Jasmin's trip to the DR

This is Jasmin's take on the DR. I am so thankful that God allowed Jasmin to be in our group. She blessed me so much and her heart in all for what God wants.....awesome!



DR TRIP 2011

I am so thankful for the opportunity to go to the DR. Someone shared on our trip that you can’t out give God. I feel God blessed me and worked in my heart far more than I was able to give. Even though we have been home almost a week, I am still trying to “process” my experience in the DR. This trip impacted me in many ways and opened my eyes to so much more.
1. I need to be disciplined in praying for our missionaries. They are amazing. It may take years for missionaries to see the harvest of the seeds they have planted. They may never see the harvest this side of heaven, but they are faithful to the call that God has placed in their hearts. Lord, help me to be faithful in prayer and with whatever resources you have given me to serve you.

2. The language barrier is not an obstacle when you are sharing the love of Christ. I sensed God working through hugs, smiles, laughter, and tears.


3. God continues to expand my circle of friends. He not only introduced me to brothers and sisters in the Dominican, but he deepened relationships with the women on the trip.


4. It was amazing to see 23 women – all coming from various walks of life and different personalities – connect so beautifully, together. I believe God called each of us to this DR trip and God worked a spirit of unity in each of us. We prayed together, shared together, cried together, laughed together – oh did we LAUGH together! Thank-you , Lord, for the way you worked in our relationships with each other.

5. I loved worshipping with my DR brothers and sisters. I was glad to have the morning devotions translated into English, but it was beautiful to hear scripture and their words in Spanish, too. Many times I could somewhat understand what was being shared just by the joy on their faces. Also, when we sang our worship songs in English and those same songs were also sung in Spanish – it was BEAUTIFUL. I imagined God hearing praises lifted to Him – in many different languages – as a sweet offering to Him.

6. God is in all the details. God worked out which areas we would serve in and with whom; He worked out all of the flight details to get us there; He worked it out so all of our luggage finally arrived. He worked in each of our hearts – healing hurts, healing relationships, giving insight, answering prayer, offering forgiveness. He also worked out the rain on Friday – allowing the much needed rain to fall while we were inside with the children and stopping the rain long enough to allow us time to play games and do the Bible story. God is truly AMAZING!

7. God did a work in my heart while we were there. I don’t want to lose that. I met a young man who has many physical struggles. His home is very “humble.” They do not have much, BUT, he has so much joy in his heart. He doesn’t dwell on his struggles but concentrates on his relationship with Christ. Melvin shared that he prays for all of us who come to visit him. Melvin completely rests in His Savior. Jesus is all he needs. His passion for Christ and his “resting” in the Lord were beautiful to behold. Oh Lord, forgive me for those times when I do not look to you and you alone.

8. We are not so different from those who live in the DR. We all have a need to be loved and cared for. We all need our Savior.

9. The people of the Dominican are much more relational than we are. They take the time to visit and develop relationships. At home, we seem to be caught up in busyness and schedules.

This experience has been a powerful one. I know that God has me here in Indiana, at this place, at this time, for a purpose. I desire to seek Him and be obedient to what He has for me here. The biggest thing I take away from this trip is that God does AMAZING things through a willing and obedient heart and He is ALL WE NEED. God “broke” my heart this week and I am thankful for it. He showed me, through the testimony of a man struggling with poverty and Cerebral Palsy, that when we have Christ, we have everything! “I said to the Lord, You are my Lord, APART FROM YOU I HAVE NO GOOD THING.” Psalm 16:2

In His Love, Jasmin

This is Dawn Christners words on her trip to the DR>
She is behind me in the picture. She was such a help to me before and during the
trip to the DR> She does a lot of behind the scenes work most of you do not know about. Thanks Dawn for all you do!






My thinking and understanding has not really changed as much as reinforced. This was not my first mission trip so it was more of a reminder. I have always had a passion to serve but going on trips like this makes it even more of a passion. It also reminds me of how blessed I am. Life in the US is easy and we take so much for granted, and because it is easy we sometimes forget that we need to leave everything in God’s hands! God is in control and it is His will not mine!

10 Things in no particular order! J

1. Gods timing is perfect!
2. All women on a mission-the stories that cannot be repeated!
3. Humility
4. Watching how the trip affected other women. Tears & Laughter!
5. The passion the missionaries feel for the country.
6. The fact that Rita could see changes in the country in the past 10 years means something is working.
7. Team Time
8. Power of Prayer
9. God’s will not mine.
10. God’s hand in everything!



