Stories of Change During “Love Your Neighbor” in Haina, Dominican Republic

By: Perla Massiel Popa Rosario

*In June 2023, “Love Your Neighbor” was held in many cities and countries around the world. In previous posts we shared testimonies from sites and people touched in the Mesoamerica Region. Today we end this series by telling what God has done in Haina, Dominican Republic.

Happy and expectant of what God would do, a group of 15 young people arrived in Haina for “Love Your Neighbor.” We dedicated our first day to children’s activities and, after finishing, the pastor of the church confirmed that we were in a very difficult community. Many of the children we ministered to are victims of sex trafficking and some are already influenced by drugs and neighbors who practice witchcraft. We felt a great burden to pray for the community and for the pastor, and we did just that before resting and preparing for the days to come.

The next day, we shared the word of God with the residents of the community. We prayed for people, giving them a small gift as a sign of God’s love and concern for them.

One of the sectors that we visited was very vulnerable. The extreme poverty and the needs that affect the people of that place were so visible. Due to poor conditions and poor hygiene, many people suffer from diseases. We visited a 20-year-old man who has a serious illness. I honestly had never seen a person in such conditions. We prayed for him and another blind man who is living alone in horrible conditions. We approached him and talked to him about the love of Christ and also prayed for him.

In addition to feeling compassion for what we were seeing in the community, we also felt a little worried and afraid because there were people selling “banned substances” and looking at us in strange and intimidating ways. However, we continued sharing the good news even in those difficult places.

As we walked farther into the neighborhood, we realized that there were actually several drug houses. Even though that place was highly dangerous, it was incredible: the people welcomed us, listened to us, and respected us. Even when a teen near us was about to use drugs, his friends ordered him not to do it because we were there. We realized God was not only taking care of us, but also giving us authority in the face of evil. With greater certainty, we seized the opportunity and spoke to them about Christ. The young men humbly recognized their need for God. They asked us to pray for them, and for their salvation, protection, and health!

The more alleys we walked down, the more we were convinced of this community and the world’s great need to know our God. We have an enormous task as a church. Truly, in this time of service, we saw the hand of God working in our favor. He kept us safe and used us as instruments to bring the word of life and many encouraging prayers to people that desperately needed to hear them.