On May 1 – 3, the Dominican Republic North District held its first Maximum Mission in the village of Coco Jacagua. The district and local churches participated; in all there were 19 people who attended. Among the activities were working with children, evangelism, ophthalmic medical consultation for the elderly, cleaning a ditch, evangelistic campaigns and the Jesus Film.
This activity represents the beginning of the missions from a local perspective, The district has conducted other activities of evangelism and compassion previously, but it has never been “self-sustaining”. This time however, young people used their gifts and talents for the entire three days. The response was that 18 adults and 60 children accepted Jesus into their heart. This number represents more than 40 households where the word of God is preached. The Church of the Nazarene in Coco is now committed to following up on these individuals and thus continue testifying of God’s work.
Angely de Jesus, is a 23 year old soundman in the Santiago church and he tells of his experience and what it meant to attend this activity:
“For me it was a challenge to be like the carpenter of Jerusalem, upsetting the world the way Jesus did; be a friend, not my brother, not the pastor or leader, but to hold the hand of a stranger, unbeliever, not with words but with deeds, to show them that God really loves them. It was also was an opportunity to be able to respond to the cry for help and learn to give and serve others is the highest form of life. This is what Christ came to teach us; surrender and be instruments in his hands to heal the world, help build lives. It’s learning that the gospel is not just words, but an action, a verb that moves transforms everything it touches.
The way I remember it, I especially remember the children from the baseball game, because of the way that they understood things. For them, WE were the strangers coming from another world, and what was necessary or urgent wasn’t to clean up or help them, but to see the world in which they lived. They showed me things with pride, like someone that was showing you a small piece of paradise…their homes, the road to the best river, the school, the places where they fallen down or played, their “baseball stadium” (which a man previously told me used to be a valley, on the highest part of the hill). If you ask me, yes, it was a stadium. A stadium where one dreams, one believes, one wins every single game. Seeing them so happy in what some would call “poor conditions” helped me understand that the truly poor were really other people. These children were the fortunate ones, the rich owners of the future and dreams.
In the end, my body was exhausted, but my spirit revived, with bags packed for the next time, I thanked everyone for allowing me to help, being a part of their lives and praise the Lord in a different way. THANK YOU !”
