Simpler Lives: DR Bibles & Bricks Youth Mission Trip
July 9, 2026 | Written by Garrett Waters.
Traveling to the Dominican Republic for the first time on the Bibles & Bricks mission trip, I felt nervous. I didn’t know how I was going to get by without easy access to my phone, no air conditioning in such a hot environment, and survive the long work days.
On the second day of the trip, we traveled from Santo Domingo, the capital of the DR, to San Juan de la Maguana. That evening after settling into the guest house, we walked to visit the children in the barrios (neighborhoods) around the guest house. When we arrived in the barrio, about a dozen children came running up to us, giving us hugs, asking to ride our backs, and braiding the girls’ hair. The children instantly welcomed us, people they have never seen before, into a place we had never been before.
For about an hour we played games with the children and we took a walk around their barrio. While we walked through the barrio, I wondered, how could such happy children live in such conditions? These families who lived here had never done anything wrong, but they lived such a different life compared to us. They didn’t deserve to live how they live. Just an hour in a foreign barrio, in a place I had never visited before, I had come to realize how much we take for granted here in the United States. We have good and steady school systems, clean tap water, trash and sanitation systems, air conditioning, multi-level, multi-room houses. But despite all of that, we still focus on the little things in our life that cause us minor inconvenience, as if they ruined our entire day. Throughout the week, it remained consistent as we went into new barrios through San Juan. No trash systems, unsteady public school systems, no clean running water, no air conditioning. Yet the people still remained positive and welcoming.
Seeing how the children of the Dominican Republic found so much joy in simple things was very inspiring for me. These children didn’t have screens, toys, or organized sports teams. While in one of the neighboring barrios, I witnessed the joy of the “simpler things” of life. I saw a girl dressing her doll in aluminum foil because that was one of the only resources the girl had to play dress-up with her doll. I also saw a little boy flying a trash bag scrap as a kite, with a huge, prideful smile as it soared over us. The kids used the resources and materials they had access to and never complained about it.
On Thursday night, we all talked about how much of an impact this trip had on our lives. I said to everyone, “How crazy is it that these people here have little to nothing, but they still remained positive and welcoming despite that.” Then on Friday, we went back to Santo Domingo. As we sat in our nice hotel room, I was overcome with gratitude for everything I have in my life. Gratitude I had never felt before. The little things of my life that I had typically not thought of as luxury started to feel more valuable to me than ever before. I felt appreciation for our trash system, for our mail system, for our air conditioning, for our school systems, and for our clean tap water.
And to think if I hadn’t gone on a mission trip for one week of my life in a foreign country, I still wouldn’t have appreciation for the luxuries of my life. And that makes me so grateful for the experience I had learning about simpler lives in the Dominican Republic.
