We arrived at Battele #20 in the late afternoon where Pastor Samuel and his congregation holding a service. Our group joined in after lots of hugs and hand shakes. Pastor Samuel is a young pastor probably no older than 30 and has the most wonderful spirit and smile you could ever encounter. We were moved by his humble church which was essentially a cement slap 20 x 20 with a tarp over it like an outdoor tent without the siding. The largely Haitian congregation sang and played wonderful Haitian song with many hand made instruments including a guita, conga, bass drum and shakers. They sang a wonderful song called, “Dios es bueno, le lavare.” God is Good, I shall praise him. Some in our group were so moved that they couldn’t hold back their tears watching people with so little filled with the spirit of God and giving thanks for what they had.
We didn’t stay for long after the food distribution and a love offering to the Pastor Samuel. We exchanged hugs and promised to return soon. It was just after 5 and we needed to get to another batelle where Pastor Bernado would be waiting for us.
after a short ride, we arrived at Pastor Bernado’s ministry. A much larger ministry (closer to 75 members) and village. Pastor Bernardo gave a brief welcome and asked Pastor Mark to say a brief word. An hour later, we began our second food distribution and passed out lolipops to the kids. We had some concern that there wouldn’t be enough food but were blessed to cover everyone’s need. We headed back to before heading back to the La Romana and arrived just after 8:00 p.m. The majority of the group was hungry and wanting to get some dinner. Mirita wasn’t feeling well and decided to go home and rest before the long trip to Haiti. The group stayed at the hotel while Ivan and I drove Mirita home. To my suprise, Ivan stopped at the emergency room to get Mirita some medical attention. I hadn’t realized but the all the work leading up to our arrival and the day to day challenges associated with the ministry had caught up to her. Ivan shared how much Mirita does for the community, hardly ever stopping in order to meet the multitudes of request… everthing from supporting the Orphanage in Haiti, to running her church, marriage counseling, family loss, financial and medical assistance. “You name it” Ivan explained, she is overwhelmed with request and somehow God provides provisions for her to meet the need. Mirita is loved and respected dearly by her town and the doctors/nurses saw her right away. Thank God, it wasn’t anything serious though the doctors injected her with a vitamin. ( I am not the best medical person but it’s common for Dominicans to get injections of vitamins to deal with their illness. I don’t know if it was an antibiotic or what, but after a good night’s rest, she was ready for the long trip to Haiti.
Ivan and I got back to the Hotel just before 10 and took the group to get pizza. We arrived back at the hotel, held a brief devotional and headed to bed.
Mirita slept in later than expected and we didn’t get going until after 8:30 p.m. We needed to arrive at the border to meet Pastor Pierre before 5 p.m. because the border closes each night at 5 p.m. Ivan drove west to the capital before heading northwest to the border town of Dajabon. We ran into lots of traffic in the Captial and it was just after noon and we were running tight on time. It began to look unlikely that we would make it into Haiti. We were in constant communication with Pastor Pierre and Ivan continued along the highway as we talked and sang to keep our spirits up.
We arrived in Santiago (known as the second capital) just after 3 p.m. and it look like we would not make it into Haiti so we decided to stop in Santiago and walk some. Pastor Pierre waited patiently at the border and we agreed that we would find a hotel in Dajabon for the night. We arrived just before 7 p.m., checked into a hotel, held a short devotional and got a short briefing from Pastor Pierre on the agenda for the next day. It turned out (a recent change in the law) that it would cost us each $49 to enter into Haiti but there was an alternative of getting a pass for just a few hours without any cost. The group spent sometime praying and discussing what to do. After some more conversation, we decided that we would prefer getting a pass and use the almost $500 in border fees to buy additional food for the orphanage. We had a nice dinner, held a brief devotional and headed to bed.
