Kim Smith

I began my trip to the Dominican Republic with a bit of trepidation as the folks I was traveling with were more or less acquaintances. Praises ring from my heart over the friendships made and vast encouragement to one another’s individual walks and purpose in the Lord. I had been praying for some time before this trip for God to truly teach me about faith and love. As He never fails to deliver when prayers for His kingdom’s sake are cast up to His throne, I was taught how to truly love on this trip. He gently used the Holy Spirit to bring to my mind and heart the truths in His word every moment and guess what…I actually took the chance on listening, obeying….and putting faith in His promises!

The freedom in Christ that comes as a package deal with faith and obedience in His word has caused my soul to fall to its knees in utter marvel. Freedom through grace in His Son, freedom from the slave factory of this world – all to be a servant of Him who created me, to be used for the furthering of His kingdom - that is my greatest boast.

From the onset of the trip to the touchdown of the plane in Austin, this trip could be summed up in one word: relationships. Christ bestowed the grandest gift to us – to be used by Him to serve the people of this world. We began working in the villages of this beautiful country by simply pulling up to their scrap metal huts and asking if we could hang out with them. We picked up their dirty, naked kids and kissed them. We gave piggy back rides, played soccer, laughed with, and praised kids aching for genuine love and attention with an almost ceaseless flow of God’s love.

He truly moved in the hearts of everyone on this trip to move past ourselves and dive into the hearts of these people. The adults of the villages watched with smiles, played with puzzles too, or stared with looks of bewilderment at a race of people who seemed to ‘have it all’ come truly alive in such a barren land simply because God was there, moving, and working.

We were so privileged to spend our days with these people who we instantly considered family and friends. Whether it was playing with kids or teaching English classes to the adults…I will never forget the tangible joy that existed in those wretched living conditions. I pray my heart never forgets the men and women who oozed out God’s goodness and towered in their faith when they had nothing of physical value but a rag to cover their bodies. I pray I never forget watching a small village come under a palm hut on Sunday morning to sing with a fervor and gusto of God’s goodness and love to which my ears have never heard in churches one hundred times as large.

There were villages with Christians and villages without, yet regardless of their spiritual state, God effectively spoke to their physical needs as well the spiritual. We helped the missionaries pass out clothes, shoes, educational supplies, soccer balls, and clean water.

Christ then encouraged the people already in His flock serving Him in the midst of such decay, by fellowship with our group of believers. He called out to the lost through love as we served them daily and were able to share with them why we did love them with such passion and insatiable joy.

A crucial event on the trip was a two-night praise and worship service. I will say I learned more about how to hook up sound equipment than I ever bargained for, but as I was told when you go on mission trips you end up learning & becoming an ‘expert’ in areas you never would have imagined! We helped put on a 3 language service (Spanish, Creole, & English) in which the goal was to spread the gospel as well as unite the country. These services felt like a small glimpse of what the praise choruses in the heavens must sound like. To hear and see the worship of such diverse people and diverse languages – yet know we are all singing to the only One worthy of such praise, the One who can discern the hearts and words of all of us at once, was overwhelming.

An interesting event occurred over one night of the service. It was to be held in a dirt field at the base of a village in the middle of nowhere. Just when we were ready to begin, a storm began to roll in with such eminence and beauty that we all stood and stared in awe. The entire sky was black and rumbling . A sprinkle began to fall and we assumed the worst. We attempted to move under a small awning, yet as we frantically moved chairs and people…the sky majestically transformed into a clear and peaceful ambiance. During this miracle, I had noticed a guy named Tom who was on our trip, standing alone in the middle of the field. Later he said he saw the storm rolling in and felt an overwhelming voice that said, “Not now. This is not going to occur here.” He began praying fervently and needless to say we were all touched in a mighty way at seeing first hand our Creator telling the winds and rains to stop and seeing them obey.

The missionaries we worked with are continuing to have others come and help them serve throughout the year. They are going to be focusing on educational programs (such as reading aloud to the kids, coloring, and doing puzzles) & adult English classes. Using these activities, they hope to better the lives of the Haitians and Dominicans. These also serve for avenues to their primary purpose which is to declare God’s love & the sacrifice of His Son.

--Kim Smith, June 20, 2005.

 

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7

If you would like to help the people of these villages in terms of physical needs, a list is located at the bottom of this page – you may send them to Makarios (http://www.makariosinternational.org ) and they will see it gets to the villages as quickly as possible.

Village Needs :

Adult Shoes
Teen Shoes
Children’s Underwear
Children’s Books
Baby Clothes

Email Kim at cogcove@mail.com