Pico Duarte Trek

Izzy here, one of the 3 LODs (Leader of the Day) for this intense excursion, ready to tell you about the crazy adventure we took as LIFT students and staff in hiking Pico Duarte!

Preparations began with student leaders and staff meeting with our local trip guide Cesar. We discussed all the logistical details of the trip and planned the food pack for the 3-day trek. The next steps included student leaders briefing their teams and the whole group packing food and group gear for the trip.

The beginning day of the trek students woke up at 2:00 am to load buses and drive 2.5 hours beyond Jarabacoa, where Pico Duarte is protected in a national park called Armando Bermudez. This is where we met the guides and mules from the park. In order to hike Pico Duarte, you must hire a guide and mule for every 2 people hiking.  So as a group of almost 30, we were accompanied by almost 15 guides and mules. The guides lead the mules, who carried all our group food and some gear, up the mountain. Before we began our assent, we were given a stern talking to by the director of the park about environmental protection and conservation. He was strongly concerned with LIFT leaving trash and graffiti and in our wake. Little did he know we are masters of LNT (Leave no trace) 😊.

Separated into 3 groups, each lead by a LOD and LIFT staff member, we began the 18 km trek (11 miles for the first day) up to our base camp site “La Comparticion.” While the first 4 km were for the majority flat, the next 10 km were a constant, sustained up-hill climb: 6 miles of switchbacks and progressively steeper terrain. For many of the LIFTers this was the hardest terrain they had ever hiked. The elevation gain the first day was over 5,000 ft in 11 miles.  For those who do not know much about hiking… this is significant! Fortunately we were only carrying 20 - 25 pound packs because the mules had the majority of our food and we didn't need tents. Each of the 3 groups arrived safely at base camp and enjoyed a warm meal cooked by the guides over an open fire.

The next morning offered some well needed rest. We slept in until 6 (Yes, as surprising as that is, it is sleeping in for a LIFT excursion). We started the 5 km hike to the summit around 7 a.m. and all the groups had summitted by 10 a.m. At the top of the mountain, we all touched bust of Duarte, a founding father of the DR, officially summitting the highest peak on the eastern seaboard at 10,164 ft. We sang together our classic LIFT song “Let us Adore” and praised God for his faithfulness to us over the past year. My group specifically took time to pray over our past year with the intention of praying against strongholds in our lives that keep us from growing deeper in our relationships with God and glorifying him for the work he has done in us so far. He indeed is making us all new in Christ, we want to praise God for this! In LIFT fashion we celebrated on the summit with Snickers bars, singing, and prayer. What an amazing thing to get to glorify God with our whole beings.

We all hiked back to the base camp to spend one more night fellowshipping, resting, and enjoying Dominican cuisine around a campfire. We finished the trek the next day around lunch time. Our total mileage over the 3 days was 28 miles (46 km) and around 7,500 ft in elevation! An epic adventure having come to an end. We are already looking forward to our next adventure back in the ADKs. It never ceases to amaze us how God uses LIFT excursions to grow us and teach us more about himself, his kingdom, and others.

-Izzy Oliver

See the previous blog post for more photos of the Pico Duarte Trek in addition to these:

Sam's final push to the summit!  (Don't worry - he was safe)

Finishing

The LIFTers have had a very full two and a half weeks here in the DR.  They are finished with serving with and learning from the missionaries at their respective ministry sites.  Last night was a fun-filled and meaningful celebration dinner and ceremony to worship our Lord, and encourage one another as we continue to run the race with perseverance even though our paths will be taking us different directions.  This morning will be a time of debriefing the missions experience here then packing up and flying back to JFK followed by a red-eye drive through the night back to CAMP-of-the-WOODS.

This past weekend LIFTers either spent a day at the beach or worked hard to complete a 3-day trek of 28 miles to summit Pico Duarte (10,164'), the tallest peak on the entire eastern seaboard of the US & Caribbean.  It was perhaps the longest, most sustained uphill climbing LIFT has faced over the years, but all worth the experience and the beauty.

