Conference for Pastors and Leaders

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted. To those of you who have been waiting for an update, I apologize. This past month has been a month of learning opportunities for me: I've been exposed to several ministries; I've been making connections with other pastors, leaders and missionaries here in the Dominican Republic; God is opening doors for me to get even more involved with ministry here, potentially long-term and full-time; and I am eager to share with you about my journey - one step at a time. It's been absolutely incredible - exciting, challenging, scary and wonderful all at the same time because I know God is guiding me. He is leading me, and He is holding me in His good, faithful, gentle and almighty hands. It's a good thing I have pictures because otherwise some of you may have a hard time believing me as I share about the places I've been, the things I've experienced and the people I've met in the last month.

Let me start with a brief re-cap. For the past five years, I have been traveling to the Dominican Republic on short-term mission trips with Woodridge church and partnering with Iglesia Centro Cristiano Shalom in Hato Mayor. This summer especially we focused on leadership development - encouraging, empowering and equipping leaders from Pastor Carlos' church. When the team left on August 9th, I stayed on to continue working with the youth.

As I've described in great detail in previous blog entries, the youth and I met together often (at least 4 times a week!) for prayer and Bible study, to do ministry in the community (hospital visits, home visits, children, teenagers, elderly, and more), to learn more about what it means to be the church and growing as leaders in the church and to do outreach in the communities giving people all over Hato Mayor opportunities to hear the gospel and join us in our service to the Lord. What an incredible and wonderful experience!!! I am so thankful to God, thankful to Pastor Carlos, thankful to the church of Centro Cristiano Shalom and thankful to the youth whom I love so much. I have such a desire to see the youth and this church continue to grow more and more in love with the Jesus, with each other and with those who are unsaved. I earnestly pray that they would come to know and understand more of God's love for them, that they would see His plans for their lives, and that this love would compel them to surrender their lives completely to the Lord. I pray that they would not be distracted by cares and concerns of this world, but that they would commit themselves fully to the work God has for us - to love, to serve, to teach, to preach, to pray, to wait, to be still, to praise, to learn.

King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, who studied and studied and studied the meaning of life and our purpose here on earth says that "everything under the sun is meaningless (1:2)." Wise King Solomon explains throughout the book of Ecclesiastes that EVERYTHING we strive for here on earth (hard work, great intellect, comfort, wealth, etc.) is meaningless. We are all going to die, and there's no pattern to it. We don't know when or why or how. King Solomon explains that sometimes bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. Even the wisest man cannot predict when hard times will come. King Solomon cautions us to think carefully about the things for which we are striving. He begins and ends the book of Ecclesiastes by saying "Meaningless! Meaningless!..."(Eccl. 12:8). Solomon's final conclusion is "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Eccl 12:9). Solomon got it right!

If you are interested in hearing more about this topic go to www.northpoint.org/messages and listen to Andy Stanley's message called "Under the Sun" in the "Time of Your Life Series." It's phenomenal!

Anyway, I am praying for the church in Hato Mayor and around the world that we would all be filled with passion and compassion for the things that matter to God and that we would MOVE, that we would ACT, that we would DO SOMETHING to help in regards to the poverty, the injustice, the lost and the imprisoned all around us.

Okay, back to the story. On October 14th, I left Hato Mayor to stay with Dr. David "Chappy" Walden and his wonderful wife Sandee. Pastor Carlos and his family left for Puerto Rico, and Pastor Greg from Woodridge Church informed Pastor Carlos that they would not be bringing teams this summer.

At first the fact that Woodridge is stepping back might sound unusual, but I really see God's hands all over this. We've been working to develop leaders in the church in Hato Mayor. They are ready. Heck, they've been ready for a while. Now, with Woodridge leaving, it's as if God is saying, "You know what you need to do. You know how to do it. Now, get to work!"

Before I came in August, I was reminded how much of a gift it is to get to walk so closely with God, to hear His voice, to love and serve others, and to see God work in other people's lives. Walking with God and being used by God to help others grow in their faith is the best gift in the world (apart from my own salvation!) The point I'm trying to make is that GOD WANTS THE DOMINICANS TO GET TO EXPERIENCE THIS GIFT, TOO!

