Dominican Republic Mission Trip Daily Updates
PHOTO GALLERIES go to: www.bryan.edu/mission1.html
Monday, May 12, 2008
We arrived in the D.R. safely after leaving Dayton, TN at 5:00 am. It is extremely hot down here. We essentially just got orientated and accustomed to the way things work here at the SCORE hotel after taking the SCORE bus from Santo Domingo (45 minutes away). We walked around the local area before dinner. At the devotional time, we talked about the great things God has in store for us and how we should be listening to his leading during this week. It is also important to encourage one another during this week. For many of our team this is the first mission trip. Our team consists of nine Lady Lions (Katie Davis, Becca Morris, Hillary Tipton, Alicia Schulze, Anna Haley, Wendy Vork, Lauren Copeland and Jessica Southern), one Lee University player (Fallon Lee) and the Bechler’s (Tabitha & Jamy). We were accompanied on the trip by former Lady Lion, Heather Windom (who is interning for the summer with SCORE) and her sister, Amanda Dehnke (who is full-time SCORE staff). To close out the night, we had a practice to go over plays and the rules of international basketball.
--Jamy Bechler
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
We went to a school to play with kids this morning. The kids ages 6-12 were very excited to see us. They literally mobbed us as we walked in the gates. The absolute number one activity that we did with them was to blow bubbles. They went crazy for bubbles. They run around swatting at them. We also played Frisbee and hula-hooped. Toward the end of our hour with these kids, we got them all together and Katie Davis and Wendy Vork shared their testimonies (through an interpreter). We also sang “Jesus Loves Me” and “I’ve got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart” in English and then Spanish. The next hour was spent with the older kids doing much of the same. It was difficult for most of us because we couldn’t understand them. These kids would talk so quickly and with such enthusiasm, it was sad that we just gave them blank stares and a lot of “no comprende”. However, it was so exciting to see how God was able to use something as small and inconsequential as bubbles to make a connection with little kids. In the afternoon, we played our first game. It was rough going because we haven’t really practiced much and we are definitely quite rusty. We are scheduled to play a few Dominican professional teams. Today we beat SAN CARLOS 70-65. It was quite an introduction to international play. They got away with travels left and right (literally) and over the back all day long. However, our shooters did really well as Katie Davis, Becca Morris and Fallon Lee were hot all game long. Wendy Vork played well and made some real key plays down the stretch. No one got hurt and we won…quite a success story. After the game, we passed out Christian tracts to all of those in attendance (which happened to be quite a few people). After arriving back and eating dinner, we concluded the evening with a devotional time. Our passages were from Mark 4. As Christians with talents and gifts, we need to let them shine and not hide them. We also realize that people will be watching what we do. We also know that just as a mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds, it grows to be one of the largest plants. This means that we shouldn’t feel like anything we do is insignificant and meaningless. Though seemingly silly and insignificant, the bubbles proved to be a great doorway to share the Good News of Christ.
--Jamy Bechler
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Today we spent the morning at an all-girl’s orphanage. Essentially, Dominican mothers are allowed to give up their children at any time. These orphans normally stay in the orphanage until they are 18 (because very few people want to adopt Dominican adolescents). Once they leave the orphanage, it is a difficult adjustment because the Dominican Republic is a third-world country and there are not enough good jobs and locations for 18 years olds. SCORE International is trying to help with this by providing some training and education for these young ladies. Our players had a great time playing with these girls and young ladies. Half of our players got their hair braided by some of the older orphans. These young ladies are very talented. It would have cost our players $30-40 in a hair salon for the same styles. Being down here in the D.R. really is making us aware of how blessed and fortunate we are. This afternoon, we went back to the Capital city of Santa Domingo to play another professional team. We lost by only a couple of points. We shot well again. However, they were talented and had a “legendary” player named Theresa. In fact, the front of their jerseys said “Theresa’s Team”. She essentially matched her age by scoring 42 points. Our players were in awe. She can really play…not just for an older lady, but for anybody. We are playing well and having a good time. Hillary Tipton and Lauren Copeland gave their testimonies to the opposing team and the crowd after the game. An interesting side note to our game today was the chaos (non-violent) and craziness of the capital city with the upcoming presidential elections on Friday. It is like a huge block party in the entire city. Each candidate has very adamant supporters. Our girls have had some good laughs and seen some interesting things. They are definitely passionate about their elections. Thankfully it is all civil.