Please pray for LIFT as we travel and for our return and transition back to the remaining two weeks of the semester.  Pray for them to apply and live out the lessons learned not only from this experience, but from the whole program and that they finish strong.

Our hearts are full.  Miguel, Courtney, Dustin and the rest of the Students International staff are an incredible team of humble, hard-working, passionate followers of Jesus who love this culture, its people, and pouring into American students coming to learn about missions.  THANK YOU TEAM SI!  

Pictures from the Men's Sports ministry site:

Meals at the Students International Base:

The Pico Duarte Trek:

 

Our classic Snickers Summit moment:

Puestos los Ojos

Hola hola from the medical site in Quinigua!

Over the past two weeks, the Lord has spoken to our group through Hebrews 12:1­­‑2, which reads, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This passage has been an encouragement starting with the first day of our Students International morning devotional, reappearing as the focus of our church service on the first Sunday, and in visible ways at the Quinigua clinic.

Alexa, Samuel, and I have been blessed to serve at the Centro de Salud Integral in Quinigua, which is less than ten minutes from the Students International base. The clinic is about three years old now and serves Haitian and Dominican patients, offering special care for pregnant women, hypertension patients, and diabetes patients. One of its current initiatives is the Helping Hearts program, which fundraises to provide high-cost medications at affordable costs to low-income patients. (Check out the T-shirts purchased to help fund the program!)

Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…

Dr. Jhanna, Dr. Merary, Jocabed, Faith, and Morgan have all been such encouragers for us LIFTers as we hear their testimonies and join them in offering care and facilitating restoration in the community. They have taught us to measure blood pressure and blood sugar, assist with vaccines and injections, assist with wound dressing, and organize and distribute medications. Plus, our site team has been so encouraging with pushing us to use whatever Spanish we know to engage with patients and staff. Every morning, we love to hear Jhanna share her daily devotional in the waiting room, proclaiming the gospel, unashamed and without fear. After caring for patients at the clinic in the morning and enjoying lunch as a team, we spend the afternoons visiting patients’ homes. It is a beautiful example of being Christ’s hands and feet to join Jhanna and the crew as they live out what it means to care for people created in the image of God. More often than not, our home visits don’t even include technical medical care—we’re there instead to pray for and sit alongside the community members who have become like family. Like Dr. Jhanna often says, “Medicine is the excuse…” but we’re really there to share Christ.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus…

One unexpected task has been to leave our fingerprints on the clinic by painting a mural for the waiting room. This has been a joy for me as I meditate on the passage, paint alongside my new clinic friends, and pray for those who will see the mural and ponder the verse. And of course, the Lord led Dr. Jhanna and Dr. Merary to this exact verse—Hebrews 12:2—that has been so impactful to us this week. (The mural mimics an eye exam chart!)

For the joy set before him…

One of the noticeable gifts to our team is the joy that has marked our two weeks together. From eating mango MESSILY on the first day to chuckling about Samuel’s language mishaps, to visiting our favorite, ever-so-joyful patient, Nidia, it is clear that the Lord has lavished His joy on our team. None of us expected to be laughing so hard it hurts every day, even when there is real brokenness right here in the community. We are grateful that Jesus went to the cross “for the joy set before him,” and that in this hope we can have joy each and every day. That same hope and joy are so real and tangible at the Quinigua clinic, and we will be praying for our Dominican family and the work God is faithfully completing through them.

Dios les bendiga,

Julia McGaugh

El Refugio Del Arte

 Dear Friends and Family,

These past weeks, five of us female LIFTers have been serving at Students International’s Women’s Social Work site Cienfuegos. It is a place where women and girls come to have a time of relaxation and participate in an activity or craft while also hearing about God. There is a sign outside the door that reads, “Bienvenidos el Refugio del Arte”, which translates to “Welcome to the Refuge of Art.” This is quite fitting because the girls come from a community stricken with poverty, and this place gives them a place to rest, be with one another, and possibly give them time away from a difficult home situation.

