The Dominican Republic

A mission trip with Faith Covenant Church of Farmington Hills, Michigan
by Pastor Mike Rice

We landed in Santiago on Saturday, September 24th, and arrived at the church with our construction clothes, workshop outfits, about 140 pounds of donated medical supplies,
 and no idea how much God was going to be at work in the week to come.

On Sunday, we worshiped with Tal Como Soy, Pastors Tammi and Jochy Hernandez’s
 church located in La Real. La Real is a community where about 95% of the households
 consist of single moms with kids and no dad to be found. These families are not
 welcome in typical Dominican churches where congregants are expected to have their 
lives better cleaned up. Tammi and Jochy (Serve Globally missionary personnel) have 
effectively targeted this group for their church. On Sunday, there were about 55 people 
in attendance at church, with 40 of them being young men between the ages of 12-19
 years old. These young men are flocking to Tal Como Soy where Pastor Jochy has 
become a father figure to many of them, and their mothers and sisters are beginning to 
follow them to church as well. Monday through Thursday our construction project and 
workshops began.

During the morning and afternoon we helped build a home for Alex.
 Alex is connected to the church through Pastor Jochy’s music ministry. Alex, his wife, 
and their 2 year old daughter have been living in a home with his mother and disabled
 adult sister. Alex and his wife managed to save up enough money to pour a cement pad
 behind his mother’s home that would serve as the foundation for his home. Our team
sent down funds to purchase cement and cinder blocks to be used in the construction of 
a home for Alex and his young family. In a culture where homes are built one stage at a 
time as the owners scrape up funds for materials as they can, the efforts of our team
 that week put Alex and his family about 4 years ahead of schedule on the timeline for
 the completion of their home. Alex and his family were overwhelmed by this and kept
 asking why people who didn’t even know them would help in this way. It was so much 
fun to tell them that we were simply there to communicate God’s love and care for them
 in a tangible way.

After laying cinder blocks during the day, we would come back to the church, shower, eat dinner,
 and then present workshops to the congregation during the evenings. Our team presented on
 how to achieve peace in relationships dominated by conflict, what biblical manhood can look
 like, and how to navigate finances God’s way. The congregation of Tal Como Soy was super
 receptive to the workshops, and it was exciting to watch them learn and grow. Personally, I was 
unprepared for how impactful the week was going to be on our team and how much of an 
impact our team was able to have as we partnered with Tammi and Jochy and the ministry they
 are leading. The relationships that we began to form with the leaders and congregants of their 
church were mutually beneficial and encouraging. I have already zoomed with Tammi and
Jochy and we are dreaming about what a trip might look like next September.

Next year, I’m
 hoping to bring down a small medical and dental team in addition to a construction crew and
 workshop leaders. In the next year I’m also hoping that Faith Covenant can partner with Tal
Como Soy in launching a small business and mentoring program with some of the women in
 their church. Self-owned small businesses have the potential to change the direction of La Real 
one family at a time. 
I can’t encourage you enough to consider partnering with Tammi and Jochy and Tal Como Soy
 either by sending a team from your church down for a week, or contributing financially to the
 work they are doing, or by praying regularly for this great ministry. Please feel free to reach out 
to me with any questions you might have about a trip or partnership with Tammi and Jochy.