Learning to Listen

“My family is back home in Haiti.”

Jin Soo Park looked at the words on the screen. He was conversing with a construction worker from Haiti while volunteering with Resonate Global Mission in the Dominican Republic. Park didn’t speak Haitian Creole, and his new friend didn’t speak English, so they were using Google Translate to help them communicate.

Park is a student at Calvin Theological Seminary, where he is studying toward a master of divinity degree. He plans eventually to serve as a missionary in the Middle East, so he was volunteering with Resonate to gain hands-on experience in a region of the world he had not visited before.

“I wanted to serve in a different region and see how other Resonate missionaries worked. I have lived in Africa, Asia, and North America, but I have never been to Latin America,” said Park.

He decided to go to the Dominican Republic, where Resonate works primarily with the Haitian immigrant community. In the Dominican Republic, Haitians are often exploited economically, and they regularly face racial and cultural discrimination. Most live in vulnerable and marginalized communities, many of which might not have electricity or running water, schools, clinics, or businesses.

Park has moved around a lot in his life. Born in South Korea, he moved to Kenya in third grade when his parents became missionaries; then he studied in the United States and later taught at an international school in the Middle East with Resonate. But of all the places he has been, he said, it seems that the Haitian communities in the Dominican Republic are living in some of the most vulnerable conditions he’s seen.

“This trip humbled me. . . .” said Park. “I saw the world in the eyes of some of the most vulnerable people on earth. I witnessed extreme poverty and heartache after heartache. It was not just a lack of resources or wealth; it was a lack of listening ears. No one dared to listen to the Haitians’ plight, their suffering, their agony, their joys, their celebrations, and their hopes.”

Park said that throughout the three weeks he stayed in the Dominican Republic, he spent most of his time listening to Haitian immigrants and learning from them. He said he has learned that listening is an important part of ministry.

He heard from construction workers, teachers, and pastors, he said. He also learned from the ministry leaders who work with Resonate partners Sinergia and JET, who serve tirelessly to help meet the needs of underserved communities in the Dominican Republic.

Park said he also got to do a bit of hands-on service while he was there. In Monte Plata he joined a youth group from Bradenton Christian Reformed Church in Florida who were on a service and learning trip with Resonate. Park worked alongside them and with local believers as they picked up trash and helped build a house for a young leader.

But one of the most memorable parts of his visit, said Park, was his conversation with the Haitian construction worker.

Using Google Translate, the construction worker had shared about his family, how much he missed them, and how difficult life could be for him in the Dominican Republic. He currently had a steady job on a construction project, but once that project was complete, he wasn’t sure what would come next. He regularly sent most of his earnings home to his family in Haiti, so they were depending on him.

Park noted that a verse that came to his mind was Isaiah 1:17: “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

Park said that the only thing he could do was to remember this construction worker’s story and the countless other people living in oppressive circumstances there, and to pray for God’s justice and redemption.

“The sole purpose of my going to the Dominican Republic was to listen,” said Park. “There was nothing I could give. However, I received love, encouragement, gifts, food, peace, and gratitude. I want to thank Resonate missionary Steve Brauning, who mentored me and taught me valuable lessons while I was there.” 

Park said the trip taught him important lessons about mission as he seeks to follow a calling from God to be a full-time missionary.