FBC’s Ministry in the Dominican Republic

A History of First Baptist Church of Wellsboro’s Ministry in the Dominican Republic

The Beginning: La Romana 

Teams from First Baptist Church of Wellsboro (FBC) first visited the Dominican Republic (the DR) at the end of 1985 after two pastors — Tom Elsie from Milton and Wayne Diffenderfer from Wellsboro — answered a plea from a young Dominican Republic/Haitian Pastor Jean Luc Phanord to build a church for the Haitian people working in the sugar cane factory in the large city of La Romana, a port city for large ships and a nearby elite vacation resort in the DR.

When Jean Luc Phanord — the oldest of 8 siblings — was a child, his father had been a pastor in a village in Haiti during the reign of Dictator Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier. After Papa Doc began the terrorist Army called “Tonton Macoute” and it became dangerous for Christians living in Haiti, Luc’s father sent the family to Miami where they would be safe. There, young Luc learned several trades: architecture, tailoring, cooking, etc. All came into good use when Jean Luc was later sent to the Dominican Republic as a missionary to the Haitian people.

After Pastor Phanord had finished the Theological Baptist Seminary in Limbe, Haiti, at age 27, he was sent by the Haitian Baptist Association to La Romana to serve as a missionary. God had given him a vision: to reach out to the extremely impoverished Haitians living in small, squalid sugar cane villages (bateys — pronounced bah-TAY), many of which are far in the depths of the sugar cane fields where they receive no health care, no education, and little food except for the sugar cane they eat while doing back-breaking work for $1 per day. He found himself pastor to 13 small, impoverished churches of Haitian people within an hour of La Romana that had been without a pastor for over 3 years. Pastor Phanord reached out to them and with the Lord’s help, he chose men of wisdom and spiritual knowledge to come to the La Romana church every month so that he could teach them the month’s Bible study/sermon. They memorized very well (because most of the Haitian people could not read or write) and then returned to their churches as local pastors. As Jean Luc’s missionary zeal grew, more bateys asked for his help, and more Christian leaders emerged who could minister to people in their villages. He also taught people the trades which he knew: baking, architecture, sewing, …and built up the body of Christ.

The small wooden church in La Romana had outgrown its small building: people were standing outside, hanging their heads into the small wooden church through the open windows so they could participate in the services on Sunday and throughout the week.

Since his seven siblings were all living in the United States by that time, Luc appealed to them for help in building a larger church. They suggested their brother look to the American Baptist Headquarters in Valley Forge for help; that’s where Pastors Wayne and Tom met him. Jean Luc foresaw American teams helping to build churches and later a hospital to serve the Haitian people. He also recognized the need for medical care on the bateys, so asked for doctors and nurses to come.

Pastor Wayne Diffenderfer invited Jean Luc, his wife Elza, and their small children to come to FBC to meet with our construction leaders Gordon Daugherty and John Kilburn, and others who might be going on the team. Jean Luc showed them his architectural plans for both the large church he proposed and the 3-story hospital. (We didn’t believe the hospital would ever come to pass!)

There were 60 people on that first team, including 13 from Colorado where Pastor Elsie had moved during the 3 years of planning. Pastor Diffenderfer from FBC Wellsboro put the PA team together, leaving his 2 toddlers on Christmas night December 25, 1985, for the flight to Santo Domingo and bus ride to La Romana.

In 2 weeks, the team had built the lower portion of the large Haitian Missionary Baptist Church from footers to the balcony roof, sleeping on narrow church pews, tables in the eating area, and with fleas on the dirt floored garage! Breakfast was at 7:30 so they could get to work early before the sun got too hot. Haitian women cooked breakfast outside on charcoal, and the Haitian men worked alongside the Americans, with Jean Luc translating. God performed many miracles during that trip, including keeping the cement mixer filled with water on New Year’s Day: the water had run out and no water trucks were running on that holiday.

After our team returned home that winter, a team from Abington, Massachusetts completed the building of the Haitian Missionary Baptist Church, later known as “Maranatha Baptist Church”.

