T minus 2 weeks

Sorry I have not kept you all updated on what's happening here.  It has been a great, crazy, busy few weeks.  Only 2 weeks from today until camp time!!  And with that comes lots of details and final preparations/planning.  But again, we praise God for this work because it is good work. 

Let's see what's been going on...

• Financial Peace has been fantastic and our guys seem to be really taking it in.  Every week at least one of them comes back with a story of someone they shared the information with or something they have done to change their current finances.  1 week after the first lesson, one of our guys came to show us he had paid off a credit card and had it cut up in his hands!  He was beyond excited and explained what his plan was to continue getting out of debt.  Another staff member told us about a friend he knew who recently got a job as a taxi driver and after receiving his payments for the week, his wife went to the supermercado and spent ALL of the money on food minus propane and meat (therefore this man has no money left to pay for the gas needed to work as a taxi nor money to cook the food).  Our AIM staff told us how he explained to the guy the importance of budgeting and including your wife in the finances of the household so they have an idea of how to manage the money.  It has been amazing to see some of the transformations in our staff in regards to money and how to handle it.   

• It's hard to believe we only have 2 weeks left of ESL.  But again, watching the transformations in those who have regularly attended has been a privilege.  Our class size has dwindled since we started, but I know the majority of that is attributed to the amount of work it takes to learn a second language.  Believe me, I understand the difficulty of learning another language, and I have it a bit easier as I am completely immersed in the language here in the DR.

• We visited Las Terrenas this past Thursday and Friday to confirm the hotel, restaurant and all the plans for one of our camps in June.  Although this was an exhausting trip, I cannot wait to see how God moves in this city.  The coaches and pastor are thrilled and almost giddy about the camp.  God has provided the "man of peace", the church help, the coaches with a heart for Him, and the needed sites.  This specific camp will be hosted by a mixture of Dominicans and Americans and right now we are looking to have about 750 kids in camp just in this area. 

• And other than that we have been planning and preparing for June and July camps.  Again, good work but lots of it.   We are grateful and truly blessed to be here in preparation to receive the missionaries.  Please keep praying for the camps this Summer and specifically the missionaries, the Dominicans and Americans who are working behind the scenes to pull everything together, and especially the kids/youth who will attend the camp.  Pray for their hearts and minds to be opened to the Holy Spirit and Jesus's love for each of them. 

Thanks for your love and support!!

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 
1 Corinthians 15:58

T minus 3 1/2 weeks... and batteries

Happy Thursday!  Countdown is on... only 3 1/2 weeks until our first camp of the Summer!!  We are so excited and cannot wait for the group to arrive to love on these children in Sosua and Las Terranas.  However, as I said before, so many people are working extra hard to get all the plans lined up and organized, so please keep praying for Brittney, Fred, Barbie, J, our AIM staff, Pastor Rivas, Luis Chimpin, myself and everyone else working behind the scenes.  (I must admit I do enjoy this work... organizational, spreadsheets, budgets, administrative stuff... nerdy I know!)  :) 

We started Paz Financeria (Financial Peace) with our AIM staff this past Saturday, and the class went great.  They were very interested in what the course has to offer and were willing and ready to do their "homework" of drawing up their budgets.  However, none of the Pastors were able to make it because of a story I'm about to tell you...

This past Saturday, Pastor Rivas's church (and all the Septimo Refugio churches) visited Las Espinas as a time to spend together and do a small fundraiser for Mother's Day (which is Sunday, May 25 here).  They were planning on leaving and returning to Sosua about 3 pm.  However, when they went to load up the safari, the battery had been stolen.  They called another Pastor for help, but while waiting, Tati (Pastor Rivas's wife) got the feeling that the battery was actually still in the area.  As the group was searching the area for the battery, a young man walks up to ask what they were doing.  After they explained, the young man told them he had an idea of where someone may have hidden the battery.  Come to find out, he was correct and they found it.  Pastor Rivas asked everyone in the group if someone had a tract.  When they found one, they made a note on it saying, "We are servants of the Most High God and He watches over us.  Please repent of the things you are doing.  We hope one day to hear someone in church stand up and tell a story that I repented after receiving a tract from the people I tried to steal from."  As the young man heard this, he began to breakdown.  They shared with him the Gospel and he accepted Christ in that moment.  He showed up at church the following day and was greeted with a multitude of hugs and love.  Praise God for "just one more"!!  And please be praying for our new brother in Christ.

Right now, prayers are the most important thing we can ask for.  Thank you for your love and support!

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:22-23

T minus 5 weeks... and Cuba

Hey family!  Aubrey and I landed safely back home in the Dominican this past Monday.  The flights were great and Aubrey was fantastic (slept both flights), Praise God!!  It is great to be back and back at work.  In fact this week has been full which is a blessing.  As of right now, we have less than 5 weeks until our first camp... yes that's right... less than 5 weeks!  Which is so exciting but also a tiny bit stressful as we and everyone in the States try to finish all the details.  So please be praying for this journey and all those involved as we want to put on the best camp possible for the kids. 

