From Jan. 3 to 10, a group of students who are part of the Ashland University Christian Ministry traveled to the Dominican Republic as part of a mission trip.
“The purpose was to partner with ‘Meeting God in Missions,’ an organization in Hato Mayor, that partners with local pastors and leaders in villages to serve communities, but also to provide opportunities for students to grow in their faith while serving in the Dominican Republic,” said Josh Sumpter, executive director of the Office of Christian Ministry
He also described what students did to help serve people in the community, as well what an average day on the trip looked like.
“The students had a lot of options. We were able to work with a medical team, a baseball ministry, kid’s ministry and opportunities to pray with individuals and families in villages,” he stated.
He continued, “In the morning, we get into the word. We have the opportunity to dig into scripture and worship together. After breakfast, we load up and go out into different villages for different types of ministry opportunities. After that, we go visit Dominican churches to share meals together and opportunities for fellowship.”
“But each day, it’s consistent with breakfast, an opportunity to work, lunch, continue to serve, and then come back to the facility for a time of worship.”
An opportunity like this can make huge impacts on the lives of those who went on the trip, considering they are helping people in the area grow in their faith.
One AU student, sophomore Kylie Arnett, described how much this trip has meant to her and how she has experienced spiritual broadening as a result.
“My favorite experience would be seeing how the Holy Spirit really moved and worked in my own heart to have more gratitude, more appreciation for my brothers and sisters in Christ from other countries and places,” she explained.
Another AU student, senior Danielle Robbins, mentioned how she and her peers were able to approach a Spanish-speaking community and what they had to do to effectively communicate with the people they were serving in Hato Mayor.
“It was definitely hard with the language barrier. We did have translators, but one thing that I found really cool was the love of God doesn’t need one language. It’s kind of universal, so just the fact that you can show God’s love through your actions without having to worry about speaking the same language made it really easy for us,” Robbins said.
There are more trips through the Office of Christian Ministry in the future; all it takes is one leap of faith.
“If you want to grow, not be the same and get a picture of God’s kingdom beyond the bubble that we have, I highly recommend going,” Sumpter said.
“The Dominican trip is an annual opportunity through the Office of Christian Ministry that happens every January before the spring semester; our hope is to go down to the D-R to serve and you will not be the same if you do so,” Sumpter said.
To add on to this, he also highly recommends students to do other mission trips that the Ashland Christian Ministry offer throughout the year, with one being with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), who travel to Lancaster, South Carolina in May.