This mission trip was really different for me. I think that it affected me differently because I had to deal with some physical restrictions. Humility was one of the big things God wanted me to learn this week. I am use to taking care of everything on my own. I don’t like to ask for help. In the DR I was unable to do some of the things that I wanted to do because of my foot. I prayed and prayed for healing before we left because I knew how difficult the trip would be if it didn’t heal. He didn’t heal it! Humility is not something you think of learning when you go on a mission trip but I did. I had to learn to accept the help of others. The day I had to stay at the SI base was extremely difficult for me, but I truly believe it was because Marcia needed to have that experience. I’m so glad that she was able to go in my place! God’s hand is in everything! I know that I don’t have to do things on my own and I am thankful to everyone for their help and for blessing me!

The great thing about a women’s mission trip is all the tear and laughter! It was such a blessing to me to listen to the women share about what God is doing in their lives, how they were affected by this trip and what it took to get them there. They had such an openness and desire to change things in their lives and follow where God is leading them. These ladies are amazing and I am so blessed to be able to call them my friends and thankful for the way that they touched my life!

Impack the DR had on my sister ; Rosella

My sister Rosella is on the far right of this picture.
She lives in Texas and she joined us on this trip.
I am so thankful she got to come with us. This was her blessings in the DR

Rosella's Blessing:

HOW DID THE DR IMPACK MY LIFE! GOD IS SO GOOD!

The power of Prayer and God's faithfulness!

Hunger for God's Word among the teenagers, just wanting to hear and talk more.

God's creation in so many beauitful women and girls, faces I will never forget, Personalities so so different each displaying who they are.

Contenment among ladies who love God , Satisfied with God alone. Simple, simple life, sharing their simple pleasures.

Daisy, her dedication to the ladies and children, Her quite spirit, her love for God, Her love to teach them Gods Word, Her patience, Her love for teaching obedience to God.

DR people putting visiting and relationships before work and enjoying each other

A little girl waving good-bye with both arms as our truck left the work site, her waving good-bye never stopped as long as we could see her. What a precious girl, I wonder what a in that heart.

Unity among the American ladies, my sisters in the Lord. The caring and sharing with one another what a sweet fellowship, and great leadership of my little sister. Carolyn you loved and served well. Was so encouraged by your heart to serve and love for God. Thank you so much. God is Blessing you!
How smiles and hugs can bring great encouragment.

The amazing SI staff, The morning Prayer and worship! The encouraging thoughts spoken, The challenges spoken through God's Word. Each missionary hand picked by God for such a time as this in the DR. Cheryl and Maggie , the great care and food prepared was awesome, The bedtime chats we had were precious, even the echo's of the next cabin.

All in All my prayer is that I will daily pray eternally for souls in the DR. I will live for eternal purpose more and not for this world. I am more aware that the needs in the DR are no different than here in the USA. There are broken hearts, hungry children, abused children,Pain,suffering and a real need to be loved and encouraged. As one of the ladies gave her testimony she said when I obey God and stay in his word my life is easier. A life of purity is easier to live than a life full of sin. Jesus is the answer for this world, To be satisfied in Christ alone brings much Glory to God. With Jesus our struggles are cared for by God.
The DR women taught me so much, They do not need our life style we need more of theirs. Trusting God day by day for daily need in every way of life. Focusing more on Jesus and less on us. My sisters from NLF thank for sharing your week with me and blessing all of us with a termendous week we will never forget the team God put together. See Ya'll next year.

Jeanie is the one on the left. The gal in the middle has been a real blessing to Jeanie and Donna this week, You will have to ask them questions about her.
We learned to know Jeanie in the DR and know God has a plan for her life!
Thanks Jeanie for sharing!


The power of prayer came in so real on this trip. Sometimes I feel like God is not listening to prayers when I pray and pray and nothing happens. God used this trip to show me in a POWERFUL way that He hears EVERYTHING.
No matter how big or small it is, He knows and cares what we are going through.
We had so many things that we had to lean on Him to change. Anything from flights to get there, to stopping the rain. GOD TOOK CARE OF IT ALL!!!!
It is amazing how much one little miracle can change out view of things. All the stresses of the week, and conflicts that could have tore the group down, it built us up. My mind goes back to the first meeting we had about the trip and I remember Carolyn saying she is amazed at the group God brought together and she prayed for unity in the group. THAT PRAYER WAS ANSWERED. I went on this trip, not really knowing any of the people and came out of it with a awesome group of friends.

