Week #3 -

Monday -

The students and I met Monday morning. We spent some time praying together and then read Chapter 3 from the book of Matthew. We took it verse by verse and tried to understand the story and all that we could learn from each verse. That's really all we did on Monday. It was nice, and it's cool because in church on Sunday among other things the Pastor talked about how important the Bible is. It's our guide. It's our way of learning about who God is and the life He has in mind for us. But, it's more than that, too...The Bible is composed of the very words from our God and from our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Bible says, "You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. (John 8:32)" The Truth is available to us, but we will only be free by the Truth we know. I spent a lot of my life in bondage - not free - because I didn't know the Truth. There's always more we can learn about God, about our enemy (who by the way affects our thoughts and our daily life often more than we realize), and about the life that is available to us because of Jesus Christ.

Jesus died on the cross, so we could be free. I want to live in that freedom. I spent too much of my life in fear - fear of what others will think, fear of disappointing God, fear of never being good enough, etc, etc. God doesn't want me to be afraid. It says in the Bible that God's perfect love drives out fear.

The Truth is that God loves us no matter what we do or don't do. The Truth is that God accepts us just as we are, but becuase He loves us so much He doesn't leave us as we are. God is always there helping us to grow and become more like Christ if we will let Him. The Truth is that God has already forgiven us for every sin we've committed and every sin we have yet to commit. The Truth is that God will never leave us or abandon us. The Truth is that God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us and to guide us in our lives. The Truth is that God delights in us as a father delights in his newborn child.

The Truth is that God is soooooo good, and all He really wants from us is a relationship. He just wants us to let Him into our lives - for us to share our thoughts, our fears, our joys and excitements with Him. There's a lot more that will happen in our hearts and lives as we let God in, but relationship with you and with me is God's first priority!

I want to accept the gift God gave me when He sent His son to die on the cross for me. Everyday, I want to be thankful, walk in peace and joy, hope and faith - because by Jesus' blood, I can!! Why would I choose to live in fear and sin, darkness and other bondages when I don't have to?! Alleluia!! Thank you Jesus! :)

I also spent some time studying Spanish on Monday. I need to continue finding time to do this!


Tuesday -

Tuesday afternoon the students and I went to visit a few people from their church who are sick and can't make it to church. I wish I could have taken pictures of this. I didn't know if I should take pictures or not. I wanted to be sensitive and respectful to the people we were visiting and their families. I don't know if they would have been offended or not. Maybe I will ask if it's ok next time we go. I would really like a picture of this. It was special.

In the first house, we visited a man. He seemed pretty old. Couldn't really move and couldn't speak. We read to him from the Bible. We sang, and we prayed for him and his family. It reminded me of visiting someone in a nursing home or someone who was really sick in the hospital. It was't easy, but it was good. I felt God's presence there with us. I don't think I will forget this experience.

We walked quite a ways to get to the second house. The man we visited here seemed much younger. He was in a wheelchair and had something in his throat to help him breath, I think. He couldn't really speak either. We sat with him for quite a while and sang several songs. We could tell he really enjoyed our company. He was sitting outside under a tree. His family was around - on the porch. It was a good visit.

Tuesday night we had church here at the compound again. Pastor Carlos and one of the trucks were in La Vega. They are planting a new church there, so a few of the men went to paint and work on the church. When we are missing one of the vehicles, they can't collect all of the people in time, so we meet here instead of at the big church.

The Tuesday night service was a prayer service. I love this service. It's so wonderful to be a part of church so committed to prayer. We get on our knees and pray together for the church, for family and friends and for God's will to be done. It's powerful.

I'm reminded of the verse in 2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

God is faithful. He hears and honors the prayers of His people. It also says in the Bible, that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can tell a mountain to move, and it will - that nothing is impossible when we have faith in our God!

I have to admit, my faith that God would provide the $5000 I needed this fall was as small as a mustard seed. I sent out letters and emails two weeks before I needed to leave. I thought it would be great if I got half of the money before I left. I found out recently that through family and friends God provided the entire $5000. He promises to provide everything we need, and He does! We can trust our God! I am so thankful to all of you who contributed and made this possible. God used you!! It's also confirmation to me that I am supposed to be here. Thank you for your generosity! I really appreciate it!

