Gene Smith has a vision for the people of the Dominican Republic – literally as well as figuratively.
“We started looking at different opportunities, and we looked at Vision 3:16,” administrative pastor of First Baptist Church in De Soto, Mo., told “The Pathway.” “My wife and I took a mission trip to Mexico to see how it worked. We were excited to see how the eyeglass clinics worked, and we decided to buy supplies and to go to the Dominican Republic.”
The Smiths contacted Maranatha Missionary Baptist Church in La Romans, Dominican Republic, with Pastor Savenit Polo. Members are primarily Haitian refugees, according to Smith, and they speak Spanish and Creole.
“We set up our eyeglass clinics in stations,” Smith said. “We used five stations in each clinic. We registered them at the first station, then they moved on to the wall chart, then to the autorefractor which measures prescriptions, then to the fitters to match the glasses to the prescription and finally to the evangelism station. Spanish and Creole are spoken, and the pastor follows up with them.”
Jason Boettcher and Otis Hamer of First Baptist Church, De Soto, help clients at a wall chart station during an eyeglass clinic here. (Photos courtesy of FBC De Soto)
Megan Mahue, a member of First Baptist Church in De Soto, was one of 12 team members on a June mission trip. “To watch the smile on their face when they were fitted with glasses and could finally see, it was God’s grace,” she said. “One of the older ladies said she just wanted to be able to read her Bible.”
Mahue became emotional as she described how she felt working in the clinic. “When I sat across from them,” she said, “I had overwhelming feelings of love for them. That’s not me, that’s not human, it was God working through me.”
About 4 percent of the country’s residents are totally blind or have moderate to severe blindness. The prevalence of all vision loss is 12.7 percent, compared to just 3.7 in the United States.
In addition to the eyeglass clinic, Mahue said they worked with children and packed 50 food bags to aid the Maranatha ministry.
According to The Pathway, “Smith tallied the final numbers for the two trips: In March, with nine team members, the team saw 246 people and gave away 154 prescription glasses and readers, there were 14 people who accepted Christ. On the second trip in June, the church took 12 team members, who saw 408 people and gave away 540 pairs of glasses; 34 put their faith in Christ.”
“It is amazing what God has given us to do,” Smith said. “He has made available thousands of eyeglasses for us to give away. The Maranatha church has a long history of planting churches and assisting pastors. Pastor Polo is interested in other teams coming and staying in the Mission House that they have available.”
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice