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Dear Church family,
At 2:15 a.m. January 1, 2011, 50+ students and chaperones left to begin a week long missions trip to the Dominican Republic. At this time I didn't really know what to expect, I just knew that God had a plan for that week. Little did I know just how amazing it really would be. My goal was to go to the DR and hopefully make some changes in the Dominicans lives. I soon learned that as I helped them, they were actually the ones helping ME. My trip to the DR was one of the best experiences in my life. It opened my eyes to a whole other side of life; a life that was so much worse than anything I could of imagined. God truly blessed me by giving me this opportunity. Because of it I have drawn closer to Him and have become aware of how truly blessed I am with my life.
While there I was able to help in sending clean water to Haiti, painting and cleaning in two houses, a duplex, and laying a floor in a bathroom. At the end of the week we dedicated each building project to the families they were built for. That was also an amazing experience in and of itself. During the week I also had the opportunity to help in two VBS', participate in a Christmas party for lepers, and a Christmas party for special needs kids. The VBS' were really neat to watch and be a part of. We would go out to the streets and walk up to kids and all we would have to say was "VBS" and they would nod their head yes, grab your hand and go with you. It quickly got around that the "Americanos" were back in the village and kids would soon come from everywhere.
The leper colony was one of the most touching experiences of my life. I was able to speak to, and even touch, the people who in society, are complete outcasts. The people who God accepted but everyone else stayed away from, because of their own fear. We were warned of what we would see and were told it will most definitely be hard to watch. I was very surprised at what I saw. All around me there were people with missing fingers and limbs, some who were blind and hard of hearing, others were on their death bed. The first man that some friends and I went to see was a man that was blind and very hard of hearing. His faith in God was absolutely unbelievable. Here was a man in worse conditions than all of us, yet he was the one with the strongest faith. We were told that most of these peoples families would not even come visit them, and that us being there was a huge blessing to them. The fact that we would even touch them put huge smiles on their faces.
The building projects, VBS', Christmas parties and leprosarium trip were all very cool experiences. But what stayed with me the most were the small ways that God worked through me to minister to the people in Cielo. The best memories I have are not from building houses and working, but in the relationships I was able to build with the people. Thank you so much for making this trip possible with all of your financial support and prayers.
Sincerely,
Melissa McKee
"Heal my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to the things unseen, show me how to love like you have loved me, break my heart for what breaks yours, everything I am for your kingdom come"
Leprosarium
Working on a house
Melina and her little sister
House in Cielo
Vacation Bible School
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