Team has arrived

The mission team has arrived at Casa Pastoral and has begun unpacking and organizing supplies for the week ahead.  The team brought 300 water filter, 171 hygiene kits, a couple of suitcases of medicine, and 1000 VBS kits!! Thanks to everyone who donated, sewed hygiene kits, cut VBS crafts, and helped prepare everything that will make this week successful.

 

2024 Dominican Republic Mission Trip

The Trinity Baptist 2024 Dominican Republic mission team is currently doing last minute preparations - double checking our packing lists, gathering our travel documents, and preparing our hearts for the upcoming mission work.  We will be departing from Huntsville International Airport bright and early tomorrow (who doesn't like being at the airport at 4 am).  After a long travel day, we will spend Friday evening and much of Saturday unpacking, organizing, and preparing for our trips into the Bateys.  Saturday we will also visit our partners at the Good Samaritan Hospital (El Buen Samaritan Hospital).  Sunday we will spend time worshiping at the church (Ebenezzer Baptist Church in the La Lechosa community of La Romana) that Trinity help construct during previous trips.  Beginning on Monday, we will send three teams into the Bateys to provide clean water, medical/dental care, and Vacation Bible School.  Please join us in prayer for a successful and safe trip.

 

Abbreviated Work Day 5

For those not familiar with our travel schedule, we are leaving Casa Pastoral at 2 am Saturday night/morning to catch a 6 am flight out of Santo Domingo to JFK, where we'll get on a second flight to Atlanta and then third flight to Huntsville - it will be a very long day. Given that, Glenn has given the OK to post a few pictures with a more detailed summary to follow after our return.

House Dedication: Even though we didn't fully complete the duplex house we'd been working on this week we still had the dedication today. There will be two deserving families living in the house. Both families had members helping us throughout the week on construction and they are extremely thankful to our team for the blessing of safe, dry housing.

 Family #1

 Family #2 (foreground) Along With Local Workers in Background

Dedication Ceremony

Water: Things came together very well today. With both Fernando and Junior helping from the Good Samaritan Hospital, all water filters and buckets were distributed in Batey 106.

Work Day 4

Construction - Jeff Spencer: Today we made a lot of progress on the house and also completed a couple of other small jobs. We helped complete the installation of the metal roof first thing in the morning and then set about to mix concrete (manually on the ground with shovels) to lay cement block around the perimeter of the house. Ultimately, this will be filled and a concrete "sidewalk" will go around the entire house. As we worked this task, the local workers did finish work on the windows, door frames and completed application of the stucco on the outside and inside of the house. As has happened every day this week except for Monday, it started raining in the early afternoon and eventually caused an early end to the day. Our two side projects were 1) Jacob Colson doing a duct tape repair to the Batey 106 basketball backboard/rim and 2) I installed a new blade on the workers' circular saw. Over the last couple of days I'd watched them try to cut 2x4 and 2x6 boards with a blade that was almost useless. The circuit breaker on the generator kept tripping as the saw would get bound up in the wood. The blade was so dull what little sawdust generated was like powder. I've become buddies with a little boy - maybe 4 - that loves to be flipped upside-down and tickled. It's nice to see him as well as the other folks we've been fortunate enough to spend time with in Batey 106 this week.

Jacob and Lisette Helping Nico Mix Mortar

Chuck Digging Trench for Another Row of Blocks

Chuck, Jeremy and Jacob Bringing Concrete 

Jeff Helping Wilson Lay Block

Jeremy Assuming Common Post-Lunch Position for Construction Team

VBS - Tammy Owens: Day 4 of our Mission Trip and my assignment was VBS. We found ourselves in a barrio about an hour from our home base in La Romana. While our medical clinic was held in the sanctuary of a beautiful Seventh Day Adventist Church, VBS was held in the balcony section of the sanctuary. As you can imagine, our biggest challenge was keeping the children from going to the railing where they wanted to hang over and wave at family members below! Our biggest joy was seeing the children respond to the story of “Jesus Washing the Disciples’ Feet.” They listened attentively and eagerly raised their hands to answer questions about the story. They were also excited to do a craft that involved coloring a cut-out Jesus and attaching a miniature towel over His arm. The children happily held their creations out for my approval, to which I replied, “Tres Bien!” I later learned I was speaking French, not Spanish, which is the language they speak! I should have said, “Muy Bien!” Oh well, the kids smiled politely when I praised them in the wrong language! And, I think God blessed my mistake.

