Dental Clinic: Day 1

By Todd Fincher

Our day began meeting a great group of dentists, dental students, dental assistants, and volunteers from Buffalo, New York and Michigan. They immediately took us in as family and allowed us to assist them in the day's work. Members of FPC this day were Dr. Henry Flautt, Eddie Amelung, Mary Steele Flautt, Katharine Douglas, and myself.

The dental group we joined had the most amazing setup I have ever seen on a mission trip. We pulled into the batey and to the local church to set up for the day. In 21 minutes these guys had moved the pews back and set up an eight chair dental clinic, yes EIGHT chairs, including two units to perform fillings! Not to mention a complete sterilization area which Eddie, Henry, and Mary Steele helped run with complete efficiency. They brought a compressor, air driven handpieces, electric handpieces for surgical dental extractions, and enough energy for an army. Katharine aided all the staff with medical evaluations and taught Mary Steele how to take blood pressure. Henry delivered dental anesthesia and did dental extractions, and I did my usual.

The setting was inspirational as the church faced west and the sun shone through an outline of the cross on all of us working throughout the day. I was continually reminded why we are here. These people are some of the poorest I have ever seen in some of the poorest conditions I have ever been in. Yet they are happy and praise the living God with a fervor that inspires me and the team. We ended the day seeing 176 patients, most having 3-5 dental extractions each, too many pediatric prophys to count, and endless fillings. What a great start!

I have included a list of the generous friends who allowed us to work with them below. Remember all of us in your prayers as we seek to make a small difference in God's kingdom.

• Dr. Bill, Theresa, Christian and Cody Shortt
• Dr. Kevin and Beth D'Angelo
• Dr. Bill andElizabeth D'Angelo
• Krista, Lianne, and Maggie VanWagner
• Mary Wilson
• Chelsea Eppolito
• Katherine Marshall
• Shalia Ramandev
• Rachel Nozzi
• Ashley Mears
• Matthew Valerio

Day 3: To The Hills

By Thomas Gregory

“I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” – Psalm 121

Today was our first “working” day, and our group divided into three teams. The medical crew, led by Todd Fincher and Henry Flautt, headed to a batey to join the “Flying Dentists,” a group of dentists from the upper peninsula of Michigan and Buffalo, New York, who have been working in the Dominican Republic since 1999.

The other two teams consisted of a vacation bible school group and a construction crew and each headed in different directions to work with their hands and their hearts in bateys outside of La Romana. I worked on the construction crew in Batey Hata de Mana, up in the hills of La Romana province.

After a breakfast of cinnamon oatmeal, bacon, bread, and fresh pineapple and papaya, we loaded the yellow school bus for Hata de Mana. About twenty minutes into our trip, one of the back right tires on the school bus blew out, making a series of extremely loud machine gun-style noises as the flap of rubber repeatedly banged against the floor of the bus.

Kaity Box and Haynes Camp, both of whom were seated directly above the busted tire, screamed so loud it scared the rest of us. Haynes took things one step further and seemingly levitated off of his seat as he jumped to the other side of the bus. As the rubber continued to beat against the bus floor, our guides jumped into the aisle of the bus and began dancing to the rhythm. Bill Crump soon followed suit, leading the day’s first cultural exchange between our American group of missionaries and the Dominican guides.

We stopped in Guaymate, the next village, to change the tire. As soon as we got off the bus, the kids of Guaymate ran to meet us and invited us to play baseball with them. After an hour of walking the streets, meeting the kids and adults, playing Frisbee, and taking photos, the tire was changed and we were ready to depart for Hata de Mana, another hour’s drive.

At our destination, the construction crew unloaded the bus and met a team of masons who showed us how to mix concrete by hand. All of the ingredients had to be brought to the site in wheelbarrows. We spread a layer of sand, then a layer of gravel, and then we added cement and water, resulting in concrete. By lunch, we had made enough concrete by hand to fill the footings of the water filtration house to the proper level.

Around 1 p.m., we were joined by the ladies, who led arts and crafts at a local school, for lunch. We dined on ham and cheese poboys, chicken, rice, beans, and cookies.

After lunch, the crew began to lay block on top of the footings. A few of us went to meet a local family, who invited us into their modest home. We met Elena, the mother, Yosi, the 14-year-old daughter, and Elenita, the three-year-old child. We also met their pig and chickens. Yosi then took us down to el puenta rio (the river bridge) for a nice view.

Back at the construction site, we finished laying the second course of blocks, and then loaded the bus for La Romana. An hour and a half later, we were back at Casa Pastoral, where we enjoyed some of the most refreshing cold showers in a while. Dinner consisted of chicken, rice and beans, chocolate cake for dessert, and homemade lemonade.

At the end of the day, our group spent the better part of two hours sharing what we learned on our first day at work in the Dominican Republic. We told stories, laughed, cried, and prayed for strength and courage to do God’s work in our respective bateys. For my team, riding up into the beautiful hills outside of La Romana reminded us that we are not alone in our work here. We have help, which comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Day 2: Amazing Grace

By Thomas Gregory

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we first begun.” – from the hymn Amazing Grace

Today began like a lot of American mornings begin—with pancakes and bacon. The friendly kitchen staff made us feel right at home with some of our favorite breakfast foods. After dressing in our Sunday best, we loaded the yellow school bus for a 20-minute ride down a bumpy gravel road to the bateys, which are small working villages in the sugar plantations outside the city limits of La Romana.

