Sometimes God reminds us of the blessings in our lives in the strangest of ways.

Nearly six weeks ago, the public works department of the city of Santiago began working on the streets in our neighborhood, which at some point many years ago had been paved, but had fallen into such disrepair that only in rare spots could the original pavement be noted. When we moved here in January, our landlady said they were going to be repairing the streets beginning in February, and I had nearly given up on the hope of not having to drive 2 to 3 miles an hour, maneuvering around the many potholes, in order to arrive at our house.

So, when the work actually began in early August, I was optimistic that in just a few short weeks, we would be enjoying driving on newly paved streets. However, not only did that not happen, I was completely unprepared for what did happen, and it reminded me just how much I have taken for granted in my life.

A few days after work began, it became apparent that they were going to do more than just repair the streets – they were also repairing the water and sewer system. This meant that all of the water and sewer pipes in our neighborhood were removed, without warning to the neighborhood residents. The first night we were without water, and before I knew the water had indefinitely been turned off, I was not worried. Being without water happens periodically in the Dominican because there is not a sufficient infrastructure in the country to supply water to the entire country at the same time, so water will be shut off to communities on a rolling basis (some communities more often and for a longer time than others – depending on the income level of those who live there). We were blessed to find a home for rent in a relatively wealthy community, so our water goes out less often than most, but we still try to keep ourselves prepared to be without water for a short time.

However, by the end of the second day, we were out of our “back-up” water, which is stored in a kitchen size trash can with a lid in our guest bathroom, and I had no idea what we were going to do. So, Amaury went to his family’s home in Hoya del Caimito, which is where the G.O. Ministry hub is located and a two to three minute drive from our home, to borrow 5 gallon water bottle for us to use. That night was the first unexpected blessing from God. Instead of coming home with 5 gallons of water, he came home with 15! I felt so loved, by both God and Amaury’s family. We were in need, and that need was abundantly met!

However, I have to admit, that I quickly forgot that blessing as the week progressed and we continued to be without running water in our house. We went and complained at the water company, along with several of our neighbors, and by the middle of the second week (during which time Amaury continued to go to his family’s house every night to fill up our water bottles) we did have “provisional” water hooked up to the cistern that is in front of the house, and I once again felt blessed, but not with quite the same joy I’d had the previous time.

We found that we could hook up our hose to the faucet and fill the water bottles, but since it is only a half inch tube that is hooked up to six houses and two condominium buildings, the water pressure is very low and often is so minimal that the water will not fill the hose, and Amaury has to fill the bottles directly from the faucet. Once again, I quickly forgot that God was meeting our needs and instead began to focus on the inconvenience of having to fill water bottles every day, having to do our laundry at a friend’s house, and counting every day of the six weeks that we have now been without running water. What I did not realize was the God was about to do something in my heart that I did not expect.

This past Sunday I was invited to a prayer retreat with the Dominican leaders for the G.O. Ministries women’s conference that begins tomorrow, and as I was talking to my mother-in-law about our water situation, I was suddenly convicted by my own words and lack of gratefulness for all I had in my life. Here I was complaining to a woman who never complains, despite not having running water in her home for the last 5 years, ever since she and my father-in-law decided to leave the two-story concrete block home (with two bathrooms) they have in Hoya del Caimito to move to wood house with an outdoor kitchen and bathroom in a poor mountain community called Palo Alto to serve the people there and build a church and retreat center, both of which are blessings to that community.

To Ramona’s credit, she listened and let me know she understood my frustration, and she never corrected me for my ungrateful spirit. Ramona is such an amazing example of a Godly woman and I am so thankful to have her in my life. God used this conversation to remind me that I have been richly and abundantly blessed, despite any current (and temporary) circumstances. There I was surrounded by Dominican women who regularly deal with not having the conveniences in their lives to which we as Americans have become so accustomed, and I was instantly humbled.

I cannot say at this point that I am happy to continue to be without running water in my home, but I can say that I have been convicted about my own selfishness and have stopped complaining. God has given me a wonderful husband (who continues to fill those water bottles daily), a loving family here in the Dominican and in the U.S., and great friends who support me and help me deal with the circumstances of life. What more could I truly ask for?

I can also say that I now understand in a way I have not before Paul’s instruction to us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” I will continue to pray that our streets will be finished and our water will be reconnected, but until that time comes, I will choose joy and give thanks for all God has done in my life.

Below are some pictures of recent events in our ministry that we are so thankful to have been a part of – the Drama Camp held Aug 1-2 in Hoya del Caimito and the new computer lab at the school – I hope you enjoy them!

Thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support!

With love in Christ,
Catherine and Amaury

Hoya del Caimito Drama Camp!

New Computer Lab at Colegio Evangelico Isaias Emmanuel!

For the last few weeks, I have been looking for an opportunity to be able to sit down and write an update, but each time either the power was out (the last few weeks have been particularly bad with power outages here) or something else happened that kept me from being able to do so. I’m not sure if that was God giving me more time to process what to write, if it was Satan trying to get in the way, or if it was just a string of bad luck and bad timing. Whatever the case may be, today I was able to sit down and write about what has easily been one of the most significant and powerful weeks of ministry I have been a part of since I moved to the DR nearly three years ago!

