Nation, Land and Blessing
In Genesis 12, God makes a covenant with Abraham. In this covenant He promises three things; that He will make a great Nation of Abraham, He will give him land and that He will bless others through him. As you all know, G.O. Ministries partners with Nationals through short term missions. Many groups from the United States come to the Island of Hispaniola throughout the year to serve and be a blessing to the Dominican and Haitian people. This has had a mighty impact in many different ways.
One of the aspects I love about God's covenant with Abraham is that it doesn't have a time frame on it, it's generational and still alive today. Every single year we organize and plan a mission trip. This trip is a little different as it doesn't involve a group from the States, but instead the group is made up of Dominicans and Haitians from Santiago. Because these guys have been on the receiving end of so many blessings from U.S. churches serving in their communities, they want to now allow God to use them to be a blessing to others by going on their own mission trip.
This year, 34 people from Santiago took a trip to the southern part of the island to a community called Batey 9. This is a desolate community made up of families of men who work in the sugar cane fields. Pastor William Decena has been working in Batey 9 for many years and G.O. partners with him to allow him to do full time ministry. We went to do sports camps for the kids and a concert for the community. The crew from Santiago loved on the children, developed relationships with the locals, served food to the kids in the feeding center and worshipped under the stars with the people of the Bateys during the concert at the basketball court! Blessings were abundant! Thank you to all of you who have come on a short term trip to the D.R. and Haiti. The next generation is following your lead.
Many people come back from mission trips saying they received way more than they gave in regards to blessings. I shared this feeling as I stood under the moon and the stars listening to hundreds of people from the Bateys sing out "Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God forever"! May we all continue to live out God's covenant with Abraham by allowing Him to use us to bless others.
Group from Santiago
Center of Batey 9
Basketball camp
Baseball camp
Soccer camp for the girls
Engineering or Architect camp for those that don't love sports :)
Community anxiously awaiting the concert
Praying for construction and growth of church in Batey 9