God also showed me a lot of self-worth through this trip. He gave me some talents in sewing that I don't use often here. I about forgot about them and don't think of them as gifts from God. Well, He showed me the first day at the site I was at, that the gifts he gave me are HUGE!!!! I am thankful for the things He gave me and for the things I take for granted. Just because I find things easy that comes natural to me, doesn't mean everyone does. I am thankful for who He placed me with at the site. What came natural for me, didn't come natural for others, but what I have a hard time doing yet, came very natural for her. GOD IS AMAZING!!!!

Why did God take me on this mission trip? Wow, where do I start. God had to take me thousands of miles away to make me face the facts of what he wanted me to do without any distractions. It is to easy here in the my comfort zone to do things out of habit and push aside what I don't really want to do or to scared to do. It is scary sometimes to venture out and do something different, but how much better it feels when you do things that God is asking you to do and not hide from it. God can continue to take me on this journey now. There is no block wall there to hide behind. I also realized that I am not walking this journey alone. There are others that are walking with me and are dealing with the same issues as I am. Praise God for His faithfulness!!!

Pam Cross how God spoke to me in the DR

Pam is on the far left side of this picture
She is a blessing to me. She hears when God speaks and is always there to help
in her quite meek ways. Thanks Pam for these words.



A big thanks to Carolyn and all for their hard work before and during our trip. the verses, etc. before and the team mtg. during were a big help to prepare us for our "mission". Thank you!
My 10 major impacts from our trip:
1) power of prayer
2) reward for obedience
3) power of prayer
4) God's answers to prayer
5) Building and enhancing relationships
6) power of prayer
7) mission workers willingness to serve
8) our many blessings as servers/servees
9) opportunity for building a deeper relationship w/God through our worship time and interaction w/our site leaders
10) As Mari so well stated: Many times we are called to do something for our Lord and He reveals to us a reason for our own experience is something totally different from what we were expecting.
As you can probably tell, the major impact to me was the power of prayer and
God's perfect timing in answering it.
We had many answers to prayer before and during our trip. I personally had one and I just thank the Lord for his answer because it allowed me to have a good week and drew me closer to Him.
The other major impact was the strengthening of my relationship with God which is why I feel I was lead/pushed to be on this trip.
Mission trips are to me more of a blessing and growth for the ones going than for the ones we are ministering to. Because of the language barrier and the short termness of the trips it is hard to see the long term impact we may have on the people. Just from the time spent w/22 other sisters and seeing some of the things God accomplished in their lives in one week has done a lot of work in my life.
The worship times in the mornings got us ready for the day and the Team time in the evenings helped us to assimilate all we had seen and felt into our own lives.
The time spent helps us to be better sisters and disciples for God which is what He calls us to be.
God did some amazing things for us, with us, and through us because of our obedience to His call and our stepping into the water, in faith as his disciples.
God overcame the persistence of the enemy in His own time and way due to our obedience and faithfulness in Him.
It is awesome obedience and a big leap of faith to be a missionary. To surrender all the "comforts" to surrender to God's call to be a disciple. I just hope we were an encouragement to them as they shared their "hearts" with us.
One final thought, just shortly after we left the airport, someone noticed what looked like a cross in the sky from the exhaust for 2 planes crossing each other's path. I had this thought come to me that God was thanking us for our willingness to pick up the cross and spread its symbol of Good News to others as God's disciples.

The thing that blessed Rita the most in the DR

Here is Rita Lewis's greatest joys in the DR.(Rita is the first lady on the left on the truck) We enjoyed her being with us! Rita worked with the little kids all week.
It is a very difficult place to work because you are giving our all week and no giving back to you. You love on the Kids all week and it is so important but can not talk to them. Thank you Rita for being obedient!!

Rita says: The thing that made the most impression on me was Mari's lesson to the teenage girls and how much things have changed in the ten years since I have been there.
I can see progress; children are cleaner, schools are bigger and better, the community looks better. The mission is doing a work for the Lord!
It happens so slowly that those that are there don't really see it until they look back to what it was like when they first arrived on the Field. With me not seeing it for ten years, I seen a big change!
I thought about the mission through the night last night and prayed for the people.
My heart is still with them. Thank you for letting me go with the team. I enjoyed it very much. I have many new friends because of it.
Blessings to you all. Rita

10 things that made a major impact on Mari Bowers in the DR

I have asked the ladies to answer the following questions and i will blog it for them. This is the response I received from Mari. (Mari is the person on the back of the banana branch second picture)

1) question: If you remember we went over the verses in Matthew 28:18-20 since you first read these verses in the DR what has changed your thinking, your understanding and your passion?

Mari: It is deeper, fuller and I’m feeling more urgent in getting the Gospel spread to the lost. It isn’t an option, it is a commandment for every single Christian and my excuses just don’t hold up anymore. I am compelled to work the fields both here and abroad as God leads me.

question 2) I would like for you to write at least 10 things that have made a major impact on you.