The required reading for the Bethel Seminary Course "Facilitating Community Development" in the Global and Contextual Studies program that I assisted with October 23-27 was "Walking with the Poor." The author describes the spiritual aspect of poverty. He says "the human search for meaning and purpose is a universal and never-ending quest. It is only the nature of the struggle that is different." He goes on to explain "the poor believe they have no meaningful vocation other than serving the powerful, and the non-poor are tempted to play god and believe what they have in terms of money, knowledge and position is the result of their own cleverness." He says "We all need to recover our true identities and our true vocations as children of God." He says "The transformational development journey belongs to God and to those who are on it - not to experts, donors or volunteers. We must let the poor discover their own way just as we have done!"

Wow! From my experiences, I believe this is absolutely true. I can't wait to see what God is going to do as more and more Dominicans grab hold of this...their true identity as children of God, created and loved dearly by Him, created and equipped to do good works, and commanded to be salt and light - shining brightly for the glory of God and to point people to the Savior - Jesus Christ!

Before I left Hato Mayor on October 14th, I invited some of the top leaders in the church to attend a conference for Dominican pastors and leaders put on by Bethel Seminary Professors and Students covering the topics of hermeneutics, homiletics and loyal leadership. I invited them, paid for their attendance and lodging, (thanks Pastor Greg and the August team from Woodridge for supporting this), and I challenged them to share with others what they have learned. Seven of the youth responded to the challenge. They are now meeting and preparing to share what they learned with a minimum of two other churches or groups of people.

The pictures below are pictures of the pastors conference, October 28-30th.





Dr. Arnell Motz was the keynote speaker. Dr. Motz has done long term mission work in several countries. His longest terms were spent in Belize, Uganda and in Ethiopa. Dr. Motz serves as the head of the Global and Contextual Studies Department at Bethel Seminary in San Diego, California.






A group of 7 seminary students traveled with their professors to be both students and teachers. They were students the first part of the week in the class mentioned above "Facilitating Community Development." I was fortunate to be able to join them as we were introduced to many different ministries and aspects of ministry. We met with government officials as we discussed the importance of the church working together with the government for a complete transformation of body, mind and spirit.


Later in the week the students acted as teachers or facilitators of small groups as they shared what they've been learning in seminary about hermanuetics (studying the Bible), homiletics (public teaching or preaching the Word of God) and loyal leadership (learning from the example of Jesus). This was a three-day conference, and over 100 local pastors and leaders were in attendance.












The pastors and leaders who attended this conference simply ate it up! Like me, they are hungry for basic Bible teaching and desparately want to learn more about God. They also want to accurately share with their churches what God is speaking for us today through words that were written thousands of years ago. Many pastors and leaders here do not have the opportunity to attend seminary or other Bible schools, so this was truly a gift for them!

Each day we started in the lecture hall with a general teaching and overview of the main ideas. Pastor Felipe Mendoza, an educated man with a thriving ministry of his own in Santo Domingo taught one day about loyal leadership.

Pastor Felipe Mendoza (right) and Pastor Lidio Puente (left) are pictured here. Dr. Walden "Chappy" works closely with Pastor Lidio in the prision ministry. Pastor Lidio is the president of Isias 61 and oversees the work done in La Victoria prison. I have a lot of respect for both of these pastors.

Dr. David Diener from the Global and Contextual Studies program of Bethel Seminary in San Diego, California acted as a guide, facilitator and teacher all week as we searched together to answer the question: What is the role of the non-poor in promoting growth and transformational development of our neighbors in 3rd world countries?

The Bethel students were well-received by the local pastors. After working together for three days they got to know each other and the local pastors chipped in to buy gifts for their small group facilitators. A few of the Bethel students spoke spanish, and that was a tremendous help!

Dr. David "Chappy" Walden is the man speaking here. He put in SO much work before the Bethel team arrived promoting this conference and pulling all the details together. What people back home can't understand is that putting on a conference of this caliber is so much work ESPECIALLY IN A 3RD WORLD COUNTRY! Everything takes so much longer and is such a challenge. It can't simply be done over the phone or via email. Dr. Walden worked very hard to make this happen, and with God's help it was a wonderful success! Praise the Lord!

After a week or two away, I was so happy to see the leaders I had been working with in Hato Mayor. I can't even describe the joy I felt seeing them there. They are so eager to learn, study, grow in the Lord and work hard serving Him. I am so proud of them, and I can't wait to hear about how they are sharing the things they learned at this conference with people back home. (Pastor Carlos, I know you are reading this, you can tell them I expect a full report!)

