So what was our goal in this trip to the Dominican Republic? We have been working with the church in Campamento, Honduras since 2018, and at one point our numbers on that trip had gotten up to over 20 people, so we thought maybe there are other areas to connect with and help. Thus we sent two people to Guatemala in 2022, but it did not seem to be a good fit for our group. One of the CRF directors called us and told us about traveling to the DR, to see if we could set up a program with the kids and local congregation like we do in Honduras (a VBS approach with the kids with connecting and encouraging the local congregations). So Scott Vinsant, Peyton Long, and I signed up to visit the DR and see if this was something we felt would be a good work for our church and for the kingdom.
It was planned as a relatively short trip leaving on a Thursday and returning on a Monday. This gives you 2 full painful travel days with a very short period to check out things, but Bobby Moore from CRF would be there as our guide, and he had a great gameplan for us that helped us quickly connect with both the CRF work on the island, opportunities of need out near the Haitian border, and opportunities of need in a city in the western half of the country called Neyba (It was also spelled Neiba), which was weird, but the locals saw nothing weird about it...we asked.
Thursday morning began for me around 2:30AM waking up for a 6AM flight out of Birmingham. After one painful flight missed in 2022, I am conditioned to try and be the first in line thru TSA on these early morning flights. And I was there and through TSA probably by slightly after 4AM which was fine by me. I am so nervous flying, and always think I am forgetting something, so when I got to the gate and felt in my pocket for my passport...and it was not there...I started panicking. I had of course gotten it out to get thru TSA, but then started second guessing myself about where I had placed it in my bag...or did I leave it in one of those little trays in TSA...how would I ever find it...would I miss another international flight due to stupidity. Down on my knees in front of the chairs at my gate, I opened my bag and proceeded to pull out EVERYTHING...and when all was out, and my heart was about to pound out of my chest, I placed my hand down into the laptop sleeve (I knew I was not using that pocket, so never had even thought to empty it) and there it was at the bottom. I think I almost cried, but looked up at Scott Vinsant who had just arrived, and saw what had to look like a crazy man that looked up at him and said "I found my passport".
With the crisis averted, and my heart slowly returning to a reasonable pace, we got in line at ChickFilA (requirement on a mission trip) for some breakfast. Nothing much more exciting happened in Birmingham, but random story from the bathroom stall...Someone had written "Biden is dumb" on the wall, then a second person had scratched out Biden, and replaced it with "You". And in my brain, I appreciated that both opposing views were presented, but I was disappointed in the grammar use with the simple change to "you" without changing the irregular verb.
And closing my eyes for a needed nap, I awoke in Miami, where many bad experiences have been had, and horror stories abound from all passersby. As Scott and I were the old men, we needed the bathroom visits frequently. Peyton went off to grab some food. We had about 2.5 hour layover, so plenty of time to get to the next gate, but Miami is really big, so it took awhile to walk over. We passed a Manch Wok and Pizza Place in full swing with long lines. I commented to Scott "This is crazy, it is only 9AM, who is eating this stuff". So at the gate I found a bagel place, and also learned that with my poor hearing and the bagel ladies strong hispanic accented English, I had no idea what she was asking me...so sadly on my way to a spanish speaking country, I had to have another lady in line from New Jersey somewhere translate english for me in the line to get a toasted blueberry bagel. Later Peyton showed up, and we asked where he had eaten...Manchu Wok.
Then the unthinkable happened, we boarded our flight from Miami on time. We found our seats and rolled away from the gate 5 minutes early! I was tired, so I laid my head back and fell asleep quickly. Then woke up to a very smooth flight, but it was hot, so I reached over and turned up the air. Looked at my watch to see that I had slept for a good 30 minutes, but glad to be in the air and closer...wait...I glanced out one of the windows nearby and saw the ground. We were still waiting to take off. Very tricky Miami, you got me. I thought you were going to let us go, but you had the old "wait for what ended up being 45 minutes on the tarmac" trick up your sleeve. Oh well, we did finally leave, and since I was awake, I think I ended up watching part of the Beanie Baby documentary movie...pretty good.
