Crosspoint Community Church in Nashville, TN are fantastic partners! It was our pleasure to connect them with Pastor Moise, a Haitian pastor in the Dominican Republic serving the Haitian migrant working population there in Santiago. This partnership in the Gospel has been filled with many blessings and many joint ventures. We just wanted a moment to share a recent victory with you that was unexpected and glorious! Crosspoint has partnered with G.O. for years and just this past year completed the church and nutrition center in Brisas on behalf of the Haitian church. In March of 2011 they began funding the nutrition center for the children of Brisas in need. Crosspoint sent a team down who helped with the grand opening. They met Daadli, the little girl pictured above, and were filled with compassion. Erika and Lisa of Crosspoint really connected with Daadli. In an effort to report on their trip and garner support to help Daadli, Lisa, wrote the following:
“What do you do when community is all you have but your community wants nothing to do with you? That’s a question I faced recently on my trip to the Dominican Republic with Cross Point and G.O. Ministries. As a part of our mission work, our team made daily visits to the feeding center at Brisas Church, Cross Point’s sister church in the Dominican Republic. It was there I met this sweet little girl, Daadli.
Daadli is three and as you can already see, was born with a severe cleft palate. It restricts her from being able to talk and eating is extremely challenging for her. What is also a challenge is her opportunity to interact with the other children.
Imagine living every day where children point at you and run away. They look into your eyes with fear and confusion, wondering what is wrong with you and as a result, you are completely alienated from your community.
In the world these beautiful children live in, community is everything. There are no video games and not a lot of toys. So children gather outside of their homes from dusk to dawn and play together. During my entire stay in the Dominican, I never saw a single child playing alone. Except for Daadli. I always found her sitting in a corner, staring into space with no one to play with.
At Cross Point, so many of us have been impacted by the power of community. It’s a large part of how we grow in our walk with Christ. Many of us gather weekly in each other’s homes within our community groups. We strive to serve our outside community on Serving Saturdays. And whenever a misfortune strikes another, we rally together to lift them up and restore them as best we can.
Community has been such a blessing in my life and the lives of others at Cross Point. Now, I desire nothing more than to help Daadli experience the joy of community in her own.
Community has been such a blessing in my life and the lives of others at Cross Point. Now, I desire nothing more than to help Daadli experience the joy of community in her own.
Cleft palate surgery is a remarkably common procedure, performed by dozens of medical missionaries each year in underdeveloped nations. Members of our mission team were so impacted by Daadli that we are now on a “mission” back here in the States to help her. With prayer and persistence, we are hoping to fund corrective surgery for Daddli that could dramatically change the appearance of her cleft palate and the quality of her life.
We all know what it’s like to have backs turned against us. We also know the feeling that occurs when our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ invite us with arms wide open into their community. I’m hoping we can do that very same thing for Daadli.
1 Samuel 2:8 ‘He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.’”
Since that March trip and a couple of young ladies' willingness to start a conversation on behalf of this sweet child, G.O. Ministries has connected with Operation Smile that has a headquarters in Santo Domingo, the capitol. They have agreed to treat Daadli for free. In fact, they treat all poor children for free and have requested that we keep an eye out (we work in 34 different communities on the island) and send any children we find their way! What an awesome new Partnership!
So we are grateful for the Partnership in the Gospel that we share with Crosspoint and Moise that started long before Daadli was even born. Before Daadli was born the Lord was already weaving together a network around her that would ultimately offer her hope and healing. We’re just blessed to be a part of such a network!
So we are grateful for the Partnership in the Gospel that we share with Crosspoint and Moise that started long before Daadli was even born. Before Daadli was born the Lord was already weaving together a network around her that would ultimately offer her hope and healing. We’re just blessed to be a part of such a network!