In 1987, with Pastor Diffenderfer in charge, a second team from all over Pennsylvania built a church on batey Heguera, and in 1989 built a large part of a 2-block square wall around what would later become the Good Samaritan Hospital. Drs. Don Shaw and Ardell Thomas had asked the Gulf and Western sugar refinery for land on which to build the hospital which Pastor Phanord had drawn; the company refused in 1987. The next year the team from MA made the same request of the local La Romana government and were given the land which included a huge garbage dump! In 1989, our people helped to build the hospital wall with horses, chickens, pigs, etc. alongside of the wall! (There are framed artist drawings of those early teams; if you know where they are, please contact us.)

After a few years absence, FBC returned to the ministry in 1995 with Sylvia Daugherty and Rev. Todd Witmer in charge. During that 2 weeks’ time we helped pour cement on the flat roof of the hospital to support what would later become a 2nd floor. With workers from all over PA, the team became known as “the Pennsylvania team” which also built a church/education building on batey Alta Gracia. In 1998 Sylvia appointed Peg Thomas to coordinate the work — and a team of 43 people built a church/educational building on batey La Chuga and helped the people recover after a terrible hurricane that struck in 1999. In 2001, the team built a church/educational building on batey Cannistillo. The team of 35-40 people (including a medical team) also worked on building the hospital.

Pastor Phanord was killed in a plane crash in the NYC Hudson River the fall of 2001 after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Building. There was much sadness and grief as we ministered to the people of the Haitian Missionary Baptist Church that year. Ours was the first team to go to La Romana after his death, so we had asked Moises Sifron, the hospital administrator, if our visit was appropriate. He answered readily, “Please come. We want to be sure you are coming for us and not just for Pastor Phanord.” We missed our friend, but God ensured that the work would continue.

A few years earlier, in La Romana, when we’d asked Pastor Phanord if it would be better to send money than to send people, his answer was clear as he pointed his finger at Bud Voorhees’ camera: “You should come; eet will chenge your laffe.” (It will change your life.)

Medical Clinics

When the American Baptist ministry began in La Romana in 1985, Pastor Phanord had also asked for medical personnel to care for the Haitians living on the bateys. Dr. Donald Shaw and Dr. Ardell Thomas led the medical team into the remote bateys, often riding in an old school bus for over 2 hours on bumpy, dirt roads through the sugar cane plantations to see over 200–300 people a day in the squalid villages where they encountered diseases the doctors had only read about in medical books. The small team of medical personnel took very short individual breaks for lunch and worked at least 5–6 hours at a time. Many problem cases were due to the voodoo priest giving bad advice, such as putting manure on an open wound to stop the bleeding, and withholding water and food to a child with extreme diarrhea… many of the little children and adults had reddish hair, bloated bellies, and were lethargic because of malnutrition and parasites.

Missionaries Tim and Patti Long were so pleased when the team drove 2.5 hours to hold a clinic at their small school beyond Santo Domingo. After being given vitamins and worm medicine, Patti said “The kids can actually learn something now.” The churches had sent money to the school children for materials and food, but the other physical problems were hindering their learning.

In 1985, a young school teacher from Puerto Rico named Ketly and some of her students arrived in La Romana during Christmas vacation to help with Jean Luc’s ministry. Pastor Phanord persuaded her to remain after her students left, so she could translate for the medical team. She became Dr. Thomas’ translator because she spoke Creole and English as well as Spanish. When Ketly confessed to him that she’d like to go to the US for Seminary, Dr. Thomas replied, “It just happens that I am chair of the Board of Eastern Baptist Seminary; I’ll see that you get in!” She also received her MBA in business at the Eastern College campus. Ketly became the first missionary to the ministry in La Romana and married her husband Vital Pierre while he and young Tanis Derolus were beginning a Christian school in San Pedro de Macoris.

