Why Go?

As I prepared to join the Woodside DR team for my second trip in three years, a number of people asked me why I was going to the Dominican Republic. While a simple answer stating that it was for a church mission trip satisfied many, it really only stated the purpose of the trip, not the reason I was going. That would take a little more time. And, since it seems that I have that necessary time right now, I guess I’ll take a crack at it. Some of my fellow travelers will recognize what I am about to write from my testimony last week. But for those that weren’t with me, here goes:

A little over four years ago I found myself back at Woodside Presbyterian Church, the church that I grew up with. When my father passed away in February of 2006, we went to the Pastor at Woodside and asked him if he would perform the memorial service for the family. Pastor Hoglund (Doug), agreed and this began my journey in becoming a follower of Christ. Occasional visits to Sunday services were followed by regular weekly attendance. Weekly attendance turned into our joining the church. Becoming a member of the congregation led to both Michelle and I participating in bible studies. We were both becoming more and more involved with the church and more importantly, were enjoying it.

Despite my growing belief there was an important part missing. There has always been a part of me that questioned people that said that God spoke to them. I always felt that people that heard God speak to them were either delusional, or justifying decisions that they were making. Then came Mission Sunday, 2007 edition.

Every year the church holds one service in which presentations are made to the congregation detailing what each of the Woodside sponsored mission trips did that summer. I believe in 2007 there were four such trips: Pittsburgh, North Carolina, The Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. Each of the trips had wonderful presentations and there were a variety of different reasons to go on any of them. But in only one did I feel that something, or someone, was telling me to go – the Dominican Republic. I can’t explain what it was that convinced me to go. The only way I can explain it is that I had recognized, for the first time in my memory, that God was laying out a path for me. It had to be God because that is the only explanation for my illogical order of events that happened next. Immediately following the Mission Sunday service I tracked down Judy Jones, one of the leaders of the Dominican trip. I found her and told her that she could put my name down as of that moment as a participating member of the 2008 DR Trip. Then, I went and told my wife.

Fast forward now to the following year after the 2008 trip was complete and we were home. When people asked me how the trip went, my basic answer was, “It was regularly in the mid-nineties, very humid and we did heavy construction work. There was no air-conditioning and I don’t sleep well in the heat. There were continual concerns about contracting some sort of stomach virus due to the poor source of water and I struggled with dehydration one day. The sanitary facilities were somewhat lacking. In fact if I came across a gas station bathroom that looked like some of the places we used, I would hop back in my car and hold it for another 20 miles for a cleaner one. And yet, if it weren’t for my family, I wouldn’t want to leave.” There are a number of reasons that I felt this way: The fellowship – both with the team I went with, as well as my new Dominican brothers & sisters. The feeling of accomplishment of doing something that was so desperately needed (in 2008 we were constructing a water purification building), is almost impossible to explain.

But there was one specific moment that just summed it up for me and made me want to come back. I was sitting with two of my Dominican sisters when a couple of teenaged boys came by. I had seen them walk past a couple of times looking over at all of us, laughing and making comments (like teenaged boys the world over do). This time they walked over and spoke with my sisters. After a couple of minutes of conversation they appeared to have gotten whatever question they had answered, and walked away. Not speaking any more than a couple of Spanish words myself, I asked the girls what the boys had said. The one next to me said, “They asked why so many Americans came every year and worked so hard”. “What did you say”, I replied. She simply responded, “Because they love Jesus”. And that’s why I went back. For the love of Jesus.

Matthew 28:19 (New International Version)
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,


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