We are honored to share this amazing guest blog from our friends at Hispaniola Mountain Ministries.
~Michael and Frida Donner

“I can’t even…I just can’t even deal.”

Those were the words I said over and over – both aloud and in my head – after returning from my first trip to Haiti in June 2012. What I had seen and experienced rocked me. Unimaginable poverty. Lack of access to basic life necessities. No access to medical or dental care. Limited access to educational resources. I couldn’t process it, and I was having a hard time returning to my comfortable American life and living it as though those seven days had not turned my world completely upside down.

The late Tim Dortch, founder and great visionary for Hispaniola Mountain Ministries (HMM), looked me square in the face one day when I was trying to explain to him what was going on in my head and said, “I get it. But you can’t let fear of not doing ‘enough’ paralyze you and keep you from doing anything.”

Barco’s Nightingales Foundation proudly supports the work of Hispaniola Mountain Ministries.

His words still move me today, and their echo literally keeps me moving forward on the tough days. A year after that initial trip, I resigned from my position as a soon-to-be tenured college professor at a large, research institution to join the HMM staff as the part-time director of communication. I haven’t stopped trying to do “enough” to improve the situation in Haiti since.

There is one family in particular that I have grown especially fond of over the last few years in my travels to Haiti. The family of eight lives in a 16 x 8 house just outside the walls of the HMM Promise Land compound in Anse-A-Pitre, Haiti. I first met Herbie, an active six-year-old boy whose spunk and enormous grin reminded me of my own two little boys. When I walked him home one day, I met the rest of his family, including his mom, Andriene, who might be the toughest woman I know. She’s small in stature and slight of frame, but as I approached I saw her lifting her completely disabled daughter out of the water running through the ditch in front of their home where she had bathed her for likely the tenth time that day. Cherline, 13, had spent most of her life lying on cardboard in their yard – not because her parents are neglectful or don’t love her, but because there is no money and no access to the resources she needs. Thanks to the generous gift of a wheelchair, she has a new perspective on the world! It has given her new joy and freedom! Her laugh is just as contagious as her brother’s and an enormous weight has been lifted from her mother – it’s been quite a transformation for this family.

These are the moments and opportunities that accompany a long-term commitment to mission work in an area – seeing lives transformed and relationships built over time. The cornerstone of HMM’s ministries in Haiti and the Dominican Republic is discipleship through relationships. The HMM family wants to help meet needs by providing access to basic necessities (food, clean water, adequate housing, access to medical and dental care, etc…) through partnerships with local churches, but also wants to see these local churches meet the needs of their neighbors every day.

Hispaniola Mountain Ministries (www.goHMM.org) is a non-profit based in Jackson (Miss.) that partners with local pastors and other organizations in the Dominican Republic and Haiti as well as the United States to minister to the great physical and spiritual needs on the island of Hispaniola. With a full-time Director, a part-time Director of Communication, and a part-time Accounting Specialist, HMM is bolstered by the support of its very active board and dozens of partnering churches. Over 40 teams traveled with HMM in 2014 to work on medical and dental teams, complete construction projects, conduct VBS activities, host sports clinics, distribute food, develop agricultural projects, and a number of other activities. One of the strengths of HMM ministries is the flexibility given to teams as they plan their trips. Based on the talents, skills and passions of the team members, trips can be tailored to fit almost any type of activity a team desires to use to share the HOPE and MERCY of Jesus.

I am often asked how others can partner with these ministries and be a part of what HMM is doing on the island, and I usually respond with three ways:

1) PRAY. Partner with HMM ministries in prayer daily. Pray for provision to continue the current projects and for the vision and resources to continue to reach new areas of the island. Pray for safety for teams and for HMM staff living on the island.

2) GO. Join an already established team or put a team of your own together and travel with HMM to see firsthand the beauty and joy on the island of Hispaniola. HMM has teams traveling every month — and there’s always room for one more.

3) GIVE. Financial partnerships are vital to HMM ministries and the HMM family is grateful to the organizations, churches and individuals committed to supporting HMM financially. Individuals can give securely online any time through the HMM website or send gifts to the home office. Monthly giving plans can be set up via the HMM site or individuals may even want to select a child to sponsor through the newly established child sponsorship program. What greater gift can you give a child than HOPE for a brighter future!

~Laura