Dominican Republic Resource Team

Tuesday morning to Wednesday night was a time of reflection, of good laughs, of deep appreciation—God HAD shown up.

One thing we did as a team was to go around the table and each share where we had seen God in each member of the team in the past week. It was a time of affirmation. I could never do it justice in words so I won’t try. Let it suffice to say that God knew what was needed when he put this group of very different people together. Our purpose was always FOR the Dominicans. The roles were varied but all essential.

Ephesians 4:16
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

We taught this principle in the conflict workshop but I think we also practiced it all week. The relationships were strong (supporting ligaments) and each part was happy to do its work. We learned from each other and were built up by the giftedness of other members of the team. We learned peace from Shirley, passion from Ana, compassion from Robin, confidence in Him from Dave, presence and power of the Spirit from Carla and humble service from Roger.

We part wishing it would not end, but knowing it must. We pray we have been changed. By God’s grace may it be so.

DR Team 3
Shirley Morlock
Dave Lacine
Robin Lacine
Ana Sisson
Carla Peer
Roger Peer

Today we woke up with a sense that our time with ICC was nearing an end and we would soon be headed for a time of debriefing and rest after a very full ministry. We were aware of how important it was to finish the race and be used by God however he would see fit. Though tired, we desired to remain present to the end.

Roger and Shirley gave a wonderful session on conflict resolution. With Shirley’s background in conflict resolution and Roger’s many years of business experience where conflict is often present in the workplace, they offered a most valuable perspective on the causes of conflict, the different responses to conflict, and the potential resolutions. This session was given to the pre-school and health club staff, who like the others at the retreat, offered their undivided attention and interest.

After this final session, Robert came up and offered some kind words and gifts to all of us for our time and ministry together. We continue to be humbled by an awareness of how much we have gained from being present with this wonderful community.


After the session we spent considerable time ministering and praying for several leaders and others who had not attended the retreat or had asked to spend some time with us for sharing, blessing, and prayer.

We left exhilarated and yet drained as the sense of giving in ministry over the past week had required more of our internal energy than we had been aware of. We were so grateful that God saw fit to bless this time for the Dominicans and open our eyes to the wonder of His church throughout the World. We are so small in respect to the big picture and yet God would choose to use any of us if we are only willing and available!

We headed to a new location to share as a team and reflect on the goodness and blessing of God on this journey.

Ana said goodby to her Grandaughter:

We all said Goodbye to Robert and so many others, and Alfredo Jr. picked us up and we headed for a de-brief and respite.

We started Sunday with Mother’s Day breakfast. The women gave the kitchen over to the men and we struggled to put a breakfast together. I washed last night’s dishes, made coffee and retreated to a safe distance. We made a point to be at breakfast this morning even though we were not hungry at all, but our absence yesterday had been noticed and mentioned.

We ended last night asking the group to observe silence from the time they woke up until breakfast and it seemed they were making up for any lost words. They were raucous and laughing, and giving Robert a hard time over something. They do enjoy themselves. We were glad we didn’t ask them to be silent through breakfast—that would never have worked.

Our plan for Sunday was to share with the group how we had been blessed by being with them and then we wanted to bless them with an individual prayer blessing.

We each told the group how we had been blessed by being with them.

Roger:
I talked about a new definition of Justice. Micah 6:8 says

Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.

My definition of justice had always been some sort of “rightousness or consequence” idea. In leadership my definition was a sense of keeping things going in the right direction, “the rules of community” or something like that. I think my evangelical background tied justice to God’s perfect justice which was overcome by Christ’s sacrifice of perfect love for us. But the linkage between justice and mercy in this verse never made sense to me.

But here I saw clearly for the first time that justice was about each of us having the same rights, the same reception, the same love, the same presence with Father God. We all are sons and daughters of the same King. And if my brother or sister is in trouble, I am to love them with Mercy. I saw it with you, my new Dominican brothers and sisters. I saw you live it in your ministry to the homeless, I sense it in your love for each other. I feel it in your love and acceptance of us, of me, into your community. When I see your justice practiced with such love and mercy, it is a true gift to me. It humbled me to be with you. I walk humbly with my God, home to Chicago, more rightly motivated to live DOING justice. Thank you.

Carla,
It is so difficult to describe our Sunday time of blessing with our brothers and sisters here. We witnessed the power of laying hands on a son or daughter of God and saying their name and giving them a blessing of God’s presence and power going with them. I told my Dominican sisters and brothers that I so appreciated their transparency and vulnerability with us and with each other. Transformation always begins with honesty. They also really encouraged me with the way they so thoroughly enjoy life. Their laughter was contagious....how delighted our Father must have been to see us all having so much fun together. I will be forever grateful for this opportunity!