Later, the American Baptist churches sent Kristy Engel, RN, to Good Samaritan Hospital as missionary nurse; she began a program called “Fountain of Life” based on missionary Dan Fountain’s work in the Congo: training a health care worker on each batey, teaching mothers to care for their young children by washing food and bodies in clean water, and visiting bateys regularly. She organized visiting teams and government-required personnel, often bringing her dog to demonstrate how to brush their teeth! Bateys were visited at least every 6 weeks and records kept of patients seen. As more teams came down, clinics could be held more frequently. She trained the translators to share the Gospel with the people and to report spiritual as well as physical needs to the pastor on the bateys. Kristy held regular Bible studies for her teams as well as for doctors and nurses at the hospital where she worked as surgical nurse, often holding Bible studies for women on the bateys. Before the Lord moved her from the DR to become a “Global Servant” in health care, Kristy was supervising 150 bateys — some quite remote. Though the witch doctor is still relatively prominent in some of the villages, more and more the people are seeing the difference Christ can make in their lives.

Good Samaritan Hospital

The Good Samaritan Hospital began seeing patients in 1995 with only portions of the first floor having been completed. Moises Sifron, hospital administrator, and others, were trained by Craig Bean, a hospital administrator from Houlden, Maine. Rodney Hendrickson, from Worchester, Massachusetts, coordinated work teams from the Maranatha Church to the hospital.

Moises continued to work with the personnel at Good Samaritan and received grants from Rotary, Int. for good water supplies. As of this writing, Good Samaritan is a well-respected hospital: dialysis machines, ultra sound, mammography, labs, a large surgical suite, a brightly painted pediatric unit, even a dental section for surgery and routine dentistry. A 4th floor has been added, including conference rooms. This is a clean, notably Christian hospital ministering to all who come through the doors. The Haitians pay a very minimal fee, but Dominicans and tourists pay “full freight” and go to Good Samaritan for the quality care they receive, many utilizing the up-to-date dialysis unit purchased by Rotaries and churches in Kansas City, Kansas.

Drs. Don Shaw and Ardell Thomas led the medical teams in the ’80s, but — as God continued to lead the PA medical teams — Dr. Thomas was joined by Dr. Mike Brown and Dr. Pam Weaner through the ’90s and early 2000s. More recently, PAs, RNs, NAs, LPNs, and lab personnel have joined the team; God has provided various medical doctors for the PA team clinics, and continues to send other doctors to join the teams which hold 8–10 clinics a year in the remote bateys and in the barrio of Las Colinas. Dentist Fred Wood joined the team for several years with his dental assistant Glenda Hammond. When the team has sufficient funds, it pays for a Dominican dentist to perform dentistry as well as the government-required Dominican doctor, who becomes part of the team.

When the teams began work in Las Colinas, the medical team lived on the compound and continued under the Good Samaritan Hospital’s medical outreach program in the bateys. A bus transported them and translators to distant bateys each day, except for 2 clinics on the Colegio Moriah compound. Medical teams remained in the DR for 10–12 days, and held at least 10 clinics. When they returned to the compound, many team members would join the construction team in whatever project they were working on.

Colegio Moriah

During the 2001 missions work trip to Batey Canistillo, about 45 minutes beyond San Pedro de Macoris, Peg Thomas, unable to work on the construction site, accompanied a team member from Colorado to visit and bring school material to a young friend named Esther (Perez). She and her husband Tanis Derolus had begun a school in their home in the barrio of Las Colinas.

Pastor Phanord’s widow Elza, on her way to Santo Domingo, offered to drive the women through the sugar cane fields to the meager house where Esther and Tanis lived and held school for 150 children (75 in the morning and 75 in the afternoon) on their porch, living room, and outside tented garage area. Esther had hired two other teachers to teach in her school so the Haitian children could begin to learn basic literacy skills. Tanis held church services there, and wandered through the village to share the Gospel.

