Going to the Dominican Republic was an experience of a lifetime that I would love to do all over again. I am Interested in becoming a physician’s assistant, and through this trip I have been more than reassured that is where I want to be in the future. I was exposed to so many different experiences in the one short week that I was in the Dominican Republic (DR). I was able to job shadow all the physicians that were on my trip and even experience the dental and physical therapy side for a short while as well.
Going into the village, we were able to reach almost 1,500 patients in the community and were able to fulfill medical as well as spiritual needs.
One time we were treating three teen-aged boys who thought that they had some serious physical needs, but really only one of them did, and all three of them needed spiritual help. Once we treated them, our translator said that we should pray for them like we did with almost all of our patients. She was not having a pleasant experience with them due to them trying to flirt with her, but we all knew that they needed to hear the good news regardless of their attitudes. We noticed that one of the boys was wearing a cross necklace, and we asked him why he was wearing it. He said it was just because it looked good with his outfit. We then continued to tell all of them about Jesus and how he is the only way to bridge the gap between our sinful lives and heaven. They all intently listened, and even though they did not accept Christ right there, they were exposed to the gospel and were able to contemplate it for the first time. The next patent that came in asked us what we talked to them about, and we told her that we told the boys about Jesus. She then told us that two of them are drug deals. We were shocked, but were glad to know that we were able to impact that part of the community in hopefully a positive way.
Another amazing thing that happened in my time in the DR, was when we went out to do home visits within the village to those who could not come to the school that our clinic was set up in. While the doctors went in and worked with the patients, a few of the others and I stayed out of the homes and played with the children on the streets. They loved playing with bubbles and just having some attention and affection. After playing with a group of about ten kids, I asked them if I could share a story with them. They all were very excited to listen. I pulled out my evangelism cube which is a tool that has a wordless gospel message on it. I told them about how we are all sinners, about Jesus’ life and how he saved us from eternal suffering by coming to him. At the end I asked them if they wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts, and all of them were excited to. We told them how they need to continue to grow with Jesus and gave them information on churches in their community that would benefit them to attend.
After the patients were seen, they were required to go to counseling, which was staffed by local people of the church, and they would hear the gospel message. Within the week, the clinic saw over 350 people commit their lives to Christ for the first time. It was amazing to see God’s work in place, even in the hardest of times. It was so encouraging to see that even though some of these people had so little, having or accepting Christ was all that they really needed to be happy.
I was so encouraged spiritually with the help of my team which consisted of 47 people who were from all over the U.S. I felt that God was working in my life by opening my eyes to mission work and helping those who are less fortunate than me. I was so excited to see how medicine and missions would work together, and now I am thrilled to be able to use my future profession to help all those around me. I am excited to be able to use this experience to tell my unbelieving friends about my trip and introduce Jesus in the process. It was an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life, and I feel so blessed to have been a vessel for Gods work in the DR and my community back home.
Going into the village, we were able to reach almost 1,500 patients in the community and were able to fulfill medical as well as spiritual needs.
One time we were treating three teen-aged boys who thought that they had some serious physical needs, but really only one of them did, and all three of them needed spiritual help. Once we treated them, our translator said that we should pray for them like we did with almost all of our patients. She was not having a pleasant experience with them due to them trying to flirt with her, but we all knew that they needed to hear the good news regardless of their attitudes. We noticed that one of the boys was wearing a cross necklace, and we asked him why he was wearing it. He said it was just because it looked good with his outfit. We then continued to tell all of them about Jesus and how he is the only way to bridge the gap between our sinful lives and heaven. They all intently listened, and even though they did not accept Christ right there, they were exposed to the gospel and were able to contemplate it for the first time. The next patent that came in asked us what we talked to them about, and we told her that we told the boys about Jesus. She then told us that two of them are drug deals. We were shocked, but were glad to know that we were able to impact that part of the community in hopefully a positive way.
Another amazing thing that happened in my time in the DR, was when we went out to do home visits within the village to those who could not come to the school that our clinic was set up in. While the doctors went in and worked with the patients, a few of the others and I stayed out of the homes and played with the children on the streets. They loved playing with bubbles and just having some attention and affection. After playing with a group of about ten kids, I asked them if I could share a story with them. They all were very excited to listen. I pulled out my evangelism cube which is a tool that has a wordless gospel message on it. I told them about how we are all sinners, about Jesus’ life and how he saved us from eternal suffering by coming to him. At the end I asked them if they wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts, and all of them were excited to. We told them how they need to continue to grow with Jesus and gave them information on churches in their community that would benefit them to attend.
After the patients were seen, they were required to go to counseling, which was staffed by local people of the church, and they would hear the gospel message. Within the week, the clinic saw over 350 people commit their lives to Christ for the first time. It was amazing to see God’s work in place, even in the hardest of times. It was so encouraging to see that even though some of these people had so little, having or accepting Christ was all that they really needed to be happy.
I was so encouraged spiritually with the help of my team which consisted of 47 people who were from all over the U.S. I felt that God was working in my life by opening my eyes to mission work and helping those who are less fortunate than me. I was so excited to see how medicine and missions would work together, and now I am thrilled to be able to use my future profession to help all those around me. I am excited to be able to use this experience to tell my unbelieving friends about my trip and introduce Jesus in the process. It was an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life, and I feel so blessed to have been a vessel for Gods work in the DR and my community back home.
