DR reflections - bradley, emi, meghann, marithe

Bradley - I went into this pilgrimage expecting to be doing a lot of physical labor and a lot of preaching about the gospel to EVERYONE. We did almost no physical labor, but in a sense we did preach the gospel, but not with words. Every night we would be asked how we lived a Biblical truth. By living the way Jesus tells us to, we are preaching the gospel louder and clearer than we sometimes think we are with words. One big thing I learned is that prayer DOES work. Prayerwalking was a big part of our experience, and Pastor Franklin, who we were working with, wanted to have some more connections with the people in Duverge, the neighborhood we were prayerwalking. My group actually ended up discovering one of the people living there is a Christian, and he came back with us to join Pastor Franklin and his ministry. Praise God! As well as seeing the power of prayer, we experienced some of the most authentic worship I've ever seen. It's not about how the music sounds or putting on a show for people, but solely about worshipping the Lord even if you're not good at singing or whatever. It was eye-opening to see the authenticity of those worshipping our Creator!!

Emi - Quest was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Throughout this whole journey, I have learned so much and grown so much closer to God. In the DR people are living with much lower standards than here, and yet somehow they are so happy, and overjoyed when we met them. Every home that I was invited into, every place we ate and slept, I saw God's presence and love. The DR team did a lot of prayer walking. I have prayer walked before, but absolutely never like this. When a group of us approached someone's house, they would go in their house and bring out every chair that they owned for us to sit in as we talked with them. From small gesture like these, it was obvious to me that God was there. I was fortunate enough to cross the border in Haiti one of the days that we were there. After the earthquake, they have even less than they had before. I did see some damage, but it was very unclear to me whether it was already like that, or if it was new from the natural disaster. I went to an orphanage where I had witnessed God's mercy first hand. These kids were dirty, had no shoes, and only had old, ripped clothing, but the thing that stood out to me above all were their smiles. As we prayed for the people there, I could tell that God has already done miraculous things there, and I pray that He continues to do so.

I learned so many things from the whole Quest experience, but one thing that really stood out to me was the fact that I view God as if He is in a box, that because I have so many problems, and that everything I pray for here in America seems so big and so much, He really isn't just working in America. He works everywhere at the same time, doing miracles all over the world. This gives me faith because only God can think about every single problem, and every single thing happening all over the world at one time. This probably doesn't make much sense in writing, but to sum it up, God is SO much bigger than you could ever imagine.

I am so blessed to have been a part of Quest 11 and these experiences are ones that i will never forget. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible, and to everyone whose prayers were with all three teams as we traveled.

Meghann - Going to the DR opened up my eyes to a whole new culture and way of life. The experience truly changed my perception of the world. Returning back to the States, it is hard to look at things the same way, having met so many who have to do without simple things that I have been blessed with.

I went into the trip expecting a lot of physical labor, but we ended up doing a lot more prayer-walking. We got to meet people face to face and pray with them, right there in their houses or on the streets. I was extremely hesitant at first to do such things, partly because I shy, but mainly because I so used to people immediately plugging their ears to Christianity and rejecting those who try to evangelize, but after seeing the Dominican culture I realized how open they are and how hungry they are for knowledge about Christ and prayer. They were truly excited about what we had to share and were eager for us to pray for them. I feel as though I learned more from them about life than they probably learned from me about Jesus because they seem to have so much already. There were so many who already knew of God love and were spreading it to us simply in their hospitality, their smiles, and their acceptance. They were people of love and God is working there just as he works in all places.

I was also truly blessed with the opportunity to go into Haiti and that experience was the most powerful. The faces of those kids keep coming back to me and it makes me want to cry. Their smiles were so bright through all the devastation and I genuinely miss them and ask everyone to keep praying for Haiti and those who suffered in the earthquake.

As for my team, I miss each and every one of you. It was great to have so many people to share the experience with and I glad I have you all to turn to post-Quest.

Marithe - Going on Quest to DR was an amazing experience, even though I was born and raised there, I truly saw things in a new light. I was able to appreciate the breathtaking beauty of it, when I never saw it before. I also learned so many new things, and met many wonderful people. I was also able to see the amazing power of a church that is truly on fire for God. Pastor Franklin, whom we were working with later in the trip, was always telling us things about his church and all the places we passed. Once, on the bus, he was telling us about these two ladies, who couldn't carry children and how their church lay hands on them and prayed so much, then within two months one of them became pregnant, and the other in 3 months. It was amazing, it was like hearing about the God who enabled the prophets and apostles to do all those miracles, and it reminded me that WE have that same power, that we don't have to be anywhere special to be on fire for God.