Things are Really Cooking for the Harvest Ministry in the DR!

As many of you know, Mark and I work with 6-8 teams who come from Willow Creek each year. We try hard to really find the specific needs of our Dominican partner churches and hook them up with skilled people from WCCC to serve together.

A team from the Harvest Ministry (Willow's food preparation/kitchen ministry - aka the Food Court!) just returned from their third trip to ICAS (Iglesia Comunitaria Altos de Sion) in Santo Domingo. Here's a little insight into their trip, which Mark was a part of every minute.

When we arrived at the kitchen the first day it was 6:00 A.M. The three lady chefs were already starting to make the different rice dishes that would be served for lunch, along with several choice of chicken. However, the coolest thing was that they were waiting for us, the team from Harvest, so they could start their day in prayer and pray we did.

Through the week we built relationships with the new members of the Delision team and celebrated with the team members of ICAS that we have come to know and love over the years. Our team provided some fun training classes for the staff and some of the Compassion International Children that are part of the churches community center. We taught these beautiful children how to make pizza from scratch. They kneaded the dough, rolled them out, sauced them, topped them, baked them and then……you guessed it, they polished off every one of them. We also provided a class comparing the cost and time analysis of a home made scratch cake vs. a box cake as well as recipes for home made cake fillings and custards.

We helped install a much needed refrigerator and a freezer that was donated by Harvest Ministry. This will give them greater opportunity to buy supplies in larger quantities at a less expensive price. We helped organize their store room and installed some donated shelving that will help them inventory and rotate their food with greater ease. One of the greatest acts of joyful Christ like servant-hood was from one of our team members Mike, who washed dishes for two days to help lighten the load for the chefs.

You know the week went well when you see our friends from ICAS and the team from Willow embrace in farewell hugs and they don’t want to let go. This is the multiplied power of everybody. The generous hearts of the scores of people in Harvest who have shared out of the overflow of their hearts and resources has given wind and encouragement for this beautiful community to “go for it” and they are soaring.