Robin
Sunday was a day of blessing – we shared how we have been blessed by our Dominican family in the morning – each one of us. For myself, this being the third reunion I felt I have grown in their hearts and they in mine-we have engendered a deep trust – shared sacred times together, rejoiced and wept many times over. When I first saw Alfredo, he ran up to me, hugged me and whispered in my ear....Welcome Home. I have been wiping tears from my eyes ever since. Tears of gratitude, joy and I find myself in awe at this sense of coming home. This is what I shared...that Alfredo, Robert, Damaris, Cecelia, Charlene, Elizabeth, Vicki, Alfredo, Alicia, Ruth, MaryBell, Lilibet and all the rest have become my family.....God has provided me brothers, sisters, cousins aunts and uncles from the Dominica. I find that God makes a home for us, this keen kinship when we know that home is not found in a place but in love of and for people. Your heart can fit in a suitcase and take you anywhere. This is so freeing......and I miss them dearly already.
The time in the evening of blessing and prayer is one that I cannot even begin to put into words. We were let into sacred places – whispers of prayers, hands of anointing, we were wrapped up in each other, for each other – Gods presence was in the very air we breathed.

Ana
Seeing my Dominican children sit at the breakfast table was such a great joy to me. The fellowship they enjoy together reminds me of being with my American children. And having “my girls” call me Mama was precious. Being in Santo Domingo opens me to the fullness of my Latin culture and when I return home I will take with me a glimpse of the eternal feast.

Shirley
Sunday morning was one of the most significant of the many highlights of our time together. I shared two of the ways of which I have felt the presence of God to me through the leadership community of ICC. It has been my experience at home (USA) that church leadership often looks and seeks ways to grow people in desire to know God—through the latest trend or books on church growth—it is a genuine desire but often the outcome is not the desired spiritual hunger. Our brothers and sisters at ICC are hungry for God and attentive and responsive to his Spirit. It is such a beautiful thing to see and be a small part of—they bless me so. And each time I have the opportunity to be at ICC and I am profoundly aware of how they LIVE the gospel day in and day out. I want to live the gospel in more and more viable ways in the life God has given me. I am inspired and converted by the experience I have with our Dominican family. Always there is so much to receive from them.

Dave
I shared with our friends one incredible statement from Christ “The Kingdom of God is in our midst.” I could see this in our brothers and sisters how they love one another, are sold out to advancing Christ’s Kingdom, and their passion for the broken and the hurting. I also shared how difficult it is to leave as they are more and more family to us. Each year we feel closer to our ICC family and we know they to are also closer to us. This is an experience of the Kingdom of God. How can we explain this grace to others who are not in this moment? They are so grateful for what we impart and yet they impart so much more to us. We knew we would be leaving with a sense of how much we love our ICC family and how much we would miss them once again.
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We then prayed a blessing on each member of the ICC team. Robin and Dave, Ana and Shirley and Roger and Carla were three teams that went around the room. There were tears and hugs. It was a special time and a humbling privilege for each of us.

We packed up and left for Santo Domingo. We were driven by Tom and Dee Yaccinto. These two bright, vital people have been in Santo Domingo for 15 years after getting graduate degrees from Wheaton. They are principals in a group that networks and resources churches across Central America. They also coordinate resources coming to minister to the needs there. ICC is a member of the network. Tom told us the story of his hotel vasectomy yesterday by “Doctors without Borders” from Rush Pres in Chicago. It was an interesting conversation. Since he told us I guess I can tell you. I will really miss these two dear partners. We met their children, we know their story. Pray for Dee’s healing.

Sunday night ICC has a community service. It was described as a seeker service but I must say Robert preached a powerful word that was challenging to all of us. He was preaching from Romans 7. He had told us earlier that he was tying the message around “the only fight in life that you can win”. He said life is a fight, we all know that—the only fight you can win is the fight that surrenders to Christ and lets him take over. He will win the fight for you because you cannot. How many ways do we try everyday to prove that we can? Who are we trying to prove it to--ourselves, each other, Jesus? I was a challenging message on a difficult passage—seeker service?—I think not.

We had another Vicki and Alfredo dinner waiting for us at the hotel and then we went to bed—very tired.

We woke to sunshine. We met as a team over coffee to make sure we were all on the same page for the day. 1 Cor. came up again. In chapter 2 vs 9-12:

But, as it is written,
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

Today we will talk about true forgiveness and the ministry of the Holy Spirit and introduce the spiritual practices of Lectio Divinia/Personal Meditation on Scripture, the Examen, and Silence. This evening we will have an open ended discussion to try to determine what the people are thinking. We entered the day prayerfully asking the Spirit to speak for us to these dear people.

