Day 9 - Saturday, February 24, 2007

This was our team's final day in the beautiful Dominican Republic. We had two restful days under the sunlit skies of the Caribbean Sea. It was becoming increasing apparent to all of us that we would be back in snowy, cold Michigan by the end of this day.

Hsitory of the Schools - now transforming the lives of over 1000 Dominican children from grades K-12

The School
After 6 years of healthcare improvements, the next need was to educate the now healthy children. Local government run schools were not able to do the job. Most children were destined to a life of no hope and poverty because there was no one to give them a hand. In 1995, a partnership of missionaries, Dominicans and Solid Rock Missions built and opened a school to meet the educational needs of these children.

The school opened its doors in September 1995 with 170 students in four grades. More classes were added each year and more students as well. The school now serves grades pre-school thru grade 12. Twenty-seven students were in the first graduating class in 2001. All of them now either have a job or are going on to higher education.

Besides the basics, the school also offers vocational training to its high school students and local adult education classes. Vocational training includes computer technology, welding, baking, carpentry, masonry, engine mechanics, and more. The school is soon hoping to offer college courses as well.

The school offers a well-balanced Christian education. The students and the school continue to win awards for their excellent education and extra-curricular activities. The school is a model for other Dominican schools.

The Need
A recent census of the barrios revealed that over 3000 children are of school age. A small portion attend a public school. Nine hundred and fifty-eight of them attended the Christian Center for Education Development School. (CCED). A large portion of them do not attend a school at all. There is a waiting list to get into the CCED school. Some will make it in as others either graduate or move on. Our desire is to reach as many of these children as possible. We want to give every child the opportunity of a lifetime.

Sponsors Needed
Over ninety percent of the operating funding for the school comes from either gifts to the General Scholarship Fund or from direct sponsorships of students.

Twenty-four dollars a month ($288 per year, 78.9¢ per day) will sponsor a child, giving them an excellent education, books and materials, uniforms, a hot meal each school day, and medical and dental care. We encourage sponsors to correspond with their student. We will pass on information concerning the student as it becomes available.

91.6 cents of every dollar provided for sponsoring a child goes directly to sponsor that child at their school.

Our General Scholarship fund provides for one time or regular gifts to help defray the costs of the unsponsored students attending the school. Generation by generation, the school is impacting lives for Jesus Christ. This is where we need your help.

Picture of Dennis

Photo of Medical & Construction Teams in front of SRM Clinic

Day 8 - Air travel to Lansing, MI via Atlanta, GA

This will be my final log entry for this year's mission trip. I will admit that it was extremely difficult for me to leave this year from the Dominican Republic. The people are tugging on my heart. Only God knows the work He's doing in my heart. But, I will say this...I can hardly wait to return next year, hopefully, with my lovely wife, Sandy. She wants to help out in the schools however she can.

Oh, yes, I almost frogot to mention the tennis re-match (grudge match) between TEAM GOBLE and TEAM MIRACLE (Christopher Thomspon and me). You might be curious as to why we might be called, TEAM MIRACLE, don't think too long and hard because it's actually very simple--it's really a "miracle" that these two gracefully aging men can still compete at such high levels against younger men and boys--like Jim and his son, Jamie. Well, needless to say, but the re-match came and went and TEAM MIRACLE was still standing tall (and exhausted) after holding off TEAM GOBLE for 10 games (6-4) in the hot, scorching sun. I will admit that the sleep on the flight was very much needed. How about you, Christopher???

Again, I want to thank all of you for responding to God by providing me with both prayer and financial support. The monies that seemed to be in excess was not. God already had plans for the extra monies when I arrived at the Guest House on Sunday evening. Through your generosity, we were able to provide extra monies to our three Dominican worker friends, a translator for medical personnel, one month's salary for a security worker at the Jim Smith School in El Rosario, and gifts for the Guest House staff. :)

Check out Solid Rock Missions @ http://www.solidrockmissions.org/index.htm

Our flight left from sunny 90° Santo Domingo only to arrive in rainy 45° Atlanta some three hours later. We lunched at the food court until our flight left Atlanta around 8:00 PM. We arrived in Detroit to muc colder than expected weather. Jim Goble, our team leader, was unable to drive us home since the flight caused him some problems so I drove all of us back to Lansing. The drive home from the airport seemed like it would last forever.

Day 7 - R&R @ Barceló Capella in Juan Dolio

Today, I spent a full day at our resort. Just relaxing and spending some time alone with my God. Earlier that morning, Christopher Thompson and played tennis with Jim Goble and his son, Jaime. Needless to say, our time battled our opponents in the scorching sun until we triumphed victorious. A rematch was planned and expected for tomorrow...