Tanis shared with Peg the deeply moving vision God had given him while riding the bus to Santo Domingo: to build a large church, a school, a dormitory, a pastor’s house, and a medical clinic in Las Colinas, and to carry the Gospel message to the Haitian people living in the barrios around San Pedro de Macoris. He hired a taxi to take the two of them from his home/school to the property — which had been cleared out of the unused sugar cane fields — where he told her about his wonderful plans. “I’d love to have our teams help you build the school,” she said, “but we won’t return for 2 years and the work will have been completed by that time.” (Little did she know that teams would spend the next 20 years building on the compound and surrounding areas!) The taxi returned Peg to the batey Canistillo so she could continue ministering with the children while the team built a church, which was surrounded by a fence of small cacti!

Meanwhile, Jeri Spurling, an architect from Maine, had been introduced to Tanis and Esther while on a yearly missions work team to La Romana with Rodney Henrickson. She had drawn plans for the proposed compound laid out on the edge of the sugar cane fields. Teams from Maine had purchased the property which had been cleared by late December, 2001. Soon after Peg had visited the land, God had introduced Hans Roover — a wealthy business man on vacation from the Netherlands — to Pastor Tanis. Hans had wanted to find somewhere to give his money “for a worthy cause” and since this project was beginning, Hans built a septic system and the wall, and gave money for Casa Pastoral and another building to be built.

One year later, when FBC began forming the next team, Peg contacted Good Samaritan Hospital to ask about the needs. Moises, the hospital CEO and childhood friend of Esther, wrote back that Tanis could use our help. After praying about it, the team leaders felt called to leave the Maranatha group in La Romana to join Tanis and Esther in their new project which included a “sister” church from La Romana — Christ for the Nations Baptist Church in Las Colinas. A small team from Maine had come down a few months earlier in 2002 to begin work on the Casa Pastoral, sleeping in a motel near La Romana.

Colegio Evangelico Moriah began with children in pre-school through grade 8. Pre-schoolers initially met in the church until a 2nd floor was added to the school in order to accommodate more students. A board was formed in the US to coordinate fund-raising and to help the administration and local board whenever asked: Friends of Colegio Moriah is based in Maine, but includes members from around the US, primarily in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

As more children attended, Esther’s local Board of Education realized that if graduates of Colegio Moriah were to attend college, the school would need to add a high school and to be accredited. The decision was made to add a year of schooling each year or two until the full K-12 curriculum was available. However, in order to become accredited, the school was required to be “involved” with the government, allowing them to oversee the school. The government does not infringe on the Christian aspect, however, ensuring that only Christian teachers are hired, and they have prayer in the school’s large outdoor vestibule every morning when they salute the flag. Teachers pray with their classes, and Bible classes continue to be held. There are some rather difficult requirements made on the teachers and administration, which adds more cost to the schooling, but the Board knows all the effort is worth it. Many high school graduates have been able to attend and graduate from college as doctors, nurses, teachers, business people, etc. thanks to friends in the US who have supported them financially. The government, however, is allowed to “snatch” teachers and send them to other schools whenever they wish! Now that there are more graduates going on to college, some of those in education are able to return to Colegio Moriah, teaching in the school where they started their education.

Tanis and Esther

Tanis Derolus had escaped from Haiti to the Dominican Republic during one of the Haitian military coups after returning from seminary in Jamaica in 1993. A Christian leader in Santo Domingo had sent him to Pastor Phanord in La Romana where he began working with American teams in building the hospital and learning Spanish and English from a young teacher. Later, he worked with the church youth, taught Sunday School, preached at Maranatha Church, and reached out to the Haitians on the bateys. He married his language teacher Esther Perez, a business major who loved the Lord and desired to serve Him in the squalid bateys and barrios, rather than to live in the city where her parents lived. She had completed college in San Pedro and worked in business before meeting Tanis.

Esther’s parents had left Haiti as children with their parents to work in the sugar cane factories in the city of La Romana. Though they had lived on a batey in their early years, they saved their money to become citizens and to make a good home and business for themselves and their children. Esther, therefore, is considered Dominican, though her cultural background is Haitian. Tanis now has papers certifying that he, also, is a Dominican, though definitely not a native. They have 3 children who all speak Creole, Spanish, and English; most of their congregation speak only Creole and Spanish. Two of their children (Eli Tanis, who plays guitar and sings, and Tania Esther, who plays piano and sings) have completed college and as of this writing are helping with the ministry at the church and the school as well as with teams and on the bateys. Their third child, Eliezar, graduated from high school in 2022.

