Ready for Heaven?

A few of us found ourselves lost one starry night as we strolled throughout our new neighborhood! My precious four year old Starr looked up towards the heavens and said, “Jesus, I’m not ready to go to heaven yet. Please let us find our way home!” The rest of us enjoyed a hearty laugh at Starr’s request. As we found our way home, she stopped in the middle of the street with hands lifted up and said, “Jesus, thank you for bringing us back home. One day I will go to heaven, but not yet!”

Although her prayer was delightful and amusing, it was true for 94% of Dominicans. Few are not ready to go to heaven as Starr prayed. So many need to find their way home. We are continually grateful to God for choosing us to reach them.

God has given us many ways to reach out to those around us. The best way has been to live a life of Godliness before them. Many know the scriptures, but don’t live them. Many attend church services, just to go back to a life of sin. In light of the realities we face, God has made it clear that we MUST live His word before all. Thus, those who watch us are changed.

Let’s take our neighbor Marco for instance. He would watch us out of the window for days. Then he decided to come to one of our movies. After watching the movie, he stayed to talk for a while. Each day he comes by to visit with Ruben. He always leaves impressed. He now attends our church services every Sunday! Ruben preached a message about faith the first Sunday that Marco visited. He focused on the woman with the issue of blood during his message. Marco was amazed because his mom has had the same problem for a few months. We went to their house to pray that day and she is now doing better. Please pray that Marco will give his life to Christ.

Cesar is a pastor’s son. Everyone thought that he would also grow up to be a pastor, but he lived the past four years of his life in sin. He has spent countless hours sharing his heart with Ruben and has now given his life to Christ and is helping us in many ways. He picks up church members who don’t have cars each Sunday. He chauffeurs Ruben and I everywhere! He helps our family face the various un-expected trials that confront newcomers to this country. He also invites new people to church each week! Please pray that he will continue to grow in his walk with the Lord and fulfill the call that God has placed on his life.

Then there is a single mom named Carmen. She was brutally beaten by her boyfriend the night before she attended our service for the first time. I spent some time sharing God’s truth with her about her value to Him. She believed what I said and accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior that day. She now faithfully attends service each week with her children. She has left that boyfriend and is growing in her walk with the Lord. Please pray that she will continue to press forward and not turn back to sin.

Carmen’s eldest daughter didn’t want to speak to me the first time I saw her. She had just watched her mom get beat and left for dead. She was afraid of everyone. I asked Selina to spend some time with her. By the end of the service, she was hugging us. Now, she runs to us when she sees us! What a delight to see God move in her heart. Please pray that she will grow to be a witness for the Lord and a bright light that shines in her home.

I cannot leave out the Fernandez family. The husband, Jaime, did not want to have anything to do with God or the church until he met Ruben. Now he is the one who wakes everyone up each Sunday morning and helps his wife get the children ready for service. His wife called me the other day to tell me that she is doing her homework from our Sunday School class and that she is very happy to be growing in Christ. Please pray that this family will continue to seek the Lord and grow to be strong pillars in His kingdom.

The Land
We are still looking at other properties. It has not been easy for us to let go of the mountain. We are still praying for a miracle since they have not yet sold it. Please join us in this prayer.

Our Family
We have started school! Our routine is not as great as we would like it to be. We have lots of distractions each day. Visitors come on a daily basis. We’ll get this part down soon!
We are looking at schools for Jonathan and Selina. Please pray for wisdom as they continue their education.

Orphans
Our paper work probably won’t be done until the end of August or September. Keep praying as God prepares our hearts and our home for more children.

Thanks to all who have faithfully given. We would not be able to continue this work without your support! You are special to us. Please let us know what your prayer needs are as well and we will lift you up before the Father during our family prayer time. We love you all! Continue to be servants of our king!

More pictures are coming soon!

*Names of the above have been changed. I’m sure you understand why.

New house, new journey!

