-----Original Message-----

From: Kathy McKey

Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007

Subject: Dominican Republic Report #5

Dear friends and family,

So many exciting things have happened since I sent you the last e-mail.

Thursday night, everyone preached on the Sabbath commandment. We know that Satan hates the Sabbath, so it rained and many of the people stayed away because of the rain. On Friday afternoon, we couldn’t believe it: we had a tropical downpour as well as high winds. The rain was blowing to the side instead of coming straight down. From our experience, we know that Satan hates people to learn the truth about the switch from keeping Sabbath to keeping Sunday. We gathered everyone in what we call “the upper room” because that’s where we have our morning worships. We sang a few songs and then several of our group prayed. I wish you could have been here to experience what we did. When we all were done praying, the rain stopped and even a ray of sunshine came out. We all were amazed and felt so grateful!

Yesterday we took a day off and went to the beach. Everyone had fun!

I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I wish you could be here each evening to see how sharp our young people look while they’re waiting in the lobby for their transportation to come. Also, I wish you could hear them preach. Wow, what powerful preachers we have in our group—truly an army of youth for God!

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I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the comments from our youth. The following are a few more comments:

Karen Fritzler - This mission trip is a good experience for me and anyone else who wants to experience God’s power. I have had lots of fun so far and I am enjoying my stay at the Hotel Las Caobas. We have had experiences where we have prayed about a problem going on and God has answered our prayers. You get closer to friends, your faith in God seems to grow and you learn to trust in Him more.

Evelyn Saravia – Well, this mission trip has been really great. My first few sermons weren’t too good. My first sermon, the people saw all my notes. And the second one, my computer didn’t work so I just had to preach with what I had in mind. But little by little it just started getting better. Now, there are about four people who want to get baptized. This mission trip has made me realize even more the power of God. I really hope I get to experience this every year.

Jonathan Daniel – I came just on my own agenda. I figured it would be a relaxing time in a foreign country. I didn’t want to preach and I wanted to be up front as little as possible. I would do anything Chaplain Matt asked me to, except preach. He repeatedly asked me to be a preacher and I repeatedly told him no. I didn’t know if there was a God and I didn’t feel comfortable getting up in front telling people there was, when I wasn’t even sure myself. By the time we were supposed to leave, I was starting to wonder whether I wanted to come on the trip at all. But I came anyway and things seemed to be going pretty well. I didn’t have to get up in front of anyone and just helped with the youth and equipment, and hid behind the curtains of the puppet ministry.

But last Saturday night, I had a dream that I was preaching on salvation. When I woke up I thought that was a little weird, but I’m not going to Chaplain Matt about it because he’s going to say that I can preach. That morning at worship Mrs. McKey announced that Lauren was sick. I thought that was kind of freaky so I asked Chaplain Matt, “What are you going to do about it?” He said that he had already found someone else to preach. I was very relieved! I thought that something was going on and to find out nothing was going on and that I didn’t have to preach, it relieved my mind because that was scaring me. And then the next two days went on as normal.

I didn’t really think any more about it until we were getting ready to get on the bus. I was sitting in the lobby and Mrs. McKey and Chaplain Matt were talking about how Mick had gotten sick and we didn’t have anybody to preach in his place. Something inside of me said that I would. It wasn’t me, because I still didn’t want to. I wasn’t dressed to preach because I didn’t even have a tie on and I didn’t have a Bible because I hadn’t brought one along. But Chaplain Matt loaned me a tie and gave me his Bible. And I went to the site to preach, not knowing what I was going to say or even why I was doing it.

When we got there, the music really loud and I couldn’t even think and I didn’t know what I was going to say. I started to get nervous, because I didn’t know what I was going to say, so Chaplain Matt took me outside where it was quiet and prayed with me. After that, I started to calm down. I sat and watched the Jesus video and then they introduced me. I got up there and half of the things that I ended up saying I didn’t know I had said until the translator had gotten done with the phrase that I had just spoken. I didn’t have any notes or anything to go off of. I thought I would preach for just 20 minutes (if I could really drag things out) and then we would be done early. I ended up preaching for almost an hour. I talked about how some of the greatest sinners in the Bible were the ones that God chose to do some of His most important work. I told them that even though they were unworthy—because everybody is unworthy—that it is only through Jesus Christ that they can become worthy and ultimately worthy of the kingdom of heaven. At the end of my sermon, I started to make a call and then my translator helped me. About 20 people came up to the front of the church to give their lives to Jesus.

