Church's Faithful Mission to Dominican Republic

Photo Special to Alachua County Today

Mission volunteers and children often develop close bonds of friendship.

ALACHUA - Alyssa Shelamer lives in Gainesville, but she said her heart is 2,000 miles away.

The 23-year-old has visited the Dominican Republic every year for the past seven years on mission trips with her church, First United Methodist Church of Alachua. The church will be holding a rummage sale on April 1 and 2 to raise funds for this year’s trip on June 14.  

She said the sale will include items church members have donated, from kitchen utensils to clothes.

Penny Haskins, Shelamer’s grandmother, said the church has launched two camps – both called Camp Hands of Joy, one for younger children and one for older deaf children – in the Dominican Republic. Activities for the kids include swimming, crafts, sports and chapel twice a day.

Shelamer said chapel time includes the children singing worship songs, learning and memorizing Bible verses and watching reenactments of Bible stories.

“There are a large number of deaf people in the Dominican Republic, particularly children,” Haskins said. “And there are not a lot of services for them…For a lot of these deaf children, it is the only chance they get to mix and mingle with other deaf children, find out they’re not alone.”

Haskins recalled that in 2009, she and another missionary came together to plan the camp. At the time, the camp only had about 56 children. Last year, that number grew to 170 children coming from all over the Dominican Republic.

It is expected to continue growing, she said.

Haskins said they began this endeavor completely on faith, and they had no idea how they would go about it at first.

“God took care of it,” she said. “It just worked out beautifully.”

Haskins said over the course of her trips, she’s seen many of the children grow into mature adults and become leaders – preaching to their friends and mentoring the younger kids.

Two years ago, a young man named Bernardo approached her with a sincere apology.

“[When Bernardo was eight years old] He was a brat. He wanted all your attention, he was disruptive [and] he didn’t do what he was told,” she said.

“Two years ago, he came up to us and said, ‘I want to thank you for coming and I want to apologize for the terrible little boy I was.’ He said, ‘I have, because you have come every year, I have gotten to know Jesus and I’m a different person now. If it was not for you I wouldn’t have that opportunity and I am so grateful.’”

Shelamer said it has been rewarding to watch the children develop language skills, make friends and acquire jobs.

“They have so much joy and such a passion for life,” she said.

Shelamer, a teacher’s assistant at Oak Hall School, said the trips have impacted her so much that she’s decided to move there and be a teacher.

“For me, just going and seeing their faces, that’s helped me to go deeper in [her faith],” she said. “Because what do I have to complain about? How am I going to doubt my faith when they have so much faith and yet they have so little [possessions] in comparison?”

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