That's one thing I've learned from being down here. Often in the US, it seems we are so quick to provide for ourselves because we can. We need something, we buy it, we take out a loan or we use a credit card. If someone is sick, we take him or her to the doctor. We are not used to seeing God provide for us because it's not often that we give Him the opportunity to provide in our lives. I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm just processing this and saying that it is different here. In my experience, it seems somewhat rare that we in the US allow ourselves to be streched so far outside of our comfort zones that we know we desperatly need God's help to make it through.

Every time I have been in one of these "faith-building" situations it has been wonderful and amazing! God asks us to trust Him. When we leap with no idea what's going to happen or how we are going to make it and actually put our faith in God to provide, God always comes through. This is where I want to live - outside my comfort zone because this is where I get to walk closely with God. It's not easy. At times, it's frustrating and terrifying, but this is what forces me to turn to God. This is where I get to know God deeply and intimately. This is where I get to see God move and be in awe over and over again because He is good and faithful every time!


Other Projects -

There is a small team from Puerto Rico here this week. I'm not really sure what they are doing. Teresa said that usually they do construction and work with another church in Hato Mayor. I think this time they are visiting with people, building relationships, encouraging, preaching, praying, etc.

There are many things going on around the compound this week and next. There is a man from Venezuela coming to stay and preach. There is an evangelist coming to stay and preach in La Romana. There are classes for pastors in the area to learn more about doing ministry with people who have had problems with alcohol and other addictions. There will be a pastor coming next week to do more leadership training for pastors and youth in the area. And, there is a church being planted in La Vega. Pastor Carlos has been sending teams there to paint and continue working on the church.

I just had a conversation with Pastor Carlos about some of these projects. I asked him where the money comes from for all of these things - for the pastors and their families of all these churches that he oversees, for the projects, for hosting these people who come to stay, etc. He said his church in Puerto Rico helps a lot. He said other churches in the US like Woodridge and Hope Church help. They also have "the water project" in which they clean drinking water to people in the community and make some money there. And, he prays A LOT for guidance from the Lord on when to spend money and where. The Lord always seems to provide what they need when they need it.


I'm not sure what will happen tomorrow. Maybe I will go to the Sobriety Classes tomorrow with Pastor Carlos and then to La Romana for the special service. I don't know. Saturday afternoon we are preparing for a "garage sale" (but it's not in the garage - we could call it a "tiki hut sale"). The sale will happen on Monday. Sunday night I am going to be preaching in Guayabal (a faith-building opportunity that freaks me out, but I need to walk forward and trust God to work in and through me!) Please pray for all of these things!!

Thanks everybody!! God Bless!!

Kristin

The Weekend

Saturday -

I spent the morning and part of the afternoon cleaning my room and doing laundry. It felt really good and was actually kind of fun!

We have a washing machine - it's just a little different from what we are used to in the US. To wash my clothes, I use a hose to put water in the washing machine, add laundry detergent, my clothes, and then turn the dial to fifteen minutes. After the clothes have been washed in the machine, I squeeze the water out and rinse each item in the sink with fresh water. Then I squeeze that water out, remove them from the sink and dunk each item in a pail with fabric softener. I squeeze the water out one more time and put the clothes in the "spinner" on the other side of the washing machine for about five minutes. Finally, I take the clothes out and hang them on the line to dry. The clothes dry on the line very quickly after going through the spinner. My forearms got a workout from squeezing the water out so many times, especially from the big towels. They are heavy when they are wet! It was kind of fun, though. I felt domestic! We will see if it's still fun in January! :)

Saturday afternoon some of the youth and I went into Los Multis, the neighborhood behind my apartment, to talk to some of the kids in the neighborhood. We have reserved Saturday afternoons/evenings for outreach in different communities. I guess we started in "our backyard." We gathered some supplies that the teams left behind - coloring sheets, children's books and crayons. The youth and I planned a short drama - the story about The Good Samaritan. We prayed and put on the Armor of God then went into the neighborhood.

We invited any kids we saw to come to the basketball court for a Bible class. We sang several songs, did the skit and then we split into four small groups - one in each corner of the basketball court. We had four children's books about the story of David and Goliath and coloring sheets. We read the books to the students in these small groups and then gave them the coloring sheets. It was nice to be able to do this in small groups. The leaders were able to learn the names of each kid and give them more attention this way.