When we arrived at our site for the first time the first Monday, we quickly learned that our site leader, Amalfi Toribio, only speaks Spanish. This challenged us all to use the Spanish that we have been learning! We had the blessing of having two girls from SI, Janelle and Madison, help translate for us and guide us through the day-to-day site operations. Before we came, we believed that we would be working with both the women and girls but learned that there would only be girls from ages about 8-13 attending. There were different girls that would come in the morning or afternoon depending on their school schedule. While this was not what we had expected, it ended up being very fun and allowed us to connect with the girls more!

At the beginning of the day, we prepare for the day by cleaning or working on a craft that we would do later in the day. Around 10:00, girls will begin arriving and we will sit and talk with them for a bit. Then, we all read a story from the Bible and have a discussion about it afterward. Amalfi always has very wise and insightful things to say and we have learned much from her as well as the girls have. We then have either a craft or game that we do for the remainder of the time, until about 12:00. After lunch and time to rest, the same happens from 2:00 until 3:45 when we head back to the SI base. During our lunches, we took turns sharing our testimonies. It was very special to hear how God had worked and is continuing to work in Amalfi’s life and in the lives of the SI girls and even my fellow LIFTers, and a great reminder that despite differences, we are all beloved daughters of Christ!

It has been incredible to see how Amalfi connects with the community. She grew up in a nearby community and has been serving with SI since this base in Santiago began 7 years ago. It was not uncommon for people to walk by the house and say “hi” to her and have a quick conversation. When we walked around the community, she would talk to most of the people she saw, regardless of if she knew them or not. It is clear that she is very respected in the community and her ministry thrives as a result. Though the women are not coming to the site currently, she maintains contact with all of them and often stops by to visit them. She has taught us much about how important it is to love and invest the people you are reaching and to truly be a part of the community.

It has been a great blessing to be in Santiago and serve in the Cienfuegos community. We greatly appreciate all of your prayers and support as our time here in the Dominican Republic is coming to a close. God is doing amazing work here and it is a privilege to present ourselves before him to be used to further his kingdom!

-Carolyn Nesbitt

 

Cienfuegos Medical Clinic

 

Hola Amigos! Greetings from Santiago.

We’ve had quite a busy start to the work week over at the Cienfuegos medical clinic. Working alongside Dr. Brendaliz has been such a joy as she shares her knowledge and skill sets with us as we help her serve the people in the village of Cienfuegos. Her clinic is situated in a very poor part of the community. Many people do not even have money for clean water, much less proper medications. The community is also filled with Haitians so the clinic is always full of both Haitians and Dominicans.

Dr. Brendaliz has been a wonderful example to us as she proactively demonstrates her love for Christ to her patients and practices medicine in her own community by providing anyone in need with medications and treatment at an affordable price. She is very enthusiastic about teaching us LIFT students any medical skillsets we are willing to attempt, (after much supervision and practice) even allowing us to do injections, sonograms and administer medication Poverty, people's needs, and lack of access to medical care causes things to be different than what we experience in our culture. 

On Wednesday’s we have a pregnancy clinic where expecting mothers can come and receive a checkup and a sonogram. Interacting with the women and attempting to communicate and gather information from them by using our limited Spanish has proven to be an interesting challenge for us. The women are very patient with us and find our grammar quite entertaining. We are often a source of amusement in the waiting room!

We have enjoyed doing house calls almost daily and visiting new moms, debilitated patients and seniors who are unable to leave their homes. Sitting inside of these peoples houses and hearing their stories and their heartaches has given us a better understanding of how these impoverished people get by and with resiliency sustain their lives. It is hard to not hurt for these people as we say our goodbyes and leave. What a blessing it has been to have a glimpse into these people’s homes and lives and be able to meet a physical need while praying for their spiritual needs as we share the love and hope of Christ through our joy and love for them.

