In June of
2011, just after my 16th birthday, my church youth group went on a
mission trip to Dominican Republic. It was one of the best trips I have ever
been on in my life so far. We went into the trip kind of expecting the worst.
However, it ended up being a fantastic week filled with prayer, bonding, and
pure joy.
Before we
left for DR, our friends and families kept trying to warn and prepare us for
what was to come. We all received multiple vaccines and prescriptions for
anti-malaria medications. We were warned about the mosquitoes and not to drink
the tap water. People kept emphasizing that it was a third-world country. One
person, who had never been there, described it as “one of the shittiest parts
of the world.” I also remember hearing that people would hate us and/or try to
rob or hurt us because we were white. Basically, it sounded like our options
were to catch a disease or be murdered, neither one of which sounded good. We
were excited for the trip, but at the same time, we were absolutely terrified.
After a
long day of flying, we arrived in the Santo Domingo airport in Dominican
Republic. We met Brother Robert, a Franciscan friar, who would be our guide for
the week. We got on a bus and headed to the friary we would be staying at. A
lot happened over the course of that week, but I am just going to hit the
highlights.
One of my
absolute favorite things we did in DR was visiting an orphanage. When we first
arrived, I’ll admit, it was super awkward. The kids didn’t know what to do with
us, we didn’t really know what to do with them. There was bit of a language
barrier. It was just very weird for a minute. Then, we broke out the toys we
had brought for them and it became a party. We were blowing bubbles and
throwing balls and having an absolute blast. Our new friend, Dihandy, looked at
us and said, “You guys are like Santas to them right now.”
A day or
two after we visited the orphanage, we were outside the friary playing games
when daily mass was letting out. All of a sudden, we looked over and saw a rush
of children coming at us. It was the kids from the orphanage! They swarmed us
and gave us lots of hugs. We were so excited to see them. On our last day in
town, Brother Robert even surprised us by taking us back to see them one last
time. That last day, we didn’t have all the toys and things we’d had the first
time and we still had just as much fun. A few of the kids sang for us and we
sang for them. When it was time to say goodbye, we all shed lots of tears and
the kids were so sweet and tried to calm us down.
Throughout
our week, we had eucharistic adoration almost every night. For those that don’t
know what that is, it’s when you take the eucharist (the bread you see given at
communion during mass, which Catholics believe is the body of Christ) and
display it on the altar in a metal frame-like thing called a monstrance.
Because Catholics believe the eucharist is the body of Christ, eucharistic
adoration is a sacred thing. It’s a special time to pray with Jesus physically
present. To some of you, this probably sounds crazy, but that’s fine.
In youth
group, we always loved getting to have adoration, especially on retreats. It
was always a very emotional experience. After the first time we had it on this mission
trip, we started asking for it every night. Brother Robert loved that we were
so into it, so he was usually more than willing to oblige. He said that
whenever he would go to get adoration set up, the other friars were always
surprised. They would say, “you’re making them do adoration again?”, and he
would explain that we had asked for it. I guess quiet prayer time with Jesus
isn’t something a lot of teenagers typically beg for.
Overall,
that trip was one of the best experiences of my life. After being prepared for
the worst, I was pleasantly surprised. The Dominican people are some of the
most joyful people I have ever met. We were all very surprised by that.
Everyone we met, whether it was at the orphanage, at mass, or in the hospital,
was just so happy. Our first-world teenage minds were absolutely blown. I give
Dominican Republic five stars.