We arrived in Santo Domingo at the same time as 4 other International Flights, so after another old man bathroom break, we got into the long long customs line. Bobby Moore was waiting for us when we finally got our passport stamps, and we hopped into his SUV rental for our 3.5 hour ride to Neyba. The travel days are such a pain. It was a beautiful country as we drove alongside gorgeous blue water of the ocean as we began our journey, then through dry areas that looked like parts of New Mexico, and then into some hilly areas that could be anywhere USA...except for the crazy amount of motorcycles, ridiculous lack of any real rules on the road, a somewhat new language of horn usage that only Bobby was fluent in, and periodic cows, goats or giant speed bumps that kept speeds at a reasonable pace.
Lunch was our first adventure ordering in spanish, where I can hold my own, and Peyton was there for any needed help. Chicken, White Rice, and Plantains (or Platanos) seemed pretty safe for my stomach and was a great meal we ate in the car. Arriving late in the evening, we went into town for dinner. And while none were real hungry, it was nice to be out of the car and get a chance to chat for awhile. I think it was another chicken and rice for me (I am very careful what I eat while traveling), then we got to a hotel where we would be staying. The hotel was slightly out of town, and right next to a natual swimming hole that we would find later in the weekend was THE PARTY location. But on this night, it was nice to have our own rooms (I think it was like $30/night), and get this...air conditioning. That was a definite perk. The guy that helped us to our room was a darker skinned guy, that wanted us all to call him by his nickname Negra. Hmmm...more on that later. Tired, I laid down on that bed with small sheet and fell asleep with no problems. I'll take my shower in the morning.
The next morning began with a quick hot shower...wait...the water was not warming up...so it instead began with a super quick cold shower squirming all over, trying not to swallow any water flowing over my head. And out to the outdoor tables downstairs at the hotel, where I could quickly see everyone was on Honduras like time. Our breakfast was supposed to be out by 8am, but it came around 8:45. The coffee was great, but served in little small cups. They were small, but when I tasted the coffee, i don't think I could have drank a full cup of that stuff...LOADED. The breakfast each day was a fried egg, some fried bologna, and what tasted like potatoes, but actually was a type of plantain they served here (Mofongo). Scott Vinsant told us about his adventure with the cold water the previous night, and having to deal with a hose that was broken and sprayed cold water all over his bathroom causing him to jump all over to get a shower.
Our first trip of the day was into the city of Neyba to visit the CRF facility. As we turned the corner to the CRF building, I heard the chants from the nearby children "Norte Americanos", and they all ran along our car to see the strangers that had come to visit. Playing with a few of the children as we walked and toured the facility, it was very similar to Honduras. The poverty level is definitely high in this area. But the CRF building had a good roof, plans for a second floor, and within the same square area contained the church building where the children and local families would come for worship on Sunday. We met Gerson, who along with his wife Nairobi, coordinates and facilitates the CRF work in this area. As we left I passed out a few of the poppers I brought, but Bobby had the hidden gem...the pelotas (baseballs) that I would quickly find out were treasured in the DR. From the boys requests, I heard another word they asked for...guantas (gloves). Baseball is king in this country, which is definitely more respectful than all these soccer countries.
Before heading back to the hotel for a period, we stopped at a local restaurant where I tried the cerdo guisando, not really knowing what that was, but learning it was a pretty good stewed pork, which I ate with some fries. Still tired from the travel day, I passed out when I hit the bed for a quick nap. Afterwards, we went up into the mountains nearby to visit the church in that area, and talk more with Gerson about the 50 children that are sponsored in that area. The church building was small, but did have two new bathrooms, and on Sunday evenings would have some time with the children, providing them with a meal and some activities.
