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Sandy Comes Back to The Lord
January 11 2009 / ShareHim in Dominican Republic B, Dec. 19 - Jan. 3 '09 #347by Zachary McFadden
Campaign Site Narrative from Pimentel, San Francisco in Dominican Republic B. The speaker assigned to this site was Zachary McFadden.
My friends, I can tell you that when you go on a trip like this you don't know what to expect. God is working, and you just have to be still and know that He will take care of this. My friend Phillip and I signed up to go on this trip excited but not knowing what we would find. The church itself was a small building with pews without padding, the power came from a generator which ran out of gas many times. The screen that we were projecting onto was a white sheet. The baptistery is a big rain barrel that they use for collecting water on their roofs. They had cut the top off of this one, and then used cement blocks to get into the baptistery. The floor of the church was stone, but when it was prayer time, the people, even the older ones, would kneel on that floor.
The Dominican Republic is a very poor place, and you could tell that by looking at all the rubble around you as you walked. The church members may not have much in the way of material things, but they have a lot when it comes to spiritual things. If you want to really experience the fullness of a campaign like this, get out and visit the people. The town we were preaching in had 7,000 people. Phillip, the church members, and I visited almost all of them throughout the course of the campaign. We did this by leaving our hotel very early in the day and spending it visiting and inviting people to the meetings. You may not speak the same language as they do, but love is a universal language. We experienced the love of Christ with those people.
Throughout the course of the campaign there were eight baptisms, and sixteen more prepared for baptism.
Let me tell you about just one man, Sandy. He spoke English as well as Spanish because he had lived in the US before. He was born in the Dominican Republic but moved to the US. In 2001, he was arrested for possession of 13 kilos of cocaine. They gave him two and a half years in prison and, in 2004, deported him. Before they deported him, he found Jesus in jail and began telling others about him. He was baptized, but he eventually slipped away from Christ.
Then he was deported and sent back home. He told me that most Dominicans go right back to the US if they are deported. Not Sandy—he had been there for four years, and throughout that entire time, Jesus was calling him back. He had some questions for me. So, on the last day of the campaign, he came to the home where I was eating. The church members told me earlier that we would visit him last because he would not make a decision to be baptized. Boy, were they ever wrong!
The Holy Spirit brought Sandy to where I was, and we talked for a long time. Later, Sandy, a church member, and I went out visiting homes, and Sandy acted as the translator. We visited several different homes and invited the people to accept Jesus as their personal Savior and be baptized. Throughout that whole time, Sandy was translating, and even he told me he didn't know why.
That final night, the sermon was on heaven. I made a call for them to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and Sandy, along with several others stood and raised their hands inviting Jesus into their lives. Later that same night, we had a baptism, and afterward the pastor made a call inviting those who wanted to prepare for baptism to come forward, and Sandy came forward. I was so happy for him, I hugged him. He told that he believed that this time he would not leave Jesus. I told him that I would be praying for him. And I am praying for him and for the others that we met and have been in contact with.
If you want to experience spiritual growth in your life and find the reason why God called you to be in His family, go on a mission trip it will change your life.
The Dominican Republic is a very poor place, and you could tell that by looking at all the rubble around you as you walked. The church members may not have much in the way of material things, but they have a lot when it comes to spiritual things. If you want to really experience the fullness of a campaign like this, get out and visit the people. The town we were preaching in had 7,000 people. Phillip, the church members, and I visited almost all of them throughout the course of the campaign. We did this by leaving our hotel very early in the day and spending it visiting and inviting people to the meetings. You may not speak the same language as they do, but love is a universal language. We experienced the love of Christ with those people.
Throughout the course of the campaign there were eight baptisms, and sixteen more prepared for baptism.
Let me tell you about just one man, Sandy. He spoke English as well as Spanish because he had lived in the US before. He was born in the Dominican Republic but moved to the US. In 2001, he was arrested for possession of 13 kilos of cocaine. They gave him two and a half years in prison and, in 2004, deported him. Before they deported him, he found Jesus in jail and began telling others about him. He was baptized, but he eventually slipped away from Christ.
Then he was deported and sent back home. He told me that most Dominicans go right back to the US if they are deported. Not Sandy—he had been there for four years, and throughout that entire time, Jesus was calling him back. He had some questions for me. So, on the last day of the campaign, he came to the home where I was eating. The church members told me earlier that we would visit him last because he would not make a decision to be baptized. Boy, were they ever wrong!
The Holy Spirit brought Sandy to where I was, and we talked for a long time. Later, Sandy, a church member, and I went out visiting homes, and Sandy acted as the translator. We visited several different homes and invited the people to accept Jesus as their personal Savior and be baptized. Throughout that whole time, Sandy was translating, and even he told me he didn't know why.
That final night, the sermon was on heaven. I made a call for them to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and Sandy, along with several others stood and raised their hands inviting Jesus into their lives. Later that same night, we had a baptism, and afterward the pastor made a call inviting those who wanted to prepare for baptism to come forward, and Sandy came forward. I was so happy for him, I hugged him. He told that he believed that this time he would not leave Jesus. I told him that I would be praying for him. And I am praying for him and for the others that we met and have been in contact with.
If you want to experience spiritual growth in your life and find the reason why God called you to be in His family, go on a mission trip it will change your life.