--Jamy Bechler
This morning’s game was tough for two reasons. First, it was...well…early in the morning. Some of our ladies (particularly our shooters) don’t function real well on the court before noon. Secondly, the team we played lost in the Dominican championship last season and is supposed to be the favorite this year. Four of their players are in the United States playing in college at NCAA Division 1 or 2 levels. Even though it was early in the morning, the heat and lack of depth got to us and we wore down. The game was very close until the 4th quarter when they ran away with it. In the afternoon, we went downtown in the capital city and passed out tracts and mingled with the locals. We also did some sightseeing of historic churches. We finished up our trip to Santo Domingo with a visit to the orphanage for disabled children. This was, perhaps, as sad a sight as most of us will see. We saw very deformed children and mentally challenged children among others. This was a different kind of visit than the orphanage yesterday. There were no bubbles or beach balls or braiding of hair. We were told that the children loved for strangers to show any kind of love or affection. A simple touch could make a child’s week. At times all we did was sit next to the bed of a child and hold their hand or stroke their cheek or shoulder. It is so hard to put into words how difficult it was to see these children helpless and, in some cases, seemingly oblivious to the things going on around them. I can’t imagine what strength and compassion a person must have to work at this orphanage. However, all the workers seemed to have a smile on their face. They also seemed to be appreciative of us stopping by. After about 90 minutes, we had to make the trip back to the SCORE hotel because there is a nation-wide curfew of 6:00 pm imposed tonight because of the Presidential elections tomorrow.
--Jamy Bechler
Friday, May 16, 2008
Today was our only “free day” of the trip. We left at 7:30 this morning to drive to La Romana to ship out to Catalina Island. We spent the entire day at Catalina Island, which is a natural monument in the Dominican Republic. We went with the other teams that are here (Kentucky Christian men’s team and College of the Ozarks men’s team), as well as 8 members of Emmanuel Christian (SC) School’s graduating senior class. We spent the day snorkeling, swimming, laying out and jumping off cliffs. We had a wonderful buffet lunch with tons of fresh fruit and island food. It was tremendously relaxing and fun for our players. Tonight, for the first time, we had a collective devotional time led by SCORE’s leaders. Up until tonight, each coach has been leading the devotions for their own team. This week has been going very quickly. Many of our girls have mentioned that they don’t want to leave. They’ve also mentioned how they feel like there is just so much work to do and that we are only scratching the surface. This is true and certainly punctuates the need for more missionaries and more ministry teams. Maybe some of our girls will want to do more in the future. Some of our young ladies have been saying how God has been moving in their lives. I look forward to seeing what the future holds.