Each pastors and leader was presented with a certificate of completion (a very big deal for them) and a copy of the book and workbook "Lead Like Jesus" by Ken Blanchard. These are pictures of the Hato Mayor students receiving their certificates.

This is Belkis Gomez. She has served as president of the youth for two years and has done a wonderful job. Her term as president is up this month and she cannot run again. We can be praying for the next president of the youth to carry on and make even more improvements - calling the youth to act on their faith.

"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car." - Billy Sunday


Our translators for the conference: Alex, Johnny and Karlene.

Over 100 pastors and leaders attended. The impact leadership conferences like this can have is enormous when you consider the number of people who are influenced by the pastors and leaders represented here.




Praise God! I am so thankful for this experience, and I pray for more high-quality learning opportunities for pastors and leaders here in the Dominican Republic.

More to come:

*Prison Ministry - ministering to the REAL "Pirates of the Caribbean."

*SCORE international and ministry opportunities there - orphanages, medical, sugarcane fields, church planting, leadership development, sports outreach, prostitution ministry, and more...

*challenges of living in Boca Chica,

*Hato Mayor Nov. 23-Dec.1

More Ministry & Some Insights

Last Saturday we had a full day of ministry. The students and I met in the morning to pray and give ourselves fully to the Lord, asking Him to use us, to lead us and guide us in all we would do that day.


We started by going to Neftali's (or Lee) house. Lee is the young man pictured here with his mom, sister and brother. Lee was on the team that went to La Vega a few weeks ago. I feel like I have gotten to know Lee fairly well over the past few weeks. I really respesct his ministry and his passison for the Lord.


During our trip to La Vega, Lee talked about his family, how much he loves them and how he so desperately wants them to invite Jesus into their lives and come to church. Whenever we pray together as a team, Lee's request is always the same - that his family would come to know Jesus.


Saturday morning we (Lee, Yahson, Clara, Duanny and I) went to visit Lee's mom, sister and little brother. We talked with them for quite awhile about God, faith and Jesus. It was powerful. I felt God's spirit there with us. We spoke the truth from God's word, loved them and listened to them as they shared from their hearts. At one point, Lee's sister started crying. She said she wanted to go to church and be a Christian, but she wanted to wait for her mom.


Lee's mom said she believes in God. She has several stories about how God has been faithful to her and her family during sickness and other difficult circumstances. She seems to know the truth, yet something is holding her back.


We ended the time there that afternoon by standing together in a circle, holding hands and each one taking a turn praying. Lee's little brother even stood with us and shared his requests with the Lord. I continue to lift up Lee and his family, and I invite you to pray for them as well. May God move the mountain - whatever it is - and bring his children home!















After the visit, we stopped in the street for a few minutes to reflect on the time we spent with Lee's family. We thanked God for being with us and for the work He is doing in their hearts. We commented that we should have that same deep desire and passion for all of God's children to come into relationship with him. And, we asked God to continue to guide us that day.



As we were talking and praying an older woman approached us, asking if we would pray for her. She was feeling very alone and had a specific request for a granddaughter or niece to come and stay with her again. As we prayed, she was crying. We gave her words of encouragement from the Bible and assured her that we would continue to pray for her. Her name is Cruzmaria if you'd like to pray for her.



From there we continued to the local grocery store, Iberia. (It's like a smaller version of Walmart.) I wanted to buy a few things for my refrigerator in my apartment. Then we walked home. We had a few hours to rest before the next activity.





Evangelismo con Los Juveniles



At 4pm, the juveniles (jr. high students) were meeting. They wanted to do evangelism, and we were going to support them and act as guides for them as they did this ministry. We had talked earlier in the week about how we would explain evangelism to someone who had never done it before. We agreed on 2 things.



1. We need to let God and the Holy Spirit be our guide. We need to pray before we start and throughout the time we are together. We need to be looking and listening for promptings from the Holy Spirit as we talk and visit with others. If God puts something in our minds or hearts to say, we need to be willing to say it.



2. We need to be good listeners. We need to ask questions and listen really well. We need to really try to understand the person, what he/she is saying and where they are coming from. We DO NOT have to have all the answers! We said our job is NOT to try to convince or talk someone into a relationship with God. Our job is to listen, to love and to speak the truth. God will do the rest!



