This was a busy trip for Brent and Wendy. On the first week, The Wongs hosted 130 pastors from all over the world.

Back from another riveting trip to the DR, but this time with a church group from North Carolina! We were also joined by Aaron, Kerry and Maddy from Winnipeg. This phenomenally talented and loving group built 2 homes for 2 wonderful families and also held some evening church services.

We had a large group of absolutely wonderful people join us from 4 provinces. We ranged in age from 1 to 70 (with that birthday being celebrated on our trip) and quickly became like family.

We just returned from the DR with one of the largest groups we’ve had to date! 38 volunteers which consisted of a large percentage of the staff from Fort Group Chartered Professional Accountants and Dr Brent, Dr Brian, Timo Gerzen a denturist from Steinbach, and a handful of Shine Dental staff and family.

This trip was a departure from our normal STLi trips. Instead of dental clinics, medical clinics and home building, we engaged audiences with parenting classes, boys and girls club talks and preaching in a couple of churches in Puerto Plata where we taught on God’s Love.

In the first trip of 2018, we finished the house construction with a team of 22 people. We also had marriage councillors from Winnipeg who helped enhance and restore many marriages down here. We also brought donated grad dresses and our photographer down to capture several girls’ 15th birthdays called a Quinceañera (which is huge in many Spanish speaking countries).

Our October trip was a bit different this year as we embarked on a large project - building a Community Centre for El Javillar! We had 30 volunteers including a lot of children which made it a memorable experience!

The second trip of 2017 was another successful one! We shared this smaller trip with Vicki and many members from her extended family.

The first trip of 2017 was another productive and emotional trip. The 31 volunteers took part in building 2 new homes, held medical clinics in the community of Javillar and nearby schools, saw first hand how to cook traditional Dominican food in the Kitchen Encounters and connected with locals!

Our third trip of 2016 came early this year, in the month of May. This trip saw the return of Charity and her aesthetician training program that she now has down to a science. We also had more Funk than a New Orlean’s corner pub as many of Chris’s family members joined us on this wonderful journey.

This was the first time that we held a trip in April and it was because it was a special trip. I, (Dr. Brent) have three ‘worlds’ in which i spend my time: work, home and ministry. And on this trip, all three worlds collided in such a wonderful way. This was a Shine Dental exclusive trip!

I’ll be honest - this was one of my favourite trips. I’m not entirely sure why, but, perhaps it was because we had so many kids and young adults that jived better than you could ever imagine. They had their own little posse and even had a designated dining table every night. It warms my heart to think back about how well that worked out.

To precede our 2016 Shine Dental Trip, we held a mini trip with The Wongs and 3 staff from Shine Dental here in Winnipeg. Although it was one of our smallest trips, Bill, a regular on these humanitarian outreaches told us that it was his favourite trip ever. And that’s saying a lot, since I believe he’s been on almost 14 trips with us!

The second trip of the year and the third to our new location in Javillar, Puerto Plata, DR was a resounding success. Not only did our 33 participants come together to see 100’s in the medical clinic and build two brand new homes for deserving recipients in Javillar, we saw the continuation of our sustainable job training with Charity from Just Breathe Aesthetics.

A wonderful team of 45 loving and giving Canadians joining with at least as many selfless, hardworking Dominicans to truly became a family last week. Together, we built 3 homes (a single family home, duplex and triplex), trained 9 men as mechanics, treated & educated hundreds of people with medical and dental ailments, launched an after school program for girls, and taught positive parenting courses and, most importantly, built deep relationships.

New Beginnings! This trip found us across the water from Nuevo Renacer in the barrio of Javillar. Brent and Wendy felt that after 20 house builds in Nuevo Renacer and with 6 different organizations helping in this community, they would spread some love across the river to Javillar where no groups were helping and where the poverty levels were the same and even worse at times.

We just returned from an immensely rewarding and impacting trip with 47 people...our largest group to date!Wow, have things have grown since our early trips 9 years ago when it was brent, myself and a couple friends doing dental clinics.We couldn't have imagined that, in the next several years we'd bring dental and medical care to thousands in need, build 20 homes, and have teams of nearly 50 people spending their own hard-earned cash to join us...and make this all possible.

Our first trip of the year to Nuevo Renacer was an amazing trip! We had 39 participants from all across Canada. We were an adult team with only 2 children - my beloved boys, Jonah and Isaiah. Another 2 homes were built, making these our 15th and 16th homes in 3 years! So exciting!

This trip to Nuevo Renecar and surrounding areas of Puerto Plata was our largest trip to date. We had a contingent of 40 people from all over North America. Along with dental clinics in Nuevo Renacer and Playa Dorada, 12 medical clinics all over Puerto Plata, and midwifery clinics in much needed barrios of the DR, we built 2 homes for FOUR families! It was an amazing trip, indeed.