Gianpaul Dalotto – At the beginning of the trip, I was excited about the idea of going on a vacation! Later, I found out this is no vacation, this is a mission trip. Now I know the difference between the two. The first day was very scary; none of us knew what we were getting into. One by one, we were getting dropped off in a random place where we didn’t know anyone. We prayed a lot that night. Well, each day went by, and a lot of miracles happened. I would really recommend going on a mission trip. It REALLY strengthens your relationship with God. In my opinion, this is really the best way to bring God into your life. When you experience the change you make in other people’s lives, your life is changed drastically.When I saw that people from my site were getting baptized, I had chills run down my spine. It was amazing, and I encourage anyone who is looking for a life-changing experience to go on a mission trip. God will show you how powerful He is, and that the devil is no match. My faith grew a LOT stronger by experiencing everything that has been happening. All the stories will keep you on the edge.

Kelly Finch –I have always wanted to go on a mission trip, so when I heard about this trip I signed up. I didn’t actually think I was going to be able to go. And then I started getting money from people I didn’t even know. But it never really hit me until I got on the plane. Then I was like, “Wow, I’m going to the Dominican Republic.” Then when we got here it was cool, ‘cause we were just chillin’. But then the day of our first meeting came, and it got really REAL for me. Then I got really nervous. I was going over my sermon all day. And then when we drove up to the place that I was preaching and I saw all of the people, I started sweating like crazy. The pastor introduced me and told them that I was this “really good preacher.” Well, I did horrible that night. So the next day I just prayed all day and when I got to my site, I wasn’t nervous at all. The pastor told me that I was like a new person and that I did an awesome job. I felt like a pro. And every night I have gotten better. Now when I go up there I can just feel God talking through me. It is way cool to see God working in people. I’m not preaching at a church. It’s a club, so there are only like three Adventists. The rest didn’t know anything about God. And now there are around 14 people who want to get baptized, so that is awesome. This trip has made me grow way closer to God and it has shown me how much I depend on Him. I have seen so many miracles happen and I can tell you that prayer really works. And God is really watching over us!

Betty Warren - My experience here in Dominican Republic has been awesome. The reason is because I’ve seen how God has worked in so many ways. The day before coming I honestly didn’t think I was coming at all, but by the grace of God, He led me here and now He has used me in ways I wouldn’t have imagined. For example, as I was talking to the head elder of the church in Cotui, he told me that seven were baptized last Saturday, March 24, and that there is another person, as well, who wants to get baptized. As he told me this, I was just amazed how God has used me and how He has helped me grow in MY spiritual walk with him. The computer that I’m using has been giving me problems, but I just prayed and have faith in God that everything will turn out for the honor and glory of His name. By the love that He has upon me, everything has been turning out good. I mean, the computer would give me problems during the day as I practice or minutes before the meeting, but when the time comes that I have to start preaching, it appears to work as if it didn’t have problems. As it says in the Bible, God has plans for us, plans to prosper, and I believe it because He is working in my life and God honestly is blessing me. I want to thank Him for everything He has done and I want to continue in His paths ‘til the day He comes!

KJ Park - As I’m here in the Dominican Republic, I’m having fun with the children. I like to have fun with them as I teach them about Jesus. My partners are nice to work with and we all have a great time with the children. At my site there are about 92 children and they are always excited to see me come.

Ray Navarro, Jr . – My experience here in the Dominican Republic has been thrilling. The reason that I decided to come was to preach because I hadn’t been able to go to India in November. When they announced at TAA that there was going to be a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, I really wanted to go. The first three sermons that I preached were just OK, so I got really discouraged. But on Sunday night, God helped me preach with enthusiasm and power. I didn’t know what came over me that night but when I finished, I wanted to keep going because I felt bad when I finished. God has been working miracles left and right when we’re at our sites and it’s really awesome to see Him working through all of us.

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I want to apologize to you parents if you haven’t seen anything written by your son or daughter. I am seeking them out if they are sitting at a table or are in the lobby working on their sermon or at lunch time. By the time we leave here I hope you will see something written by your child.

Oh, just a wonderful note to add, to date our group has had 117+ baptisms. It increases almost daily but that was the number as of last Saturday. Our youth are a part of an incredible evangelistic thrust here in Inter-America. On Saturday, Elder Jan Paulsen, General Conference President, was in Santo Domingo and also Israel Leito, the Inter-American Division President, to witness the baptism of the three millionth member of the Adventist denomination. Our youth are making history for our church. Duane [ McKey, Arizona Conference President] got a special invitation to attend this event and there were 15,000+ people present. He said it was an incredible experience.

The Holy Spirit is truly being poured out and we pray that soon we will witness the second coming of Jesus. What a day that will be! Let’s resolve with our youth that we will indeed be ready!

Blessings,

Kathy McKey

Read April 2 e-mail