Dominican Republic. Wow, there is so much I could say! For an island with an extreme amount of poverty and a large number of people barely grasping the few essentials of life, there is an incredible feeling of love and grace over the people. On our week-long mission trip to the DR, we were given the opportunity to see many lifestyles from extreme poverty to the very well-to-do mansions and clear blue beaches. We worked with adults building houses and put on football camps and vacation bible schools for the children. But most importantly of all, we did everything for God and not for our own glory.
Everyone in our group had different opinions on which projects most impacted them, but for me, the most influential experience was going to a place called “The Hole.” This area is literally a garbage dump and families without enough money to buy a house would put up a few pieces of aluminum for walls and call it home. Needless to say, these families obviously did not have an ideal amount of money for food, so GO Ministries set up a feeding center and church in the middle of this polished area. The center provides one warm meal each day for the kids in the area and our team came to hand out meals to a group of kids, but what surprised us most was that the children were most definitely hungry, but more than that, they were starving for attention and love.
As we entered the building of the feeding center, it was absolutely amazing because there were dozens of kids with smiles on their faces trying to find someone to play with them, pick them up, or take a picture with them. It didn’t take more than 5 seconds after we were in the door for a kid to be at each of our sides just smiling and looking for a piggy back ride or a game of patty cake. Most of our group could speak very little Spanish, but in this case it wasn’t even a problem, the kids would get their point across one way or another. One girl came up to me, probably no more than 5 years old, and started playing with my hair, styling it, brushing it out with her fingers and I lifted her up and we walked around for a little while. She had the biggest smile on her face and I know no matter what language we speak, it was so obvious that there was a connection and she was ecstatic just to be loved and cared for, even if it was only for a few minutes.
After we left the feeding center, it took me a long time to fully process the situation I had seen and try to grasp an understanding of why those people were forced to live in a dump yard while I come home to a nice heated home every night. I spent so much of my time at night and during the day praying to God and just questioning why he would put people in these situations and telling myself it wasn’t fair that I had so much when they had so little, but after a while I learned a huge amount about the Lord and his plans. Although we in the United States have so much in material possessions and wealth on Earth, the kids at the feeding center had so much more love and compassion and in the end, it doesn’t make much of a difference if we have the newest Ipod or cell phone, God judges us on what’s on the inside, our character, our willingness to serve, and our love for the people around us
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