Today is the day that we usually do not look forward to during any mission week. Especially after coming off the highs of completing such a successful project. It’s “Strategic Village Time”. After beginning our day with the morning rosary, we prepare to say goodbye to our team members Tim and Stephanie Reis, who must…
Thursday
As we get up for our 5th day, I can’t help but wonder if we will ever finish a project. A project so simple at home, but so difficult here in the DR. Our group is always eager to work hard and accomplish as much as possible in the little time we have with the…
Tuesday/Wednesday
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we continued working on the woman’s house in Santiago. The house had been emptied and the old roof completely removed on Monday. Tuesday was dedicated to reroofing the house. New rafters were cut and installed. We had 2 Haitian carpenters, an experienced one and an apprentice that spent all the time…
Monday – 2023
One Sunday last fall I saw a notice in the church bulleting about an upcoming Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic. At the time I was a new Minnesota transplant, a new widow and a new parishioner at St. Joes, but an older adult. I was prayerfully considering what the Lord was calling me to…
Sunday – 2023
A Brand New Mission of Hope Campus Sunday, July 2, 2023 What a great day! When we woke up this morning, we were finally able to see the new campus in all it’s morning glory. It’s an absolutely beautiful campus here in Jarabacoa Dominican Republic in the foothills of a gorgeous mountain range. This new…
2023 Travel Day
As we fly to Miami on the first leg of our trip to the Dominican Republic, I keep finding myself considering Paul’s words to the Corinthians in Chapter 13, verse 13: ‘So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’ That classic verse is certainly applicable to the idea of…
Friday – 2022
I didn’t grow up in church. I never learned bible songs or stories but years ago when the Lord captivated my heart, the thirst for more was born. So, I started reading more, praying, and praying for help on how to pray. Mission trips were something I always wanted to do when I started learning…
Wed/Thur – 2022
The last two days have been mostly about hard work in the hot sun. Our work project this year was to build a latrine in a mostly Haitian neighborhood in Santiago. The latrine actually had two sides, one for the toilet and one for a shower. To get the project done requires a lot of…
Tuesday – 2022
Today began with the rosary and a cup of coffee, a great start to any day. After breakfast, the team traveled to the city of Santiago, about 45 minutes from our campus, to interact with kids at a sports camp organized by the Mission of Hope and Pastor Elbis. Pastor Elbis is one of the…
4th of July – 2022
Monday- Our theme for the day in the 21 Day Devotional is humility. Humor started the day as Tom played a song for Dave, “Oh Lord It’s Hard To Be Humble.” Laughter is important on mission trips as we never know when our plans change and we need to be flexible. Our day began with…