A different kind of blog update this month!! We have decided to publish our updates for our 2012 goals and our 2013 Ministry Goals and Plan here this year instead of doing a mailing. Earlier blog posts have many pictures of each of the activities listed below. Please let us know if you have any questions about our ministry, and please be praying for us as we continue to serve Christ and share His message of love, grace, and mercy here in the DR!
Dios les bendiga! God bless!
Amaury and Catherine Gracesqui
Teaching Ministry
Ministry Objectiv
To utilize
the knowledge and skills God has given us to glorify Him and lead others into
relationship with Jesus Christ.
Ministry Updates
as of Dec 2012
Drama Ministry –
Amaury and Catherine
·
Our Drama Group now has 29 active members, and on
November 30 we presented La Riqueza de La
Navidad (The Wealth of Christmas) before an audience of approximately 220! This
production used the characters of the 70s TV shows Good Times and The Jeffersons
to reveal the truth that accepting Christ as our Savior who came to Earth to
die for our sins is the true value of Christmas, not all the gifts or other ways we may do to celebrate. Just as
our group members continue to grow in their acting skills, our audience also continues to grow, and more people are reached with the gospel message found
in each of our productions!
·
Expenses for the production were $41,500 RD ($1,038
US), and income was $29,000 RD ($725 US), and even though we did not cover expenses,
it is the closest we have come so far in meeting our expenses for a
production! We were surprised by the
total income because even just one week before the show, very little had come
in for ticket sales, and we were not sure we would have a good turnout, but God
is faithful and we had our largest audience to date!
·
We were able to award four scholarships for our
most recent production! We had our
Secretary, Alexandra; Assistant Director and Stage Manager, Christy; Assistant
Stage Manager, Melisa; and Wardrobe Manager, Lisbeth! Each one did an excellent job in her role and
learned some great lessons in leadership and time management! We also had Arianny in charge of Marketing
for a small stipend, and she and the leadership team were on a local TV program
to promote our production!
·
At Santiago Christian School, we started an
extra-curricular Theatre Group, and their first production was Romeo and Juliet in The Good Veronian. This
show is the retelling of Shakespeare’s classic blended with the story of the
Good Samaritan that shows how everything changes for the better when we follow
God’s word. We had 19 participants who
had a successful two night run on Nov 9-10, and we were able to nearly break
even on that production!
·
We are continuing to raise money to purchase a
property and have found one that will serve our immediate needs as a ministry
center, including space for an outdoor theatre, while we continue to work
toward a future goal of building a full-size, state-of-the-art theatre! Nearly one-third of the money to purchase
this property was given in donations, and we have applied for a mortgage
through a Dominican bank for the remaining amount. We are praying that donations for this purchase will continue to come in so that we can borrow less for the mortgage!
Business/Edification
Ministry – Amaury
·
Between August and December in the men’s prisons
in Santiago and Moca, Amaury offered Protocol and Etiquette (8 graduates),
Financial Harmony in the Home (56 graduates), and Business Principles (38) classes
for the inmates, and one class of Financial Harmony in the Home for the prison
officers (39 graduates). Amaury also offered
the Protocol and Etiquette class (48 graduates) and Financial Harmony in the
Home class (50 graduates) in two local churches.
·
From August 17 until November 27, Amaury led a
class at the men’s prison in Santiago using the book The Resolution, which is based on the movie Courageous. The 28 class
members read and responded to the book on a weekly basis, discussing what it
means to be the leaders in their families and the role God plays in their lives
and their families’ lives. At the end of
the class, special permission was granted by the administration of the prison
to allow the class members’ families to attend the graduation ceremony, during
which each one (all 28 graduated) recited “The Resolution” and signed it in
front of their families. A framed copy
of it was given to the families to hang in their homes, and another copy was
given to each participant to hang in his cell to remind him of what he had
promised. Guest speakers from Santiago
Christian School administration also attended and shared their
testimonies. It was a powerful event,
and the lives of each one present were touched that day.
English Ministry –
Catherine
·
The 2012/2013 school year started off well, with
Catherine teaching World Literature to her seniors – a new curriculum at SCS! Her students wrote Modern Tragedies after
studying Ancient Greek Tragedy, and some incorporated Christian worldviews in
their work, showing that those who turned away from God were the ones who
suffered the most in their lives. They
also wrote journals along with the study of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and a Political Poetry unit, in which they responded to
the need for forgiveness in our lives, just as Shakespeare's Prospero comes to realize, and the
negative effects caused on the lives of others by those who abuse their power.
2013 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 on May 24 and the second will be in December.
·
To present the May production in a mountain
community 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 Moca
to present their productions in order to share the Gospel.
·
To award five one-semester college scholarships for
each production to five of the Drama Group members who will have specific roles
to fulfill for the production, including Assistant Director/Secretary, Stage/Props
Manager and Assistant Manager, Wardrobe Manager, and Assistant Production
Manager.