Mari: 10 things that have made a major impact on me.
1) Fulltime missionaries give so much of themselves.
2) Prayer works in every situation ( with air pressure and ears on a jet, with stopping rain during outdoor games at festivals, and opening seats on flights when necessary!

3) Tradition is hard to break through and bring change but with time, commitment and God’s love it can happen.
4) Teenagers in the DR have the same active hormones as teenagers in the USA!
5) Mission workers need constant support and help
6) Many times we are called to do something for the Lord and He reveals to us a reason for our experience is something totally different from what we were expecting.
7) 23 Christian women loosed in the DR can cause deep laughter and cleansing tears.
8) Sisters-in-Christ can move mountains and cannot be stopped when they are walking in faith and obedience!!!
9) Love can cross language barriers and make new friends.
10) God can and will use anyone in amazing ways for His kingdom, if they are willing to step into the water, go through the fire to be purified and completely surrender to Him!

Question 3:Then take the top 2 and write why you were so impacted. What has it done to your thinking, your world view of missions, and why did God bring you on this missions trip?

Mari's answer: Fulltime missionaries give so much of themselves.

Acts 13:22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him; ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.

Ps. 16:2, I said to the LORD, ‘You are my LORD, apart from you I have no good thing.’


As I think about Daisy, (DAISY is the lady in the first picture clear at the end of the table) my mind has a hard time wrapping around all that she does in ministering to the women in El Callejon. Monday through Friday she faithfully makes the trip there to share Jesus with the women of all ages. She is prayer warrior, Bible teacher, craft teacher, tutor to students, menotor, peace-maker, encourager, friend and her list of the hats she wears goes on and on. This is all above and beyond her role at home as wife and mother.

She has many lives that she feels called to make adifference in. It would be completely different if these women fit in the nice little box of one of our churches where everyone was a Christian.
We have homes, electricity, indoor bathrooms with flushing toilets and warm showers. We have marriage and commitment and respect that makes sense to us albeit that even in Christian homes we have some hidden sins YET, we KNOW that sin is wrong because we have relationship with Jesus.
The women in El Callejon are living in the steeped and accepted traditions of living with a man, bearing his children and knowing that the father of their children has other women he sleeps with and fathers children to them. Physical and emotional abuse are part of their whole “Macho” man culture and very little is done to change this… It is an accepted way of life among those in the village.

Along comes SI and Daisy. Daise is a breath of fresh air, a flower planted where too many thorns grow up. Daisy offers unconditional love to these women, teens and little girls and through the Holy Spirit’s power she is making a huge difference. I believe God says of Daisy, “I have found a women after my own heart. She will do everything I want her to.” And I believe Daisy says to God, “You are my Lord, apart from You I have no good thing.”

I admire Daisy and other missionaries through out the world and I praise God for the example they are to me!

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1) Many times we are called to do something for the Lord and He reveals to us the reason for our experience is something totally different from what we were expecting.

11) God can and will use anyone in amazing ways for His kingdom, if they are willing to step into the water, go through the fire to be purified and completely surrender to Him!

These two go hand in hand for me. What we saw each evening as we sat around together sharing our day was revealing of the work the Holy Spirit. I know we each knew we would be blessed by our experience on this mission trip.
What I don’t think we expected was the way that God worked in our lives to dig deep and cleanse and purify our past and bring us to the throne to fully serve Him in the present. Blessings came in the form of healing and freedom from so many things we were carrying.
Being in a group of women that have hearts to serve the Lord with whatever task He asked us was impossible to do while carrying excess baggage. Tears of cleansing and healing poured freely and God then used clean vessels eager to serve Him. Also, the calling of hearts for work at home will be fun to see come to fruition.
Onward Christian soldiers!!!
Mari Bowers

Milli's daughter in the DR

Hello everyone
I have some exciting news! The young lady in the middle of this picture is Karine, from the DR. She is Milli's daughter age 15. (Milli is the head cook at the base) She has been worried about her daughter and she told me how she was so worried that she would not walk with God, and she was so afraid that she would run to her dad and live with him if she told her how she should live. I got the privilege to go and share the word with Milli and encourage her to take a radical stand for Jesus. DO what he commands and God will do the rest.
We gave Milli a bible to give to her daughter and today she accepted Christ as her Savior.
Please pray with me for Karine. She is so beautiful.
Also life up her Milli's mother sitting beside Karine. She is catholic and is not saved. Milli wants all her family to know Jesus! She is now praying the word of God for her family. Please join me in praying for Precious Milli's family!
Thanks all