Christmas Retreat - pictures

A Christmas Retreat 

A friendly game of soccer -- only a few people got hurt!
Oh, how they laughed!

Evaluating our work in 2016 - Sharing ideas and setting goals for 2017

The Gala

Back to work on day 2

Belkis gave an inspiring reflection reminding us how important it is that we stay connected
and "filled up" if we want to be able to pour into others.  

Opening a New Site for Children's Ministry

On October 1st 2016, the ministry Jóvenes Educando con la Verdad opened a new site for ministry at the church in El Seybo.  The ministry now works in six communities every week.  Praise God!

With the addition of the El Seybo ministry, we also adopted four new youth to the team and 50+ children attended class the first day.  It was a great turn out especially considering the rain that day.

Pictured above are the four new members of the ministry team.  These youth live in El Seybo and are leaders in their church.  We will be sending two members of our team to El Seybo each week to support them, coach them and take them through the discipleship class called Foundations written by Vince Vaughan.

I don't see the classes every week now that I live in Santo Domingo, but I had the opportunity to be present for the opening of this new site.  I was blown away by the growth of the current ministry leaders -- they have grown so much!  They delivered a dynamic lesson that included props and action and energy.  The students were so engaged and excited to be learning.  I was very proud of them!

They also had a craft prepared that was appropriate for all ages and well-prepared.  The students couldn't wait to get their hands working and the leaders were kind and patient.

Praise God for opening the door for us to minister to another group of children.  This is 50+ kids who will have the opportunity to hear the gospel every week, learn more about Jesus, build relationships with Christian role models and get extra practice with their reading and writing skills.  Alleluia!!

Relief - Rehabilitation - Development

I received an email recently that summarizes a few of the main points in the book by Brian Fikkert When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself. This is a book I’ve read a couple of times now.  I believe it's important and have been praying for wisdom and opportunities to do more development-type ministry and less relief-type ministry.

We all know the Bible talks a lot about the poor, and it clearly teaches us that we are to have compassion for them and help them.  What’s not so clear is exactly how we are to do that.

Here are a few quotes from the email that summarizes the book: 

“Have you ever been part of a mission trip?  Ever ladles soup into the bowls of the hungry?  Sent shoes to an African village or built houses in impoverished neighborhoods?

Have you ever thought about what happens to those people after you leave?  When the soup kitchen closes?  When the shoes wear out, and the villagers are still hungry?” 

Tough scenarios right?

In his book When Helping Hurts, Brian Fikkert "does not intend to discourage donations of time or money geared toward charity, but does want to help charity get better at actually helping those in need."

"When we try to help the poor, we try to make them more like us – materially rich.  But giving hand-outs can be a dangerous and vicious cycle, increasing the pride of the giver and the shame of the recipient, without ever addressing the roots of  poverty. 

"The reason that trying to fix poverty with material things doesn’t work is because material poverty is just a symptom of the root causes of poverty....

Fikkert proposes three broad ways of help the poor – relief, rehabilitation and development.

Relief is what people need right after a crisis, when they are incapable of providing for themselves.  This is the immediate, temporary aid provided in an emergency.  Relief is not a means of treating a chronic condition; if relief work is done with the situation calls for development, then people are enabled to remain unchanged.

Rehabilitation is the process of restoring people and communities to pre-crisis conditions  Material assistance could still be provided, but those in need are directly involved in the process of changing their lot; they exercise their gifts and attributes to contribute toward their own improvement.  Not only will this leave them able to provide for themselves once the aid is gone, but working is also better for people recovering from a crisis, for it gives them fulfillment, worth, and hope for the future.  Working is part of image bearing, which is part of emerging from poverty.

Development is a long-term venture.  It’s about walking with the poor into new arenas that they’ve never been in before and helping them be stewards of what they have.  This process of ongoing change moves people closer to reconciling broken relationships. 

We must reevaluate how much our efforts are helping the poor in the long-run, and how we can make adaptations to help more developmentally.  We must always work to help the poor with the goal, not of making them more like us, but of helping them realize and live out who they are in the image of God.

This information is all taken from an email I received recently from the Institute of Faith, Works and Economics.  I just thought it was important and wanted to share it.  I am praying for more opportunities to get involved with Rehabilitation and Development here in the Dominican Republic. 

Community Development - Urbano Vasquez

Pastor Urbano Vasquez is taking on the project of training an entire neighborhood to handle their trash differently.  Instead of throwing it in the gutter and letting the rainwater carry it to the river, he is raising money to purchase garbage cans, shovels and wheel barrows, and he is recruiting volunteers to carry the trash up the hill to the main road once a week where the garbage trucks can reach it and carry it away. 

