It was about that time for Tim Haffey.

	Tim Haffey (5) had two goals and four assists last year.

The first preseason men's soccer game at Houghton College was over two months away, and the junior defender was preparing for the new season. Haffey, a member of an Olympic development team in high school, had always trained hard. But this year, it was not the way most would expect for an NAIA athlete.

He woke up at about 5:30 a.m., and he walked or ran for two hours -- always through mountains, sometimes through rain -- to reach his destination.

The ending point was rough, and the grass was not green. Haffey ended his morning "exercise" at a garbage dump. He was in the Dominican Republic and his life was about to change.

mis·sion n. -- An inner calling to pursue an activity or perform a service.

As a student at Houghton, a Christian college in western New York, finding volunteer work or finding a summer calling is the norm. But Haffey hadn't found what he was looking for and was ready to head back home to South Lyon, Mich., and work his usual summer job -- landscaping. After another year of preparing for medical school (Haffey is a biology-psychology double major under Houghton's pre-Med program), the 20-year-old might have just wanted to kill some weeds and trim some hedges.

But that was not the case.

"I felt a burden on my heart to do the Lord's work," Haffey said. "Instead of going home, I prayed this prayer that I'd be open to whatever came my way."

Then Haffey received a random e-mail from Janna Amelingmeier, who helps run the Crossroads Missions, primarily offering stations in the Dominican Republic. Amelingmeier told Haffey she had a mission for him on one of the sugar cane farms in the country, where he could do medical work while living in the local village. Haffey made his way south on May 20.

The name of his village: La Union.

fol·low·ing v. -- to accept the guidance, command, or leadership of.

Haffey tried not to have any expectations of the Dominican Republic. He had heard the usual stories, about how poor most of its people were, about how little kids dreamed of becoming baseball players in order to get out and send money back home.

But once he arrived, poor took on a whole new meaning.

"Shocking conditions," Haffey said. "Down there, if you're white, they just assume you are intelligent -- and rich. I now know it's just a different poverty line altogether."

Haffey also knew he wasn't qualified to do a whole lot by American medical standards. In the United States, he's a pre-Med student with an EMT certification and at least seven more years of schooling left before he's an official doctor. His equation was simple - in America, if you're a doctor, you're a pediatrician or a surgeon. In the Dominican, you just help people.

Working with a French-Canadian nurse practitioner from Quebec, Haffey began to help La Union, which housed the poorest of the poor -- Haitian migrant workers who come to work in the Dominican sugar cane fields in exchange for a roof over their heads -- a roof of sheet metal and palm tree leaves.

Haffey gave exams and provided medication. He even developed a following among the villagers. One of the older men in the village had told the nurse in French Creole what was ailing him. The translation was symptoms of a migraine, and Haffey gave the 64-year-old man the equivalent of Tylenol. The next day, four women came to the medical area, asking him for help.

"I had to explain to them that I couldn't perform surgeries."

friend n. -- a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.

Enrique was one of the youngest in the village. Unlike Haffey's older migraine patient, Enrique was only 19, married and the head of household, which included his father and six-year-old brother. But like most in La Union, Enrique was Haitian and poor. Haffey befriended Enrique, at first mainly because he spoke enough English for the two to communicate, and later, Haffey spent more and more time with the migrant worker.

"I went down there to bring things to people," Haffey said, "but he taught me more and gave me more. I learned more from Enrique than I could have ever taught anyone."

So, it was time. Time the two spent exchanging stories, time Haffey spent cooking dinner for Enrique after he went three days without a meal, time Haffey spent walking or running for two hours with Enrique to a garbage dump to help the Haitian make extra money. Enrique and Haffey would collect bottles, cans, wire -- anything -- that was salvageable. Sometimes, Enrique would find leftover food. They would pack the items in a burlap bag and make the two-hour trek back to La Union.

The trips saved Enrique's family. Each month, local companies would come and collect Enrique's "collectables" and pay him 800 pesos. After taking 500 away for rent, or payment for the shack in the village, that left Enrique and his family with 300 pesos for the month -- roughly $18 U.S. dollars.

"This is the norm down there," Haffey said. "That's not enough for one person, let alone four."

That was when it sunk in, real deep, that Haffey had to do something. He would eventually have to return to the United States, to Houghton College, to the carefree notions of two halves and two goalposts. But he was leaving his best friend behind, and he didn't like it.

culture shock n. -- a condition of confusion and anxiety affecting a person suddenly exposed to an alien culture or milieu.

	Haffey plans on returning La Union next summer.

By mid-July, Haffey's eventual departure hung over him as much as the pounding thought hitting the back of his head. He wanted to help Enrique and others at La Union. Haffey thought that with so many resources in America, there had to be something he could do.

"I guess I felt that I would have betrayed myself and my faith if I didn't make some kind of impact," Haffey said.

But first, Haffey had to adjust to living in America again. He initially was "disgusted" with how Americans live, how the abundance of choice and the indulgence of quantity dominate our lifestyles.

"How do you relate what I saw to the American people?" Haffey said. "People will buy more food than they have to eat here. People warned me that going to the Dominican would be a culture shock. The real shock was coming back here."

Haffey adjusted back into his native environment, and he also came up with a plan. He formed the Simple Purities organization, a soon-to-be non-profit group that will try and raise money for Enrique, and others like him at La Union. Like 30-year-old Bernard, who as an aspiring artist dreams of coming to America and going to college to hone his talent.

If Haffey has it his way, Simple Purities will make those aspirations into realities. While he waits for the legal approval for his group to become an official non-profit organization, Haffey already has raised $2,000 through donations and interest in Bernard's artwork that Haffey brought back from the Dominican. But for now, Haffey sends the money raised directly to the needy people he met in La Union.

Haffey is hoping to return to La Union for a two-week stretch over Christmas break, and will definitely return next summer, from mid-May to mid-July. In the meantime, he's attending classes and defending the backfield at Houghton -- but mostly thinking of his friends at La Union.

"There is no hope (in the Dominican), but here, we have that," Haffey said. "I want to try and give them some of that."

Because for Haffey, it's about that time for a greener landscape.

Joy Russo is a staff editor at ESPN.com. She can be reached at joy.e.russo@espn3.com.