Before we ended, we prayed together with the kids and invited them to come to Bible school in the morning. We showed them where the bus would pick them up and what time to be ready. It was really neat because I saw some of the girls there this morning!! Praise the Lord!! I hope they continue to come, and I hope we can continue to invest in these young people who live right in our backyard!

Again, I am reminded of Dr. Wess Stafford's plea to remember the children and make them a priority in our ministry!

Saturday evening the youth invited me to join them for an "outing." We walked to a park and hung out there for a while. There was a few foodstands nearby. They bought an empanadia and a glass of juice for each of us. How do I describe an empanadia?? It was like something we would get at the state fair. Deep fried with cheese in the middle. I guess you can order it with ham or other meats, too. They also bought me a hotdog on a stick!

After that we just hung out for a while and entertained ourselves by taking pictures. We can have a lot of fun with a camera!! It was a fun night! I hope we do things like this often.

Sunday:

This morning we went to church for Sunday School classes. Teresa, Naty and I missed the bus. We thought Carlos was coming back for us. We waited for a long time and started walking because we didn't know if anyone was coming for us. We didn't get too far. Wascar came to the rescue with the red truck and picked us up. I was thankful for that. It was hot this morning, and I wasn't wearing my walking shoes! :)

After church on Sunday mornings Pastor Carlos usually takes his family and several others out to lunch. It's a way of saying "thanks" to those who stay back to clean the church, drive the trucks and help people get home safely each week. The picture here is of us at the Chinese Restaurant. We had chicken, rice and fried plantains. I don't completely understand why they call it a Chinese Restaurant. I guess the rice is a little different...more like fried rice...but it's chicken and plantains like we have every day. I don't know, but it tastes good! :)

I included a picture of a loaded truck for you tonight. This truck is on its second trip returning people to their homes after the Sunday night service.

Again, I don't really know what tomorrow or the rest of the week will bring. The youth and I will meet again tomorrow in the morning. We will continue to read from the book of Matthew, asking God to teach us and looking for how Jesus interacted with non-believers. We will have time to talk about what we are learning and hearing from the Lord. We will also spend time praying together.

At some point, I would like to read James 1:22, "But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves." It's important that we don't just talk about God's word, that we don't just discuss how wonderful it is and think about how we could potentially live it out if we wanted to some day. We actually need to be obedient and DO what God commands us to do in His word!

Please continue to pray for us this week. And, if you'd like, join us as we read through the book of Matthew! There is a group from Pastor Carlos' church going to La Vega to work on a the church there, so you can pray for them as well.

Mi Dios es bueno!!!

Thanks everybody & love to you all!!

Kristin

Week #2 - Ministry Begins

It was a great first week of ministry! I'll break it down a little for you.

Monday:

In the morning, we traveled to a church in La Romana to deliver some chairs for church they are working on there. They've nearly completed the roof and are now working on the altar. They still don't have windows. I don't know how many chairs we brought - maybe 100 or so.

We also delivered food and clothing to the men who have been working so hard on the church. I spent time playing with the kids. A lot of the people in that community are Haitian, so they speak Creole as their first language. It was a nice afternoon.


Monday evening some of the youth held a service right here on the compound. There was about 20 people in attendance. They sang songs, they shared about what God is doing in their lives, and my friend Gleny gave a message from Genesis 12. It was great. I was very inspired and encouraged by their desire to honor and worship the Lord. They already go to church Tues, Thurs and Sun. It's wonderful (and rare?) to see teenagers and young adults chose to spend their free time worshipping God and learning more about Him!



Tuesday:

I had my first session together with the youth on Tuesday morning. We started by praying together and reading the introduction to the book Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels. When we were finished reading they broke into small groups and responded to some discussion questions.

(The young woman standing here is Belkis, the president of the youth. She and I have been working together quite a bit this week. She's great!)


These are the questions we discussed:
1. What are some of the essential qualities or characteristics of a leader in the church?
2. What are some key differences between a leader in the church and a leader who is not a Christian?
3. The author of our book, Bill Hybels, says, "The local church is the hope of the world." Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.
4. Describe a church (real or fictional) that would have an enormous impact in the world. What are the pastors, leaders and members doing?
5. On a scale from 1 to 10, how well are you as an individual and you as a church representing Jesus to the world?