Urbano explained that people throw the trash in the holes in the sidewalk.
When it rains, the water flows heavily down the hill to the river below
and carries the trash to the river

His plan is to start with a small part of the neighborhood, communicate with the people living there, showing them the garbage cans and asking them to put their garbage in the cans rather than in the gutter.  He will explain all the reasons why this will help the community be healthier, have fewer problems with rats, cockroaches, mosquitos and disease.  Children will be healthier, miss less school, it will better for the environment and make the neighborhood a more pleasant place to live. 

Urbano plans to ask the residents to pay a small fee of about 25 pesos a month, which will be used to purchase materials and pay the men who do the hauling. 

Urbano has a great vision. He’s heard about this working in other neighborhoods where the conditions are such that garbage truck can’t make it down their street - there is no street down in this valley.  With a big rain, the entire neighborhood floods and some houses are completely covered in water. 

We visited Pastor Urbano who has lived and worked in the neighborhood just up the hill as a pastor and as a teacher in the school he started over 20 years ago, educating students through 6^th grade. 

Some of Urbano's students

The type of change Urbano is hoping for with the garbage cleanup project takes time, but Urbano has demonstrated that he is faithful.  He knows how to persist and persevere through the challenges that present themselves, and will reflect the love of Christ with kindness and patience along the way.  If anyone can cause change in this neighborhood, with the help of God, he can.

Urbano leading us to the neighborhood where he will be working.
Some of his students decided to join us.

In his church they’ve been praying a lot about this project, and I’m excited to see how God unites this community and brings change among them in the months and years to come.

Urbano in his church

Urbano lives on the second story.
His church is below and the school he started is just around the corner.

Urbano's church

A few of the garbage cans that have been donated for the project.

This is another nearby neighborhood that has the same problem.

Becoming Parents

How do I possibly describe this last month of our lives?

In an instant on August 25^th, everything changed.  We went from Kristin and Joselo to Mom and Dad, and we are just beginning to wrap our minds around what this really means.

 

We've been in parent boot camp this month - changing diapers, giving baths, rocking, burping and feeding, feeding, feeding.  We are learning!  We are getting to know Elliot and how to care for him, and we are getting to know a little more about ourselves and each other in the process. 

It’s incredible to look into Elliot's face and know that he is ours, and that we will spend the rest of our lives loving, teaching, serving, caring for, praying for and hoping the very best for this little person.

It’s also amazing to see ourselves in him - his eyes, nose, lips, etc., and at the same time know that he is developing his own unique personality.  



I can’t help but wonder about his future - when he will talk and walk laugh and play, what his first words will be, what his voice will sound like, the talents and interests he will have, how he will interact with others and the influence he will have in this world.  



I’m excited to watch Elliot grow and see how God will continue to glorify himself in Elliot’s life. 



Sometimes I have to slow down and remind myself that time is going to fly and that today is a special gift.  Give Elliot a few extra kisses, enjoy his whimpers, grunts and coos, snuggle a few more minutes and try to etch his sweet baby face into my mind.  I just don't want to forget or waste this special time.  



It's unbelievable how proud I can be of Elliot when all he has done is eat, sleep, poop and cry!  



This reminds me of something I heard a few years ago from Pastor  Mike Binder.  Pastor Mike was talking about Jesus’ baptism and the words God spoke from heaven about his Son.  God said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased"(Matthew 3:17). 



Pastor Mike Binder pointed out that God was saying this about Jesus before Jesus started his ministry here on earth – before any miracles, before his incredible teaching or preaching, before giving his life for us by dying on the cross.  God loved Jesus and was pleased with him just because Jesus is his son.

In the same way, God loves you and me and is pleased with us not because of anything incredible we’ve done for Him or for the bad stuff we've managed to avoid.  God loves us just because He created us, and we are his.  

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  

And that is what we are!"
 (1 John 3:1a)

It's amazing, refreshing and freeing to rest in this simple truth, isn't it?   When the pressures and responsibilities of life, work and relationships are overwhelming, we can rest in our Father's perfect love.  We can find peace knowing that we don't have to perform and work so hard to please Him.  He already loves us and nothing we do or don't do is going to change that.   

It's a simple truth that often gets so lost in religion and man-made rules.  God says, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.'  (Ephesians 2:10-11)  



Understanding and believing in God's unconditional love is the foundation of our faith.  His love is simple -- it's perfect, but it's not always easy to receive and believe.  We have to let go of our pride, let go of our accomplishments, let go of what we know, of our strength, power and control.  



We have to become like children, take off the masks we are wearing, set down the loads we are carrying, be vulnerable, be dependent and believe that we are lovable just as we are, apart from our achievements and accomplishments -- like Jesus, like Elliot.  We are loved just because we are God's children.

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you maybe filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."  (Ephesians 3:17b-19)