Did you travel to the Dominican Republic with Carl Key on a Mansfield Christian School or Heritage Christian School mission trip in the early 1980s? We would like to connect with you and share what God is doing in the Dominican Republic. Please send your contact information to: partners@partnersnchrist.org.

Please include your name (maiden name if applicable), address and e-mail information. Indicate if you would be interested in attending a reunion.

What began as a 20th anniversary celebration of Mansfield Christian School has evolved into Partners In Christ. Carl has taken over 2,000 people and 200 groups to the Dominican Republic on short term mission trips in 30 years. Today we are celebrating 30 years of service in the Dominican Republic. We hope the pictures on these pages bring back good memories from over the years.

Carl Key directing work in Caballona, Dominican Republic, summer 1981.

Video of the carwash fundraiser and first trip to the Dominican Republic village of Caballona from 1981

We received an email from a former Dayton Christian student who went to the Dominican with Partners In Christ in 1986 (Dayton Christian's first trip to the DR). He is now ministering to the people of a Far Eastern country where Christians are oppressed. In the interest of his security and the security of the nationals who are associated with him we cannot give his name but we would like to share his letter with you:

Hello Carl and Wendell and friends,

Your invitation to share about some DR memories really stirred some reflections from way back! I participated in the first Dayton Christian school trip in the summer of 1986 and then again the following January of 1987 right after Coach Pinsenschaum died suddenly. As you recall his wife Jan then went on the trip with us and had a real impact on our Dominican friends who remembered Coach P so fondly. I think Dan Bragg led that second trip in place of Coach P and he did a marvelous job.

These trips to the DR were the sparks of the call that God placed on my life to serve Him in a full time missionary capacity. When I share my calling testimony I often insert my experience in the DR as the catalyst for birthing within me the desire to serve the Father in a full time cross cultural way. Specifically, I remember on our trip in the summer of 1986 being asked to help build a school from the foundation up. One of those hot summer days a woman approached our work site who had a medical problem which caused her legs to swell chronically. She knew we had a nurse on our trip (Joann Schindler) and so she asked her if she could just give her a medicine to take away the leg swelling. I remember that we had to tell her that we could not give her such a medicine and so she went away from us saddened. I felt helpless and a bit disappointed myself. Had we not come to the DR to help everybody? Yet here was one person we could do nothing for her health. In my 17 year old heart I felt the pains of idealism being curb sided by reality. Yet, this melancholy feeling led me to more seriously consider a career in medicine as my mother Caroline (a nurse herself) had encouraged me to pursue already.

Fast forwarding to today, I am currently a family medicine physician serving in a Far Eastern country where I have been living since June of 2009. My wife, who is a pediatrician, and I volunteer as faculty with a family medicine residency where we have the opportunity to teach local physicians in the principles and practice of family medicine. This includes charitable volunteer services to nursing homes and orphanages. We have been mostly involved in language study these first almost two years, but we plan to become more involved with the medical volunteer services in the fall of 2011. This summer (2011) we will be spending 3 months back in the U.S. reconnecting with family and friends. We are also planning to change our visa from our language school visa to a medical work visa.

Family wise, we are a family of six. My wife and I have four living children, three girls - 7, 5, 1 and one boy – 3. They are a true joy in our lives and we love them very much! The older girls attend local schools in the morning and then we have been home schooling the oldest in the afternoons. All of us have been working diligently on learning the language and we are making some progress.

Thank you for investing in my life!

Trusting in Him,

B.H.