We took a break from the book to play a little game. We divided the students into three groups and gave them a person from the Bible. They had ten minutes to plan a drama or skit to act out the person without using words or props. The rest of the group tried to guess who they were. We also had judges rating their performance. We had fun with it!

We ended by having some quiet time for prayer and reading from the Bible. This week we committed to fasting in the mornings, praying for the group and reading through the book of Matthew. As we read through Matthew, we are looking to learn from Jesus and his disciples about how they interacted with people who didn't know God or were living in sin.

Before we started reading, we talked a little about reading the Bible. We talked about reading the Bible slowly and taking time to really try to understand. We talked about the fact that we can pray as we are reading and ask God to teach us and speak to us through His written word.

I also mentioned something that I learned from my pastor on my first trip to the DR. I was frustrated at the time because people kept telling me to pray to God for help. I wanted to scream at them "What's the point in praying about it? I never hear God speak to me about anything!" My pastor told me sometimes we don't hear God speak to us because we don't give God the time or opportunity to speak to us. So, I told the students about how important it is to just be still, be patient and give God an opportunity to speak to us.

It was challenging to communicate these things in Spanish. I had to write it all out ahead of time and have some friends look it over to make sure it made sense. The most frustrating part is not being able to fully understand their responses and not being able to give them feedback like I would if it were all in English.


Tuesday night I got to go with Teresa to a church in a small Haitian village 16km away. These Haitian villages are called bateyas. We call this bateya "Kilo 16." Teresa preached that night, and it was such a blessing to see her in action. She is an incredible woman. I admire her so much. God really spoke through her to the people in church that night. Two men came forward towards the end of the service to give their lives to the Lord. After the service, two others came forward asking for prayer.

There were a lot of kids in that church, too. In fact, it was the kids who led the songs and one of them read the scripture. It was really neat to see the joy and excitement the people in that church have for the Lord!

I'd say it was a pretty good first day!!! :)


Wednesday:

We had class again Wednesday afternoon. We started to read the first chapter of the Courageous Leadership book, and we read Acts 2:42-47. The author, Bill Hybels, continues to say "when the local church is at its best, the local church is the hope of the world." We discussed the following questions.

1. What are some of the problems and concerns of people here in the Dominican Republic? (consider family, friends, Christians, Non-Christians, people living in the city and people living in the bateyas)
2. Because of Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross, what is the local church able to offer to these people that other humanitarian groups cannot?

The main idea is that we can do so many good things for people in need - give food, clean drinking water, medical attention and clothing, for example. These are all really good things and things we are called to do, but we can't stop here. If this is all we do, we are only helping them temporarily.

We also need to carry the eternal message of Jesus Christ with us wherever we go. The local church is to be different from humanitarian groups because the church is to represent Jesus and bring the message of salvation with us wherever we go. With Jesus, there is deep love and compassion for all people. With Jesus, there is peace and joy in the most difficult circumstances. With Jesus, there is grace and forgiveness. With Jesus, there is justice and mercy. With Jesus, there is a fresh start. With Jesus, there is freedom. With Jesus, there is always hope - hope for today, for tomorrow and for all of eternity.


We also talked about the church in Acts 2 and what it would take for a church to live this way today. We talked about whether or not we believe it's possible for a church to live like that today.
We came to the conclusion that we believe it is still possible for the church to live this way and that God actually wants us to live this way. We said it wouldn't be easy, but it would be incredible. It would take people who are willing to live their lives very differently from the rest of the world. It would take people who are dedicated to prayer and desperate for God to move in peoples' hearts and lives. It would take people whose lives have been turned upside down because of Jesus. It would take people who are so passionate about the Gospel that they are willing to go anywhere and do anything to tell people about Jesus.

These are some big ideas - ideas that get my heart pounding. Ideas that make me want to scream, "What are we waiting for?! Why are these just ideas?! Let's get to work! Let's be the people, be the church that God intended for us to be!"

Some people would probably tell me to relax. I was just describing some pretty incredible young people who gave up their Monday night to worship the Lord. I would say I agree with you to an extent. I believe there are a lot of people who are serving the Lord with all of their hearts. I also believe God is very big and there is so much more that He wants to do in us and through us if we would only let Him.