We talked about how when we do evangelism we have to be ready for anything. When we knock on a door, we never know what we will find. We might find someone who has been a following the Lord for years and who could teach us a few things. We might find someone who is having a hard day and just needs some encouragement. We could find someone who is sick and wanting prayer. We could find someone who is so far from God and hasn't thought about God in years. We could find someone who is hungry for God and Truth.



This is another reason why it's so important for us to be good listeners. Our job is to listen carefully, make ourselves available to be used be God and do what we can to love, support and encourage each of these people in their faith journey.

So, the six leaders and I had talked about this a few days earlier. I called the leaders together and instructed them to teach these jr. high students what we had discussed about evangelism. Then we had the students find a partner. We assigned one leader to each group and headed out.

The location they chose to do evangelism was a bit of a hike. I have to admit the entire time we were together I felt like I was herding sheep! The sheep had a hard time staying focused and staying together. I wish I would have taken pictures of this, but I was too wrapped up in what we were doing at the time to think of that. Some sheep would walk really fast. Others would walk really slow. Some sheep kept getting distracted and wanted to run off to buy a piece of candy or a bottle of water or forgot their Bible or wanted to change their clothes...it was driving me crazy!! :)


I had to remind the leaders to be leaders a few times, too. The teacher in me was definitely coming out!



After we got to the evangelism site, things went much better. We found a few streets to work and split off into the teams we had created. I reminded the leaders that they were to encourage, support and give feedback when needed but the jr. high students were to do most of the talking.

After we got there we changed our approach a little. We decided it would be appropriate to use this opportunitity to go door to door and simply explain who we are, where we are from and invite as many people as possible to come to church the next day instead of spending a lot of time talking with each family. That was ok. That's probably a better for a first-time experience, anyway! The bus passes through that neighborhood, too, so it wold be easy for people to hop on the bus and join us for church.



It really enjoyed this afternoon. It was so neat to see the enthusiasm of the jr. high students and to see the youth acting as teachers and leaders. I loved it! The sheep were doing a good job!!



We gathered together under a tree when we were done to debrief. I prompted the leaders with a few questions...Did you enjoy doing evangelism? What surprised you? What did you see God do? What would you do differently next time?





We ended our time together by gathering in the house of the Co-Pastor of our church - Rudolpho. Anyone who has served in the DR on one of the Woodridge Teams knows Rudulpho. He always leads us in the construction of the houses. His wife was not feeling well, so we visited for a while and then prayed for her. It was fun to see Rudolpho and his family together in their home.







Escuela Altagracia



On Sunday morning I talked to Jose, Rudolpho's future son-in-law. Jose has worked as a translator for us in the past. He is currently working as a teacher in Altagracia, a Haitian village about an hour away from Hato Mayor. I have talked to Jose before about his school and wanted to ask him again how things were going.



Jose has about 50 students that he works with each day. Half of them go to school in the morning; the other half in the afternoon. Jose said the biggest need in their community right now is water. He talked about the challenges that come because of the lack of water. Jose said students miss class regularly or don't attend at all because they have to go out and look for water - for their families and for the school. Sometimes they have to walk a long ways before they are able to find good water.



Jose and a few mothers try to cook a meal for the students each day. Many days they are unable to cook because they don't have water. On these days, Jose sends them home with bread, eggs, and bananas because they need to eat something! I would love to visit this school and to be able to help Jose bring water to this community.










La Romana



On Monday we made a trip to La Romana. We went to deliver some more boxes of ImpactLives food and a generator.



These are some pictures of the big church in La Romana. This church was started last year in February. Gradually, as God provides the funds, the construction continues. You can see the roof is done and so is the altar. This church still needs doors, windows, floor, bathroom, electricity, etc.

This is a new church in La Romana that Pastor Carlos and his church are supporting. It's called Pica Piedra. This is a very small building - smaller than my dad's garage. Pictured below are the pastor and his wife and the group that made the trip to La Romana that day. Many are the youth that I have been working with.

These are pictures of the inside of the church Pica Piedra. There was a chalk board inside that had a lot of writing on it, I wonder if they are using this building as a classroom as well. They may be teaching spanish as there are many Haitians in this community whose first language is Creole.

There were kids playing baseball in the street. It looked like fun! I also saw a few kids flying "kites" made of a few sticks and a garbage bag.

