Words From Those Who Have Been There, pt. 3

This is part 3 of a series of posts with testimonials from people who have been to the Dominican Republic to work with Pastor Quina Ovalles. We are currently in the process of raising support to spend a year with Quina near the city of Moca to work alongside her as she leads four Christian & Missionary Alliance churches.

Lindsay Ziegler has been to the Dominican
Republic twice with Nappanee Missionary Church
IMPACT teams.

LINDSAY ZIEGLER
Lindsay is a veteran of two NMC IMPACT teams to the Dominican Republic. She accompanied us on our first trip in 2011 and our most recent trip in 2013. She has also been on a mission trip to Kenya, Africa, and is currently a freshman at Bethel College.



Here are Lindsay's thoughts on her time in the Dominican Republic:

The first memory I had of Quina was when we just got to her house for lunch (and every meal was a feast of never ending food) and before we ate we played telephone charades. We had known Quina for about five minutes and she was playing along and rolling around on the ground because she was pretending to be a dog. It took little time to realize that we were one big family.

Pastor Quina didn't shy away from joining in the fun of
playing charades with the 2011 NMC IMPACT team.

Quina knows how important laughter is. She also knows how to be very serious. Her passion for her community is so evident! To me, Quina is the glue that holds the community together. Everyone knows her and loves her!

The church we went to that struck me the most was Naranjal. When I first went there the church had been existing for about four years. It didn't take long to realize this church was home to me. They welcomed anyone in with so much love that could only come from the Father. The electricity didn't always work, there are cracks in the ceiling and floor and sometimes the rain soaked the whole church, but they didn't care and neither did we. It wasn't about a fancy building, it was about the people within ... the true body of Christ - the church!

The church service we had (at Naranjal) was a huge dance party for Jesus. I had more fun at that service than I did at any prom I had ever been to. It was a gathering of God's children, dancing and singing and praising His Name. It didn't matter that we spoke different languages or lived in different countries, we were all family.