Back in the city, we went to the super market to buy some groceries for 4 of the local families in need (Gerson selected them, and I don't know how you could select any one over any of the others). But regardless, it was a great time again to visit with some of the local children. At each of the local homes, we were able to visit for a period, tell them about where we were from, and say a prayer for their home. I was able to get by with a prayer for one family that I know God understood, but don't know how well my Spanish translated to the family living there. But they were thankful for the food, and seemed happy for a visit. The kids all wanted to ride on our backs, and at one time, I think we all had three kids on us...each. They were so happy to hold our hand, and so excited to show us their homes. Perhaps just a shack is what many in the US might call it, but to them, those little eyes sparkled as we got to see their home. I had one little girl just cackling as I kept picking up rocks asking if this was her home, then taking her to a tree to see if that was her home. We were definately all sweating on this afternoon with the piggie back rides, but I loved every moment with those sweet kids. Showing them some magic tricks, I had one older boy smile and hollar "mentira" (lie) with each of the tricks, but he was smiling as he figured out a couple of my tricks. Bobby laughed as he told me later one of the little boys ran by calling me diablo (devil), so that was not good. haha.
That night we went to a new restaurant, where I was excited to get some fajitas. We had a funny, slightly crazy, waitress that just apparently didn't want to deal with all these gringos and their poor spanish. And they had no tortillas...when I asked for them, she just told me to "Use salt". Oh well, the locals eating dinner with us that night thought it was pretty funny.
Saturday morning we drove over to the CRF facility to help with all of the children that were there for the morning activities. We helped serve them a meal and poured drinks. Some of them remembered my tricks from the day before, and kept asking...so I probably confusingly just kept telling them "luego", which when combined can mean later, but by itself, really doesn't convey that message. But I only found that out "mas tarde" (later on). Before leaving that day, we threw baseballs with some of the kids in the play area, of course I showed the kids some magic, but used rocks to disappear...if you ever pass out any toy, they will swarm you like bees all wanting one. I have learned that rocks are available all over the place, and work just as well as ninjas. I also got to use my favorite trick of drawing a picture of a few of the children while the others watch, and it was easily the best large group of laughter. And all thought it was very funny except for one girl that I was drawing, when she found she was just a stick figure, she did not laugh a bit. :) But she did give me a little smirk.
Next was a quick lunch where we were able to sit and eat with the local young preacher, Andy. Again at the restaurant with the crazy waitress. Andy was excited to see some of the things we shared with him that we did with the Campamento church, and we had some excellent discussion about potential opportunities at the Neyba church. Andy and his wife are local school teachers, and he speaks English fairly well. We had a good meal, and left him with alot of material and plans to see him at church the next day.
After our lunch, we went to pick up Manuel, who is Gerson's dad. Manuel used to run the CRF in the DR with his wife, but has turned that over to his son. He is 74, but you would never think him over 60, and has a passion to help the local Haitian churches along the border. Manuel got in the car with us to navigate Bobby to some of these churches. He visits about 7 churches along the border every month checking on their needs and helping them with scriptural issues. Many of the people coming from Haiti have very diverse backgrounds including some voodoo superstitions, but he is helping to keep these congregations grounded in the word. Our first stop was at a brother of the church out that way that was trying to build a church with money he received from his coffee farm. Benny and Irma were all hugs for us, and obviously loved by all the neighbors, as when they served us coffee on their patio, all sorts of people came up to hug on benny, and he took time with each one that came by before returning the conversation to us. So helping get a roof on this church was one opportunity.
We next traveled to a field at the foot of the mountains where a larger group of about 150 Haitians worship on Sundays. Their preacher was there, and some of the members to tell us about their needs. Their building needed a lot of work, but the primary issue was getting a gate to the walkway to the building. At that time, everyone (including us) had to carefully fit through an opening in the barb wire fence to get to the building. The Haitians speak a form of French creole, but most of them could speak some spanish. I was able to converse a little in spanish with one of the sisters there, and thought it funny at us both trying to converse in a language that was second and only little known. Inside the church, it was an interesting dynamic as the Haitian preacher would speak to Manuel in a heavily accented Spanish, to which Manuel would summarize to Peyton in more simpler spanish, to which Peyton would relay to us in english. Following this visit, we went with the Haitian preacher and manuel to speak to a local person that owned the land that was currently fenced off with barb wire...and our group quickly realized that we were out of place with land disputes in a country such as this. It was obvious that conversation was not going well, even not understanding any of the language, but in the end, I think it was not a decision that could even be made by those in the house, and should have been made by others anyway. Ugh, weird situation to be in, and I don't know why manuel and the Haitian thought having some outsider gringos would help any.
