Parents' Night

Friday night was a big night for the youth! In some of our team meetings we talked about people in our lives who influence us - positively and negatively.  We talked about how certain people who we spend a lot of time with often impact the way we think, the decisions we make and what's imiportant to us.  I drew a long table on the board with six chairs and asked the youth, "Who is at your table?"  In other words, who are the people who you allow to influence you? 

Then, on Friday night, we prepared a special event in which the team members were able to invite their parents and/or people from their table of influence to an open house.  

The youth have been putting a lot of time into this ministry.  They have shared bits and pieces of what they are doing with important people in their lives, but we thought it was important to take the time to more thoroghly explain what they've been up to, what their goals are and what God is doing through their ministry.  We wanted to thank these people, too, for being important people in our lives, and acknowledge them for supporting us and this ministry.   

Leaders from each team shared about their responsibilities. They made a powerpoint and showed pictures to help them explain and describe the work they've been doing.

In the end the whole team sang a song.  They thanked their parents for their love and support, and we praised God together.

It was great to be able to share with all of the parents what we’ve been up to!   The construction team brought a chair they made. The cards team brought a verity of cards they have made and set them out on the table.  The communications team brought the brochure they made.

We ended the night with sandwiches, soda, conversations and laughter.  Many had fun trying out the chair the team had made!

It was extra special for me because my parents came too!  They came to the Dominican Republic for the first time for a quick visit.  It was WONDERFUL to have them here!

Praise God for a special night with family and friends. 

Children's outreach

Our childrens ministry is going strong! Teachers are coming up with great ideas of how to teach children about Jesus and help them improve their reading and writing! The leaders went around and talked to all of the parents in the community explaining the program they are offering and registering those who were interested in participating. 

Leadership Team Meeting at Kristin's House.

Yahson working with two young men from Magua.

The students and their teachers were equally excited for classes to be back in session.

Each week there is a Bible story that is chosen and a Character Education lesson that
is thoughtfully prepared by our curriculum team: Venisa and Belkis.

Yanibell teaching in Km 16 about Jonah.

Chantal assisting her class in Km 16.

Along with learning about Jesus and praciticing reading and writing.  The teachers make a strong effort to have fun and build relationships with the kids.  They are positive role models in the lives of these children.  

Praising Jesus and playing a round of musical chairs! 

Our prayer is that children will experience God's love and learn to trust Jesus at a young age. 

They are also learning and developing important life skills that will help them all of their lives.

We're thankful and excited for the opportunity we have to be working again these children.  Each one of them is special to us, and we know they are special to our Lord.  Thanks to everyone who has been praying and who has contributed financially to make this ministry possible.  God Bless you!

Abandonded in the DR for a week!!

Well not completely ;-) A friend Clara Ines came to stay with me while Kristin was in La Vega. We had plans to play dominos every night! We did manage to find one night of domino fun, the rest were filled with homework (Clara), work (me) and other ministry functions.

Our first adventure was to pick-up groceries for the week at Iberia. We had our groceries and were all set to find a couple of motoconchos (motorcycle taxis) to take us home. Iberia has a station for personal belongings outside of the store.  They don't allow you to take other purchases or large bags into the store.   I took a minute to pick up the bag I had checked and when I turned around another motoconcho had taken all our grocery bags and started handing them out to all the motoconchos. I tried not to, but I panicked!!!

I said "wait, wait, wait!" and then realized they couldn’t understand my English. So I said "un momento, un momento, un momento" (one moment, one moment, one moment) until they all stopped.



This is where the motoconchos wait, this picture was not for our adventure day.  
This picture was taken on a much calmer day.



Then I said "Juan" the name of the man who usually helps us, and searched  for his face.  There were about 6 or 7 guys, and all of them started to say "I’m Juan, I’m Juan" and were laughing.  In the moment I didn't understand any of this, but found out later they were joking around.

I finally saw Juan calmly standing on the side.  When I saw him he just smiled and nodded. God sent him to be my angel that day, and I was extremely thankful! Juan was the one I knew. I didn’t have to try to tell him how to get home!

The rest of the week was pretty mild compared to the first day, but we had another adventure when it was time to get water for the tank. Joselo called them for me, but then they never showed up.  Clara and I flagged down a passing truck and they filled the water tank, so we could shower, do dishes and clean.

One of the more fun and exciting parts was on Friday night. About 20 people from church went to La China and evangelized.  We had three mini services in different areas of this community. At each mini service we prayed over people and invited them to come to church. There seemed to be an interest from those that were around. We pray that God touches their hearts and leads them to Him.



Gleny and Jessica stirring the sweetbeans

On Saturday night the youth of the church had a sweet beans party. We all brought ingredients and made the sweet beans together over the fire. 

Jessica, Rosa and Isabel adding ingredients to our sweet beans

At the party, we also played a game called "escondido."  It is like “kick the can.” I had never played either game, but it was fun. Clara, Yanibell, Natasha and I hid together behind a big barrel.

Clara and I hiding



Sweetbeans ~ Delicious!


Kristin returned on Tuesday and everything was still on one peice, including me! All in all, it wasn't a bad week being mostly alone in the DR, but I am definatly thankful that Kristin is back.

Kristin's back!!

Kristin's comments:

- Come on, Linda.  Toughen up.  It wasn't that bad.  Aren't you being a little dramatic?! 