Later in the day, I spent time working through my workbook for the Joshua study that I and two other men (Mike Kapuscinski and Bob Crane) have been leading on Wednesday nights in a mid-sized group setting. God showed me how being His servant can lead to spiritual leadership.

Our team shared Holy Communion together on the beach in the evening shortly after dinner and sunset. Pastor Michael Goble led us in our time, celebrating Christ's death. Picture us all seated on a brick wall embankment, facing the ocean with the waves ebbing in and out. Even though there were people partying all around, it seemd to me as though we were in a different place and time. We were in God's presence!

Day 6 - Ground travel to Santo Domingo & Juan Dolito

My mission with God changed venues today as we traveled on a 3+ hour bus ride from San Juan De La Maguana to Santo Domingo en route to Juan Dolio--the city where my much needed rest and relaxation would begin. We made a brief side-trip to the Old City in Santo Domingo to see some of the sites and do some shopping.

We were all very anxious to arrive at Barceló Capella.

Day 5 - On-site @ Jim Smith School in El Rosario & CCED School Evening Fiesta

Today was a very full day for me and our team. Not only was it our final day of construction work at the Jim Smith School in El Rosario, but I was going to meet Alexanader my sponsor child who attends school here in El Rosario.

In the morning, we took a short break to express our gratefulness for the faithful work of our Dominican friends--Basilio, Javiel and Ismael. This was an especially meaningful time for me since it was the first time I had heard an expression of our new friends thankfulness for our being there. Ismael, who mixes cement for us and doesn't say much and can hardly speak a lick of English, shared from his heart how much we mean to him. Through a translator, Ismael thanked us for building churches for their people and schools for their children. He also thanked us for providing work for him and others when we come. I praised God for allowing me and others to return to the DR. Later that afternoon, I gave a copy of Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God in Spanish as a personal gift to Basilio, Javiel, and Ismael. In this way, God could multiply His work in their lives while I am away in America. I have Javiel's address and will correspond with him frequently until I return next year. Please be praying that God will reveal Himself to each them and show His transforming power to them.

Early in the afternoon, I met my sponsor child (pic in uppper left), Alexander Montero Galva', for the first time. I brought him a large American smile :), a Moore family photo, and several gifts (baseball bat and ball along with a soccer ball and air pump). He didn't have much to say to me, but I assured him that I loved him and was glad to finally meet him. I will try to arrange for meeting him and his family upon my return next year, Lord willing.

Since this was our final day at the work site we had visitors from the medical work team including Dr. Monica Goble, Jim's wife, who took this photo (upper right hand corner) of me, Pastor Michael Goble, and Basilio (young man working on the ladder).

After returning to the Guest House that evening, we prepared for a fiesta at the Christian Center for Education Development (CCED) School. This was an opportunity for our team members who have sponsor children at this school to enjoy dinner and dance together. I hope to have somehting similar at the school in El Rosario so I can meet with my child's parents.

Day 4 - On-site @ Jim Smith School @ El Rosario

Again we started our morning with a team breakfast with our Dominican friends. Today, we began adding the chain link fence on top of the cement block wall we had completed last year and continued along the cement wall that had been laid this year as well as during the summer. The sun didn't seem as hot as yesterday because there was an occasional breeze. My body seemed to be adjusting to the climate. Our team is working extremely well together. Jim Goble joined us at the work site today since he had security duties at the cloinic yesterday. We have had many opportunities to talk with our Dominican friends that work alongside us--Basilio, Javiel, and Ismael. Basilio doesn't join us for breakfast since he live in the El Rosario area.

Day 3 - On-site @ Jim Smith School @ El Rosario

Our day started with a team breakfast with our Dominican worker friends--Javiel and Ismael. It was heart warming for me to hug these men who remembered me from last year.

Our ministry of love began at the Jim Smith School at El Rosario @ around 8:30 AM (7:30 EST). We continued the work we had begun last year. We completed building another stretch of cement block wall with chain link fencing. Much work had been completed since we were here last year in January.

We worked through the warmest weather I have ever experienced down here in the D.R. It was 90°+ but it's much warmer than our 90° in Michigan. Our work team worked very well together on this day. But, boy, was I tired when I returned to the Guesthouse at 6:00 PM (5:00 PM EST).

Day 2 - Ground travel to San Juan de la Maguana

Domingo 19 De Febrero - We woke up to sunny skies and 80°. We ate a Dominican-style buffet breakfast in the hotel dining room @ 8:30 AM. We left the hotel on our bus and traveled about 15 minutes to the the Spanish-speaking Iglesia Principe De Paz (Prince of Peace Church) where we worshipped with our Dominican brothers and sisters . Our worship service lasted for almost 2 hours. The music and drama were quire lively and the pastor preached with great passion. Although I could not understand much of what the pastor was saying I felt the presence of my God as we were in His presence.