Ashley R. Painting Finger Nails

Tammy and Estella Reading Bible Story

Tammy, Chris and Sarah Preparing Drinks

Clinic - Corrie Cooley: I was assigned to help with medical today. We worked in a barrio today in a beautiful church (with indoor plumbing.) A barrio is a Haitian community not involved in the sugar cane fields. Apparently some politician was involved in getting us there because there were pictures and movies and interviews involving our team. I helped fill prescriptions and was only mildly aware of the publicity chaos until we finished. I kept my head low taking one patient sheet after another filing multiple prescriptions for each one noticing there were lots of sick kids. We were exhausted and hungry. We filled the last prescription at a little after 2 and had lunch. Later we took some group pictures of the folks who worked in the clinic and the entire group working in the barrio. They interviewed Glenn and Teresa and we loaded the bus. It was exhausting but it was a good day knowing we helped a total of 140 sick people, which we believe is the most our clinic has ever seen in a single day. To God be the glory!

Clinic

Andrew and Daniel Taking Blood Pressure

Ashley and Katie Filling Prescriptions from the Side of the Baptistry

 Daniel, Julie, Teresa, Susan, Ashley R., Corrie

Ashley K

Daniel Talking the New Electronic Blood Pressure Cuffs with Emelio

Big Clinic/VBS Group Picture

Water - Keith Woodard: Due to some unforeseen issues, only 1 filter/bucket was distributed today.

Other - Jeff Spencer: I wanted to add two pictures to the blog tonight. The first is our devotion taken earlier in the week. After dinner each day here at Casa Pastoral we gather together for a time of devotion. Members of our team volunteer to speak to the rest of the group about what is on their hearts. In the mornings, others volunteer to read scripture and do our prayer. We don't spend much time talking about this in the blog but they are every bit as much a part of our mission trip as what we do in the field.

The second was a photo taken by our team in one of the poor bateys - I call it "Ingenuity". The adults in the bateys really have very little. The kids in these bateys have almost nothing in terms of toys so they make their own - they are so smart and creative! God Bless them all!

Pizza Night!: It's a tradition for the Trinity Team to have pizza on Thursday nights and this trip is no exception. We tried a new place tonight and it was AMAZING.

Work Day 3

Construction - Jeff Spencer: Work on the house in Batey 106 continued today. Our focus areas were digging footers around the house so that we can lay block and pour concrete later in the process, completing the final fill of dirt into all of the rooms' floors in preparation for concrete slab to be poured, and sifting more sand for more mortar to complete the block laying and the application of "stucco" on surfaces of all interior and exterior walls. There were lulls in the work from time to time allowing us to spend more time with the kids and teens in the Batey. Our youth played several games of basketball - I believe Trinity's team beat the 5th graders but lost badly multiple times to the 8th graders. We and several of the local kids climbed to the top of one of the hills overlooking the Batey after lunch - it's a beautiful view. We also left a bag of toys (football, kickball, bubbles, jump ropes) with the teacher at the school in the Batey. I am a retired engineer. All of my career I'd been focused on leading, planning, organizing and executing work. I've learned on mission trips (international and local) that if that's all I do I'm missing out on much of what I believe God wants and expects of me. Instead, I remind myself every day to look for opportunities to engage with the kids, teens and adults in the bateys, Perry County, and the Salvation Army kitchen. Here in the DR, my Spanish and Creole is basically non-existent but there are other ways to see and appreciate the wonderful people here. Today, I set up a makeshift seesaw out of a long board and a rock. Four little girls had the time of their lives on it and I felt blessed to watch them.

