Spring Break Mission Trip to Dominican Republic

This spring break, a handful of us at Campus Light had the privilege to travel to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for a mission trip. It was a joint effort with our sister church in NYC, Renew College Church. Our network has been partnering with Cru and Filter of Hope for many years now, but this is the first time that we as Campus Light have been able to go. Filter of Hope's mission is to distribute water filters to people who do not have access to clean drinking water and to bring the message of living water, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our team was humbled to see God working in and through us during our week in Santo Domingo.

Here are some quick stats:

• 41 water filters distributed

• 300+ people impacted

This was all of our first time on a Filter of Hope trip, and for most of the team, their first time on any international mission trip, so we were not sure what to expect. We were amazed at how smooth and pleasant the trip was. We’re proud of how hard the team worked, not complaining about the heat and humidity, being quick on their feet, and being bold in sharing the gospel.

We started the week by visiting a local church in Santo Domingo for Sunday service. It was neat to worship with brothers and sisters in a different country.

We started each morning with devotion time at breakfast, reading God's word together to be spiritually (and physically) fed and fueled up for each day of ministry.

Then, we would go out to local communities to install water filters. It was saddening and humbling to hear of families who had no access to clean water and the poverty that people were living in. After installing the water filter, we had a chance to share the gospel. The gospel that says that we're all spiritually impoverished, but that because of Jesus we could have restored relationship with Creator God. It was amazing to see what God and the Holy Spirit did during those visits.

God truly orchestrated things for our trip. There were some stomach issues and headaches/migraines in our team throughout the trip, but God answered our prayers and thankfully it didn’t prevent anyone from going out for distributions. Our team had 4 strong Spanish speakers and a Creole speaker who all came in clutch for our visits in the homes because some of the translators were not very strong English speakers (we had to do an English to Spanish and then Spanish to Creole translation chain for some of the homes). I really don’t think that they were coincidences, but God’s provision for us on this trip.

Here are a couple of neat stories from people:

• The in-country contact for FoH in Santo Domingo are a couple who are full-time for Cru and the husband is the Head of Cru in all of the Dominican Republic. We were thankful because they shared their knowledge and wisdom about doing ministry in the DR, and we got to hear the husband’s testimony which was truly like a Zaccheus story. (He was a very successful artist manager for many Latin American artists, who gave up his lavish lifestyle when he found Christ and then went full time for Cru)

• We visited and installed a filter for an elderly woman, who was a strong woman of faith. When we got to sharing the gospel, we did not expect much out of it, but sought just to encourage her. She shared about her middle-aged son, who did not know Christ, whom she had been praying for for 25 years. We asked if he was in the home and he was, so we asked him to join us. We went through the gospel presentation and then asked him if it all made sense and if he wanted to accept Jesus. He said yes! The elderly lady immediately started crying tears of joy and lifting up her hands in praise. We prayed the sinner’s prayer together and celebrated with them. We later learned that the lady was a practicing witch doctor who found Christ through a faithful friend of hers. And that since that day she had been praying for her son. It was such a privilege to be a part of this family’s redemption story.

• Our last visit of the trip was not actually in a home, but at a roadside shack. We installed the filter, but grabbed the attention of more people who brought their own buckets to have filters installed. We ended up installed 3 filters in the visit. The two older ladies there were already Christian, but one of them had a teenage son who was not. So we shared the gospel with him. When we got to asking the golden question, we asked the teenage boy if it all made sense and if he wanted to make that decision. He said yes. Our translator jumped in and clarified how significant of a decision he was agreeing to make, and went over the whole gospel one more time (she was straight spitting fire). As she was doing that, 3 younger boys joined and listened. When the teenage boy said that he was certain, we rejoiced. Then we told him and he should explain, in his own words, what he just learned and came to believe to the younger boys. And he did! He clearly explained the gospel to them and they all nodded along. When we asked them if they wanted to make a decision too, they all said yes! And we all prayed the sinner’s prayer together. It was a beautiful picture of how the gospel calls us straight into ministry, to testify to others of what we know.

There are so many more stories that we could share of how God worked mightily in us, through us, and despite us. We are all humbled by what God is doing throughout the world.

We're already talking about going on another Filter of Hope trip next spring break. It was truly a life-changing experience, and we would love for you to join us next time!

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The author of this post is Nick Lee. He is currently working as a marketing manager at a fintech company.

If you have any questions about anything in this post or about future mission trips, don’t hesitate to reach out!