We split into two groups, with the first group getting off at Batey Al Anon. I was with this first group, so many of today’s photos were taken in this batey. The village was small, with very few first world comforts. There was no indoor plumbing, electricity was scarce, raw sewage trickled through the dirt streets in ditches and canals, housing was substandard, and garbage was everywhere. Stray dogs and chickens roamed the streets.

The people who live in the bateys work in the sugar cane fields from the time they are strong enough to work, usually around the age of fifteen, until their bodies give out. Their world is simple, and there is little chance for children brought up in the bateys to escape a life of poverty and hard work. The shacks in the bateys are owned by the sugar companies and are provided to the workers as part of their payment. There is no such thing as homeownership in the bateys. By American standards, everyone in the bateys lives below the poverty line.

But when we got off the bus in Batey Al Anon, you wouldn’t know that the residents lived a hard life. The kids ran up to hug us and immediately reached for our hands. They took us around their community and showed us how they lived. The church was the most prominent building in the village. We walked through rows of ramshackle tenements, past their commissary, to the edge of the batey where the sugar cane disappeared into the horizon.

The kids played with us all the while, taking photos with our iPhones, sporting our sunglasses, joining hands for simple games like Ring Around the Rosie and the Hokey Pokey, and playing a pick-up game of stickball using a plastic bottle for a ball. One kid showed off the toy car he had made out of an empty oil bottle, four bottle caps, and some string. He dragged the car behind him everywhere he went the entire time we were there. It was his pride and joy.

After about an hour spent visiting with the locals, we entered the church for worship. The service was short—about thirty minutes—but there was plenty of time for prayer, the reading of Psalm 121 by our own Todd Fincher and Lauren MacLean, a few songs, and a sermon. Our group was invited to sing a song and we chose two verses from Amazing Grace.

It was indeed amazing to see the people of Batey Al Anon join us in celebrating the grace granted to us by our common denominator—our amazing God.

After worship, the other half of our group who had continued on to Batey Cacata, another fifteen minutes from Al Anon, returned in the yellow school bus to take us back to Casa Pastoral in La Romana. After an outdoor lunch of chili and crackers, a small group walked to the local Jumbo (think Walmart, but cleaner) to make a few purchases. Being a potato chip connoisseur, I bought a bag of Lay’s limon and queso blanco chips in an effort to taste the local flavor. At least that was my excuse.

At two o’clock, the yellow school bus took us to the beach for a fun afternoon in the sun. We enjoyed the beautiful day and the crystal clear water among the locals and tourists who shared the beach with us. Back at Casa Pastoral, we dined on pork chops, steamed broccoli and carrots, and potatoes, with pear and strawberry tarts for dessert.

After dinner, we walked down the street to Iglesia Bautista Misionera Haitiana, where we participated in a two-hour worship service unlike anything we had ever experienced before. First of all, the service was entirely in Spanish, except for the one song that four ladies sang in French. Travis spoke to the congregation on our behalf, assisted by our new friend Jonathan, who translated his words into English.

After thanking the members of the church for their hospitality and sharing a few words with them, our entire group joined Travis at the front of the church, where we once again sang the words of Amazing Grace as a reminder that God’s gift of grace is given to all. It doesn’t matter if you speak English or Spanish, are rich or poor, hail from America or the Dominican Republic, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Amazing, isn’t it?

Day 1: 31 Passports

By Thomas Gregory

“Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.” Psalm 146:6-7

31 passports were stamped at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo today. 31 weary travelers loaded a yellow school bus and travelled an hour and a half to La Romana today. And tonight, 31 Christian missionaries gathered after a hot meal to thank God for the opportunity to serve others in the foreign land of the Dominican Republic.

Our trip began at midnight on Friday on a charter bus at First Presbyterian Church in Greenwood, Mississippi. Although almost everyone in our group would confess to not having enough sleep over the past 24 hours, we are all filled with excitement about what is in store for us tomorrow and for the rest of the week.

Our bus ride from Santo Domingo to La Romana was an eye-opener. As we rode through the countryside, along the beaches, past sugarcane fields, and through various towns, the smell of burning trash and burning fields permeated our open-air bus. Poverty was on display as we passed through the outskirts of La Romana.

But once we arrived at the mission house, our home base for the next seven days, all of our concerns were put to rest. The accommodations are simple, but more than adequate. The bunk rooms are clean and the compound is secure. We are sharing our quarters with two other mission groups from Boston, Massachusetts, and Waco, Texas. Everyone we have met has been so nice!

Our meal tonight consisted of fried chicken and a rice-vegetable medley. It proved to be quite delicious and very filling. After dinner, we drank coffee and gathered in the courtyard for a Bible study that gave each participant an opportunity to share their highs and lows from the day, as well as a moment where they saw God at work.

For me, God’s presence has been apparent from the moment we left Greenwood. I saw God on the smiling faces of the people who work at our mission house. I heard God in the prayer of Jack, our Rivers of the World coordinator, as we loaded the bus for La Romana. And I felt God’s spirit during the experiences our group shared with each other tonight.

To our friends and family back at home, thank you for your prayers as we prepare to share God’s love in this place. Above all, rest assured that everyone here is doing well and is excited about the week ahead.