--Jamy Bechler
Saturday, May 17, 2008
We played in a great game this morning against the National University team coached by Theresa, the legendary Dominican star. It was back and forth for the entire 40 minutes. The score was tied when they scored a bucket with 10 seconds to go in the game. We called timeout immediately and had the ball at halfcourt (like in the NBA). We drew up a play to get the ball to Katie Davis. It worked well and she had a good drive to the basket but was fouled. We had to take the ball out of bounds with 2 seconds because we were not yet in the bonus and it wasn’t a shooting foul. We got a very good look but the shot came up short at the buzzer and we lost by 2. We played well and I was proud of how the girls competed. After the game, we went to walk around and eat at a huge mall. It was essentially our first taste of familiarity since we got here. Other than the stores were unfamiliar and in Spanish, it was very cosmopolitan and modern. After eating we went to an orphanage for children of prostitutes. They performed two songs for us in English. It was really touching. One of the little boys (that was in a wheel chair) had us all hold hands and he led us in prayer. He wants to grow up to be a preacher. This is a great ministry. SCORE is also in the process of developing a place for prostitutes that want to leave that lifestyle and come to the Lord. We finished up our day by going to the Sugarcane Village. We pulled in to this extremely run down village. As we drove the bus through the village, our SCORE missionaries called out that we would be playing games with the kids at the ball fields. It was quite a sight to see all of the little kids running after the bus. We spent an hour in the ball fields blowing bubbles, giving piggy back rides, throwing nerf footballs, playing soccer and throwing frisbees. We wrapped up the time with testimony time and the message of the Gospel. At the end of the evening, we had group devotionals and talked a lot about the greatest commandment and second greatest commandment from Mark 12:30-31. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” We want to make sure that we are spending time with God and maintaining a healthy relationship with God, much like we’d do with a boyfriend or close relative. We also talked about trying to maintain a “mission trip mentality” when we got back to the states. It is weird that we played with kids and touch kids that we probably would never have considered touching or playing with back in the states. Many of us have realized that we can show and demonstrate God’s love to people. We may be the only example of Christ that people see in their lives.
--Jamy Bechler
Sunday, May 18, 2008
This morning, we drove to the capital city to attend a Dominican church. Our SCORE group comprised about half of the church. We sang a bunch of Dominican songs in Spanish (which was tough for those of us that don’t know Spanish). One of the SCORE interns served as our interpreter for the service. That was interesting. The preacher’s text was from Nehemiah and one of his major points was that indifference toward others can actually be worse than hating others. It was a good service and the congregation made us feel very welcomed. Later on this afternoon, we went down to the beach to watch the sunset and to do our devotionals. Heather Windom read from I Corinthians 13 and talked about how our showing the love of Christ is the most important thing that we can do. We might have talents and gifts but if we don’t demonstrate His love for others than we are not living up to our potential. To wrap up the evening, we went to one of the nicer restaurants in Juan Dolio. It was an Italian restaurant. The food was very good. Most of the girls shared pizza and then got ice cream in a mango fruit for dessert.
--Jamy Bechler
Monday, May 19, 2008 (Final Wrap-up)
Wow, this week went by really fast. We are all sad to leave. Obviously, we are excited to get home and see our friends and family but this place was special and the time spent with our team was memorable. As each girl shared last night at the beach devotional time, this week was a special time of God moving in each of our hearts. We saw things we never saw before. We learned things about ourselves that we didn’t know. One of the girls mentioned how she didn’t like kids and doesn’t want to have kids but God worked on her heart this week. No one would have known of her prior feelings if they had seen her playing and loving the kids that she interacted with this week. We met some good guys from the College of the Ozarks’ basketball team. We were introduced to the game “mafia” by the SCORE workers (Wilkens, Carter, Qikko, and Denny) and fell in love with the game, playing it for hours each night. The basketball competition was intense and top-notch. The play very good ball down here in the Dominican. However, we held our own against the D.R.’s top professional players. In seeing some of our core players play together, we feel good about our prospects for next season. We talked with Theresa (the D.R. legend) about bringing a team to the states and playing games against some college teams. The basketball is a great ministry for SCORE as many women have come to know Christ through their interaction with American Christians through basketball. God blessed us tremendously from raising the necessary funds to come on the trip, to keeping us all safe and healthy during the trip, to making it possible for Fallon Lee to come at the last minute and get a passport in less than 2 weeks. Praise God! Our girls supported and encouraged one another. We are all glad that we came. Our goal now is to look toward the future and to see how we can serve and love God this summer in our everyday lives. How do we have a mission trip mentality all year long? Collectively, we want to thank everyone that made this trip possible and prayed for us and supported us financially. It is all greatly appreciated!
--Jamy Bechler