Tuesday - Wendy's house

The students and I were together every morning last week. We were in a week of fasting and prayer. Our fasting started at 7:30 and lasted until noon. We spent a lot of time on our knees last week, pouring our hearts out to the Lord and receiving the blessings of His presence, reassurance of His sovereignty, His grace and His love. It was a very powerful week for me. I will try to explain in a minute.

After our time of prayer and fasting on Tuesday, we walked to Wendy's house. Wendy is a friend in the church who was sick. We stopped to say hello, encourage and pray for her. Wendy is the daughter of Pablo, the pastoral worker of Kilo 16. Pablo's and Wendy's house is tucked back in the trees, away from the road. To get to his house we walked through this "tunnel" carved out of the trees.

I don't even have a picture of Wendy. Again, I wanted to be respectful. She was still in her pajamas and hadn't brushed her hair. I don't think she would have liked me taking a picture!

This is a picture of her mom, her house and her niece. In the picture on the right you see the big containers they use to hold their water.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the house - the living room and the kitchen in the back. The bedrooms are behind the curtain.

Pablo had many trees that produce Guayaba, a fruit the youth seem to like very much! The youth took several Guayaba with them to eat. One girl took a big bag home with her to make juice, I assume. I couldn't help but wonder if Pablo really wanted us to take all of this fruit. I wondered if he would rather have sold it and made a profit instead.

This is the road we walked along and a small store near Pablo's house.

And, these are some pictures of the Water Project that I've mentioned before. This facility is open Monday through Saturday, and people from all over the community come to get water for their homes. They carry the water back and forth in these blue jugs. Most people come on their mopeds or motorcycles, often carrying 2 or 3 jugs of water with them!

Kristin's insights...

As I mentioned, this was a big week for me. At times it was extremely challenging, but I feel good about it now. God is showing me and teaching me so much and shaping me at the same time. Sometimes it's a little painful, but in the end it's always good.

Let's see if I can unpack this for you. I'm not going to be able to explain it all, and it might be hard to understand. I'll do my best!

This week God has been teaching me more about culture and about doing ministry within a culture that is very different from my own. I'm realizing how deep our cultural differences really go.

We do speak different languages, eat different foods and live in different conditions, but there's so much more to it than that! The environment in which we are raised and the conditions in which we live shape so much of who we are, how we think, how we relate with other people, what's important to us - even our views of God.

Many of these people live so differently from the way I do, and no matter how hard I try I will never completely understand what it's like to live on less than $2 a day. I could try to live this way or live among them for a while, but still I have a choice. At any minute if I wanted I could walk away and go back to the comforts in which I am accustomed to living.

For example, I don't know if I will ever understand what it's like to work all day, knowing that I have a family waiting for me to bring home whatever I can find or earn for supper. I could do this for a day, a week, maybe even a month. And, whenever I choose to walk away from this little exercise, I would certainly have a new perspective and a deeper appreciation for the gifts God has given me. It would probably encourage me to be more generous when I go back home. But these people don't have a choice. They can't walk away. Living this way for a lifetime would make me a very different person.

I've been doing these short-term mission trips for years. I've probably been on 8 or 9 such trips, but never lasting more than 2 weeks at a time. It got to the point that the living conditions were not much of a surprise to me anymore. I knew life was hard for these people, but I didn't think about all that is affected because of it. This week God helped me to see that since I've been here even though I knew there were cultural differences, I have been operating as an American. I have been operating as if we were still basically the same, but we are not. We approach things very differently. If I want to lead effectively in this culture, I have a lot to learn!

Now, I'm not trying to say that God can't use me, that He hasn't been using me or that my time here has been a waste. Absolutely not! I know that God is using this for good and teaching all of us all sorts of things - that's how great God is. I do feel like I need to change my approach as I go forward.

I need to do a lot more listening and observing. The book I've been reading, "Serving with Eyes Wide Open - Doing Short-term Missions with Cultural Intelligence" says that as Americans we operate so much out of a human-centered approach. To us, everthing is urgent. We are very quick to jump into action and take charge in any given situation. We often do this without thinking about the long-term implications and about how this will affect many different groups of people. We just want to do something. We want to solve the problem and NOW!

