November Happenings

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our community after reading our last blog post! We saw the Lord work in a great way. The Lord put it on Jared's heart to have a special service for the community to remember Carlos's life and to share the truth of Jesus. It was amazing to watch it all fall into place.

Our church members got together one afternoon to walk around the community and invite their friends and neighbors to the event. Our youth group put together a drama communicating the truth that today is the day of salvation and that if we wait until "tomorrow" to make that decision, tomorrow may never come. Our worship team prepared some praise songs, and Carlos's brother, Luciano, agreed to share a little bit about his brother's life and the Lord put it on his heart to also share an encouragement to the youth in our community to seek God now.

The memorial service was held at the basketball court in Barrio Casandra

Luciano

Carlos's mom, Milagros and several of our church members

Vicente translating for Jared as he shared a message with the crowd

We had a great turn out on the day of the memorial service. Many of Carlos's family members were there, many people from the community, and almost all of our church members were there. It has increased our faith to see our church body coming together, serving, supporting one another. We can see the Holy Spirit working in and among us.

We had a small group come from our sending church, Calvary Chapel of Delta, PA. They were here the third week of November. They were a great help to us at In Calvary's Care. They prayed with and encouraged the sponsored children and their families during our monthly distribution. They also helped us visit families who have expressed a need for sponsorship. That is a lot of work for us and we were very blessed for them to help us in that process. We were able to fill sponsorship forms for many children. The Lord has been providing many new sponsors, for which we are so thankful. It is a huge blessing for the families to receive this monthly help. 

The team also blessed the men and young guys of our church with a Saturday morning men's breakfast. It was a great turn-out. Most of our usual guys were there, as well as some of those whom we haven't seen in a while. Pastor Doug McClean shared a message with them from Philippians. Please pray these men will continue to follow the Lord with their lives and that those who have been absent lately will return to fellowship. 

We are now gearing up for the holiday season and are prayerfully considering how the Lord would have us use this festive time for His glory and to reach those whom He is calling to Himself. Please pray with us!

Today is the Day of Salvation

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." James 4:13-14

  We have been reminded constantly over the last couple of months how our life is but a vapor. We do not know what will happen tomorrow, nor do any of us know how much time we have here on earth. It seems as though death is all too frequent here lately. Many of the deaths were unexpected. One of those was a young man named Carlos. He was killed October 8. His mother, Milagros, attends our church. We really feel the Lord wants to use Carlos' death and the others to awaken our community to the realization that we are not promised tomorrow. There is a popular mentality here, as there is all over the world, that turning your life over to Jesus can wait until tomorrow. A large majority of the people here agree that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. They don't deny it. They just aren't ready to turn it all over to Him today. Over and over we hear, "mañana" or "pronto". But that is a lie from the devil to keep people from a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20

  Just as God used Joseph's difficult situation to save many lives during a great famine in the book of Genesis, He can use these sorrowful times to save many here in Barahona. Please pray that the Lord would use this for good, that the eyes of the people would be opened to receive salvation today. Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom and that He would use us and our church to accomplish His will. Please pray for the Christians on the mountain to be bold in their faith and to share with those around them. 

  Please also pray for Carlos' family. His mother is very torn up over the loss of her son. But, the beautiful thing is that she has not lost her faith or trust in her Savior. She remains firm in the truth that God is in control and that He is the only One who will get her through this grief. Milagros and her family also want to see the youth of our community impacted for the Lord through Carlos' death. They see many of the teenagers leaving the church and turning to the street. It has been encouraging for us to see their heart for the people and their desire for the Lord to use this tragedy to change the lives and eternal destiny of others. 

Our Dominican Anniversary!

September 10, 2013 marked our first Dominican anniversary! We have been here for a year now. At times it feels like we just got here and at other times it feels like we have been here so much longer than just a year. Either way, we love it. The Lord has been with us in every moment, every joy, every difficulty, every step. He never left us and we know He never will. He called us here, He prepared the way, He gave us the boldness and assurance to make the move and He has given us everything we have needed for every good work. He is faithful!

Today was the first day of our monthly In Calvary's Care food distribution. We will be working on that over the next week. Please pray for Vicente and Johan as they meet with each family (we now have over 230 children sponsored). Pray the Lord gives them specific words of wisdom and truth for each family.    

Our church, Calvary Chapel Fellowship of Barahona, is continuing to do well and grow. The youth have become active members of the church. They often help with set-up and tear-down. Our youth drama team did an outreach in the nearby neighborhood, Casandra. Several of the teenagers live in that neighborhood. They did several dramas and a puppet show and at the end Jared gave a short gospel message. Many of our teenagers were nervous, but it was awesome to see them reaching out and standing boldly for Jesus before their friends and neighbors. Please pray that they will continue to take that stand and that they will boldly share Jesus with those around them. 

Our church now has a facebook page. We try to post regularly our service times and activities that we do. You can stay more updated on the happenings of our church there. Click Here Please continue to pray for our church. Pray that our church members would sell-out for Jesus.

 As we look back on the last year we can see all the amazing things the Lord has done here and we can't wait to see what He will do with the coming year. I know we say this in every blog post, but it's because we truly mean it, we are so thankful for your prayers and support. We are thankful the Lord has put it on your heart to participate in this ministry. Thank you!

What a Summer!

I don’t even know where to begin. The things we have been a part of this month, the things we have seen and experienced as the Lord is moving, incredible.

We had a team here from Calvary Chapel York, PA in the middle of July. We broke into small groups and shared the gospel around the community. Many came to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Some were people we had shared with previously with prior teams or through the course of daily ministry here.

One of those in particular was a teenage boy named Mello. He is in our sponsorship program here. We have shared with him many, many times and invited him to countless Bible studies, youth group meetings and activities here at church. He rarely came and was not interested in receiving the Lord.

The group I was with on Thursday happened to come across him while we were out witnessing. Before we approached him and his friend, we were talking about where to go. I said to the group, there is a boy over there who really needs to receive the Lord. So, we all agreed to go over. Mello listened, and his friend, Angel, received the Lord in that moment, but Mello said not yet. So, we moved on. Soon after that, the Lord led the group Jared was with to share with him as well. He still resisted, but said he would come to our Bible study that afternoon. He did not show up. We weren't very surprised, but we were amazed at how the Lord was pursuing him. 

 Sunday morning at church Mello walked through the door. We talked with him afterwards. He still said not yet. But this time he said, very soon. So, we kept talking. About an hour later, Liza, one of the other York team members came over and she gave him the gospel for about an hour and a half. He listened intently, but he still said "soon". But he didn't go anywhere. Already some sort of change was going on in him. Now, it was 1:30 and we were heading out to share the gospel. We invited him to come along and listen and he did! I couldn't believe it. I prayed that whole afternoon for him as we went from house to house sharing the truth. He listened, so intently. He stayed with us the whole time. That evening we showed the Jesus movie. He came to that. After the movie he said he was ready to make a decision to follow Jesus! We prayed and afterwards told him that if he would like to be baptized, to publicly confess his faith in Jesus, we could take him to the beach the next day. He showed up the next morning ready to go! Pray for Mello to stay strong in his faith and to live for Jesus with everything he has.

Mello with Vicente and Pastor Harry

Mello's Baptism

Last week, we had another group here. This was a large group of teenagers from Calvary Chapel Central Bucks County, PA. They did many work projects here on the mountain. They put in 4 cement floors and 4 latrines for families in our community who were without. They also did several outreaches here on the mountain and downtown. Our youth group joined together with them. We performed dramas and puppet shows together. The Central Bucks team spent much time ministering to and encouraging our youth to follow Jesus and to reach out to the community. 

Efrain, one of our youth group kids and Johan, performing a drama downtown.

Our youth group kids were also able to demonstrate their ability to dance. Johan shared afterwards with the crowd that the Christian life is not boring, but full of joy. This is Antonio.

American and Dominican teens putting on a puppet show for the crowd.

This past Saturday we had several new kids at youth group. At the end of the teaching, Jared and Johan told the kids that if anyone wanted to receive Jesus, to come up at the end of the study and talk to them. One of the boys, Edinson, boldly stood up and said I want to be a Christian! He prayed to receive the Lord and told me afterwards that he felt new. Praise the Lord for the salvation and cleansing He offers us.

Church has been going well. The Lord has been showing Himself faithful to speak through Jared each week. We also are so thankful for how the Lord has equipped Vicente with the ability to translate. As we are studying Spanish, we know it is not an easy thing to translate. Please pray for our church to continue to grow in their knowledge and understanding of the Lord. Pray that they would be not only hearers of the Word, but doers!

Please pray for our youth. We see the Lord doing great things in them. They are coming together as a solid group as they build friendships with each other. Some of them have begun to attend our church services in addition to our Saturday youth meetings. That has been something we have been praying for a while. Our pray for them now is that they would really live for Jesus. That they would see the truth and life that He offers and follow after Him with everything.

It has been a busy, but really great summer. We are excited to see what the Lord is going to do next. Thank you so much for praying for us and for the people we serve. We can’t tell you how much it means to us that you pray for this ministry. 

New Season of Life

Hello. So much has happened since our last blog post. As most of you know, we were in the States for most of the month of May. We didn't blog in May, as we were able to share with many of you in person about how the Lord is working in Barahona. It was great to spend time with family and friends, an abundant time of encouragement. But, of course, we were excited to get back to the ministry. Here's what has happened since then...

At the end of June we had a group of Senior High students from Calvary Chapel of Delta. They were a huge blessing to the community, our church and us, the In Calvary's Care staff. They worked to build a bathroom for a family in our church. They also spent hours sharing their faith door to door here on the mountain and downtown at the new park. A special blessing to us was that they spent time with our local youth group kids playing games and sharing their testimonies about how Jesus saved them from their sins and the new life they now have in Him. We pray their words had a lasting impact on our teenagers. 

Doris and her family, those who received the bathroom

Youth Group

Youth Group girls playing Uno

On July 2nd, we experienced one of the hardest goodbyes we have ever had to say. Our great friends, co-laborers, and family in Christ, Lewis and Celia moved to Spain. The Lord has moved them on. Their departure has left a gap in our lives, our hearts and our ministry. They had a huge impact on the many families sponsored by ICC and our church body. But we trust in the Lord, even when we don't understand what He is doing. His ways are always good and always right. 

Praying for Lewis & Celia on their last Sunday at CC Barahona

Goodbyes

Goodbyes

With Lewis leaving, this has opened a new opportunity for Jared. Through much prayer, the Overseers of our home church, Calvary Chapel of Delta, agreed that the Lord is opening the door for Jared to begin teaching the Sunday and Thursday Bible studies at Calvary Chapel of Barahona. We are humbled that the Lord would choose to use us in this way. We recognize that this is far beyond our ability. Especially since the people speak Spanish! Jared's Spanish is improving, but he definitely isn't able to teach a Spanish Bible study yet. We are so thankful for our good friend and the new ICC director, Vicente. He will be translating for Jared. We are excited to see how the Lord will work through us as we look to Him to supply the wisdom, understanding, ability... everything! Please pray for Jared even more that the Lord would work through him and provide everything he needs to teach these precious people. 

Pastor Doug and Lewis praying for Jared and Vicente's transition

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We know that we are not able to do anything for the Lord in our own strength. We need His equipping power. Please continue to pray for us. Thank you!

We also would like to give a special thank you to Ben Otte for allowing us to use his photos this month. Thanks Ben!

So Thankful Our Lord is Faithful

As I read through last month's blog post to see where we left off and think of the events that have transpired over the last several weeks, I see how faithful the Lord has been in every situation. I can see how He was working through the difficulties and how He has blessed us. 

The Lord provided a vehicle for us. It is a 1986 Mitsubishi Montero Jeep. It is in much better shape than the first jeep we thought we were going to buy. We are thankful the Lord closed the door on the first vehicle. He always knows better than we do. Our friend and ministry leader, Lewis, found the jeep and helped us every step of the process. Purchasing a vehicle here is a bit different than in the States. We were blessed to have his help!

The next answer to last month's prayers is our rental house in Maryland. It took ONE OPEN HOUSE to find a new and qualified renter. The first time we worked to find a renter, it took several months and many many showings. What a great confirmation that the Lord has us here and that we can trust Him to take care of every detail and every need. Our new renters move in the day after our previous ones move out. 

I, Steph, was very sick last month as I contracted Dengue Fever. I was sick for about 11 days and spent 4 days in the hospital. Dengue is contracted through mosquito bites. There is no treatment for Dengue, just rest and fluids. While in the hospital, my white blood cell count and platelet levels went so low that if they dropped any more, the doctor was going to transfer me to a hospital in Santo Domingo, the capitol. But, many people were praying and the Lord had mercy and strengthened my body and I was able to go home and after a few more days of rest, I am back to normal. 

We continue to work with the youth group each Saturday. It is a great blessing to minister to them. We usually have at least 15 kids each week now. Last week we were continuing through Philippians and a question arose regarding "being born again". It was clear many, if not all of the kids did not know why they needed to be born again or what it meant. Jared and Johan spent the rest of the study time explaining and discussing with the kids what it means to put your trust in Jesus and how He gives you a new life and forgives you of all your sins. I was in the back and it was so neat to watch the kids as they listened and learned and some of them leaned forward in their chairs as they were really trying to grasp this truth. Thank you for praying for them. Please continue. The pressures and pull of this world is as strong here as it is in the States. The temptations are the same. Satan wants to destroy their lives the same way he wants to attack the youth of America. 

In Calvary's Care has some special activities planned for the kids in the program this week for Easter. Yesterday we invited all 200+ kids to come. We had the younger kids in the morning. We did a puppet show and colored pictures of Jesus raising from the dead. In the afternoon, the older kids came and Vicente, one of the ICC staff members, shared with the kids the significance of this week, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday and the work Jesus did for us on the cross. Tonight, we are going to show a movie for all the families in the program. Please pray that the Lord would bless this and that many would come to know Jesus through this. 

We were blessed to have my sister and her husband, Danielle and Kevin, visit us for a week this month. They helped out with measuring out the monthly food for the sponsor kids and were able to spend some time with their own sponsor son, Alvin. It was a great encouragement to see family and spend time with them catching up. 

We are planning a trip to the US in May. We are very excited to see family and friends and we hope to see as many of you as possible while we are there. Thank you for your interest in what is happening here in Barahona. It is definitely the Lord's work, we couldn't do any of this without Him. Thank you for praying and for your encouragement. 

Testing of Your Faith

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:2-3

I think that about sums up the last month for Stephanie and I.  I wouldn't say we have faced any severe trials or difficulties but we have certainly had some testing.  A few things have happened this month demanding that we remain patient and wait on the Lord.

First and foremost our Visa situation continues to go unchanged. We deposited all of our documents several months ago and now each time we travel to the capital to check on them we get a “they aren't finished yet” response. We were told to return in the middle of January and now we have been told to wait until March before checking again.

Secondly, Steph and I have had some difficulty with our house in Maryland.  Our current tenants are in the military and her husband is being re-deployed.  Because of his re-deployment she is legally allowed to move to another location without penalty from a landlord. They will be moving out March 31^st.  Thankfully we have David, Stephanie’s dad, who is going to be helping us with finding a new tenant. 

Thirdly, Steph and I have had a difficult time finding a vehicle.  We thought that we had one all lined up for purchase but when we went to change all the paperwork to our name the current owner had never changed the title to his name.  This is not uncommon in the Dominican Republic but it ended up making the vehicle unable to be purchased by Stephanie and I. 

So needless to say it has been a month of waiting.  Waiting on the Lord to show Himself faithful, waiting on God to open doors for us and waiting to see how the Lord will provide for our housing situation.

Patience is not an easy thing to learn.  Living here has made us trust in the Lord for even the simple things in life that we sometimes took for granted in the United States.  In the Dominican Republic when it comes to any kind of paperwork it’s always a difficult task to accomplish. 

This much I know.  My God shall supply all of our needs.  We will trust in Him and follow where He leads.  We know that when the time is right God will open the doors.  We certainly aren’t saying we have this all figured out as sometimes we still get frustrated or begin to question God as to why things take so long or are happening a certain way.  What we do know is that in the end He will accomplish His will in His time.

Apart from these things, ministry continues and the Lord is doing great things!

We continue to work with the youth group.  Things seem to be moving in a good direction as we regularly have 4-8 kids each week now.  We are continuing our study of Philippians.  We also look to take a trip to the beach with the kids sometime soon.  This is always a huge blessing for the kids.  Despite living only 20 minutes from a beautiful beach many of them do not ever get to go and enjoy it.

Calvary Chapel Barahona is growing! New people are coming each week. It is so exciting to see new people come as Pastor Lewis simply teaches the Word of God to them.

A team from Calvary Chapel of Delta, PA (our home church) sent a group here for a week in January. It was great to see our Pastor and friends from home. They worked hard and the Lord did amazing things through them. They shared the gospel with many people on the mountain. We have been able to see some fruit from their labor as some of the people they shared with have been to the church services. They also worked together with a local Dominican mason to lay a cement floor in our outdoor pavilion we use for church. It has been a huge blessing to the church body and our youth group kids.

One of our friends and co-workers, Johan, got married in January. It was a pleasure to share in his special day.

Please pray for us to continue to learn Spanish, to be able to hear the Lord’s voice in reference to the youth group and that He would lead and guide us in every decision we make.

Our God is faithful to complete the work He has started in each of us.  We look forward to seeing how He sorts out all of the details with what has been happening.

Christmas Time in the Dominican Republic

Greetings and Happy Holidays from the Dominican Republic!  It has certainly been a different one for Stephanie and myself.  Although we have missed our family and friends very much the Lord has been faithful as we continue to serve Him.  December was certainly our busiest month since we arrived in the Dominican Republic.

This year the team at In Calvary’s Care did things differently than they ever had for the Christmas season.  At the beginning of December Pastor Lewis encouraged us all to work on coming up with ideas for the children for Christmas.  As we talked about it we decided that the week before Christmas would be a great time to do some activities with the children since they were off of school and would have time to come and visit us.

So we set about the task of coming up with different things for each age group to work on.  We invited every single child that is sponsored in the child sponsorship program and broke them up into 7 different time slots.  We had various craft activities for the girls and hacky sack tournaments and sports for the boys.  Each group came for about an hour and a half and in the end we were able to share a snack of cookies and soda with them.  For some odd reason the kids found great joy in dunking their cookies into their soda (a gross combination if you ask any adult).

It just so happened that during all these activities my parents and younger brother were scheduled to come down for a visit so they were able to help us with all of these activities as well.  It was so very nice to have them here and they were able to provide us with much needed family time on Christmas day.  I think my younger brother Mark had a little bit of a rough time while he was here but he was a trooper.  

They left on December 26^th with uncertainty as to whether they would be able to get back home as Indiana was having blizzard conditions on the day of their travel.  They left at 8 A.M. from Barahona and arrived back home in Indiana around 3:30 A.M. the next day. So it was a very long day of traveling for them.

On Christmas day we had a very special church service here at Calvary Chapel Barahona.  The children and staff had worked very hard to prepare some special things for the service.  The children performed a small drama about the birth of Jesus and sang two Christmas songs as well.  It was a lot of fun for the children and for those that attended the service.  Afterwards the church staff prepared a meal for the congregation.  The food was really tasty and everyone really enjoyed the time together.

Stephanie, Johan and I continue to work with the youth on Saturday nights.  We typically have between 2 and 6 kids attending.  Please pray for the youth that the Lord would become the center of their lives and that they would see the importance of spending time in God’s word.

 

We are also continuing to pray about transportation.  Please continue to pray for us as we attempt to sort out what we should purchase.

 

Learning Spanish continues to be a big prayer request for us. We are studying hard and can see improvements, but we would ask that you continue to pray for us in this!

We miss you all very much and hope that each of you had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. Thank you for your support, interest and prayers. 

If you would like to learn more about what our team does here in Barahona, Dominican Republic you can check out the In Calvary's Care Facebook page found at the following link.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/In-Calvarys-Care/225767169568?ref=ts&fref=ts