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.