Sunday – 2023

A Brand New Mission of Hope Campus

Sunday, July 2, 2023

What a great day! When we woke up this morning, we were finally able to see the new campus in all it’s morning glory.  It’s an absolutely beautiful campus here in Jarabacoa Dominican Republic in the foothills of a gorgeous mountain range.  This new campus actually has hot water (well, not exactly hot but not freezing cold either)!  A nice change from all our previous mission trips that only afforded us cold water.  The dorm rooms are quite comfortable with new sinks, toilets and showers.  We almost feel spoiled but are very grateful.

After our sunrise rosary at 6:45am we went to breakfast in the large common dining room.  We had an assortment of cereal’s, bread and jam, oatmeal and yummy papaya.  We filled our plates and had coffee with cinnamon sugar and vanilla creamer.

We boarded our touring bus at 9:00am and headed off to Santiago (an hour away) to attend the Haitian Church service.  The typical Haitian service lasts from 1 ½ to 2 hours with much joyful singing, preaching and enthusiasm.  We met Pastor Robinson who gave a wonderful lesson (interpreted for us by a Haitian Church member) on sin, mercy, and the need to stay close in our relationship with Jesus.  For obvious reasons, our mission team stuck out like a sore thumb to be sure.  However, the Haitian Church community along with Pastor Robinson were extremely welcoming and met us with joy. 

When we arrived back to campus some 4 hours later, we had a macaroni salad, lettuce salad and of course fruit.  The campus has a small coffee & ice cream shop open from 4:00-6:00 so of course we had to partake of the offerings thereof.

Once finished with our ice cream, it was time to eat again.  Supper consisted of the typical Haitian meal of fried chicken, plantains, spicy slaw, and rice with beans.  We then went to orientation which discussed the new Jarabacoa campus and the goal of Mission of Hope.  Then came the much anticipated campus tour. 

After the tour, David Berg then held a communion service for us in the chapel here on campus.  His remarks after the Gospel were quite touching as he reflected on being “blessed by God” and being “thankful to God”.

We should have gone right to bed after the service but of course our team decided to play a new game that Stephanie Reis had brought called Frustration Rummy.  It lived up to its name.  While we enjoyed a bit of free time with each other playing this game, an extremely large bug decided to dive bomb Stephanie.  He bumped into her then went straight down the back of her shirt.  Needless to say, it was quite frightening for her with much shouting and jiggling around to get rid of the creature.  Once that was accomplished, the lights went out and we were pitched into blackness.  The lights came back on within minutes however we decided it would be best if we took our game to the common room at our dorm.

As we made our way upstairs, a large rat made its way to the space we had just vacated.  Just another adventure on a mission trip!

We are looking forward to our work tomorrow as we will be visiting a Haitian community in Santiago where we have projects lined up for us.

Please continue to visit our blog for updates.  We truly appreciate all your prayers for our incredible St. Joseph Adult Mission team!

In Our Fathers Love,

Judy Schramer

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