The Story of Giccella
This story begins in the village of Muñoz, Dominican Republic. There were 58 students in the Dominican Republic with Filter of Hope (FOH), a ministry on mission to spread the saving grace of the Gospel of Christ, and they do this by meeting the fundamental need of clean water. They use water filters that turn water into potable/drinkable water. May God bless them in their ministry and mission. Towards the bottom is an explanation of how we would share the Gospel using the water filters.
We were giving families freshwater filters and sharing the Gospel of Christ. On our second or third day, we went to Muñoz, an impoverished village near Puerto Plato, that is riddled with darkness and brokenness. There is little Christianity there and most of it is very misdirected and based upon works or other confused theology (example: their grandma used to go to church, so they are Christian ). We know from the Word of God that salvation is not by works but by the grace of God alone and through faith in Jesus alone. And then works are a result that will flow from a true follower of Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10). In the third house we came to, there lived a woman named Giccella and her 6 or 7 children running around and causing a ruckus in their parking space sized home. We presented her the water filter and demonstrated how to use and clean it and then we shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her. As we were talking, I could see the conviction in her eyes and as I leaned into that with questions, she explained that she understood her need for Jesus and the desire in her heart for Him. I asked what was holding her back from turning to Him and her reply deeply broke my heart. She explained that there was no work in the village and that she was very poor but needed to provide food and water for her children in any way that she could. She explained, shamefully, that the only way she saw to provide for her children was through selling her body for sex as a prostitute.
She explained that she could not bear going to church in the mornings, and then stand on the village corner at night, on call. In situations like this when we don’t have the words to say, we must truly rely on the Spirit to speak through us. As I held back tears, I tried explaining to her that Jesus is a God that provides, and He is a God that deeply cares for our suffering and has compassion upon us. We went through the story of Mary Magdalen pleading with her to put faith in Christ to pull her out of this situation. Since she had no relationship with Him, how could she have faith that He will come through, if she does not know Him? We stayed for a while longer explaining the love of God to her, but for the time being, she would not receive the gift of Eternal Life from Jesus. I shared this story later with the group and it was a somber moment. Afterwards I was approached by someone whose heart had been pierced by the Spirit to do something about Giccella’ s situation. When we decided to do something about it, another person approached me feeling called to give a substantial amount of money to her cause, and then another and another, and by the end we had about 4- or 5-years’ salary for Giccella!
I met with the lead pastor of the local church, Pierre Benison, to discuss how we could go about best using this money. He explained that there were 5 other women in Muñoz in the same situation as Giccella and that they all need help too. Pierre came up with the idea to make a business for the girls to work for, something as simple as selling plantains or as remarkable as building a drug store, anything that will sustain them financially and keep them off the streets. I thought it was a brilliant idea, but we need more help to get this thing rolling! In the meantime, Pierre has been giving the women of Muñoz money to live off on a weekly basis, so they do not need to go back to their old means of living. This money will not last forever so we are asking anyone that feels called to give!
Our current goal is $10,000 USD or $570,550 Dominican Pesos to build a convenience store to employ and fund the women in Muñoz and the surrounding villages! This truly is a huge goal, one that requires God to move on our behalf if it is ever going to be accomplished! But why not step out in faith and ask a BIG God for a BIG showing of His providence? We also made sure that all the money gifted in the past and Lord willing the future is to be given anonymously, as a pure act of the providence and graciousness of God to these women.
In 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Paul writes to Timothy saying,
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
With all this being said, we invite you to grab on to what God is doing in the Dominican Republic and potentially in many more places in the future!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and may God bless you!
Sharing the Gospel through Water Filters
The premise of sharing the gospel through the filters goes like this: the condition of our hearts is dirty and unclean, in the same way as this dirty water in the bucket (they supply the bucket and dirty tap water), and we pour dirt in to show how filthy the water can be, and to illustrate how dirty our hearts are. We are not able to drink this water without getting sick, and in the same way we cannot be in the presence of a perfect and holy God because our hearts are so unclean. Our hearts are naturally unclean from birth and continue to blacken because we think bad thoughts, do bad things, and say terrible words. In this state of existence, we cannot enter into the presence of a holy God, so we need a filter! Just like this filter purifies the water and allows for us to drink it without getting sick, we desperately need a filter to cleanse our hearts so that we can enter into the presence of a perfect God, and that Filter is Jesus Christ! All you must do to be covered by the Blood of Christ is put your faith in Him for your salvation, which means trust in His sacrifice on the cross, and turn and repent from your sin, the very thing that necessitated His sacrifice.
Scripture should be at the very heart of gospel sharing because the word of God is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12), so we would incorporate verses like
John 14:6
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
And FOH main verse John 4:14
“but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
We know that only by the grace of the God and by the movement of His Spirit will anyone’s heart be bent towards receiving Christ, so we have nothing to boast of other than Jesus, and His unfailing love. That being said we are called to rejoice, as the angels do, when God brings salvation to a lost soul, and we were praising the Lord all week as we saw 86 people come to a knowledge of the saving grace of Christ and give their lives to Him! We were also witnesses of the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit through numerous miracles! God is so good.