 The Kids Love to Play

 Andrew and Jacob Digging Footers

 Daniel, Keith and Ashley K. With Help Sifting Sand

VBS - Sarah Cooley: Today I worked VBS. I've been on this mission trip several times and I know that VBS will be chaotic or will eventually devolve into chaos. Each kid wants their snack or wants help on their craft or wants something else. The children talking eventually reaches a dull roar and that makes it hard to hear. But nevertheless I have fun with it and I love helping all of the kids. I started out the day giving the de-worming medicine to the kids. This was something that we did in every batey and something I knew how to do. Each kid took their medicine and went back to doing what they were doing before, except for one kid.  As I filled up a cup of medicine to give to this about five year old, David, the interpreter helping I was helping, pulled out the marker to mark this kids hand to let us know that we had given him medicine. The moment he uncapped the marker, the kid ran away screaming.  Eventually he was pulled back and realized it was just a marker. Then after that was done I talked to some kid a little younger than me with Ashley's help. They then did something very touching: they gave me one of their bracelets. Let's just say I'm not taking it off. Ever. Then we moved on to the actual VBS portion and I read the English portion of the story to the kids while Estella translated. The story was about Jesus and the children. We then moved on to the craft and it was this ribbon with paper attached that said Amor or love and at the top it said Jesus me amor or something similar which means Jesus loves me. And of course it involved glue which can sometimes make things chaos, which it did. Once everyone was done I played ball with some kids and this one teen boy, until our ball popped about five minutes in. I then went inside the clinic for a moment until I went back out to paint some nails with my grandmother. That also devolved into chaos with each of the polish going in different direction and kid quickly messing their up so they wanted a new coat. The teen from earlier at one point painted my nails. We then went inside for lunch. Then we went back outside to do the story of Joseph and his coat. We were just about to hand the glue out for the craft when Estella stopped us telling us that it was going to rain so we had to finish. We started passing out snacks with the help of some of the older girls and passing out pencil pouches. As each kid wanted their own thing, things went to chaos. But eventually every kid got a snack and pencil pouch and we were almost done. We pulled some of the older girls into the church and then handed them the hygiene kits as we were packing up. I love seeing the hygiene kits happen because it's such a great thing for these girls. We then packed up and headed back to the mission house.

 Sarah, Teresa and Corrie Doing VBS

Water - Ashley Rehage: In today's batey, I worked on assembling and distributing water filtration systems. I have been doing VBS for the past two days, so this was a new experience for me. VBS was chaotic because the kids were running everywhere and eating the glue, but the filter distribution was even more chaotic because we had to fend off full grown adults trying to take the buckets. We gave out about 14 buckets before lunch, and during lunch our interpreter (who was basically running the whole distribution and demonstration process) informed us that he had to leave and would not be there to assist us in the afternoon. He gave us a list of people who had signed up to receive the water filters that we had left and then introduced us to a very nice lady (batey health/water coordinator) who could gather them all up at her house behind the church. After lunch, we transferred the buckets from the bus into her small home and began the whole process again, but this time with a new interpreter and a much smaller and less chaotic crowd. Earlier in the day, I got the opportunity to hang out with some girls a little bit younger than me. they gave me a bracelet that matched all of theirs, they practiced their English on me and I practiced my Spanish on them. It was really nice to see that even though they didn't speak English well and I don't speak Spanish well, we could still communicate and create a friendship between us. Overall, it was a hectic but great day in the DR.

 Explaining How Sawyer Filters Work

 Chuck with Happy Customers

Clinic - Tammy Owens: Day three of our work in the bateys and today I was working in the clinic. I started off in the pharmacy area, a fast-paced, frenzied site at the front of the clinic. Since I was the least experienced in this area, I was also the slowest. As I tensed up trying to stay on top of things, my back started aching. I got tickled at myself and thought it's good I never felt the calling to be a pharmacist in everyday life! Sometimes God puts us in vulnerable situations to humble us a bit! After lunch I took blood pressure, and through this experience I came face to face with people whom I found unexpected common ground. One muscular teenage boy was laughing as he held out his arm and hand. His fingernails had been painted as a joke by one of our VBS workers. Just yesterday, two boys in our group had painted each others fingernails as a joke. A young woman who was pregnant smiled broadly as I put the blood pressure cuff on her. I remembered how happy and proud I had also been when I went to the doctor for checkups during my pregnancies. We are all people looking for connections, and today I found those connections in the clinic!

