They Told Me I’d Be Bored

It sounded like a good idea at the time. “You’ll be retired” they said. “Bored” they said. “It’s safer than Haiti” they said. But now it seems… real.

I’ve been asked to be the first visiting professor for the Ezra Institute, training pastors in the Dominican Republic this October. I can’t wait to put that on my resume!

Well, except that I’m retired.

And it sounds more impressive than it is. This professor doesn’t get paid. In fact, he has to pay his own way.

I’m going with RMI – Reciprocal Ministries International, a mission organization that links churches in the U.S. with local churches in Haiti and the Dominican Republic for cross-cultural partnerships.

How it Happened:

I’ve been going to Haiti since 2007, and I’ve built deep friendships there, including with Andrew, who was a high school missionary kid when we first met. He now has his PhD and is spearheading the new Ezra Institute School of Leadership for RMI. Andrew and I always had a lot of fun in Haiti, including becoming amazing cooks for the school of over 200 students at his parents’ house. Deep fried hotdogs were our specialty. Don’t tell my doctor. Anyway, I’m excited to be working with Andrew again.

Here we go – the ask:

Unfortunately, RMI is not self-funded. So, I need to obtain my own prayer and financial support.

• Prayer: Right now, I need prayer to trust God for the planning, language barriers, resources, etc. I’ve never been to the DR before, and I’m traveling alone, so a little apprehensive.
• Cost: All told, this trip runs about $2288.47, not including coffee in the airport.
  • The cost for my food and lodging for ten days in the country is $1,140. You can support me through RMI, and receive a tax receipt for your giving if you decide to do so. You can give here.
• • The cost for the RT flight to Santiago was $1148.47. If you want to help with that, there is no tax receipt. If you wanted to help with flights, you can give here, (GiveSendGo) and trust that I don’t put it into my Red Ferrari fund. I mean, that’s transportation too…
  • I’ll let the world know if/when we get fully funded. Any extra will go to RMI.

What I will be doing:

I will be 10 days away from home, but two of them are traveling. So, 8 days of ministry.

• The first three days is all about meeting with the pastors, missionaries and students who we will be teaching. We need insights to material changes, get to know the translators, and some logistics to work out.
• The next five days we have three conferences, some two days long.
  • A Pastors conference. Some of it about shepherding, some about administration, and some about sermon preparation.
• • A young adult conference. This will be on discipleship and Bible study methods.
  • A marriage conference. Probably using premarital counseling material.

Please be praying, and feel free to share this letter. It is way different taking a mission trip after retiring. Money is tighter and getting the word out more awkward. Thanks for any help, and I’ll let you know how it goes!

Be encouraged,

Dan

Admittedly my dog and grandson in the picture have nothing to do with this post.