Ivan and I woke up early the next moring and walked two blocks to the border crossing. The border is divided by a shallow river which isn’t much longer than 50 feet. There is a small 2 lane bridge for cars which also has a pedestrian walk. We watched as Haitians washed cloth all along the river and were amazed to see human camels carrying people accross the border on thier shoulders. Ivan and I engaged one of the military patrol personal who told us that they pretty much know who is coming in to work for the day and who is not so they don’t bother much with controlling the human traffic. Ivan shared a story about his cousin who had been the commandar of a border town some years earlier and how he told Ivan about the quanity of drugs that crossed into the DR daily. He had once been approached by a high ranking official demanding that he turn the other way as a large quanity of cocaine was due to arrive later in the day. Ivan’s cousin wasn’t willing to cooperate so he was told to have a heart attack or be killed. His cousin decided to save his own life and faked a heart attack. He was flown out by an official helicoptor and never returned to his duty station. Ivan himself was a high ranking police officer who decided to leave becuase of the corruption. He told me that half of the high ranking officers are corrupt and how the honest officers have to turn the other way or else.
We had a nice breakfast and crossed into Haiti just after 9:30. We were all impacted by the immediate change in geography and sense of desperation. The roads were only paved for the first 100 ft. then became all dirt. We looked off to the sides and watched street vendors selling food and quickly noticed the UN soldiers off to the right and left. We only drove a couple of miles before arriving at the orphanage. As we walked in, we were greeted by the children and workers who tended to the everyday tasks associated with running the orphanage. Pastor Pierre gave us a short tour including the sleeping quarters and bathing area before taking us to the classroom where we were greated by another group of kids. Claudia and Jennifer stayed back in the sleeping area to feed a 6 month baby who had been found in the mountain a few days earlier. He was given the name Jose and Claudia and Jennifer held him and feed him some watered down cornmeal.
Pastor Pierre shared that he provided a small quanity of food to each child based on the food inventory and that he also tended to their medical needs in collaboration with the clinic accross the street that staffed two nurses and one doctor who visited weekly. The clinic was running low on basic medical supplies and medicine. Pastor Mark, Mirita, Pastor Pierre and I held a brief meeting to determine how to best meet the needs of the orphanage and after some discussion with the group, we decided to buy food for the next six months and purchase medical supplies and medicine for the clinic. We all felt very blessed and deeply impacted. We were glad that we could be a blessing but also wished we could do more. After the tour, we sat down with the children and James played soccer with a group of kids while the others engaged the kids in the classroom. The children each told us their name and then Pastor Pierre had them sing a couple of songs in Creole. It was a deeply emotional moment and most of us could not hold back our tears as we watched the children sing. They sang so joyfully with wonderful smiles on their face. I could only imagine what was going through each of our minds.
We only had a short time left before we needed to cross back over the border. Pastor Pierre suggested we visit the clinic and church before crossing back over. Many of us felt dissapointed that we couldn’t stay longer or even spend a night. After all the orphanage was the primary reason we had traveled. We sat in the church talking and finally concluded that we raised quite a bit of money for such a small group, many of who were struggling college kids and found some consolation that the orphanage would have food and medicine for the next six months. We got back into the van and drove back to the D.R. It was an intense and emotional visit. We talked briefly and decided that we would drive back to La Romana. As Ivan began the drive back, we all sat in silence reflecting on the past few hours and recalling the images of those beautiful kids. Cassey snaped lots of wonderful picture (will upload them by Monday) and had become the official photogrhapher for the trip.
It was the mid afternoon and we decided to stop for a stretch, lunch and some great Dominican coffee. We still had another 6 hours of driving ahead and so after lunch, we began talking through how we would spend the next few days. Pastor Mark asked Mirita if there were other batelles we would distribute food too. “Dios Mio!” “My God!” Mirita shouted, there is more need than you can imagine. We still had some money left over so the group was excited to hear that we would be back at it the next day. We made it back just after 11 p.m. and decided that we would sleep in El Monte, a retreat space which Mirita, other pastors, and people from around the country and world come to pray, praise and sing. El Monte isn’t like the kind of retreat center we might be accustomed to. It’s more like a forest where people bring or are offered a piece of cardboard to sleep on. I can’t describe it much better than that but let me tell you it has been a sacred space for me over the last year where I have grown in my faith walk and spent lots of time praying and thinking.
