Casey Carlson
Gas station stop on the way to Campus.
When I was a younger man, I was in Boy Scouts at Community of Grace (Shoutout to Pack 112!) And one of the lessons I took away from that time, and perhaps the most important lesson taught in scouting, was to leave things better than you found them.
I was thinking about that on the ride to the Mission of Hope Campus last night. Our mix of missionaries this year range from brand new to experienced, young to…well, we’ll say not as young. A number of us were people who were here last year, excited to see what life looks like, and what change has happened since we were last here in November of 2024, a whole year and two months later.
What a blessing that our travel day was uneventful. The storms and frigid temperatures didn't cause any delays on our flights to New York City or the Dominican Republic. We were especially grateful to retrieve all our luggage once we got to the DR, which was a welcome contrast to the issue we faced on last year's trip. With some of us being awake since 2 AM, we arrived at the Mission of Hope Campus just before 11 PM.
We immediately received a warm welcome from the friendly interns—some of whom are new to the campus this week, just like us, as well as our new friend (and old friend to some!) Reggie Morusma, Who is now Mission of Hope’s Kid’s Club Coordinator. We’re grateful Reggie took a break this week to serve with us.
Our first full day in the Dominican began with a beautiful sunrise and a delicious scrambled egg breakfast on campus. We then traveled to the village of Rincon, a place particularly meaningful to us since we worshipped and served there on our trip last year. It truly feels like a "God Moment" to return to this same village and dedicate our entire week to serving this community again.Immediately upon arrival, many of us found many of the children and adults we had connected with last year. We were encouraged to see improvements since our last visit: Pastor Zamor’s church has a fresh coat of exterior paint, a brand new playground out front, and, though we didn't get a close look yet, functional bathrooms at the back of the church—a project we started last year. This community and its church are better than how we had left them a year ago. Praise be!
Today’s church service was passionate and impactful, and a special day in the community. On the way back to campus, Reggie explained to us why today was special, and we’ll have him tell you why it’s special in his own words as well!
-Casey