On our way to Jimani (last city before the border of Haiti), we got a chance to stop at a National Park where there were iguanas all over the place. And families feeding the iguanas bread like we would feed ducks. One of the strangest sights I have ever seen, and it really did not look real. We walked down to the lake where Manuel said that if you come in the mornings or late in the evening you could even see the crocodiles come up to the shore. Yikes, I'll stick with the iguanas. We also stopped at a little natural fountain area where you could dip your hands in some ice cold water. I took a picture, and glad I did not take it the other way, as Scott Vinsant told me a guy was bathing butt naked just down river from that spot.
In Jimani, we went to some land where they are wanting to build a church, then another church that had been built, but they needed support for a preacher. There is some guy in Kentucky that had helped build/finance this church, but Manuel said that since it was so close to the border, every time the church grew in size, a large number would be deported back to Haiti. I saw two boys that lived in the house right next to the church building, and quickly threw a beach ball from my pack to Peyton, while I blew up another one, and we played some volleyball with these guys. Neiththose boys go from watchful and a little hesitant when we arrived, to big smiles holding those new beach balls, with arms waving the whole time that we were leaving down the road. I can still see those little faces on the porch.
Leaving from Jimani, we kept going towards the border, and I don't even think Bobby knew what our game plan was...but our plans were determined when a large truck was coming out of Haiti, and blocked our pathway any further towards the border (frontera). So we turned around about 200 yards from the Haitian border. Probably a good decision. The top picture below is Manuel with the Norte Americanos with a large lake that is part of the border with Haiti.
That evening, we had dinner with Gerson and some new friends Eliu and Estephani. It came a monster rain storm, and flooded the streets fairly well. After dinner we went back to Gerson's home where we learned how the Dominicans play Dominoes! Super Intense! Stephanie was clearly the best player and was difficult to beat. I was clearly not ready for this level, as she knew the count of each number that was left, and often could tell you at about 3 dominos left who had what left in their hand. Only after returning to the states and watching some youtube videos did I realize at least a portion of the counting techniques she was using. Very impressive for a game I never realized had so much going on. At night after dominoes we returned to our hotel where it was a party till all hours of the night. I know that I was work at 4AM one night when the bass kicked up even louder than it had been going. We also found out that this was a holiday like Labor Day weekend, so the natural pool was the perfect congregating place. Negra was out parking cars...perhaps a bit intoxicated at 11PM when we got home that night, but I saw him the next morning helping me get coffee at 8AM.
Sunday morning, there were still a few folks completely passed out on a chair or benches around the hotel. But Negra was up and coffee and breakfast was ready for us...of course not on time, but it was there before time to leave for church. Scott Vinsant mentioned to me that he needed some toilet paper for his room, so I saw Negra pass by, and got up and hollared "Hey Negra"....and when I did, I immediately heard Scott V and Peyton bust out laughing behind me. And upon further reflection at this white boy from Cullman Alabama's southern pronunciation of this...I realized that for the rest of this trip, and any future trips to the DR, that I would refer to Negra instead with "Mi Amigo". Anyway, the other guys kept bringing this up and laughing at me. But did I get the "papel de inodoro" (toilet paper), yes I did. Peyton told me it is probably more properly called "papel de hygenico" (hygenic paper), but mi amigo understood and brought me what I needed. We had also learned to get extra bags for the bathrooms, as we did not have room service, and when you don't throw toilet paper into the toilet, and everything sits in a bag in your bathroom, you find out quickly to take out your trash each morning.
