Church Trips
Dominican Republic
June 1st - June 9th, 2018
$100 Deposit due by February 15th, 2018
Country Info:
The country of the Dominican Republic is on the island of Hispaniola in the Carribean Sea. The island is split between the DR to the east and Haiti to the west. We will fly into Santa Domingo (the capitol) and drive to Samana where we will stay for the duration of the trip. Samana is a north eastern region coastal region which is popular among tourists. Spanish and English are the two official languages, although some people speak French or Creole, which is a form of French and Spanish. The average high temperature for the month of June is 86 degrees.
Living Arraignments
We will stay on the beautiful north eastern coast of the Dominican in the town of Samana in a small but comfortable hotel.
What will we do?
We will be working alongside of Mission:Hope and their Pastors Training school. Our time will be spent working in several key areas: medical, construction, children’s ministry, and training local pastors. Our medical team will consist of medical professionals and other support personnel (no prior experience required) who will set up medical clinics in villages. From the construction side, the church has several projects that they would like to work on both on and off of their property. At the medical sites, we need folks who can work with children. The Mathes Pastor's Training school will be running concurrently to the medical and construction teams during the day and there is a need for several seasoned Bible teachers to partner with Keith Burnett who will be leading the classes.
Do I need to have any shots before I go?
In the case of the DR, the CDC advises:
- All routine vaccinations be current
- Hepatitis A or immune globulin (IG)
- Hepatitis B
- Typhoid
- Although the risk of malaria in Samana is not high, we recommend you talk to your doctor about preventative options (doxycycline is one option, chloroquine is another). Malaria and several other tropical viruses are easily spread through mosquito bites. We recommend you counteract this by wearing long sleeve clothing and bug spray with DEET. More information can be found by visiting www.cdc.gov/travel and selecting the Dominican Republic.
Cost and travel info:
A $100 deposit is due February 15th, although due to limited availability, when we are full we are full. We will be traveling from the Huntsville airport. Total trip cost is $1500. There is a discount for Central Presbyterian Members.
Who can go:
Who can go:
Trip participants must be at least 16 years old and have completed the 10th grade of High School. Younger children may go only with parental supervision, no exceptions. Members of Central Presbyterian Church will be allowed to sign up for the trip before opening the trip to non-members. Potential team members must complete a mission application packet as well as pay a $100 deposit. Deposits are refundable if we run out of space on our team. Our trip consists of medical, construction, and pastor teaching groups. As such, we are looking for team members who both fill an area of need as well as have compassionate and willing hearts, are willing to be flexible, and who will love and serve others as they have been loved by God.
Team meetings:
Prior to our trip, we will have a series of team meetings designed to prepare us mentally and spiritually for our time in the Dominican Republic. Meetings will be mandatory for all team members. In addition to large group meetings, our work teams may have additional meetings for the purpose of specialized training and team building. If you are unable to attend a meeting due to a prior commitment, contact Dan or your team leader ahead of time for any pertinent information that will be presented to the team.
Other Information:
Signing up on our interest form and turning in an application with a deposit does not guarantee you a spot on the trip. The Central Presbyterian Mission Committee will assist as we build our team to make sure that we have the right people to accomplish our mission. Non-Central members may be a part of the team if space allows.
Because this is a mission trip, we ask that we would be as little burden as possible on our host church as possible. Remember also that we are there not only to be a blessing, but to allow our Dominican brothers and sisters to be a blessing to us! There is much to learn from their faith and their culture!
To sign up for the Dominican Republic 2018, please contact Dan Kish at
dan@centralpresb.org or (256) 534-8446 or turn in your application to the church.