DR | Troy

Throughout the trip there was a common theme talked about amongst the group: the mission doesn't end when the trip does. In the airport, before we had even left the country, this sentiment was reinforced immediately on me. Ty was about to use his credit card to pay at the Carl’s Jr. in the airport when a man kindly told him that wasn't a smart decision and suggested he use cash. Something about this man inclined me to continue the conversation. 

He was a bus driver from New York, yet he was covered in gold jewelry. I noticed a Masonic ring on his left ring finger, an organization that holds rituals to a “higher power,” not our God. I was drawn to ask this man who his god was. When he said he believed in a higher power, I probed if it was Jesus, and he said no. Yet as we spoke and he told stories of his life, the stories paralleled Biblical stories. In one incident, he crashed his bus and almost got away, but it was the smallest bit of evidence that got him caught. This paralleled his guilt, felt for the life he has lived. As we talked, he began saying things like, “I know God sent you,” and he was getting very emotional. At some point he had to board his flight, but Etienne and I prayed for the man, and he even repeated after me the name of Jesus. We embraced and went our separate ways. It was truly a seed planted and proved to me that the mission is only getting started.

Troy McClelland, DR 2026