An "AWESOME" Experience

Fred and Laura Nydam of London, Ontario participated in a truly ‘awesome’ opportunity to learn and serve in the Dominican Republic on a team with Christian Reformed World Missions.  What follows is what they shared with their church family upon their return home.

The 9 of us on the Dominican Republic team this year had an absolutely awesome time.  AWE is defined as “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear and wonder”.  Well, we experienced all of those emotions sometime during our 10-day Service and Learning trip.

Wonder came in various forms – wonder about the unfamiliar country we were flying to, which has both extremely beautiful parts of creation but also extreme poverty; wonder about the accommodations we’d have, unseen both by our experienced leader Harry deJonge and our main contact in the DR.  The camp where we stayed was, as it turned out, perfectly suited to our needs – a 3-minute walk from the work site, cabins to relax in after a day of laying concrete blocks, good food, and a quiet place to rehash the day and have devotions together each evening.  We felt a different kind of wonder when driving and walking along the rocky, potholed dirt roads, wonder when we hiked and swam right under the 100’ waterfall that was right on our camp site, wonder when we saw the extreme poverty that many people experience there, wonder at their fervent prayer and also such joy they showed in their worship; wonder at the pastor’s son Miguel who climbed that palm tree in a flash and dropped down a few coconuts so we could have a drink. 

We felt some fear when some of us felt ill and were unable to work for a day or more – would we recover quickly?  Mostly we did.  Fear when Jake found a spider the size of a tarantula on his suitcase – I think we all kept our bags zipped up after that! 

But the greatest emotion of awe I felt was the reverential respect part.  The Christians there in Sierra de Agua are part of our Christian Reformed Church!  And we worshipped in 3 other CRC churches there as well, all different, but all part of God’s family.  We felt reverential respect when we saw how the men and women of that tiny Sierra de Agua village worked with us to help raise their new church building.  They definitely needed it – the old one was just a pile of rotten boards beside the pastor’s house, and they had hoped to get a new church last year already.  Reverential respect to see them in humility shoveling sand and gravel, mixing concrete with picks and shovels, carrying pails and pails of mortar mix (“mas mescla por favor” for those of you who have been there), communicating with us in spite of language difficulties, setting aside their worries and displaying their trust in God.  Reverential respect to see how the local pastors and missionaries and volunteers work together on these projects.  Reverential respect when we arrived at the church on the last day, ready to put the tin roof on, and saw that they had benches and a small pulpit already in place on the rocky dirt floor – they had had a service of celebration even before the roof was on!  Reverential respect when we were able to attend their thankyou service, lit by 2 kerosene lamps, on our last work evening – their thanks was to God for the building, which will be used daily, and thanks to us for helping them build it.  They expressed their thanks through such joyful song and fervent prayer that I was moved to tears. We felt reverential respect when every single person in that church, young children and old men and women alike, hugged and personally thanked each one of us, and at the same time we were thanking them for sharing their lives with us in a unique way.  Thanks goes also to you for supporting us with your money and prayers, to make this mission possible.  And hopefully many of you will be moved to experience such a trip as well.  We also felt reverential respect for our prayer partners who inspired and encouraged us daily to make a difference in this world.  The people in the DR have a difficult load to carry, but by God’s grace we, and hopefully more of you too, are able to ease their burden.  Gloria a Dios!  Gracias.

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