After the worship gathering concluded, we stood around and drank Coke and shook hands with our new brothers and sisters in Christ. We got back on our buses and headed out on our 3-1/2 hour journey, stopping for a baked chicken dinner with fried bananas at Pollo Rey (Chicken King). After dining, we got back onto our bus and continued for another 2-1/2 hours. Just so you can relate to the road conditions, this 3-1/2 hour drive is only 120 miles.

After arriving at the Solid Rock Missions Guesthouse, we put our belongings away and gathered for a short orientation. Shortly after the orientation, most of our luggage arrived. The remaining pieces, including the two wheel barrel handles on Monday afternoon--nothing was lost! Praise God!

We gathered again after dinner for a short devotional and I retired for bed early since I am still trying to recover from a slight flu bug.

Day 1 - Travel to the Dominican Republic

We left Lansing at 5:45 AM this morning from Jim Goble's home in Okemos. I drove one of our team member's (Judy Hoeve) Dodge Ram to the airport for her so that we'd have our return ride next Saturday evening. I had already been up since 3:00 AM since I had just a busy day on Friday, trying to tie up all the loose ends at home and church. As I I looked up at the LED temperature display in Judy's truck I had to rub my eyes twice to make sure that what I was seeing was really true--1° F. Little did I know that upon arrival in Santo Domingo, my body would be experiencing an 89° F shift in temperature. Not that I was arguing about the warm temperature mind you!

Our Delta Airlines flight left Detroit about 30 minutes late, causing us to arrive 20 minutes prior to our connecting flight in Atlanta. Although we raced through the airport from Terminal B to Terminal E barely making our flight, our luggage was not as fortunate. So when we arrived safely @ 3:00 PM in Santo Domingo we had no luggage until Sunday evening. Only to find out later that our luggage arrived later that same day on an American Airlines flight. Oh, well!! We stayed at the Barceló Lina on Saturday night. I couldn't wait to retire for the evening since I got up at 3:00 am since I still needed to pack.

The intent of my blog is to journal my daily thoughts and post photos during my mission trip to the San Juan De La Maguana in the Dominican Republic from February 18-25, 2006.

Solid Rock Missions came into being officially in 1992 as a 501(c3) organization to support two Dominican-run minsitries--medical clinics and schools. They are a non-denominational group of individuals and organizations that have partnered to help meet the needs spiritually, physically, socially, and educationally, in the name of Jesus Christ. Their volunteer board comes from the U.S. and Canada. They also have a small North American staff which is headquartered in Wauseon, Ohio. In addition to the two schools and medical clinics, they operate a Guest House which is used to provide lodging and meals for the teams which come from all over North American to serve the Dominican people, like us. Currently, Rod and Sandy Nofziger are the Guest House hosts. They are awesome servants. What a blessing they have been to us!

Rod and Sandy Nofziger have been on staff at the guesthouse since January 1, 2004. They had lived in Pettisville, OH all of their married life, and had been on many short term missions trips themselves. During the two years prior to their decision to serve with Solid Rock Missions, they had an interesting chain of events that made it clear that God was asking them to make a life change. After processing their decision with their family and close friend in their church, they sold their businesses and their home and made their way to San Juan de la Maguana. They very much enjoy their role as guesthouse hosts, welcoming all the people who come to serve the Lord in the Dominican Republic. During their trips back to the U.S they share time with their four married children and eight grandchildren, Rod's mother as well as extended family and friends. Rod and Sandy are thankful for the support and prayers of the many persons who have made it possible for them to carry out this ministry. You can e-mail the Nofzigers at rsnof@solidrockmissions.org.

Our team consists of three men from my men's small group from Trinity Church--Jim Goble, Christopher Thompson, and me--Michael Goble (the pastor from The Church of the Good Shepherd in Adrian, Michigan), Dr. Monica Goble (Jim's wife), Jamie & Graham Goble (Jim's two sons), Judy Hoeve (Jim's co-worker), and Rose Aguilere (friend from Judy's small group).

Our mission to continue a construction project at the Jim Smith School in El Rosario, Dominican Republic which we began last year. Some of our team left a week earlier than the rest of us. The purpose of this project was to provide the necessary security for the school grounds. This security is in the form of high walls consisting of cement block and chain link fence. The reason behind the chain link fencing became more apparent to me this year than last. Surrounding the school is a beautiful countryside that our Dominican friends want their children to gaze upon, seeing God's glorious creation. As last year, we will work alongside paid Dominican workers who have become our friends.