One day in the ministry of the Dominican Republic mission team

A day in the ministry this past week of our team in the Dominican Republic:

This morning we traveled to a small village called La Laura, where we were able to meet and play with about 60 children, ranging in ages from three to twelve.

Following the introductory time with the children, the teachers in the local two-room school allowed us time with the children, and the team performed its skits, passed out tracts, presented the gospel, and gave out "witnessing bracelets" to each child. We then took a walking tour of the village, witnessing first hand the devastating effects of poverty, the likes of which few people in America will ever see.

During the tour, one of the team members felt led to share with a lady who worked in the very small village store. This lady, named Joanna, was under deep conviction, and though she heard the gospel in her own language, she refused to accept the Lord. Please pray for her to be saved and that the seeds that were planted in her heart will bear fruit.

This afternoon the team had an experience it will never forget. We traveled to Balu Piejo, a remote village of about 50 people located in the middle of a very large sugar cane field. Though we thought we had seen poverty already on our trip, we had seen nothing like this village. The people there may go for days with little or no food. Many live in what look to be cattle stalls, small one room areas with a bed, perhaps a shelf, and nothing else. One small boy walked around with a shirt on and nothing else. It didn't take long to see that we were in the middle of a very unusual situation.

After walking through the very small village, our interpreter, a wonderful Dominican man named Kiko, gathered virtually every villager together. The team then passed out simple gifts to the villagers. We were humbled when the villagers were overjoyed to receive crayons and coloring sheets; even the older adults, many of whom could not read, were excited to color the sheets, which had Bible verses on them in Spanish.

The team then helped the villagers put together the witnessing bracelets, followed by the team's skit, "The Red Tie Club." These villagers were thrilled to see the team present the gospel through a simple bracelet and skit. Again, it was a very humbling experience to help many of the older people put their bracelets on.

One of the highlights of the trip to Balu Piejo was meeting Rodolfo, a 66 year old blind man who is a strong Christian. This man, blinded for over a year now and virtually penniless, gave a strong testimony of his faith in Christ and then sang a beautiful song of praise. The tears rolled down his cheeks as he praised the Lord openly and unashamedly; there is no way to describe what we witnessed as that blind man testified and praised the Lord.

A team member gave a Spanish testament to one of the few young boys in the village who could read. This boy agreed to read the Scripture to the old, blind man. Please pray that this testament will impact the lives of the entire village and lead to a great revival. As the Bible promises, His word will not return void.

We sang songs with the villagers and took part in an impromptu worship service. It may not have been in a beautiful cathedral, but the presence of the Lord was as real and as sweet as any service you could imagine. A crowning moment was when a beautiful rainbow appeared overhead as the team was ministering in the village.

We then had the privilege of giving food to each village family. What a humbling thing to give a bag of food (rice, beans, tuna, cooking oil, salt, coffee, and chicken broth) to people who in some cases literally had no food at all in their simple homes. As the team members passed out the bags of groceries, they escorted the villagers back to their homes and prayed with them. Again, there is no way to describe what we saw in Balu Piejo. The poverty was overwhelming, but God's grace was greater. Please pray for the villagers of Balu Piejo.

We ended our day by having dinner back at the SCORE facility with Tim and Jenny Craiger, the directors of the facility, with Pastor Avy and his wife, Gladys, and with Pastor Avy's children. We also heard a testimony from a young lady who was saved about a year ago and is going through discipleship training at the SCORE facility under the leadership of Pastor Avy. Pray for Pastor Avy and his work here. He and two other SCORE pastors are in charge of planting village churches in this area. As Pastor Avy explained, they confront the forces of darkness on a daily basis.

The team returned from the Dominican Republic last night, but God continues with the work He did in and through them in these past days. Please be sure to pray for the SCORE team as they continue to push back against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. On behalf of Rick Brittain and the rest of the WorldReach team, thanks for your faithful, fervent prayers. They certainly availed much.