Church service in the morning was at the building right next to the CRF facility, and we got to hug on some kids wearing their Sunday best. The first lesson was from a Haitian preacher and a brother Lucas helped translate into Spanish for the congregation. Lucas was a super nice man, and also spoke a little English. After that first service the kids went next door for their kids class, and sang some songs really loud...which was similar to Honduras because the adults are like 10 yards away, but seem to be able to just simply tune those people out. Manuel gave the second lesson, and Peyton was able to translate to English for us. After church, we had a little time to visit, then I took some time with the kids to do some bible drill. There is always one or two that latch on and really like the game, but I was so proud of one little girl that wanted to read the psalms each time we were there. And she read so well, and I let her know. I can still see that little smiling face.
Bobby drove us 1.5 hours to Baharona for lunch, where we ate looking out over the ocean. Crystal clear water, we walked down to the ocean while waiting for our food to touch the warm water of the Atlantic. Magan said it looked like I just photoshopped myself into one of those pictures. Back to Neyba that evening, we were able to join with Andy in the newer church that had just been built. With rain clouds all around, they were happy to meet in the new building as this was the first time they had a complete roof. I did not have any issue with bladder, but on this evening at worship, Bobby, Scott and Peyton all had to GO right as services were starting, and the building does not have a bathroom yet. Bobby snuck out first and when he came back with a face of relief, Scott V left, and Bobby told him to walk down to the blue house on the right. Vinsant speaks no spanish, so he just knew to ask for "bano, por favor". The lady at the house hollared that a norte americano needed to use the bathroom, and voices from a lady in the bathroom seemed to imply it was currently occupied. Finally he was told to go in, and as he did, the old lady was putting on her towel after comingout of the shower. A little embarrassed, but needing some relief, they smiled passed each other, then he made it. Next Peyton left and no one was at home at the blue house, but a random girl walked by, and went into the house and told him it was ok, all was empty.
The worship was great that evening, as they sang songs that they all knew from memory. A blind man named Henry lead a very respectful observance of the Lord's Supper, and then Andy preached a sermon that seemed to get people fired up, and after the service, two ladies came forward asking for prayers of the congregation. Even if you don't understand much of what is being said, it is always powerful to her the emotion in these congregations. After church was over, we went around giving hugs to our newly met brothers and sisters, and Scott was surprised to see a lady running across the church to hug his neck...it was the lady from the shower. I played a little with the kids there at church before we left for the night.
Our last evening was spent back over at Gerson's home playing some dominos and eating Chicken Mofongo. And while stephanie was still the best player, me and Vinsant almost got her on the last game. Back at the hotel, we wedged into the only spot we could find that we thought we had a chance of getting out of in the morning. Our flight was not until 3:55PM, but we still wanted to get moving and make sure we were not late. The drive back to the airport was uneventful, but always crazy on these roads. Bobby told us about a book he was reading called "Unoffendable" , but the way he was driving, we had to keep reminding him about that book.
The airport TSA line was painful, but I guess is just the norm for this type of travel. And when we finally made it past security, we sat down at the Santo Domingo airport, and had some Hardees Cheeseburgers. Not yet in the US, but getting closer. We checked the weather, and all seemed fine in Miami, but we were still nervous. But we arrived in Miami with no issues. Ate one last meal all together in the Cuban restaurant there in the airport, and boarded our final leg into Birmingham. Arriving at midnight, I drove Peyton home and had a great conversation with a young man that will one day be a big leader in the kingdom. I remember teaching him in Junior High classes, and know he was excitedly encouraging me about all the things we could do for these people in the DR. I know who our group leader will be if we choose to return. There are many opportunities...but ones we will need to prioritize and see what we can do.
So on the souvenir end, I brought home some pesos (DR pesos, not like the Mexican pesos Denise got for Vinsant) for the kids to share, some rocks from the ocean, a baseball for Sam, some dominoes for Davis, a little coffee cup for Magan, some DR bracelets for the girls, and some cute little dolls for the girls that they immediately thought were scary. Oh well, I tried. Ruby was hilarious laughing at the scary dolls. But I did get her when I tucked her in one night, I slipped my hand beneath her pillow to the other side, and made the doll look up at her and wave. When she turned around after giving me a hug to see her doll waving at her, she SCREAMED! hahaha. There are other stories in the pictures below, but I have been writing for a long time, and those stories will just hopefully come out from the memories later.
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