·
To purchase a property to be used as our home
and ministry center that has space for an outdoor theatre and can be used to
host groups.
·
To continue 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.
·
To continue working with the extra-curricular Theatre
Group at Santiago Christian School on productions that give students the
opportunity to develop their talents both on and off-stage, and to present
productions that edify the SCS community.
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 prisons in the DR.
·
To lead a Bible study in the men’s prison called
Corazon Quebrantado (Broken Heart), written by Dominican
pastor Roger Fernandez.
·
To baptize men who are currently in the prison
system in the DR who are members of his classes.
·
To continue teaching in the men's prisons in Santiago and Moca, and to begin teaching classes in a third prison
located in La Vega, a small city outside of Santiago.
English Ministry – Catherine
·
To teach English literature part-time at
Santiago Christian School as an outreach ministry. Santiago
Christian School
Ministry Plan
Drama Ministry – Amaury and Catherine
·
In the Spring, the Drama Ministry Group will
meet Saturday afternoons from January 19 through May 24. The first production will be presented on May
24 at the Cultural Center in Santiago. In
the Fall, the group will meet from August 24 through December, and the second
production will be presented on a date to be determined at the Cultural Center
in Santiago.
·
The mountain community in which the June
production will be presented is Lajas del Yaroa where an American missionary
family has a mentoring/marriage ministry and have also been planting a church.
·
Members of the Drama Group will sell tickets to
the productions at the Cultural Center and sell ads in the program to help
cover the costs associated with each production. Tickets will be sold for $100 pesos each and
program ads will be sold for $300 pesos each with all sales completed by the
final Saturday rehearsal prior to the production. Drama Group members will earn $20 pesos for
each ticket sold and $50 pesos for each ad sold.
·
Drama Group members interested in applying for
the scholarships will each complete an application that will be reviewed by
ministry leadership and awarded in February for the Spring semester and in
September for the Fall semester. Each
scholarship will be worth $4000 pesos ($100 US) or $2000 pesos ($50 US), depending
on the job assigned to the recipient.
·
From Feb 27 through March 6, fellow missionaries will be here
from the US to offer jewelry making and marketing classes to our Drama Group
members to help them get involved in raising money to support the ministry.
·
We will be travelling to the US in June and July
2013 to visit with individuals and churches to update supporters on our
ministry, and we will have amber jewelry with us that our Drama Group members
have made, which will be used for fund raising purposes.
Business/Edification Ministry – Amaury (Classes for churches outside of Santiago will be offered as a one-day seminar that is a summary of the material. For all classes, the class meeting days will be
determined by the pastor, depending on the church’s schedule.)
·
Business classes teach class members steps to
follow to have a successful business and to avoid being deceived when
conducting business. All classes begin with prayer and a Bible reading and also
end with prayer, and Biblical principles of business are incorporated as
well. Classes include six class
meetings, which are held one to two days per week, depending on the location.
·
Protocol and Etiquette classes teach class
members how to present themselves well in society. All classes begin with prayer and a Bible
reading and also end with prayer, and Biblical principles of protocol and
etiquette are incorporated as well. Each set of classes includes six class
meetings, which are held one to two days per week, depending on the location, and
end with a formal dinner for the class members to practice what they have
learned.
·
Self-improvement and Self-esteem classes are
classes about motivation and personal and
spiritual teaching. All classes begin with prayer and a Bible reading and also end
with prayer, and the material is all biblically based, leading participants to
an understanding of who God says they are.
Each set of classes includes six class meetings, which are held one to
two days per week, depending on the location.
·
Financial Harmony in the Home classes teach the
basic ideas of Larry Burkett’s How to
Manage Your Money and Dave Ramsey’s Financial
Peace, which incorporates biblical principles of managing money in a way
that honors God. All classes begin with prayer and a Bible reading and also end
with prayer. Each set of classes includes
four class meetings, which are held one day per week.
·
Perseverance class is set-up as a 5 week debate
over various topics, including the Bible, which inspires class members to
persevere to achieve their goals and expands their knowledge base as they study
and prepare for the different topics that are debated. All classes begin with prayer and a Bible
reading and also end with prayer. Each
set of classes includes six class meetings, which are held one day per
week. The final class is a celebration
during which medals are awarded to the team who awarded the most points.
·
Corazon
Quebrantado is about how a person’s heart needs to be broken to allow God
to enter in his or her life. All classes
begin with prayer and a Bible reading and also end with prayer. Each set of classes includes seven class
meetings, which are held one day per week.
English Ministry – Catherine
·
Catherine will teach World Literature part-time at
Santiago Christian School to seniors during the 2012/2013 school year, and she
will be the Fine Arts Coordinator at SCS in order to bring unity and direction
to the Arts Program. Through her
curriculum, Catherine shares a Biblical Christian Worldview and the gospel with
her students as opportunities are presented.
