August 7, 2022
What a joy to share with you what your support afforded the Breath of Life team to accomplish in Las Yayas, Dominican Republic.
On June 23, a key member of the community of Carbonera, where mission trips have taken place before, was in a motor vehicle accident his name is Guillermo. The week before, Brett, an US team member from PA, had a death in his family. On June 24, Brett used the pain and anguish of his cousin’s death and Guillermo’s recent accident to lead Guillermo into a relationship with Christ which Guillermo accepted. This took place within hours of our arrival into Santiago. It was a powerful start to the trip.
(here in picture Guillermo accepting Christ)
God put together an amazing team, we all worked so well together. Our team combined total about 70 people; 19 from the US and the rest were from Santiago and other places in DR where Breath of Life works and mission trips had taken place in the past.
The team was divided into sub teams: evangelization, teaching, construction, Vet, Children’s ministry and medical training.
Many lives were touched and transformed by the love of Christ through the many team members. The construction team was mostly repairing homes with minor repair issues; such as roofs and replacing doors and windows. Eight houses were repaired during this trip. The community was finishing the additional four after we left. The most memorable homeowner was Mello. He had a leaky roof for a very long time. He also was a menace in the community. When the team fixed his roof he was in disbelief and excitement at the same time. He had a permanent smile from ear to ear, hugging us all and coming around to say ‘thank you’. He was also throwing water on his roof on and off to see if it would leak!
The medical training sessions went very well, 23 individuals from the community as well as school teachers, and local medical personnel participated. The training was on first aid response, such as CPR, burn & wound care, A Bible was given to those who wanted.(pictured here some of those who received medical training)
Evangelization team members went door to door, both in the mornings and afternoons. Many homes were visited twice and thrice, the idea was to train the local church on how to evangelize by establishing relationships. Many of these visits led to conversions.
The Vet team were able to visit and care for animals in several locations, as well as to engage the farmers and growers in conversations of faith. Selah, 6yo our youngest team member was able to share the gospel with a woman in the farms whose name was Cela. Selah used a drawing method that we had learned and practiced to share the gospel through image.
(pictured here Selah and Cela in the farms)
The children’s ministry team did a phenomenal job with engaging songs and activities which impacted the community. In the mornings there was training for the Sunday school teachers and in the afternoons was the children’s programming. Attendance varies from day to day but they saw 80 children on one occasion. 20 students from the local elementary school invited Jesus into their lives.
The teaching team trained 45 pastors from surrounding areas on how to make disciples.
The theme of the trip this year was ‘casting the net’ based on Luke 5. Over all we casted the net throughout this small community and may God receive the glory and fruits for all that was done
.(pictured here children’s programing)
There was a special evening for married couples in the community, we had 27 couples attend. They heard the testimony of Roger & Janet and Ben & Chelsea shared their life story and bible application for marriage. The teachings and testimony was greatly received. We served a light snack and gave each couple a goody bag. It was an amazing experience for them all. At the end the couples were invited to vowel renewal which almost all did.
(pictured here couples’ event)
These are just some highlights of the many experiences we lived and enjoyed on this mission trip. We would like to meet any Thursdays in August, even if it is through Zoom, to share some more detailed stories on how God impacted this community during this trip. Let us know of your availability to coordinate.
Thank you for making this possible. Your contribution combined with our efforts was used by God to bring His love in tangible ways into this community.
Warm greetings,
Jose & Raquel Martinez