Their ministry is remarkable and their faith in Jesus Christ is firm as they do the work God has given them to do. Tanis teaches the elders and other church leaders how to be faithful husbands and parents, and to be good spiritual leaders in the church and the community; they visit the poor and sick in their homes in Las Colinas and in the surrounding bateys, even bathing and caring for patients in the hospital because there is no bedside care for the Haitians. As the ministries grow, Tanis teaches them that the church leaders must recognize that “every ministry is a daughter to the church, whether it is on the bateys, in the school, or in the future medical clinic when God provides for that.”

As of this writing, Esther is the CEO of Colegio Moriah, where she occasionally substitutes, and also works with the ladies in the church, directs the church choir, and occasionally preaches. She uses her business skill in her ministry, working closely with the US Board of Colegio Moriah in finances.

They appreciate having pastors and leaders from the US come down to preach and give training sessions for the Haitian Baptist Convention which is now part of the American Baptist Churches. Pastor Tanis continues to help his people grow spiritually, always eager to share the Gospel with new people and to invite them to church. He helps and encourages the Haitians to get their papers and to find jobs which will help them to earn money enough to live.

Pastor Tanis studied to become a lawyer so he could better help his people, graduating in November, 2019. Esther began taking an online seminary course in the same month, through Palmer Seminary of Eastern University, graduating in October of 2020. Tanis decided to add to his knowledge of the Scriptures; he began taking classes as well, graduating in April, 2022.

Team Ministries

An excellent ministry with the teens and college kids is to play with the children in Las Colinas and Batey Esperanza; they love to interact with the American Christians. They take tennis balls, softballs, frisbees, Little League outfits, other team shirts, etc. Often in the evenings, the American youth meet with the Dominican youth of the church to chat about “things” and to have Bible study together.

Adults on the team enjoy spending time socially and in Bible study with the women of the church who also cook for us and wash our clothes! Another ministry is to visit with women and families in their homes. With Esther in the lead, we take food, baby items, clothing, whatever Pastor Tanis suggests, and pray with them.

Because the congregation of Christ for the Nations Church desires to be more faithful to the Lord, they hold church services several times a week, pray daily, and fast for the team members from the US who are coming to serve them. Most team members join in for the almost-nightly singing and preaching; we receive great spiritual blessing in being with these humble, poor, joyful people, and look forward to continued ministry with them.

When we asked Tanis if it would be better for us to send money rather than to come ourselves, he answered similarly to Pastor Phanord: “ If I was offered a choice of having a million dollars or teams of people, I would choose having the people of God come here to interact with our people…”

Colegio Moriah: Mission Trips Through the Years

December 2003 was our first year of ministry at Colegio Moriah, and the compound was very rustic. After repairing the bathroom doors so they’d stop falling off, our carpenters paved the courtyard and other areas around which we were living, thus eliminating some of the dust and sand which blew around all day and night from piles of sand upstairs which would later be used for mixing cement — to the dirt patio where team members washed up, brushed teeth, and shaved using just 1 sink! There were 3 toilets across from the steps of the upstairs dormitory for 40 team members plus the Haitian workmen, and 2 showers (1 with the toilet in the same shower spot!). Some slept in the “other building” downstairs which had been built by Hans — sheets were hung between the “older men’s spot” and the women and the cook who’d come from La Romana.

The Derolus family slept in an old school bus just inside the walled compound in case we needed something, and a watchman guarded the work and the teams at night. At the end of our 2 weeks there, Hans arrived to take us into Santo Domingo for shopping and sightseeing.