-Kaytlin Darrah

All Things New

 Dear friends and family at home,

We have been blessed to see God’s beauty and glory this past weekend and I am so honored to give the update. On Saturday, LIFTers went to twenty-seven waterfalls, a popular excursion in the Dominican Republic. It was incredibly beautiful deep gorge with turquoise pools and exotic tropical plant life. It was also fully experiential as we were able to descend every waterfall, big and small, by climbing, sliding, and jumping. Some of our group members braved their fears of heights or swimming and we all marveled at such a beautiful and thrilling place that the Lord had made.  (See photos from previous blog, "Eudcation & Recreation")

This Sunday, we attended Comunidad Multicultural Church which hosts a diversity of people groups and do their services in English, Spanish, and Creole. In one part of the service the pastor talked about how we are all a part of one whole family and invited us to stand and hug a family member that we had never met before. One of the people I met was the worship leader who told me “Soy Tomme” (I am Tomme) to which I was excited to reply, “¡Mi hermano es Tomme!” (My brother is Tommy). God showed me that day how big and wide His family truly is. The love and faith I share with my brother Tommy at home is the same love and faith I have for my brother Tomme in the Dominican Republic.

Also this past Sunday, LIFT observed and practiced both the sacraments of The Lord’s Supper and Baptism. In the church service, we were reminded that Christ died for the joy of being close to us and because of his great love for the world. We were given instruction and encouragement to fix our eyes on him through the passage Hebrews 12:2. “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Our entire group is participating in a Bible study on this topic, it is being painted on the waiting room wall at our site in Quinigua, and we now have had a church service on this. Clearly this is something that the Lord is wanting to put on our hearts. So we fixed our eyes on Him as we broke bread together and proclaim Jesus’ death and resurrection until He comes. 

In the afternoon we all gathered at the base to witness the baptism of two of my brothers: Benjamin Smith and Porter DuHadway. Both of these guys have grown so much this past year and to witness a decision they made to be baptized was a testament to the work God has done in their hearts and the dedication they have to Christ. Watching them being baptized by their mentors, surrounded by the LIFT family was a barrage of emotions . . . inspiring, tearful, and joyful . This is what our faith is Christ is all about and the hope we have in him for new life, a family, a home, a hope, a savior. We are honored to be here and to see what God is doing. He is making all things new.

Con amor y en el nombre de Cristo,

Sam Nicholson

The city of Santiago

Base Up-Keep

With hearing other stories and reading some of the ones that have put on this blog, I figured that I should attempt to share a more mundane side of missions that does not often get recognized as an integral part of the work and service. What typically doesn’t get recognition is the maintenance and upkeep of the actual missions base where all the ministries are supported and sent from. Me and my team members, Gabe and Nicci, are working through sun and (a lot of) rain to help Alberto make the Students International base a better place to live and work from. This last week, we had the wonderful opportunity to dig up and remove a center island in the driveway, pulling up three small trees, breaking concrete curbs and removing the dirt from the center of it. In its place, this next week will include laying gravel, rebar, and concrete to pave over what we removed. This is very important because Students International currently doesn’t have the best area to park their cars, and what space they do have is under trees that could drop coconuts or mangos onto the staff cars. With the removal of the center island, we will allow for four or five more parking spaces for their teams, site leaders, and partners in the missions’ work.

The work we have been doing is not all that different to what we would do back at CAMP-of-the-WOODS, on a day that we would be working a Grounds shift. As we are familiar with the amount of work that is required for something like what we are doing here in the DR, we recognize that things will fall into disrepair very quickly if they are not maintained. With a ramshackle workplace, the team cannot effectively do the work of the Lord in the community. I and my team are learning about this importance of reaching out to the community behind the scenes and looking towards supporting the sites and the people they reach. God has been teaching me to strive in strength and in dedication to the work He has put before me, completing it in joy so that it can be used effectively for current and future teams.

Noah Henry

Photos of the Construction/Base team:

Education & Recreation

 

Each morning Yocasta, Elizabeth, and Kasey unlock the gate to the school building and the students from the community are eagerly waiting outside with smiles on their faces, hanging on the gate railings, and catching fish from the canal waiting for class to begin. The Students International Education Center is located in Quinigua, Santiago and provides tutoring, preschool, and meals for children in the community. Yocasta and Elizabeth are both local Dominicans who teach the classes and Kasey is a Global Bridge student working alongside them for the year.