The author, David Livermore, clearly states that we must hold on to some sense of urgency. We can't be missional without it. Jesus IS coming again. There are people who need to hear the Truth, but we can't take it too far. The final sentences of this chapter in the book on urgency are as follows: "Most of all, we must not live as if God's mission is somehow contigent upon our plans and strategies. God remains on the throne and continues his redemptive work with or without our frantic sense of urgency."

This is just one example of me bringing my Americanness into the culture here. I'm sure there are many more - some that I'm aware of and some that I'm not!

Another thing that is interesting to me is that our cultures even affect how we view God and how we interpret the Bible. When I think about God, I focus on the close, intimate, personal relationship I have with God - the ways God is like me. Another culture might focus on the ways God is inifintely different from us - His power, majesty, Holiness, etc.

Now, God is not one or the other. Our God is so amazing that He's both Father/friend and Almighty King/Creator/Provider. It's true that as work together we get a more accurate picture of who God is, but if I am teaching, preaching or leading in another culture it's very important that I acknowledge God as the Holy God He is and that I operate out of that perspective.

Are you understanding? It's getting complicated. I'm looking forward to spending time with Dr. Chappy, students and professors for the Global and Contextual Studies program at Bethel University. I leave on Wednesday for Santo Domingo and will be staying there until November 1st. I am praying that God would teach me a lot more about this culture and about how to operate effectively here.

Gloria a Dios!

Delivering Food - ImpactLives

On Thursday last week we delivered ImpactLives food to many people. It's just incredible to witness this. If you think about how many people contributed their time, talent, energy and resources. When you think about all the pieces that had to fit together just perfectly to make this happen, it really is a miracle - only possible by the hand of God!


Some of you may not know what I mean when I say we delivered ImpactLives food. ImpactLives is an organization founded by Ramon Pastrano. Ramon was born in the Dominican Republic and lived here for most of his childhood. The story of how Ramon made it to Minnesota and came to be the founder and president of ImpactLives is a very interesting one - one that you need to hear from Ramon himself if you ever get the chance!


The purpose of ImapctLives is to transform communities one life at a time. There are many different ways they bring transformation to people's lives, but one way is through the meal-packing program. ImpactLives goes to schools, churches, prisons, businesses and other groups around the US and brings with them an opportunity for people to make a difference.


ImpactLives brings a semi-truck full filled with all the necessary ingredients to pack meals that can be distributed to hungry children and adults around the world. Communities work together to raise money, pack the meals and then ship the food overseas. ImpactLives also provides a training program, teaching people about poverty, about what they can do to help, and about leadership and being change agents in their communities. ImpactLives then provides opportunities for groups to travel with them to deliver the food to the people who desperately need it.


Through this meal-packing program and training transformation really does happen - in the lives of those who receive the food and in the lives who send it.

The pictures below are of people here in the Dominican Republic receiving food that was packed, purchased and shipped by people - probably children - in the US.

To learn more about ImpactLives go to http://www.impactlives.org/



Our first stop was Kilo 16. As we drove, it started to rain. We were a little concerned that people may not come out to receive food in the rain.









































The truck was filled with boxes of food.

As you can see, people came to receive the food even though it was raining, and Dominicans DO NOT like to be out in the rain!!

We left several boxes with the pastor in the church as well to be distributed later to families who were not home this morning.

Lots of smiles and grateful people - young, old, men, women and children.

Rain??? What rain?!!

We stopped at several other places along the road as well. This is another small church and a school. We left boxes at each of these places for the pastors and leaders to distribute.

We stopped at homes of individual people that Pastor Carlos knows.

We stopped at Kilo 9. People there, too, lined up to receive this blessing of food.

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The view along this road is beautiful!

A shot of one of the streets in Hato Mayor and faithful servants of the Lord, Wascar and Pastor Pablo.

For lunch we went to Pico Pollo. Fried chicken, fritos and CocaCola....mmmmm....


Now this is a happy Pastor Carlos!! :)

Next stop, Jalonga, another Haitian village. The road was pretty muddy after lunch, and we had some trouble getting there with the bus and truck. It was pretty easy to get stuck in the mud.

This is a picture of the sugarcane. Many find work in the sugarcane fields.

Another beautiful view.

The lines at Jalonga were especially long. This is a community that many of the teams have not yet visited. A pastor has been assigned. There is not a church building here yet. There is a lot that can be done to help this community.

All in a days work!

Thanks so much to all who contributed to this meal-packing project, making it possible to give this food to people who need it. Glory to God - He is SO good!