By the end of nearly 2 weeks, the men had completed work on the Casa Pastoral so the Deroluses could move in, made the dormitory “livable”, paved the patio area (thanks to Ron Burge), and dug the footers for the new school building. The women washed clothing in an old tub and draped laundry over the barbed wire fences which surrounded some of the inside-the-wall fruit trees… We quickly purchased clothes lines which were strung over the newly-cemented patio area.

January 2004: Many construction workers joined the medical team to continue working on Colegio Moriah. Dr. Jeff McCleary, FBC’s pastor, was asked by the pastor in La Romana to bring preaching messages to several of the bateys and to his church during the week. People walked many miles to hear him, and were inspired by his teaching. After having lived in the unfinished dorm a few days, Pastor Jeff was glad to stay in a house near the Maranatha Church with private bedroom and bath!

Team members on both teams were always invited for a day of shopping and site-seeing in the big, ancient city of Santo Domingo. Sunday afternoons were spent at the beach with a bus full of our Haitian friends. Everyone attended the many church services during the week, had prayer and Bible study every day at noon (including the medical team which either held their Bible studies in the morning before leaving for the day’s batey clinic, or during their lunch break on the batey.)

January 2006: because airline ticket costs had risen prohibitively, the leadership decided to change the date of our work trip to later in January after 3 Kings Day (Epiphany), when prices were lower. 37 people completed this trip: not as many college or high school kids could attend, but many more medical personnel were able to join the effort.

The work from the prior trip — which had been carried forward by teams from Bar Harbor, Maine, and students from Gordon College — continued: completing the roof of the Colegio Moriah school building and digging footers (by hand) for the new church, among other things. The people saw us as friends and looked forward to our coming so they could work with other Christians. The Americans felt the same, bonding with these Christian friends in a very special way, though few could speak each others’ language. Participating in the church worship services was a real eye-opener compared to our more “staid” American services: the Haitians really know how to worship with exuberance! Because the team was there for about 2 weeks, they were able to join two Sunday morning and evening services, as well as a Wednesday evening service.

January 2008: The school children had begun meeting in the unfinished school building with dirt floors and cinder block walls. Seats were rusty, broken, metal chairs, and rough benches; there were plastic chairs for the teachers. The team tiled the floors, built desks for teachers and students, painted the walls bright Caribbean colors, poured cement on the roof in preparation for a 2nd floor, built restrooms for the church, a steel lunch cart and bars for the windows, etc. What a difference some paint — and a lot of hard work — can make! Many college students joined this team of 32 workers, and Wellsboro high school allowed students to take time off for this ministry.

Esther had hired Christian teachers and chosen an excellent Christian woman as principal of Colegio Evangelico Moriah; the team was pleased to meet them and to host a nice luncheon for them.

Before the next trip, noting the dearth of young people on our PA team, the leadership was led to form two teams: Team 1 would leave after Christmas 2009 and focus on construction projects, giving the college and high school kids and opportunity to avoid missing (much) school. As medical personnel were less able to get vacation time during the Christmas holidays, team 2 would follow in January 2010 and focus on the medical work.

December 2009–January 2010: Because of the addition of 25 high school and college kids and a 2nd team, 32 workers (including 17 from Wellsboro!) participated in this trip, and much work was accomplished: the construction workers, mostly Haitians, with help from our men, poured a cement roof over the 2nd floor of the school — an enormous undertaking! Others repainted the Casa Pastoral and other buildings, replaced fresh-water cisterns atop the buildings where frogs and other critters had taken up residency in the water used for drinking and showers(!), put up a strong chain link fence around the basketball court and painted court lines, built a low fence around the garden, etc. Colleen Hickey brought microscopes for a biology lab and held classes for the teens in a narrow closet-like room.

The young people enjoyed hopping into vehicles after work to play with the children in the nearby batey of Esperanza. Some did a Vacation Bible School-type lesson on the batey, as well. Students and adults played basketball in the evenings with local men and young people. PA teens met with Las Colinas teens for a weekly Bible study.

