Have you ever taken on more than you can handle?  I have.  More than once.  And it has happened again. This is really the only way to describe my life since the beginning of the 2011/2012 school year.  I'm not complaining - I love everything I am doing - I just need the "8 Days a Week" the Beatles' once sang about. :) This is the primary reason we have gotten so far behind in keeping our blog updated.  I apologize to all of you who read it everytime we update and thank you for your patience.   

Sometimes I ask, how did we get here? Amaury and I prayed about me taking on the extra classes at SCS, and we both believed it was something I was supposed to do, and I still believe that.  Due to my increased time at SCS, he has taken on much more of the Drama Ministry administration, and I am learning to depend more on God each day to take care of all of the details.  Even though it has been more than I sometimes think I can handle, good things have come as a result, proving once again the truth of Romans 8:28!  Gracias a Dios!

For our first blog of the New Year, we thought we would share updates on our ministry goals from 2011 and our goals for 2012.  They are listed below, along with some pictures from our most recent production, Navidad Con Mama, and of a missions experience of some SCS graduates in Africa! 

Thank you for your continued prayers for and support of our ministry!  We are so blessed by you!

With love in Christ,
Amaury and Catherine

2011 Ministry Updates

Drama Ministry – Amaury and Catherine

• Our Drama Group presented two full-length plays in 2011, La Elección (The Choice) on May 20, and Navidad Con Mama (Christmas with Mama) on Dec 8. Our audience size increased with each production, and reaction to both was overwhelmingly positive! We were also invited to present Navidad Con Mama in a mountain community outside of Santiago, and it was a great experience for our group and special event for that community, many of whom would not otherwise have been able to attend a theatrical production such as this one!

• Due to scheduling conflicts, we were not able to offer drama classes or present either production in the men’s prison in Santiago, and we are praying that God will open doors for this to happen in the future.

• For each production, we awarded college scholarships of $4000 pesos, which is equivalent to 80% of tuition at a public university, to members of our group, and each one then agreed to take on additional responsibilities for the production. For the Spring production, we awarded two scholarships and for the Fall production, we were able to award four! The group members had roles as Costume Manager, Props Manager, Group Secretary, and Marketing Manager. They were a big help to us, and we have definitely seen them emerging as leaders in the group!

• We also created a Leadership Team made up of four group members we had selected for their leadership and maturity to help us plan for and direct the group. They took part in deciding on the plays we would present, setting rules for the group, leading activities during our meetings, and leading extra activities for the group as well, such as during our “pasadia” or “daytrip” where we take the group after a production.

• One of the extra activities our Leadership Team helped direct was a Drama Workshop at a local Christian church in Los Perez, a poor neighborhood in Santiago, to support the current drama ministry at the church. As a result of that workshop, six new participants have joined our Drama Group!

Edification Ministry – Amaury

• Between August and November, in the men’s prison Amaury offered a Protocol and Etiquette class (33 graduates), two Financial Harmony in the Home classes (73 graduates) and a Bible study called Corazon Quebrantado (Broken Heart), which was written by a Dominican pastor from Santo Domingo (29 graduates). He also offered the Financial Harmony in the Home class as a one-day seminar for a church conference in Santiago and the Protocol and Etiquette class as a one-day seminar for parents of a local Christian school and for students of another local Christian school.

• Between January and June, in the men’s prison Amaury offered Protocol and Etiquette (52 graduates), Business Principles for Principled Men (54 graduates), Self-Esteem and Self-Help (42 graduates), Perseverance (36 graduates), and two Financial Harmony in the Home classes – one for the inmates (42 graduates) and one for the prison officers (22 graduates). Amaury also offered the Protocol and Etiquette class (16 graduates) in a local church that some of our Drama Group members attend. Additionally, he spoke to the junior and senior boys at Santiago Christian School about appropriate Christian behavior for young men. The Edification Ministry is definitely growing!

English Ministry – Catherine

• The second half of the 2010/2011 school year was a challenging one for Catherine, but it was also one of her most rewarding as well. On June 3, 2011, 30 of Catherine’s 32 seniors graduated, six of whom will be attending college in the US, and several expressed to her through cards, e-mails, and in person that although her class was challenging, they would remember the lessons they learned about literature and life! As one student wrote, “It was an honor having you as a teacher these past two years. Thank you again for EVERYTHING! I can see that you care a lot for us, and I am sure every student notices as well. I wish you the best in life and may God bless you always!”

• The first half of the 2011/2012 school year included an increase in Catherine’s teaching load, as she is now teaching both the junior and senior English classes and had a total of 76 students in the first semester. As a result the summer reading assignment for SCS teachers, Teaching Redemptively, Catherine made several changes to her unit and lesson plans in an attempt to make them more real to her students by making connections to their lives through the activities and assignments. This included a “Hero” assignment, where they had to “be” someone’s hero in the manner of Beowulf, a “Pilgrimage” in the style of Chaucer’s pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales to a local site of yearly pilgrimages in the DR, and writing assignments for Macbeth designed to connect her students more personally to the lives of Shakespeare’s characters. Her students responded well to the assignments, and all of them did well in the first semester!

• This semester, three of last year’s SCS graduates have been participating in a YWAM “DTS,” which is a six month program that includes a training period and then a short-term missions experience. The three, Maria, Natalie, and Tomas, went to Switzerland for their training and then to Rwanda for their mission service. The e-mails and pictures they are sending about the experience are a wonderful testimony to how God is working in their lives and the education they received at SCS!  Among many other experiences, they have shared the love of Christ with children in a school where very little love is shown and prayed over a young man with malaria who was restored to health the next day! They are truly an inspiration and blessing to so many!

2012 Ministry Goals

Drama Ministry – Amaury and Catherine

• To continue working with our Drama Ministry Group weekly in order to share the Gospel with them through the lessons in which they learn acting skills and prepare to present two full-scale Christian themed productions this year. The first production will be in June and the second will be in Nov/Dec.

• To present the June production in two mountain communities outside of Santiago to reach people who otherwise would not be able to attend the theatre with the Gospel message shared through the production.

• To take our Drama Group to the men’s prison in Santiago to present their productions in order to share the Gospel.

• To award four one-semester college scholarships for each production to Drama Group members who will have specific roles to fulfill for the production, including Secretary, Stage/Props Manager, Costume/Make-up Manager.

• To begin raising money to build or remodel an existing building to be a state-of-the-art theatre in Santiago that will be used as an on-going education training facility as well as for our Drama Ministry group’s productions. The theatre would also be available to local churches and ministry groups that would not otherwise be able to have access to this type of facility to use for ministry functions and outreach programs.

Business/Edification Ministry – Amaury

• To offer classes in business principles and protocol and etiquette, as well as Biblically based classes in self-improvement and self-esteem, perseverance, and financial responsibility in order to share the Gospel through the lessons. The classes are designed to provide community outreach for churches and are also part of an outreach ministry for inmates in the men’s prison in Santiago.

• To lead a Bible study in the men’s prison called Corazon Quebrantado (Broken Heart), written by Dominican pastor Roger Fernandez.

• To start a small business providing marketing services for local businesses, churches, and individuals that will provide employment for up to two members of our Drama Group and provide operating funds for the ministry.

English Ministry – Catherine

• To teach English literature part-time at Santiago Christian School as an outreach ministry. Santiago Christian School “exists to provide the finest Christian education possible and to provide the opportunity for students and their families to attain a clear Biblical understanding of Jesus as their Savior.” Through the curriculum, Catherine shares a Biblical Christian Worldview with her students, with the intent to work with other teachers, staff, and administrators to shape, “the lives of those who shape the nation” of the Dominican Republic.