If truth be told (and why shouldn’t it??) I had mixed feelings about going on the most recent DurhamCares trip to the Dominican Republic.  It marked my third trip in as many weeks and I was behind.  Behind at work, behind at DurhamCares.  I’ve done a lousy job of following up with the pastors from last weeks’ pastors lunch.  I’m behind on the launch of our new international ministry site, and I’m definitely behind on sleep.  Also, I had seen many of the ministries we were to visit . . . albeit in different countries.

As it turned out, I was very pleasantly suprised in finding that it was one of my best trips.  Part of the success from the trip came from how great the fellow travellers were on the trip, part of it came from our two leaders, Jason Bryan and Scott Steele (former Young Life Director in the DR, and now Executive Director of Cherokee Gives Back), but most of it came from the people on the ground that were doing ministry.  I suppose I’ll never grow tired of hearing from people that give up their lives to minister to the financially and spiritually poor, particularly those that do it with the passion of the folks that we met with.  It’s also absolutely awesome to talk to the people whose lives these ministries touch (wait until you see the posting of video on the new Dominican entrepreneur whose business was made possible by a loan from Hope International).  Lastly, it was very rewarding to see folks from Durham see the same thing and see their lives transformed as they experienced ministries from microfinance, to teen evangelism, to sustainable Christian medical clinics to leadership development/pastoral training.

I think/hope and pray that these 3 day trip formats will be a major success in blessing those that we visit in-country, and those that travel along with us.  The cost is modest (about $1,400 incl. airfare….as we look to just break even) and the time away from work and family is minimal, and as mentioned above, the trips get exposure to the culture (we had a great dinner with the YoungLife and Youth for Christ folks in the historic section of Santo Domingo).

We have a 3 day trip coming up to Guatemala in November and we will be announcing our Spring Trip schedule soon.  We hope that you can join us!!

I’ll post pictures and videos of the trip over the next few days along with a little more in depth commentary. Have a great week!!

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