We restarted ESL on Wednesday, and it's hard to believe we only have 4 more weeks until we finish the book.  And tomorrow, Saturday, we start Paz Financiera with our AIM staff and several local pastors we work with.  (Many people have heard of Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey, this is the same thing but for Latin cultures and in Spanish.)  I must say I am really excited about offering this course for our leaders, and I pray they will be blessed by the knowledge and wisdom gained from such a course.  And special thanks to the Ablacks for helping get this set up.  The entire package including the leader pack and the additional 11 books were donated by various people in the States... so thank you for your support of these Pastors and coaches!  :)  I will keep you all updated on how this is going as it is a 6 week intensive course.

Tonight, J has a Christian Sports Association meeting which is AWESOME because the whole time will be directed towards our camps this Summer and getting many of the details lined up including numbers of kids expected, sites, sports, etc.  Praise God for this organization and the men who lead it! 

We also wanted to include a few pictures of Cuba and a short letter from J. explaining his time there.  From what I can tell, it was life changing for him but let me let him tell you...

Cuba.  A lot of emotion tied into a simple name.  Fear, mystery, anger, pain…  I admit my own level of fear beginning our trip to Cuba was considerable.  I recited scripture and remembered stories of the saints who faced the fear of the unknown.  Yet, I am grateful for this experience and the fear I felt because I was given the opportunity to see God in a new way. 

God, in His wisdom, allowed me to experience this fear knowing He would provide my comfort.  And He showed His power multiple times in our stay in Cuba.  I cannot imagine how what we saw with human eyes looked like in the heavens.  We saw God change the attitude and spirit of the woman who checked us in at the airport.  Within 15 minutes, she changed from a woman who was obstinate in her assertion that there would be no room for the equipment bags we brought to a woman who collaborated with us in making sure those bags were on the plane.  Later, as we gathered our bags in the Cuban airport, God showed us we were indeed "invisible to the enemy".  And throughout our time in the country, God showed His power and mercy over and over. 

Also, Cuba is simply a beautiful country.  The people are beautiful.  The land is beautiful.  The coaches are beautiful.  The church (body of Christ) is beautiful.  Many of these people have so little.  Little food.  Few jobs.  Little hope.  And yet people smile and greet you.  They hug each other, they laugh with each other, and they share what little they have.  The coaches are dedicated to the idea that through sport, they can reach a generation with the Gospel and discipleship which will change their communities.  And they do this with one glove to share between all the kids. 

I loved my time in Cuba and eagerly await the opportunity to return.  I encourage others to visit and be a blessing to the people God is using to change the world.

 

And some pictures of Cuba...

J and Rudy (our brother who lives in Cuba).

"Yo tengo my caballo amarrado..." (this is Fred's favorite song) :)  Just riding some horse statues in Cuba... which apparently were SUPER HOT! 

There is a prehistoric park in Cuba made up of cement statues (where the horses were from above).  Here Fred is saving J from the mammoth.

A view in Cuba.

A picture of a beach.

One of Rudy's wife's family members.  J had a "first" here as it was his first time to use an outhouse... great experience from what I understand.

About 1/3 of the cars on the road are cars that were imported from the States before the Revolution.  Therefore, the cars are "seasoned".  But awesome...reminds me of Back to the Future.  According to J, you don't throw anything away, you just fix.

This is an enormous Sago Palm.

 

Another view from Cuba.  According to J it is a very beautiful country.

 

 

Thank you for all the prayers and love!  We love you guys.

“He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field…’”  Luke 10:2

Black and White

Hey prayer warriors!  Fantastic news, J and Fred have landed safely in Santo Domingo in the Dominican.  From the few minutes I have been able to speak with J., there are some amazing works being done by our God throughout Cuba.  And I understand there are some stories about what it's like being "invisible to the enemy"!!!  Gloria a Dios!  As I find out more, I will write them to share the power of our God, for He is mighty and big! 

Everything else is going great.  Aubrey and I are getting ready to head back on Monday, May 5.  And I must say we are ready to see J. and ready to hit the ground running for all the planning and items needing to be accomplished before our first camp in June.  I'm ready to tackle it! 

And just one short story about God taking care of EVERYTHING, as always!  :)  When we found out J was going to Cuba (we didn't know until a few days before he was going to leave), we started making arrangements for Aubrey and I to stay in the States until he was back in the Dominican.  Now, to change the date for our flight is a $200.00 fee plus the difference in plane ticket.  Luckily, Aubrey is still a "lap baby" and doesn't have her own ticket.  So, I was praying for God to make it easy, simple and "black and white" for me because you may not know that I am "resourceful".  J sometimes likes to say I'm "cheap", but I prefer resourceful.  Therefore, I think any amount is too much (I want it to be free!).  :)  I realize that desire is a little ridiculous, but I can dream.  Anyways, so I call and ask about Friday, May 2... which was going to cost $700.00 ($200 for the change and $500 for the difference in ticket)!! (not pesos mind you!)  Immediately a negative.  So the lady (who was amazing) asked about Monday, May 5 because the ticket was..... drumroll.... a -$175.00 difference from our original.  Therefore, we only had to pay $25.00 for the ticket change!!!  Praise God for He answered in the way I needed!!  He made it very "black and white" for me.  And then to top it off, Aubrey's fee was only $40.00 when it is normally about $100.00!!  (Although she doesn't have to buy a ticket yet, she still pays for taxes and fees and such.)  Anyways, just another story of God providing in everything and answering the "small things".  I pray you all continue to seek God even in the "small things" and "red lights"!

Lots of love to all of you!

 

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Philippians 4:4