Lessons from Selenia

Early in March, I had the opportunity to go on a "mission trip" for a week with two other ladies from church.  Pastor Carlos has a small church in La Vega which is about 5 hours west. 

We went to support the pastoral family of that young church. Pastors Nelson and Selenia are pictured here with two of their children: Mayleni and Johann.

Some of you may remember me talking about La Vega in blogs a few years ago. It's been just over two years since Selenia received a call and moved her family from Hato Mayor to La Vega in order to pastor the church there.  It had been vacant for  a few years, and Selenia and her husband got the church started again.  It hasn't been easy, but God is faithful.  They are committed to love and serve this community as long as God allows them.

While we were there, there was a church service each night.  Sometimes inside the church.  Sometimes outside the church.   

Pastors Nelson and Selenia have made friends with other local pastors.  It was neat to see how they've been supporting one another.  A few different times, a pastor from another church came to support Pastors Nelson and Selenia.  One night they did a service together outside in a different neighborhood.  The last night I was there, we attended one of his children's services.

Pastors Nelson and Selenia clearly love and care about the people in their community.

On the last day, we had a special time with some of the children from the neighborhood. 

The  Bible lesson was about the shepherd who left the 99 sheep to look for the 1 lost sheep.  We talked about how Jesus is like this shepherd.  While we were lost, He came to earth to save us. 
We played a little game where the kids pretended to be sheep and Selenia pretended to be the Shepherd.  You can see in the picture below that there is one sheep that's about to "get lost."

We also talked about how much God loves us, and that like a shepherd he protects and provides for us.  God wants us to trust and follow Him.

   

The three of us stayed in the pastors' home.  It was a blessing to be there with them and learn more about what daily life is like for this family, living in La Vega.  We helped with cooking and cleaning. In the picture below, we are peeling the "Guandules", a type of pea, that we picked of the bushes.  We spent several hours peeling these peas.  Later Selenia made a gravy with them to put over our rice.  Yum!

This is a HUGE batata (sweet potato) that Selenia's husband found.  With this batata, we had fried potato chips, mashed batata, boiled batata, and then Selenia made a special desert with cinimon, sugar, raisons and milk mixed with mashed batata. 

We had plenty of time, too, for laughing, playing and joking.  I'm thankful for this family and looking forward to visiting them again sometime soon.

I learnred a lot on this trip from the example of Selenia and her husband.  They gave up a lot when they answered this call.  It's not easy to leave family and friends and the comforts of home and move to a foreign place.  

There are LOTS of mosquitos.  The electricity goes out every day for about half the day.  They struggle to find work and live mostly off the vegetables that grow in their garden.  The number of people attending the church is still pretty small.  The list could go on...

Yet every morning, Selenia got up and started thanking and praising God, declaring His goodness and faithfulness.  I admire Selenia for her dedication to the call God has given her family, for her perseverance and for the joyful and thankful attitude she chooses every day. 

Things sure are stacking up around here!

 

Our card-making team gets together once or twice a week to make greeting cards, and their merchandise is really stacking up! 

 

We have just completed another order.  This order was for 50 "Thankyou" card.  The money earned from these greeting cards helps cover the cost of transportation for the children's ministry.

 

 

 

Here are a few more samples of the cards the girls have made.  

 

Mother's Day in the Dominican Republic is May 26th, so I think the next thing we'll work on is Mother's Day cards.  The girls want to go to some of the local businesses to see if they might be interested in helping the girls sell some of their cards here in town.

Translating for Medical Clinics

Hope Church Medical Clinics

It was a pleasure to work with the Hope Medical team from Virginia.  Every year they bring a full team of doctors, nurses and dentists and spend a week with Pastor Carlos and Iglesia Centro Cristiano Shalom doing medical clinics in the different communities Pastor Carlos has churches. 

 

 

 We traveled to a different community each day, and when we arrived people were already lined up waiting  to see the doctors and dentists.  Hope Church did clinics in these Shalom churches:  Villa Vilorio, Guayabal, Jalonga, San Pedro and La Romana.

People saw the doctors for all sorts of different things.  Many people had cold-like symptoms and head aches or body pain.  There were also people with high blood pressure and different kinds of infections.  It's hard to imagine not having the money to go to the store to purchase pain or cold medicine when you or your children have a cold or headache. 

There were also people with more serious medical conditions that could not be diagnosed or treated without specific tests or X-rays.  Instead of doing the test first and having the patient pay later, in the medical system in the Dominican Republic the doctors often fill out a prescription for a test or an X-ray.  The patient then goes to another station, has to pay for the test first, gets the results and return to the doctor for the diagnosis and treatment.  If you don't have the money, you go home with nothing but a piece of paper with a prescription on it.  Hope Church was able to help a couple of these patients with the funds to have these tests done and receive the proper treatment for their conditions.

Pulling teeth!

At the end of their time together, the doctors always asked the patients if they could pray for them. 

I've organized and participated in medical clinics before, but this was the first time I worked as a translator.  I was a little nervous at the beginning.  I didn't know if my spanish vocabulary would include the appropriate medical terminology.  I started off working with the dentists, then moved to triage and by the end of the week, I found myself translating for the doctors.  I guess I'm picking up more of the spanish language then I realize.  Praise God!  

While we were in La Romana, we brought some of the ImpactLives food that we

packed last spring in MN to share with the people in that community.