 Tammy and Susan Filling Prescriptions

 Painted Nails!

Pharmacy Looking Out to Waiting Patients

Work Day 2

Construction - Jeremy Kenny:  Today six of us worked at Batey 106 on the house project.  We made sifted sand that is used for mortar, which we dubbed 'arena bonita' (pretty sand).  We also moved the bigger rocks off of the dirt floors in preparation for the concrete to be poured and moved in dirt to level them.  The local workers focused on the roof construction by setting more cinder block and placing support beams.  The wooden beams had to be cut to fit together for a pitched roof.  The local workers had a circular saw (blade worn out) to cut the wood, but the portable generator powering the saw wasn't staying on while the saw was running.  The MVP award goes to Jeff Spencer, who worked on the generator (after the local workers had given up) and got it running smoothly.  There was quite a celebration when the generator was fixed and allowed the workers to cut the roofing beams quickly instead of using hand saws.  The guys also played some basketball games with the Batey kids - while some games were lost, the TBC guys are still in the Tournament Internationale so more to come later in the week.  On the bus ride back, Andrew, Daniel, and Jacob got in touch with their feminine sides by working on hair extensions and painting each other's fingernails...and there was plenty of photographic evidence taken by Jeff and Chuck...good times!

 Shoveling Fill Dirt

 Painted Roof Caps

 New Style House Under Construction

 The Problem Generator

VBS - Lisette Colson: Today was a much calmer day of VBS! When we arrived the school age children were all still in class so we gathered the little ones for story time.  One of the residents had a covered area with a concrete floor where we were able to seat all the children. After Teresa read the story of Jonah and the whale and some fun coloring it was play time. We blew up a couple of beach balls and Ashley Rehage played volleyball for at least an hour! They never seemed to tire of it. There were lots of bubbles too. Around lunch time Noah must have been building an arc somewhere because the heavens opened up and boy did it rain!! Our afternoon session of VBS took place in the church. Clinic had finished using the space so we called all the children back for another story. Some of the school kids joined us too so we had a bigger crowd but they were very attentive and loved making the craft that went along with the lost sheep story. And no VBS would be complete without snacks and juice. I'd say today was a success!

 

Medical - Ashley King: We had a long and rainy day in the clinic. As usual, we set up our supplies in the batey's church. This batey was one of the poorer ones I have been to and it hurt my heart seeing the shacks most had as homes. The church also reflected this. It was very small and we had to try and cram as much as we could in a small space. Everything went very well though. We saw around 90-100 people and they seemed to be really patient and appreciative of our help. Julie and Susan worked in the "pharmacy" sorting medicine and getting the prescriptions for the patients. Sarah and Katie worked taking blood pressure. Everyone worked really hard making the best of our space and amount of patients. I worked with the dentist. We saw around 7 patients and only one person had a full tooth for us to pull. She was eight. Everyone else had remnants of old teeth now decayed. With no dental care or real access to tooth brushes, things that are so minuscule to us, fixable things for us like cavities cause decay that break their teeth into pieces. The only real option is to pull the teeth. We did lots of that, so I didn't get the chance to actually pull any teeth myself today. The eight year old girl was crying and really resisting getting her tooth pulled. I sat with her, holding her in my arms to try and calm her so that we could get her decaying tooth out. Really sad seeing an eight year old with a tooth so decayed that we had to pull it. It took around 20 minutes for her to let us convince her to pull the tooth. She would not let go of me the whole time. It was a really touching experience. I felt like she trusted me, and that really reminded me how special this time we have here is; so much love we share.

Water - Glenn Bowers: Water buckets came in today and the team helped prepare them when we returned from Day 2 activities.