Thursday:

Thursday morning we went to the hospital. There were about eight of us, and we walked about an hour to get there. We went to visit the sister of one of our friends, but God had other plans for us. When we got there, we discovered our friend had already been released!

At the last minute we packed a few children's books and some of the toys that the mission teams had left this summer. Even though it was not "visiting hours," the administrators at the hospital let us in. Half of our team went inside and the other half stayed outside to talk to people outside.
I went inside, and we were able to visit with each child, read a few books, talk to them and their families, pray with them and give them a small toy at the end of our visit. The children were very uncomfortable, sad and scared. It wasn't easy, but it was an honor to be given the opportunity to spend time with those kids - to help take their minds of things for even just a little while and just play with them and pray for them and their families.


Thursday night we had a service outside here on the compound. My favorite part of the service was when Pastor Carlos called all of the children forward who come to church each night without their parents. I couldn't believe how many there were! It was so inspiring to me. He gave them each some bags of ImpactLives food to take home to their families.

Last night I was reminded of something I read recently in Dr. Wess Stafford's book, "Too Small To Ignore." Wess Stafford is the president of Compassion International. He wrote, "Two-thirds of the people who give their lives to Christ do so before the age of eighteen. And, if people have not accepted Christ by the age of twenty-one, the probability that they ever will is only 23%." Dr. Stafford is urging us to make children a priority in our ministry. It was neat to see that children are a priority in the ministry here at Centro Cristiano Shalom.


I guess that's all for now. I am not sure what the next week will bring. I am just trying to take it one day at a time. Please continue to pray for God to lead us and guide us in all that we say and do. And, pray for God to bring healing and restoration to people's lives. Dios es bueno!

Getting Settled

It's been a great week getting settled and comfortable in my apartment. I have a big bed, a closet, a rocking chair, a chest of drawers, a book shelf, my own bathroom, a refrigerator in the hallway and of course a fan!! It's about the size of a dorm room but better than a dorm room because it's all mine and I have my own bathroom!! It's great!

I spent a lot of time this week with Natasha and Teresa in the kitchen. For breakfast we eat a lot of eggs (boiled, scrambled or friend) and oatmeal (cream of wheat). Peanut Butter and Jelly are always available as well. We make food for Pastor Carlos and his family along with a few young men (Wascar, Victor & Juaquin - pictured below) who work on the compound. Teresa works very hard in the kitchen. As soon as we are done with the breakfast dishes, we start making lunch. In the afternoon, we usually have a few hours to rest before cooking supper. For lunch and supper we eat a lot of plantanes (boiled or fried), chicken, hotdogs, salad and rice. It's very good food. It's more than I'm used to at home. I feel like I've already gained about 10 pounds!!

We have church services Tuesday and Thursday evenings. On Sundays there are classes in the morning for all ages. It sounds like I am going to be helping with the class of 12-15 year olds. We return to church in the evening for the official Sunday service. This service is a pretty big deal. People get dressed up quite a bit, and there are a lot of people who attend.

For each service Pastor Carlos and Wascar make trips back and forth with a bus and a truck to pick people up and bring them to church. After the service, they do the same to get everybody home safetly. I'm amazed at how many kids attend church each evening without their parents. I'll try to get some pictures of the loaded trucks and buses one day this week to show you. It's pretty neat - Lots of people piled in and ready to go to church!

It has rained pretty hard each afternoon this week, with really loud thunder. I love it when it rains here, but I'm not really sure why. Maybe I like it because we slow down a little more and just relax. It also cools things down a bit, and that's always nice.

Carlos and Teresa have a dog named Jacobina. Jacobina does NOT like the thunder. In fact, everytime it thunders we have to make sure all the doors to all the building are closed because Jacobina tries to get inside, so she can hide under a bed or in a closet or something. I find it pretty hilarious.

This week, the youth and I continue our ministry together. The picture below is of a few of the young ladies I get to work with (Lujani, Kenia, Miguelina & Belkis). Can't wait! Please pray that God would lead us and that the Holy Spirit would be at work in us and in the hearts of those to whom we are ministering. God is good!