to be here) and then we were going to play baseball nearby, but it started pouring rain. That turned out to be a good thing, since it lowered the temperature and allowed us a good night's sleep.

Saturday, we prepared to work with the local Missionaries - Charlie & Darla Finocchiaro - and their youth group. We prepared some Spanish songs and reviewed our Spanish words and prayed a lot. Our task was to be friendly and learn about them and hopefully give them something that would move their spirits toward God. Well, Christiana and Candice both gave really good words of testimony and encouragement. Then Charles and Bill both gave a short message on how to live for God. We did our songs with Farrell and Collin and Whitney leading the music, and that was fun! Then, their youth band played and it rocked! Woot! So much fun and God was in the house!! We made lots of friends and we all seemed to just really click! Great things are happening.

We're ready to take the DR for Jesus!

Sunday we were able to go to a new church that the Finocchiaro's are planting in a poor community called El Cafe. They have rented a small house and are starting with reaching out to the children. We did a Sunday School and many neighborhood children came to meet the "gringos" and to play, sing and hear a story about Jesus. It was wonderful. We'll be working with some of these kids on Tuesday and Wednesday. We're praying that they will understand the good news.

After that we went to church with the Finocchiaro's and then went out to explore Santo Domingo. We went to see the Castle of Diego Colon, Christopher Columbus' son, who was governor of the DR in 1492. Lots of beautiful sights of the city and friendly people. It was a good day to relax and prepare for our service day on Monday - painting the park the El Cafe community. We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus there.

Team 1 of Gen. 1:9 DR Mission

More to come! Thanks for praying for us. We're hoping to see lives changed and our own worlds rocked!

Thank You!

Thank You Hope Chapel, family, friends and all of our supporters! We have raised all the necessary funds and will be leaving for the Dominican Republic bright and early tomorrow morning!

This is the first time Generation 1:9 has ever been in the mission field. There are a number of students on this trip who have never been outside of the United States!  Please continue to support us in prayer as we travel and minister.

Here are 3 simple ways you can pray:

1. Safety - We have taken all the necessary precautions, but would love for you to pray for safety.

2. Spiritual Impact - Please pray that the work our team does has an eternal impact while in the D.R. Pray that people in the D.R experience life change through Christ. And pray that our students experience life change as well.

3. Blessing - Pray that we are able to be a blessing to the local missionaries who are hosting us. We do not want to be a stress factor to them. Pray that they feel like we are an addition to their ministry!

I am sure you can think of plenty of other ways to pray, so please remain faithful to praying for us while we are ministering!

Thanks!


Bill

 

The Gen 1:9 Youth are about to embark on a mission to the Dominican Republic. They are working hard to finish raising the money needed to complete the trip. Two Teams are going.
Team One will be on Mission from Friday, July 20th through Friday, July 27th.
Team Two will be on Mission Saturday, July 28th through Saturday, August 4th.

The Youth will be working with local kids, serving the local pastors and churches, and doing a market outreach and VBS. If you'd like to support the team, you can do so here: DR Youth Missions

The pastors in the Dominican Republic are looking forward to working with our youth. They knew we'd be coming - check out what they said last year!

 

Please be in prayer for Hope Chapel Gen 1:9 Youth Mission and check for updates regularly.

‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.'

Acts 2:17 NIV

Hope Chapel Holiday Helping

Did you know that you are entering your mission field as soon as you head out your front door? Our community has a world of people lost and in need living right in our own neighborhood. As the hands and feet of Jesus, we want to demonstrate God's love in tangible ways. Here are some things you can do to help:

Food Pantry Items
Help us make sure families have food in their pantry this holiday season! Hope Chapel will once again be collecting canned goods to be distributed to families in need in our community. A suggested shopping list is available at the Welcome Center or click here. Food will be collected November 13 thru November 20th. Please no glass jars!

Mitten Tree
Cold weather is inconvenient and can lead to sickness, especially in children and the elderly. Did you realize that there are many children here in our area that do not have the means to purchase a simple pair of mittens or gloves? This holiday season a “mitten tree” will be displayed in HOPE Zone children's ministry area waiting for your donated “ornaments” of clean or new mittens, gloves, hats and scarves.

These items will then be donated to the Hispanic Foursquare Church in Cary, NC who will use them as gifts during their holiday outreach programs. “Decorating” the tree starts on November 27th and continues through December 18th.

Soles 4 Souls
Over 1.5 billion pairs of shoes lay idle in American closets. Over 300 million children around the world are without shoes. This Christmas our congregation will partner with the Soles 4 Souls an organization which has given away over 12 million pairs of shoes to people in need in over 124 countries on 5 continents. To participate simply bring in your gently used or new shoes wrapped together with a rubber band. Each pair needs to have $2 placed in the toe of a shoe to cover shipping and handling. Drop off stations will be available in the Worship Center starting at the This.Christmas concert on Saturday, December 10th and continue through December 18th. You can learn more about this organization by visiting GiveShoes.org

mi familia

When I was asked to write up a blog post to describe my experience here, I was a bit overwhelmed by the task at hand. How can I encapsulate everything I have witnessed here- the people, the depth of their eyes, the warmth and graciousness of their smiles, the poverty of the barrios, the countless starving dogs, the array of smells, the heaviness of the Holy Spirit, etc. The only way I can begin is with one word: thankful. As I watched these people, marveling at how creative they can be to make things work with what we would consider dirty old trash (that wouldn’t even be fit to sell at a yard sale), I began to realize how easily… that could have been me.

Why God? Why did you choose to give me one of the biggest blessings of being born in the US? I have often prayed for God’s favor and blessing- and yet I’ve just now realized that He already has favored me- just by determining the place I was born!

It makes me feelcompletely foolish for some of the things I pray about whenever I hear the Haitians’ prayer requests. Out of the two pastor’s we’ve met, the biggest needs they have are safety, water, and a roof that doesn’t leak. Americans wouldn’t step foot in a church that didn’t have these basic needs. But what makes us any different from the Haitian people? We just live in a different location and have different skin tones- but that doesn’t really matter, does it? We have the same father, and love Jesus. Therefore, that makes us brothers and sisters in Christ, right? Yet we are living totally different lifestyles, and our problems have a magnitude of difference between them, and so on. As I first encountered these horrors I witnessed, I leaned towards the thought: “Oh those poor people”. But after praying that God would allow me to see through His eyes, I began to think more like this: “that could have just as easily had been me”. This simple change in thinking not only allowed me to see how I am so blessed beyond measure, but it has also started me along the right path towards truly loving my neighbor as myself.

-whit

kitchen

crib

favorite (possibly only) toy

bathtub

“Dios te bendiga”

“Dios te bendiga”

“God bless you”

I have never handed out Christian tracts to strangers. Except for today. This morning, I was handed a stack of tiny booklets which explained the gospel in espanol and french creole. Then, the local missionaries taught me one sentence, “Dios te bendiga.” Apparently, that was all I needed to know in order to be prepared for short term missions work.

I was far from prepared. I don’t think anything could have prepared me. I’ve seen films, heard stories, read books, and looked at pictures. But as I waded through an open air market in the slums of a third world city – I realized that nothing could prepare me for the poverty, sickness, or chaos that I was encountering.

I stared deep into the eyes of men, women, children and even stray dogs. They all returned with stares of excitement and curiosity because I was “Americano.” However, I could still see the despair and pain that they held within. Unfortunately, the only thing I could offer them today was a christian booklet and a simple statement, “God bless you.”

…I hope he does.

-Bill Rose