Mission Teams Return from Dominican Republic
The First Baptist Church of Wellsboro sent two missions team to the Dominican Republic.
Team I - December 30-January 11, 2010
What an energetic group of young people and adults! God planned for each one to be a part of the team; all were a blessing to Him and to others as we ministered to each other and the Haitian members of Christ for the Nations Baptist Church in the barrio of Las Colinas. We prayed and sang with great joy and worked hard without complaining. The young people visited Batey Esperanza to give a Bible lesson and to play with the children there... school was not in session at Colegio Moriah.
Cultural Experiences - Teams experienced life in a 3rd world country as well as beautiful Sunday afternoons at the beach, historic spots in Santo Domingo, visiting Good Samaritan Hospital and the Haitian Missionary Baptist in La Romana. Some from Team I drove through impoverished bateys (villages of Haitian sugar cane cutters) to the sugar cane fields to watch the cane being cut and oxen hauling it to be loaded onto a train.
Spiritual Life - Each meal began with singing and prayer with noontime devotions by team members. After supper we wrapped up the day with songs and reports of the day's events. Often in the evenings, before playing games, some broke into small groups for Bible study and prayer; others woke early for devotions as the sun rose. We joined the Haitian church members for services Tuesday and Thursday evenings and twice on Sunday. Team members preached and sang at most of those services - Pastor Tanis interpreting. Haitian church members shared songs, admonitions, and Scripture readings. Services were long and loud with much hand clapping, foot tapping, and "Amening". Their love of Jesus is evident; they enthusiastically loved US as well. Though our Haitian brothers and sisters continually expressed their feelings that WE were a blessing to THEM, nevertheless, WE are changed because of how they blessed US.
Team II – January 11-23, 2010
This team included 15 medical team members, 7 puppeteers from Florida, and 16 other professionals: builders, painters, plumbers, engineers, school teachers, social workers, and others with various skills. God chose a team which had just what was needed for His work.
The Medical Team held 8 clinics, mostly on remote bateys (villages of sugar cane workers), and were used in a variety of ways to bring healing in the name of Jesus. Nurses who'd been on the first medical teams in the 1980's were pleased with the changes our missionaries have made in medical care. They visited Good Samaritan Hospital, marveling at how God had brought this present 3-storied beautiful building from a dream in 1985, a wall through the garbage dump in 1989, a devastating hurricane in 1998, and the death of Pastor Phanord in 2001. We wept when we saw it, and praised God that it's now being used to provide care for Haitians involved in the earthquake.
Construction work for both teams was varied. Painting buildings with bright Caribbean colors, digging a trench through the coral earth for a wall, painting lines on the basketball court and surrounding it with a chain link fence, welding, repairing plumbing and electrical items were only a small part of the work. We'd sent money ahead so Haitian workers could complete the 2nd floor walls of the school; the 1st team helped prepare for the pouring of the steep cement roof: some bent and tied rebars and lifted heavy pieces of lumber and plywood to the 2nd floor. The 2nd team helped with the pouring.
Both teams replaced heavy, open, leaking cement cisterns atop buildings with large plastic enclosed cisterns. The 2nd team filled and hauled buckets of sand and carried bags of cement to the 2nd floor of the dormitory to make the flat floor even and sealed - a HUGE undertaking. When the medical team returned from their clinics after bouncing along miles of dirt roads in an old school bus, several climbed onto the roof to sweep off water and debris, smooth the cement roof, lay on their bellies painting etc.
Some read stories to children in the school, helped in the library, played with the kids during recess.
The Puppet team, with helpers and craft people, presented Gospel programs on bateys as well as in Colegio Morah. Before giving to the school their stage and 4 large puppets, they taught adults and older kids how to use and care for the puppets and how to put on their own puppet program. We were pleased to have this group of retirees from Florida - a great addition to the team.
January 14 Earthquake in Haiti. God had sent just the right people on this team to minister to the Haitian people devastated by the earthquake in their homeland. As our own nation had grieved over the 9/11 terror attacks, these Haitians grieved for their family, friends, and nation. We had a nurse who spoke Creole, 2 retired missionaries and a medical translator who spoke Spanish. When Pastor Tanis and Esther felt the need to join Good Samaritan Hospital's medical/food supply caravan to Haiti our team remained in place to give encouragement and love to the church family left behind; we could easily communicate with one another because of our own translators. The Florida team had brought with them $1,500 which they gave to Tanis and Esther for food and water; they were used as translators and visited family members of their flock in Las Colinas.
What a WONDERFUL, blessed, life-changing experience. Thank you for your financial gifts and your prayers.
First Baptist Church of Wellsboro
Dr. Jeffrey McCleary, Pastor
25 Central Avenue; PO Box 815; Wellsboro, PA 16901
Telephone: 570-724-4681
Mission Trip:
Peggy Thomas: Coordinator, Ardell Thomas: Medical Team Leader, Mark Page and Matt Diffenderfer: Crew Chiefs,
Joel Reid: Financial Director and Spiritual Guide