Stories

VALIANT

For several years I had the history of Gideon on my mind as something that I would like to study more deeply, keeping in mind that what I study I often end up leading in a Bible study at some point. At the end of the 2024 school year, I felt that God was laying on my heart “now is the time”-- and so Gideon: Your Weakness. God’s Strength by Priscilla Shirer arrived at our doorstep two days before we left for the Dominican. As I held the book in my hands, looked at that title on the cover, and then read the back, I knew that this message was timely: “[Gideon’s] epic victory actually tells of one man’s struggle with his own weakness—and the One True God who transformed it into triumph.” Ever since COVID, I have been more purposeful, and therefore intentionally vocal, about combating the lies told within the explosion of mental health issues. As followers of Christ, we are not to walk in brokenness; we are meant to walk in victory.

A key truth from Gideon’s life, as with many people in the Bible, is that God “calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). However, while this reality rocked my world many years prior to COVID-- during a powerful “living room encounter” with the Lord in 2012-- truth be told, it took another decade for me to start boldly walking out what He showed me then… and, frankly, I am still having to learn that God sees us not as we see ourselves. But that is the epitome of grace, and therefore what is at the heart of “Valiant” and at the center of every Bible Study that I taught and every devotional that I wrote this year. I could not let go of one single, but crucial, aspect of Gideon’s story: The Lord, in the form of an angel, called Gideon “Valiant Warrior” while he was hiding from the enemy. God saw to it that I would be called Laura-- “Victorious One”-- decades before I even caught a glimpse of what that would mean. And shortly after we returned from the Dominican in 2024, God made sure that I could not let go of any of this. For that reason, what I thought was going to simply be the central focus of our Senior Class Bible Study this year actually transformed into so much more…

It became a mission. 

Special Beginnings

This year, our first night brought a special “welcome event” prepared for us by our Dominican friends. It was a time to start reflecting on the theme for this year, to begin building community between our cultures, and to form teams for a Tuesday night activity. The most meaningful aspect of this opener, however, was when the Dominicans had to interview us in English, and we had to interview them in Spanish, and then each person had to go in front of the church and introduce their “new friend” in their non-native language. No pressure! And yet it was a great way to not only break the ice, but to also start aligning hearts from the beginning.

Team Building 

Our first morning, we had a tour of the school grounds, the goat farm next door, and the village. Paul McMillan and his wife Linda, who together helped found the school, have approximately 500 goats (!) that they raise and use to sell milk and other dairy products. It’s truly impressive to see-- and it’s also not uncommon to be awakened to a “screaming goat,” as the farm is next to the girls’ cabin, and the goats are milked at 4:30am.

That day’s community-building activity was then a carnival night that our friends had set up on the basketball / volleyball court. There was a ring toss game, cornhole, balloon darts, a cup-stacking race, Bible Trivia Jeopardy, and dancing. The goal was to win games in order to earn fake dollars to then save for picking prizes-- most of which were brought down by us, so it was a great collaboration! 

Always Plenty to Sand & Paint!

Due to the climate in the Dominican, as well as the normal wear and tear that happens on school and church grounds, every year there is always plenty of sanding and then painting that needs to be done. This year we sanded and painted the playground by the lower elementary section of the school, a few upper elementary classrooms (once school was out for the year), the iron bars on the office and on the building next to the church, the church doors, the wall behind the church, picnic tables, and the garbage enclosures. That last one might seem super strange; however, imagine, a couple of years before we started going to the DR, they didn’t have any trash cans on the grounds, and so five hundred+ kids just threw all of their trash on the ground! Then they purchased huge, blue plastic outdoors garbage cans (no lids) for all around campus… and this year we arrived to see colorful “fencing” around a couple of the trash cans (mimicking what you see on the playground) to make these areas look even more presentable. So, we were simply making sure that all of them were freshly painted.

**FUN FACTS: A couple of our team members had a special “full circle moment” with painting this year. When we went to the DR for the first time in 2022, our first job was to sand and paint the entire lower elementary playground. Aaron Frasa and Kate Meyer were on that trip as well, after having finished their freshmen year. Now as graduated seniors, they both came back for their third and final mission trip-- and to sanding and painting the very place where their journey began.

This is the first year where SIX graduating Seniors joined us on mission! That was ~⅓ of the team!

Unique Opportunities

While we did a lot of painting this year, we also had a lot of other “out of the box” moments. First of all, imagine high school students at OCS roaming through the secondary, finding all of the broken furniture, and then fixing it themselves (wait a minute… maybe the DR is onto something here!). Then picture flooding in the street due to not having a ditch, and students digging one themselves. It’s pretty cool to see needs and then be able to meet them by using our own manpower. Well, then imagine a dining hall that was repainted two years ago-- only they never replaced any of the design work that was originally there-- and people who are gracious enough to let someone from another country use her gift to bring life back to that space.   After collaborating with the “first lady” of Juan Tomás, the elementary school principal and pastor’s wife, our very own Evie Cobb was given the opportunity to paint a verse above the serving area in the dining hall, a mural on the front wall, flowers all around the eating area, and another mural on a wall in the ball court! It was such a blessing to watch her make a blank canvas come to life with such incredible skill!