Dave introduced the practice of Lectio Divinia. We read Luke 15:17-20

"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants." ' 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Other translations start with “when he came to his senses”. We talked about that when Shirley taught true repentance. Today, after Lectio on this passage Dave taught the meaning of true forgiveness out of the response of the father to the returning son. Assertive, sacrificial forgiveness—granted as soon as it is asked for. This is the way our Father forgives us. We turn our face toward Him and He sacrificially forgives us in this assertive way.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.......hmmmmmmm. We reflected on “as we forgive” amongst ourselves.

Carla taught on the ministry of the Holy Spirit followed by a time of silent meditation. We came back together before lunch to reflect on the experience of silence and several told of meaningful impact. One of the leaders commented to us that God was doing something special because this was a tough group to engage--and they were truly engaged.

The afternoon saw fun, hilarity, joy and some one-on-one counseling.

Carla says:
It was a great joy for me to teach on the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

He is the one who makes it possible for us to “come to our senses” and repent as Shirley taught us; He is the one who empowers us to both give and receive forgiveness as Dave share. I went on to talk about how it is the Spirit who empowers us to live in the fullness of our position and identity as a son or daughter of God. We spent the afternoon listening to, praying for, and loving a number of young women. They were so very transparent in their needs and desires and so eager to walk in the fullness and love of the Father. I will long remember the sweet times we had of such deep fellowship and healing prayer. We went to bed Sat evening very tired but full of thanksgiving. (I also learned how to do the “meranga” the proper Dominican way!)

Ana says:
As I talk to these young women I feel like they are my daughters. I learn more about their lives and their struggles and I love them more. It was a real privilege to see how they opened up to us and sought our advice. It was a picture of the way the Bible talks about younger women learning from older women. I was honored to the part of it—and it almost felt like I was at my second home, praying for my second set of daughters.

Shirley says:
It was a privilege to meet and listen and pray with quite a few of the women whom we are beginning to know more and more as we return. It is such a blessing to see their desire for God and the ways they continue to do the work of seeking, listening, and responding to God in their hearts and lives. It is a humbling experience to be invited into their lives and the sacred places in their hearts. There were many hugs, kisses, and tears. Our souls, our lives touch in ways that only God can bring together and it is pure and sweet and divine blessing.

Dave says:
It was a joy to hear our Dominican brothers and sisters enjoy the afternoon playing in the pool, laughing together and enjoying community. Robin and I spent time with one couple in key leadership in the church, sharing, praying and encouraging. We also counseled with a young man who was so desirous of wanting to grow deeper in his Christian life and let go of things of the past. We are continually impressed with the authenticity and desire of the leaders here to grow deeper in their spiritual life, in their relationship with our heavenly Father.

Roger says:
I love their community. Nobody wanted me to pray for them, but I did make connection with several of the men. These guys are sincere and their faith is real. Carla and I talked to the three couples doing marriage ministry in ICC and we gave them some ideas and offered some of our material. It was exciting to talk about our experience because they were so excited to get started. They will do a great thing in this church. There is a huge marriage relationship vacuum to fill.

Friday was a rainy day. We started for the retreat in a caravan of three cars and our van. The leadership of ICC was convening at the retreat center on the other side of the island and we were chauffeured in a big van by Dee, one of the principals of Del Camino, which is an association of churches throughout Latin America of which ICC is a part.

The going was slow and it took 4 hours for us to arrive at the destination. We heard Dee’s incredible, miraculous story on the way. A tribute to God’s power and grace for a dear sister working hard for Him and carrying a rare and little understood disease. A mother of 4 children who has a resilient and amazing spirit of joy, adventure and faith. A blessing to us as we journeyed through the rain, getting lost, potty stops etc.....ask Ana.

When we arrived the puzzle pieces needed to fit together. Where would everyone stay? It took some time but we all got situated with the Dominicans sleeping “dorm style”. They did not seem to mind. The food got unloaded and dinner was started cooking.

But it was 8pm and we were scheduled to start at 7 after dinner and go through 9:30. So much for schedules! We were scrambling and asking God “what is the most important thing we can do with the hour we have tonight”?

Shirley opened the retreat with an invitation to put down all the worries and cares that were pre-occupying us, and to place these in God’s loving hands, and open our hearts to the presence of God. She taught on true repentance from the context of the parable of the lost son. We were able to look at repentance from two perspectives. A self–centered perspective would be focused on what consequences I might have to endure for what I have done--one that leads to more self-centeredness, a concern for ourselves. The second perspective is one that moves the focus from ourselves to God. When we turn our focus on God it is a gospel repentance that liberates us with the goodness and love of God. God invites us to come home to his heart for us where we are known in truth and received and loved completely. That is the purpose of the retreat—to find “home”, or, to at least learn which direction it was.

Home is living in the Father’s love.

We ate dinner, played some games or talked in small groups. The time together was warm and the fellowship was good.

We went to bed, tired, but thankful for the retreat center (it was very nice), thankful for the sound of the ocean, and hopeful that tomorrow would bring sun.