Day 7 - 2025
“We Love On People”
Today started with separating into two groups. Randy Fischback, along with Allen and Terry Pennebaker traveled to Santiago to meet…Tammi and Jochy Hernandez, a Covenant missionary team here in the Dominican Republic which Hillside supports. Their ministry began in 2019 and focused on reaching youth through basketball and music. The ministry started off well and they had grown to 50 members, but COVID restrictions created significant challenges and the size of their ministry was significantly reduced. They have persevered, their numbers have recovered and their ministry is also now blessed with a number of young families.
The remainder of the team visited two churches in Santo Domingo. We first met Elvin Castillo of Comunidad Cristiana de Restauracion. The church began out of Elvin’s passion to minister to the whole person, not just their spiritually. Located in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Santa Domingo, many who attend the church suffer from addiction. When asked why he tries multiple times to get people into a rehab program even after multiple relapse, Elvin’s response is, “how many times does God forgive us?”
The church has created a free medical clinic which is open 6 days a week to serve the community. Individuals can obtain free medical and dental care provided by doctors and nurses who volunteer their time and skill.
Another passion of Elvin is about bringing youth to Christ. The church sponsors a Compassion Project which serves 265 children, but Elvin and his church are developing programs to maintain relationships with the children who age out of the Compassion program. The church is building a camp and hosts hiking trips where children and young adults can spend extended time out of the city exploring nature and deepening their faith.
We then traveled to Neuvo Vida and met with pastor Raquel Mathews and her son Robert. They have transformed their church to ministering to their community 7 days a week rather than just focusing on Sunday worship. In pastor Robert’s words, “we love on people.”
In September 2008 the church opened Mega Vida Gym on the upper floor of the church building out of a desire to help individuals who wanted to improve their physical health. This provided the opportunity to connect with people daily and who did not normally attend church. The result of these connections is changed lives for Christ.
They also created a school to serve neighborhood from preschool to high school students. As children have progressed to the next grade level they added onto the school. This required more equipment and facilities such as a chemistry lab or sports courts for athletics, but the church has been committed to helping the students learn and graduate high school. This June they will celebrate the first graduating class of seniors. Congratulations 2025!
We ended the evening with a final dinner with Enersto and Altagracia to celebrate all God has accomplished here in the Dominican Republic this week and throughout the year. It is sad to say goodbye to our extended family and we pray it is only until next year.
Wayne Freeman for the DR Team