Dominican Republic

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.  This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

2 Corinthians 4:7 

It is almost impossible to put into words how the Lord has moved in the lives of team members, translators, and patients over the last few days.  He has taken some “fragile clay jars” representing three different countries (Dominican Republic, Haiti and the U.S.) and through a medical mission trip has forever transformed lives, met physical and spiritual needs and most importantly brought glory to Jesus Christ.

In the past four days a team of six doctors and nurses treated almost 500 patients in and around El Carrizal, Dominican Republic.  As each day progressed, it was abundantly clear that our faithful God had once again, in a way that only He can do, assembled the perfect team.  The tone for the week was set by our three new translators – Heidi, Harold, and Francis – as their passion for serving the Lord, knowledge of the Word and love of Christ was infectious.

The most amazing story came as the team was treating patients in Majagual – a town a few kilometers north of El Carrizal.  A girl in her twenties came in to be treated by the doctors for some various ailments.  As she talked with the doctor and the translator it became more and more obvious that she was struggling with something more than just headaches and abdominal pain – she was actually battling severe depression as she had recently lost her mother, brother and cousin all within a six month time frame.  The doctor asked if he could bring in a few team members to pray with her – he asked Harold to join as well.  In the most loving, personal and comforting way, Harold began to share with her the hope that is found only in Jesus Christ.  You see what no one was aware of when Harold was asked to join the group for prayer was that he himself had recently lost both his mother and his father within a six month time frame.  Only God could bring these people together in this way – a doctor from the U.S. taking the time to counsel a patient, a girl from a small rural town in the Dominican Republic suffering but hungry to hear about the love of Christ and a translator from Santo Domingo willing to share his powerful testimony.  All praise and glory be to God! 
 

One of our doctors getting beat at arm wrestling by a 91 year old patient!!!