I cannot believe that it has been two months since our last newsletter. My apologies. The time just flies by. Paul and I were driven to the airport by Noah on Canadian Thanksgiving night, where he left us. It was very strange to have our son drive us and then drive away while the two of us boarded a red eye to return to the DR.
Since arriving, it has been go go go. We are currently hosting our fourth mission team in five weeks. The teams have been a huge blessing in so many ways. The most important blessing is how God uses each person’s walking testimony to share the love and Word of God with the people that God puts in our path every day. Through the teams, many doors open for advancing the Kingdom of God.
Nena and I had student and parent meetings a couple weeks ago. We are blessed with so many students being sponsored that we had to have two meetings because everyone will not fit in our building at once. The purpose of this meeting was to teach how to write letters and we had a letter writing workshop.
We have been working on three separate construction projects. First one is a small, two room house for an elderly couple. They live right beside their daughter and the family does everything together so this couple does not need a kitchen but they do need their space. They currently live with their daughter which has six people living in a two bedroom house. The couple’s old house was falling down with palm walls that were over fifty years old. This family we have known for years. In fact, a number of year ago, Paul officiated their granddaughter’s wedding. Elicita has been attending our church and we are praying that her husband, Jose, will join Elicita on Sunday mornings for church.
The second project is a bedroom for one of our staff, Mechy. It is Dominican culture that when children grow up and do not get married, they continue to live with their parents. Mechy, 47 years old, has never married and lives with her parents and brother. Mechy has never had a bedroom to herself. As a child, she shared with her sister and now shares with her mother. Their bedroom is so small that there is one bed in which both ladies share and no room to walk. For the first time in her life, Mechy will have her own space, her own room. Mechy is the only believer in her family and she is so looking forward to having a quiet, private place pray and read her Bible. Throughout the build, we are getting some great opportunities to evangelize to Mechy’s brother, who is helping us build the bedroom.
The third project is an addition to our multi purpose building (called the Salón). We are building a 10 x 11 room that will serve as a Sunday School room on Sunday mornings for church and a temporary office for the ministry.
The Salón’s addition leads me into the next bit of exciting news. We have received a large donation to tear down and rebuild the Ministry Centre building. This is very exciting. The plans have been finalized and are currently in the process of obtaining all the necessary permits. Material lists are being made and we plan to start construction soon. We are not going to start until we have all our “ducks in a row”. We need the construction phase to be as quick as possible as the entire ministry will be uprooted and inconvenienced during the build. We pray that the build will take no more than three months. If you want to donate to this project, include a note with your donation that says that it is for the “Ministry Centre”.
When God moves and His will is being the done, the enemy is not happy and he attacks. We have all been feeling the attacks of the enemy both in the ministry and personally. The past few months have been tough in some areas. Three days after arriving, two people passed away that were family or good friends of each of our staff and ourselves. Our vehicles have all been breaking down and we need to replace both the ministry van and pick up truck. On Wednesday, the ministry van died coming up the mountain with the team after Paul had picked them up at the airport. Yesterday’s report from the mechanic is that the motor is dead and it needs a new motor. The pick up is at that point that it feels like one small thing after another needs to be repaired. It is time to replace it. Replacing vehicles takes prayer and money. We have decided to get the van repaired then sell it and pray that God will provide the difference in funds that we need from the sale of the van to the purchase price of a newer van. Our goal is one that is not more than five years old and we trust God to provide a new van before our next mission team, which arrives on February 18th.
Praise & Prayer
- Praise God for our four Fall mission teams and all the amazing ministry that they have done.
- Praise God for the church leadership of our church plant, the regular attendance of 10 – 12 adults and 12 – 15 children.
- Praise God for God’s protection on the roads every single day as well as keeping the team safe when the ministry van broke down climbing the mountain.
- Praise God for donation to rebuild the Ministry Centre
- Praise Godfor people who are volunteering to help with different things for the ministry from fund raising to letter translating to the website.
- Praise God for that Noah and Samantha are both doing okay, finding their way, spreading their wings in these first couple months of being on their own.
- Praise God for for Mosaic Church, Charlotte NC, who have partnered with us again for Christmas Shoeboxes and for the sponsors who have sent Christmas shoeboxes so that kids who otherwise may not get a Christmas gift will be getting a gift.
- Praise God for for all of our staff. God has blessed us with amazing staff who bring a variety of talents, skills and ideas to the ministry. We thank God that we are all family as we minister together with the same purpose….to share the love and Word of God.
- Pray for Mechy as she has to have major surgery in the next couple of weeks.
- Pray for good health for all of us.
- Pray for safe travels as Paul and Sharyn fly to Canada in December to spend Christmas with Noah and Samantha and then returns to the Dominican Republic in January
- Pray for protection over Noah and Sam, wise, Godly choices in life, growth in their relationships with God and their own faith.
- Pray for God’s wisdom in the selection of a new staff to be our office assistant.
- Pray for quick sale of the ministry van, truck and funds to replace both vehicles.
- Pray for approval of all permits and preparations of everything for building the Ministry Centre and that the actual building time will go on schedule and without problems.
- Pray for our Sunday School Christmas program that will be on December 3rd, that all the parents will come as well as others from the community and that the program will bring more people into regular attendance to the church.
- Pray for the owners of the land directly beside us to agree to sell us the land to use to build a Mission Team House.