Students International seeks to support the community and share the gospel in multifaceted ways through the Education Center. They provide Children in the community with breakfast and lunch. Yocasta emphasized to us the importance of providing these meals. She told us that sometimes the children arrive at school fighting and angry because of their hunger and as soon as they eat, they settle down and act like themselves again. There are public schools in the community, but students only go for half of the day, because the government does not have enough money to fund whole days. Elizabeth, who teaches the older kids, supplements their education by tutoring the students in reading and writing skills. This additional education will have a long-term impact on their ability to communicate and provide for themselves and families. Teaching provides many opportunities to share the gospel and the heart of Jesus with a focused scripture passage through song, reading, and crafts. The missionaries are also able to earn the trust of families in the community as the family sees their genuine care and love for their children.

A group of us LIFT students have gotten to be a part of the Education Center this week. At the end of each day, we sing and dance to “Cristo es mi superhero” (Jesus is my Superhero), and then listen to "Way Maker" in Spanish. As we listen to the music and the kids sing along, the children know to line up at the back of the room, and all of us form a tunnel, and we silently pray for each of them and put a hand on their shoulders, and they slowly walk through the prayer tunnel. This time of prayer, though simple, has been such a reminder to me of God’s heart that longs to show His grace to each of us. As each child passes, I have simply been praying that they would know their savior, Jesus. Not only does this time of prayer reflect the missionaries genuine work and love unto the Lord, but it also seems to symbolize their dependence and trust in the Lord. Recognizing God’s deep love for these children and sending them home in prayer and trust, not in their own work, but in God’s protection and salvation.

Julia Haynes

LIFT on their day off (Saturday) experienced the fun thrills of canyoneering in the Damajagua River Gorge, followed with a scrumptious lunch buffet.  

For videos of this high adventure day go to the LIFT Discipleship Program Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/liftdiscipleshipprogram 

A Day in the Life

 

LIFT 45 in the Dominican Republic - Post #3

What have we been up to?

What does a workday look like while serving with Students International? Our day starts at 6:45 with quiet time until 7:15. During this time LIFT students have been working through a SI specific devotional. From 7:15-8:00, LIFT students lead a short worship set then hear a message from an SI staff member based on the devotional reading for the day, followed by breakfast and lunch pack for the day. At 8:45 LIFT, Global Bridge students (a study abroad program focused on missions), and SI interns load onto the bus and trucks and head for the different ministry sites.

Students work at the sites until 4 pm. From 4-6 is free time! During this time students can swim in the pool, go on a run near the base, play volleyball, set up hammocks, read or study, play games, etc.. It is time to spend building relationships with one another along with the other students and staff at SI. After dinner is team time. This has looked different almost every evening. Some evenings are activities centered around knowing more about the Dominican culture, some are for journaling and reflecting on our experiences, and others are classes on holistic ministry and learning how to effectively love our neighbors.

On Monday night, SI staff put together a Dominican culture night for LIFT where they taught us about traditional Dominican food, dress, and lifestyle. They served us “La Bandera” aka “The Flag” for dinner, a classic Dominican dish of chicken, rice, beans, salad and avocado. We also got a quick lesson on how to dance the Merengue. Que divertido! (What fun!)

On Wednesday night, we heard from Miguel, the director of SI Santiago, about the history of Dominican and Haitian relations. Miguel and his family, although Dominican themselves, spent 9 years living and doing ministry in Haiti. Miguel is passionate about God’s calling on Christians to love one another regardless of ethic allegiances. We are all one in Christ. We share in his body and blood together. We are all redeemed by grace. As he spoke, he educated LIFT on the ethnic tensions between Dominicans and Haitians explaining the history behind it. He graciously answered questions and shared how his own misconceptions were broken apart after living and falling in love with Haiti; a country and people he was told he was supposed to hate. We ended the evening with a time of prayer for Miguel and asking from peace and reconciliation on the island between the two countries.

Miguel and his staff are an amazing team whom God is using to bring light and love to the island of Hispañola.

-Izzy Oliver

Here are some pics from the Early Childhood Development Center:

 

More from the Appropriate Technology Site - building water filters: