Exceedingly Abundantly

We are all settled back in here in Barahona. We were in the States for 4 weeks May into June, as most of you already know. I meant to post so much sooner and now that I am looking at the calendar I realize that we have already been back in the Dominican Republic over three weeks now. It's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun! We have been very busy since we got back. Summer is a good opportunity to spend more time with the youth group kids as they are off school, so that is exactly what we have been doing with Bible studies, drama practices, hang out time... We are also gearing up for a busy summer season of teams.

But, in this blog post we wanted to share what the Lord did while we were in the States, I guess its something the Lord has been doing for years now. One year ago this month, Jared was placed by the overseers of our sending church, Calvary Chapel of Delta as the leader and teacher of the local church plant, Capilla del Calvario de Barahona. They prayed about it and felt that the Lord had gifted Jared for the role. When Pastor Doug told Jared how they felt the Lord directing them Pastor Doug told him that men do not make pastors, God makes pastors.

So, Jared began teaching and leading and we all watched to see what the Lord would do. Over the past year, the Lord has grown His church in the truth. The Lord has blessed us with sweet times of fellowship. The congregation feels more and more like a family. These aren't things that Jared did, but God. The Lord is the one to mature the believers, He is the reason for our love one for another. But, over the past year, the church body has embraced Jared as their pastor. The Lord is speaking though Jared to equip and edify this body of believers. Pastor Doug and the overseers also see the Lord's anointing on Jared, that He has a pastoral calling and that the Lord has called him to shepherd this flock. While we were in the States, they officially commissioned him to the church here.

We truly appreciate how our overseers handled things. Over the past year we were able to see the Lord confirm Jared's calling, to watch the Lord make Jared the pastor of CCB. When I first met Jared in Bible college in 2002, he felt called to be a pastor. He waited and sought the Lord for many years. When the Lord opened the door to move to Barahona, pastoring the church here was not what we thought we were coming for. But God knew. It is amazing how God works. The Apostle Paul said it best in Ephesians 3:20:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

Another exciting thing that has happened this month is that we were going through the process to become officially affiliated with Calvary Chapel, and the paperwork was approved last week! We appreciate the model Calvary Chapel has implemented and how they simply teach the Word, so we are excited to be officially associated.

We are really excited to see what the Lord has in store for this summer and the rest of this next year with the church. Please continue to pray for our church! Pray that we as a congregation would reach out to our community around us. Please also pray for the teams we will have this summer. The Lord has put some exciting ideas on their hearts and we are looking forward to the impact it will have on our youth group kids, our church and our community as a whole.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

Matthew 28:19

In March Jared had a new believer, Violet, approach him about being baptized. This prompted him to open up the invitation to anyone in the church who would like to be baptized. Three of our youth group kids, Jose, Julieta and Rosa, came forward and also decided to be baptized. So, at the end of March, Jared had the sweet privilege of performing his first baptisms. 

On Sunday, March 30th after church we opened up the invitation for anyone in the church who would like to go to the local beach with us and support those being baptized. We had over 20 of our church attenders go to witness and support those who decided to make a public profession of their faith in Jesus Christ. At our Sunday morning service, another lady of our congregation and her two daughters also decided to be baptized. 

William, Vicente, Violet and Jared

Julieta

There were a total of 8 people who were baptized that day. It was a great moment for our church. Our newer believers taking a public stand for Jesus and our seasoned believers coming around them, encouraging and supporting them. 

Jose

Rosa

In the van ride to the beach, Spanish, English and Creole were spoken. There were Dominicans, Americans, and Haitians. We could see our church walking in the Lord's great commission that day to "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Although our church attenders come from different nations, different backgrounds, different cultures and many of us speak different languages, we are one body in Christ. He has brought us together and we have unity in Him. 

You can see more pictures of the baptisms on our church's Facebook page, Capilla del Calvario de Barahona: Click Here!

A week or two after that precious day, Jared announced a need that we have in the church for help with Sunday school. After church, those same three youth group kids who were baptized, came forward and volunteered to help. It is awesome to see how the Lord is working in them. They received Jesus into their hearts and lives, they professed Him before others and now they have the desire to serve Him. 

When you see the transformation of an individual before your eyes, the miracle of a soul changed over from death to life, you cannot help but confess that you are not the one doing the work. It is all God. The changes we see in the members of our church have nothing to do with us. I can't make someone follow Jesus. It is His sweet love and powerful presence and their willingness to allow Him all of who they are. 

I can't wait to see where the Lord will take our church from here. 

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." 

Ephesians 2:4-5

Approved!

Thank you for praying. Our visas were approved. It was such a whirlwind. Jared and I went to the capitol  last week to request some paperwork needed for the visas. We expected to have to come back the following week to pick up the paperwork and begin to submit our renewal request. Instead, the documents were ready in about an hour, so then we headed over to the Migration office to ask for them to review our paperwork to make sure we had everything in order before we submit it. Instead, they started processing it right before our eyes. Two hours later, we walked out of the Migration office with our new residency cards in hand. We are still a bit in shock. Last year it took months to process and many trips to the capitol. God is good. It is a great reminder that the Lord has called us here and we can rest that He will take care of all of the details, small and great, to keep us in the center of His will. 

Children Full of the Love of Christ, the name of Wilkyns Chal's school in Batey Central

The first of the two eyeglass clinic teams from Calvary Chapel of Fredericksburg, VA came at the beginning of this month. They were a huge blessing. They provided four days of eyeglass clinics to Batey Central. Our friend, Wilkyns Chal, opened up his school and church building to us. The team examined over 500 individuals in Wilkyns' community. There were some pretty amazing moments. There was one woman, probably in her 50's or 60's who had problems with her vision for many, many years and never had a pair of lenses. Kim Nolasco from the team brought her a pair of lenses which matched the woman's prescription. She put them on and immediately began to cry and thank the Lord that she can now see clearly. It truly was a work of God that we had matching prescriptions for the hundreds of people who needed them in the boxes of pre-made lenses that the team brought with them. 

Kim Nolasco of CC Fredericksburg with the sweet woman with her new glasses.

       

This team also put on a children's program in Batey Central. They did dramas, puppets, stories and activities with the kids. The kids loved it!

Wilkyns is the man in the window with the red Philly's hat and the huge smile.

Many of these kids are Wilkyn's students and church attenders.

This team also blessed our church, Capilla del Calvario de Barahona, with dramas and children's programs at our regular weekly services on Sunday and Thursday. We have a young boy named Abel who attends our church. He is deaf. He isn't able to understand much of our services, but we try our best to communicate the love of Jesus with him.  Kim, from CC Fredericksburg, knows sign language. So, Sunday and Thursday Kim translated the Bible stories for Abel. For the first time, he was able to understand the whole service! He was so blessed by it and so were we. 

Carlos and Samuel, two of our youth group boys. 

Thursday afternoon children's program in English, Spanish and Sign language! Abel is the boy in the maroon shirt and white tennis shoes. 

Dresses, visas, coffee and family!

Jared and I were really blessed to have Jared's parents and brother Mark come visit us this month. They were here for a week. It was such a refreshing time to be together. They also spent time helping us and our ministry team with measuring out the rice and beans for the monthly distribution. 

They came loaded with suitcases full of homemade dresses for the girls in the sponsorship program. As well as shorts and t-shirts for the boys. The dresses were made by the ladies of their church, Liberty Chapel. This is the church Jared grew up in. We started distribution after they left and have been giving out the clothing. The kids have been so excited and we have already seen some of the kids wearing their new clothes. 

Jared has been trying to foster fellowship among our church members and we all know the best way to do that is to offer coffee! We have offered coffee the last several weeks before and after our Sunday morning service and so far it has been a great way to encourage our brothers and sisters to stay a little longer and have a conversation with one another. 

One big prayer request we have right now is for our residency visas. We have started working on our annual renewal. We have to submit all the paperwork in March. Please pray for us in this process. Please pray it goes smoothly, that we have everything we need, and that we are approved. We are thankful that the Lord promises that when He opens a door, no man can shut it. We will rest in Him, but we still ask that you pray.

In upcoming events we have two eyeglass teams coming. The first one arrives on Saturday, March 1. The second is to come in April. They will be offering eye exams to the people. The first team will be giving the exams in Batey Central at the Christian school and church of our friend, Wilkyns. Batey Central is another poor community similar to the one in which we live. The second team will be here on the mountain. We are excited for this opportunity for the people. Many of them have never had an eye exam and wouldn't be able to afford glasses. Please keep these teams in prayer. May this be another way to share the love of Jesus with lost souls. 

Glory to God in the highest!

“Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

The holiday season is a very busy time of year here for the ministry. We seek to impact the community for Jesus' sake as much as possible during the holidays. We had activities with all the sponsored children of In Calvary's Care. We had a puppet show for the younger kids and our church's youth drama team presented a drama to the older kids. Vicente, the ICC director, wrote and sang a rap song. Jared shared a message from the Bible with the oldest group. The message behind it all was the importance of celebrating and honoring Jesus every day of the year, not just at Christmas time. You can see pictures from the events on the In Calvary's Care Facebook page. Click Here!

The sponsors in the States sent a Christmas donation to the sponsor kids. We divide up all that comes in evenly between the kids and they are given a gift certificate to a local store where they can pick out clothes, shoes or toys. The kids get so excited. For many of them, this is the only Christmas gift they receive. We gave that out Christmas morning. What a great way to spend Christmas day!

We had a special Christmas dinner for the church on the 26th after our regular midweek study. We had fried chicken, potato salad, bread, soda and Christmas candy. It was a good time of fellowship as the members of our church grow closer together as a family. 

On New Year's Eve Jared and I had a pizza party at our house for the youth group kids. It was so much fun! The kids are really forming strong friendships with us and with one another and have begun to hang out consistently outside of church. 

We were planning to have another activity for the youth during Christmas break, but then Jared contracted Dengue Fever. He was sick for about 8 days. For those of you who don't know what Dengue Fever is, it feels a lot like the flu. He had a fever, chills, was very achy and extremely tired. He also had a very itchy rash on his arms and legs. The only treatment is rest and to stay hydrated. We are so thankful that his case didn't worsen to the point of needing to be admitted to the medical clinic. He was able to stay home and he was still able to teach. He missed one Sunday and our good friend Vicente stepped up and taught in his place. The Lord was definitely merciful to Jared and we are thankful he is feeling better now. 

We had a team come last week from Calvary Christian Fellowship in Colorado. They made many improvements on the ministry house, replacing doors, repairing things that were broken and painted the entire inside of the house. They also went out into the community and shared the gospel. Many people received the truth into their lives and many seeds were planted. The team worked hard and we were so blessed by them. The house really got a face lift and it will be a blessing to the hundreds of adults and children who walk through those doors each month. 

Speaking of hundreds of children, the number of children sponsored keeps climbing. Each month the number goes up. It is amazing to watch the Lord put it on the hearts of those in the States to make a monthly sacrifice to help a needy child in our community. We have over 240 children currently in the program. It is an amazing program the Lord has put together here. To know that each one of those children has a person or a family or a church praying for them by name, it's awesome. Please pray the Lord gives us the wisdom, the understanding, the ability to share His love and His truth with them. The world is pulling at them. Satan wants to destroy them while they are still young before they have a chance to take a stand for Jesus. Please pray for these precious little lives. Glory to God in the highest!

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!