Thanks to those who responded to God’s tugging to assist us financially, we were able to move into our new home. We were blessed to find such a large home in a decent neighborhood for such a low price! God is showing us daily that He is with us!

Our home has a lot of space, yet it does not have the amenities that a house in the US would have. For instance, our water reserve tank doesn’t usually work so each day when the city cuts off the water in this neighborhood we don’t have water. We have not had water for almost 24 hours now. It has gone off for hours at a time for the past few days. The hot water heater doesn’t work either so cold baths and showers have become the norm for us. Nor de we have a generator which means that each day when the city turns off the electricity in our neighborhood, we are in the dark too! How about no air conditioning! We are grateful for each breeze that comes our way!

Yet, we don’t complain. We literally rejoice over the fact that God chose us to join Him in what He’s already begun to do here in the Dominican Republic! I’m reminded of the morning that I had to walk downstairs to the bathroom in the back of the house to take a cold bath out of the buckets of water we reserve for water outages. I did complain in my heart as I gathered my towel and soap. Just as I began to feel sorry for myself, the Holy Spirit flashed the picture of Ruben sitting in our garden the other day ministering to the young man who lives next door to us. Then I remembered the children in the village of Moca. I then saw the faces of those who faithfully come to our church services every Sunday! How could I complain when I chose to give my life for them? I then thought of the people who live only 15 minutes away from me who never have running water. How could I complain when only a few minutes away many live in wooden shacks?

MINISTRY

Ruben has had lots of pain in his leg lately. His pain has kept us from going into the village. We hope to return soon. We instead have been ministering to our neighbors and to those in the neighborhood where we lived before moving. We had our first program for children last Sunday evening. It was great to see them all learn to put God first and that Jesus is their super hero!

We also show an evangelic movie on Saturday nights. Our street fills up with people as we show the films. Afterward, Ruben takes a few minutes to share the gospel with them. It was through one of the movies that our next door neighbor wanted to share his heart with Ruben. He and his brother continually seek Ruben for advice now.

Our Sunday morning services are going great as well. We start out with Sunday School where I’m going through Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets them Free with the women and young ladies. Ruben is teaching the men and the young men who they are in Christ. Selina and Jose are teaching the 6-12 year olds to put God first this month. Jonathan and Josue are teaching the 3-5 year olds the fruits of the Spirit. After Sunday School we join together for our church service where Selina leads worship, the boys usher, I start off with a welcome, prayer and scripture and Ruben preaches! How fun to work together as a family.

OUR CHILDREN

I truly feel honored to have children willing to give up so much to work for the Lord and still continue to make sacrifices daily for His sake. They sleep on the hard floor each night and never complain. They work in the ministry each weekend while the children around them have fun doing other things. They sit in flimsy plastic chairs each day for school or on the floor, yet accept it without any fuss! I am blessed beyond measure as I watch their response to this transition. I can clearly see God’s hand upon each one of them.

THE LAND

We have not purchased the property yet. First of all, we did not raise enough money to buy all 38 acres. Unfortunately, many who promised to purchase an acre have not yet upheld that promise. Also, we are still negotiating with the owners. It would be a lot easier to negotiate with all of the money available to us. Three other people want that land right now who have more to offer than us. We are now considering other pieces of land. We’ll keep you posted as we move forward with this.

PRAYER POINTS:

1. Pain and swelling in Ruben’s leg to diminish.
2. For our family to continue to walk in unity.
3. Grace with the government as we seek non-profit status here and permits to take in orphans.
4. Provision.
5. Hearts of those to whom we minister would be transformed.
6. Favor with the owners of the land or another piece of property.

NEEDS:

1. Furniture, especially beds for the children.

2. A vehicle large enough for our family and to transport people back and forth to church.

3. Continual monthly support.

4. Spanish Christian movies, music and curriculum for Sunday School.

5. Generator large enough for our home.

6. Large containers to reserve water until our tank is fixed.