The team from Woodland Hills arrived safely this afternoon and enjoyed some Dominican empanadas for dinner tonight! We will be travelling to Palo Alto tomorrow. Please pray for safety as we travel and for a great week of ministry! We will be back in Santiago on Sunday night and will post another update then!

God bless!

With love in Christ,

Amaury and Catherine

Just after the final words were spoken of Su Historia (HiStory), our Drama Ministry Group’s Spring Production on June 2, I led the choir that we formed to accompany the play in singing “Mi Padre Me Ama” (“My Father Loves Me”), by Juan Luis Guerra. As we came to the chorus and all the actors and audience joined in, it was a moment when I truly felt enveloped in my Father’s love, and I will hold that memory as a precious treasure in my heart. The words of the chorus are:

Mi padre me ama tanto
su amor es eterno y santo
tan grande que no puedo entender.
Me viste de ropa fine
me anhela y me dio su vida.
Gloria, aleluya, Padre fiel

Which translates as

My father loves me so much
His love is eternal and holy
so big that I cannot understand.
He dressed me in fine clothes
desires me and gave his life for me
Glory halleluiah, faithful Father

A little over three weeks earlier, as we neared the original production date of May 14, it became more and more clear that we were not ready. The choir had yet to have a rehearsal with every member present, our original lead actor had quit and his replacement was doing his best to learn his lines, our stage make-up had been held in customs with no foreseeable date of when it would be released, and because of the demands of our separate teaching schedules (Amaury had started teaching Protocol and Etiquette at the men’s prison here in Santiago as an outreach to the men there, and I was in the midst of grading research papers for my seniors), there were still several unfinished details to work out for the production to come together.

Honestly, we were not sure what would happen, but we continued to do the one thing we knew we could do – pray over the group, the production, and our schedules, and leave everything in God’s hands.

Then a call came from the Centro de la Cultura (Cultural Center), which was the theatre we had rented for the production. They informed us that since the theatre is government owned and the country’s elections were on May 16, the government had decided to use the theatre from May 14-16 for the elections, and we had to change the date of our production. They offered us May 17 or 18 and June 1 or 2 – the only dates open until September – it just seemed unbelievable! What else could possibly go wrong?

Well, after talking with our group, we decided on May 17, and when we called to schedule that date, we were told that, unfortunately, it was no longer available. That very day, the President had scheduled a nationwide holiday for May 17 because of the elections (on May 16), so the theatre would be closed. However, they had decided not to use the theatre on May 14, so we could have our original day back. This was Monday, May 11, and we had not done a final dress rehearsal that weekend with our group because of the date change, so we decided not to go with the original date and selected June 2 instead.

Almost immediately, it was clear that God had orchestrated the delay. Within the next two weeks, our make-up was out of customs, our schedules cleared up, and our group members had taken advantage of the extra time to learn their lines! Things were looking better! We would still have to wait until the actual dress rehearsal at the theatre on the day of the production to have the entire choir together to rehearse, but they handled it well, and the show went very well!

Sitting in the audience that night, watching the fifteen members of our group who had never been on a full stage nor been part of a full-scale production before put into practice all they had learned and work their way through the normal glitches that come with live theatre, I was amazed at all God had done in their lives and in ours ever since we began meeting with this group in February.

Over the course of the last few months and on the night of the performance, lives were changed, and only God could have done this work. We are so thankful for all He has taught us through this and for all He has allowed us to share with the members of our Drama Group.

Your support and encouragement are what has enabled us to be here and share the gifts God has given us, and we are grateful for you! See below for a video of scenes from the production (set to "Mi Padre Me Ama") and pictures from our last two months of ministry.

Dios le Bendiga Mucho!! My God bless you greatly!!

With love in Christ,
Catherine and Amaury

Video of Scenes from Su Historia - Enjoy!



Protocol and Etiquette Classes - Since mid-April, Amaury has taught one-day seminars for the guards and staff at the men's prison as well as the 12th and 8th grade classes at Santiago Christian School, his first community based class finished with a graduation dinner, and he started a second community based class!


Graduation for first community based class:








Second community based class learning how to fold napkins for a formal place setting:










Men's Prison Graduation - 25 students started and graduated from the class - a record for a class at the prison!









One-day seminar for staff and guards and the Men's Prison:










Santiago Christian School classes - tying ties and learning how to set formal place settings:





Haiti Relief - On May 3, we traveled to Dajabon, on the Dominican border with Haiti, and met up with a friend who is a missionary at Danita's Children, an orphanage in Oanamenthe, Haiti, that currently has about 30 orphanes who were in Port au Prince when the earthquake hit on January 12. Through donations from Woodland Hills Christian Church and the Fraternal Order of Eagles of Mountain View, CA, we were able to purchase their basic food supplies for two weeks, and we were able to spend time with some of the beautiful children!