After a long drive it probably wasn’t the best idea to sleep in El Monte. The group became a little agitated with all the bugs bitting them, the heat and uncomfortable sleeping grounds. Many of them decided to go back to the van and sleep. James and Cassey slept on top of the van. It was just before 6 a.m. and the group had hardly slept. We decided to pack up and check into a local hotel. The manager was kind enough to check us in until 1 p.m. the next day. The group ran up to their rooms and fell fast asleep. Ivan and I drove over to Mirita’s house showered and headed to the market to buy food for the afternoon distribution.
It was just before 1 p.m. and the group had gotten some well deserved rest. Ivan and I were able pack the 250 lbs of rice, pasta, oil and tomato paste with the help of sister Johnson. We loaded up and were off to the next batelle. Some of us had brought along some cloth which we also distributed. This batelle had a large population of elderly which Mirita has provided food and medical attention to over the years. She does the best she can but many of them struggle to stay alive with limited resources. Two of them passed away this year alone. As the word got out that we were distributing food and cloth, people began to arrive from everywhere. We were overwhelmed with the need and ran out of food sooner than we expected. Our joy quickly turned into dissapointment until we decided to communicate that we would come back tomorrow. The pastor and sisters shouted for joy. We got back into the van and drove back to the La Romana. Mirita had arranged for the group to make an appearance on a local tv show which airs at 4 p.m. Mark, Claudia and I were the special guest along with Sister Johnson who sang a couple of songs. The rest of the group sat in the viewing area and the camera did quite a bit of close up on the group during the airing. Brianna and Juel also came along for the food distribution and tv show. School in the DR had begun the week earlier and Mirita asked Mark if we could collaborate to distribute some back packs and other school supplies. Several families came to the station to recieve their supplies. After the show, we drove over to the food warehouse/market to purchase another 250 lbs of rice, beans, pasta, oil and tomato paste. We spent the evening packing in preparation for the morning distribution.
The next morning after breakfast, we drove back to the batelle and distributed to those who hadn’t gotten food the day prior. We were also pleased that we were able to leave food for a few weeks with the pastor. The distribution was much more orderly than the day before when people realized we didn’t have enough and became frantic. But God is good and meets our every need.
We could hardly believe that the week had flown bye so quickly. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4 a.m. the next day and it didn’t seem like we had ever stopped running. The group decided that we would celebrate with a short trip to the beach. Ivan was kind enough to drive us 30 minutes east to Bayahibe, a well know resort with beautiful public beaches. We quickly changed and after a short drive, jumped out of the van and ran toward the beautiful carribean sea. We didn’t stay long but the water was just what we needed to conclude what would be one of the most impactful times in many of our lives.
After an hour at the beach, we headed back to the La Romana, showered and drove west to Santo Domingo Las Americas airport. The group had developed a strong bond with Mirita, Ivan and the other members of the ministry team. In less than a week, we had gone through a lot together and saying goodbye would not be easy. We talked a lot and Mirita shared some thoughts with the group including that in her 17 years of work with American missionaries, she had never met a group a close as ours. She offered Mark some words of encouragement and prayed that God would continue to bless his ministry.
It was just after 2 a.m. and there was lots of hugs and words of gratitude exchanged. The group went through the security check point and looked back to offer their last farewells.
I had made a last minute decision to stay two days longer to help Mirita distribute more food and to spend another night in El Monte. It seemed that my summer never stopped and getting a couple days of rest and reflection would be just what I needed.
The Community Walk has been postponed until October. I will provide more information next week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUE0r3fsWdg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0AyxEMFRbI
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