The medical team followed in January with 28 team members — including 10 from Wellsboro, and were accompanied by 7 puppeteers from Florida, led by Sylvia Daugherty, who taught Scripture stories through their puppet ministry in the bateys and on the compound. These were large puppets (not the typical hand puppets) and they used recorded Gospel stories in Spanish. The team left their puppets, scripts, CDs, portable stage, and backdrop at Colegio Moriah for the school children, led by Tanis Derolus, to use.

In the midst of all this work, the team awoke one morning a few days after arriving to hear about a huge earthquake in Haiti. God had sent Kaye Brown, a nurse on the team who’d done missions work in Haiti, and could speak fluent Creole on this trip, giving Tanis and Esther the confidence that they could leave the medical team in Las Colinas to join the long caravan organized by Kristy Engel to go to Haiti with food, building supplies, medicines, etc., to help the Haitian people. All of the family members living in the La Romana and San Pedro areas asked them to check on their families and friends living in the earthquake zone. Anyone who was able left with the caravan, secure in being with Kaye and all many Haitian friends.

December 2011–January 2012: A construction team of 32 people began building Christ for the Nations Church in the walled compound. Footers had been dug, so the team began the wall around the church, an enormous undertaking. Young people visited nearby bateys to lead puppet ministry and, joined by DR teens, enjoyed singing with the ministry. The medical team followed in January, along with some additional construction workers for the church bringing this team to 24 in all.

December 2013–January 2014: A team of 18 continued work on Christ for the Nations Church. Taking a break from the building project, Larry and Jake West taught teens to build desks, pews, and items for their own homes and the dormitory area. The 20 member medical team — again accompanied by some construction team members — held a dedication ceremony on the property for proposed hospital/medical clinic on land purchased by Dr. Herb Roberts.

December 2015–January 2016: Batey Molinito — Not far from Las Colinas — we arrived to learn that the sugar cane company had pulled up the well pipes so the people had no water! The construction team of 23 rebuilt the well and built a church to be used that very Sunday! Teens visited people in their meager homes and held puppet ministry with the kids.

30 people from Georgia, Maine, Michigan, NY, and PA joined the medical/construction team. They built an outdoor covered eating area for the children, worked in the library, helped with roof construction and 2nd floor of the school.

December 2017–January 2018: In December, 27 construction team members worked on special “potato chip” (looking) roofs for Colegio Moriah, visited in the homes, and continued the puppet ministry that had stared in 2010. A lot of work and “not for the faint-hearted”!

The medical team of 30 followed in January, led by Dr. David Pfisterer, Patrick Perl (RN), Shelly Thomas (PhD). This was to be the last year for Dr. Thomas on the medical team.

December 2019–January 2020: This year’s construction team began building the high wall surrounding the compound for the new Dr. F. Ardell Thomas Medical Clinic. After the crew’s time was done, additional money was sent for Haitians to complete it.

The medical team — led by Dr. Pfisterer and Patrick Perl (RN) — followed in January. This was to be the last year under Peg Thomas’ organizational leadership.

December 2021–January 2022: A construction team of 15 built a maintenance building/caretaker’s apartment inside the walls surrounding the proposed clinic and installed “razor wire” atop the outside walls to keep people out! Happy to be able to build something “from start to finish”, this team — capably led by Pastor Drew Simcox — left with only the cement roof remaining to be poured.

Again, the medical team arrived following week, led by Dr. Pfisterer. Holding 5 clinics, the 10 member team saw 200 patients on the compound! People were worried about COVID-19, so they lined up for hours. All members returned safely after being tested for COVID. Alas, upon returning home, 5 received word that they had tested positive! But by God’s grace, only one suffered ill effects, and that for just a few days.

December 2023–January 2024: Led by Joel Reid of Williamsport, PA, a team of …

January 2026: Due to the rising cost of airline travel, the decision was made to move the trip to mid-January, thereby avoiding the holiday travel season, and to combine the construction and medical teams into a single unit that would spend 10 days in Las Colinas. A team of 23, including 4 from FBC, worked on adding a 4th floor to the school and painting, painting, painting! The medical team…

To be continued…