From there, a few students and I had the opportunity to help out with VBS Tuesday - Thursday, connecting the theme of “Valiant” with lessons on the Armor of God that my own Spanish IV students had written. Kudos and special thanks to Faith Denno, Morgan Dowdell, and Mia Gurney, who were brave enough to teach the lessons that they had written-- yes, in Spanish!-- to a room full of kids.

Finally, our group was also able to participate in a very special house dedication. When someone from the village makes a request of the church that a team help rebuild their house, when it is finished, a large group from the church-- plus whoever else is present (like our team)-- goes to the house, piles inside and around it, sings worship songs together, Pastor Richard gives a message, someone prays over the house and the family (this year I was asked!), and then we sing again. Words cannot express how powerful this experience is… and afterwards, some of us wondered if we could adopt this practice in the States.     

More Team Building

The most important thing that I stress with every mission trip is the reality that we are not going to the DR to “do projects” but rather to “build relationships.” Unity starts with our relationships with the Lord and with one another, and from there, we strive to keep building stronger relationships with our Dominican friends year after year. Thanks to the collaboration with “everybody’s friend” (and now a close family friend), Dharling Cruz, we not only had a carnival night, but also a “team night,” volleyball competition, and worship night. For the team night, we were all divided into the teams that were randomly chosen during our first night welcome event, which were a mixture of Dominicans and Michiganders. As a team, we had to design a flag (complete with a team name and spiritual connection), plus write a song or chant-- which we then had to perform in front of the whole group. Based on how well we accomplished these, we earned points to then see who the winning team would be. It was a lot of fun-- and quite hilarious to see what each team developed (including Brandon Pipp grunting like a caveman :).

Fruit Hunts & Party Busses

Some team members find the differences between life in Juan Tomás and life in Michigan absolutely captivating*. It’s always comical to see which students want to go “fruit hunting”-- and how excited they get over their treasures. Equally humorous is seeing the myriad of reactions when we end up on a “party bus” at some point on the trip, this time en route to and from our visit to the Colonial City-- Santo Domingo. In the U.S., if a student stands up on a bus, in less than a minute he/she will be yelled at to sit down. In the Dominican, you may find small, glowing disco balls lining the ceiling above the bus aisle (yes, you read that correctly), music blasted at earth-shattering decibels, and people piled in that aisle as they dance and jump and sing (yes, you read that correctly). This is the Dominican way. And while not everyone may chase after this lifestyle, no one can deny that the unrestrained joy exuding out of many of our Dominican friends is infectious.   

*This also includes capturing abnormally large beetles and tarantulas, but we won’t talk about those, letalone show pictures. Yes, there are pictures… :-0

The Power of Language

Statistics show that, for a number of reasons, knowing two languages is highly beneficial. When traveling on a mission trip, however, we are not focused on “statistics” but on “hearts.” While in Juan Tomás, we saw the beauty of knowing two languages come alive as some of our students worked with a 10th grade English class, assisting them in their conversational skills, and using their Spanish knowledge as needed to aid in the understanding of topics. Later in the week, the majority of our team-- per the instigation of Evie Cobb-- then joined with a group of Dominicans to head into the village to pray over people in Spanish (or in English with someone translating). It’s a wonderful thing to be able to use language to form bridges between cultures-- and even more rewarding when you can speak to someone in their own “heart language.”

The Beauty of Connections

From morning until night, it was all about connecting with one another and with the Dominicans. Each morning started with a personal, “pre-devotional” time of preparation and reflection-- and then after breakfast, we had group devotions (divided into two separate groups for the majority of the week). Since school started while we were eating breakfast, we were always greeted by lots of noise and “¡hola!s” from outside the dining hall, as well as plenty of hellos and hugs throughout the morning around the school grounds. The kids always wanted to be with us every chance they could get-- even when we were working-- and this year they were getting more bold in asking me to talk to their teachers to try and get them out of class. Oh, that sounds so familiar! :)  For those students that live near the school or are related to adults that work at the school or church, it was not uncommon to be playing games with them at other points in the afternoon or evening as well.  Finally, “late night chats” have become a tradition in the Dominican, and those who choose to participate will contend that the most rich conversations happen under the beloved mango tree…

Worshiping Together

Our friends in the DR are always so generous in their support of having team members use their gifts during church services as well. This year, as part of the week of community building events, our friends planned a special worship night during the usual Saturday night Youth Group group session. They called it “Firmes” in connection with our team verse, II Corinthians 15:58, where it commands us to “Manténganse firmes” = “Stand firm.” This night included a time to share praises & blessings, sing lots of worship songs (with our very own Kate Meyer and Tyler Morrissey helping to lead), and hear a tag-teamed mini-sermon-- given in Spanish by two of my Spanish IV students, Tyler and Aaron (yes, it was a proud teacher AND mom moment! :). But in all seriousness, to echo III John 1:4, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children [and students] are walking in the truth.” To God be the glory!

Sharing God’s Faithfulness

Our last night of the trip is always a time of reflection, where each member of the team shares what they are most taking away from their time on mission. I didn’t think that anything could top last year’s two-hour long time of deep thoughts and connections, but this year genuinely left me marveling at how we saw the Spirit move in that space-- with 20 people crammed into my hotel room! Not only was it a time of sharing, but it was also a time of laying hands on people and praying fervently as things were shared and we felt led. Three hours later, we were emotionally exhausted but spiritually uplifted. It was the perfect way to end a trip that had God’s fingerprints all over it. We are most grateful… 
 

To view all of the photos from our trip, click HERE.