Last month a team of teenagers and their youth ministry leaders from Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY, was here from June 23 to 30, and it was an amazing week! The team had a few challenges to overcome from the start when they arrived but their luggage did not – not one bag – they only had what they had carried onto the plane – and their luggage did not get here until June 26 – halfway through their trip! Thankfully, the ministry was able to provide them with clothes and some necessary items from the donations earlier teams had left, and they handled the whole situation with grace and good spirits that were encouraging and humbling to witness!

Thanks to the strong leadership of the team, their focus immediately became trusting in God to take care of getting their luggage to them according to His timing and being available for ministry throughout their entire time here, regardless of the circumstances – this was one of the most important qualities of this team for us and something that taught us lessons in walking humbly and loving kindness that we will not forget, just as we will not forget them.

The team’s ministry focus for the week was a Drama Camp in Los Guandules – a very poor area of Santiago where GO has built a church and a nutrition center. The week before the team arrived, the community had suffered a terrible mudslide that destroyed 70 homes. Luckily no one was injured or killed, but the devastation to the community is clear just a few houses down from where the church stands. The houses affected by the mudslide lay piled on top of one another down what was once the top of a hill overlooking the nearby river. We shared this with the team and took them to see the area, and then encouraged them that this week of Drama Camp would be an incredible opportunity to share a positive experience with the youth of this community who so desperately needed God’s light and love to be poured into their lives.

And so a youth group from Louisville, KY, took on that challenge and poured themselves into a group of youth from Los Guandules in Santiago, and the results were an amazing week full of blessings, big and small, and the joy and hope that only Christ can bring into our lives!

This Drama Camp was similar in structure to the previous one we held in Hato del Yaque, and the students took classes in Voice and Movement, Stage Direction and Blocking, and Costume Design, but this time, mixed in with the 33 camp participants were team members who helped teach and also participated in the classes! The drama they worked on was different as well – the script for this camp came from the three “lost” parables – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son.

While the classes were going on, other team members were working with Amaury to build movable sets to be used in the drama that would be presented at the conclusion of the camp during the Sunday evening worship service. Building the sets was a new element for the Drama Camp as well, and it has been a dream of ours for a long time to be able to have sets of this type in the churches where the camps are held in order to strengthen the drama ministries that the camps are meant to “jump start.” Each set has two scenes painted on it – the center panels rotate so that the background can be quickly and easily changed during a production. Deciding to do this as a part of the camp was a step of faith, as all we had were the plans and materials but no actual experience putting them together. However, the team easily took on this challenge, and we were thrilled to find out that several of the team members were very artistic and they painted beautiful scenery! The results were better than we had imagined they would be!


































The camp itself went very smoothly, and our Drama Team members and the Northeast team members worked well together, supporting and encouraging one another and the students, and when it came time to present the drama during the church service, everything came together perfectly – we did not think it could get any better than this, but God was not finished with the group yet!

After the drama presentation, the team from Northeast left the service to do children’s ministry with the children in Los Guandules, and when the time was almost over, Amaury came in and told me that I may want to come in to the service or send the team leader in, because 12 of the Drama Camp participants and the father of one of our Drama Team members had come forward at the end of the service to accept Christ as their Savior!!!

After the drama presentation, the pastor, Rafelito, preached on the parable of the prodigal son, to build on the lesson that had been presented in the drama, and God’s message was clearly heard and accepted! Just when we thought everything was coming to an end, God showed us that He was just beginning His work! Please pray for those new believers in Los Guandules, as they are now in baptism classes with Rafelito and have also become a part of the church’s youth group!

Next weekend, August 1 – 2, we will be holding another Drama Camp – this time in Hoya del Caimito with our Drama Ministry team, and I am sure we will note the difference of not having the team from Northeast here with us. We learned many lessons from them, and hopefully, we will put those lessons to good use with this next camp. Please pray that all the details for the camp come together and that God will continue to use our ministry team and the camps to reach those in need of His light and love.

There are not words to express how grateful we are for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support!

With love in Christ,
Catherine and Amaury

May 28, 2009

As I reflected on what to write about for this update, I realized just how long it has been since I did one of these! So much has happened in the last two months, that I did not realize how much time had passed until I sat down to think over it all and process all that God has been doing in our lives and our ministry! One of the greatest blessings of the last two months was that on May 24, we celebrated our first anniversary! The picture to the left is from our anniversary dinner - at a beachfront restaurant in Juan Dolio on the southern coast - it was a beautiful place to celebrate!

Before we were able to get away for some rest and relaxation, though, there were many exciting events in our ministry! April started off with a Spiritual Retreat held on April 3 for the teachers at the school that was planned and organized by our school counselor, and in which she had asked me to participate by leading some team building activities. Then on April 4 and 5, we held the Drama Camp in Hato del Yaque, and it went very well! On April 9, I left for the states and was wonderfully blessed by my time with family and friends – travelling from GA to VA, then from VA to KY, then back to VA and to GA once again, flying out of Atlanta, GA, to return to the DR on May 7.

A few days after I arrived in Santiago, we had staff meetings and began gearing up for our Celebration of Partnerships, held in Puerta Plata from May 13-16, which was an incredible time of celebrating where we have come as a ministry as well as where God is leading us! Returning from the conference, we began preparing for the summer, and Amaury and I were also able to take a few days to get away together for some rest and to celebrate our anniversary!

There are so many stories I could tell about each of these events that I honestly do not know where to start! So, to do something a bit different this time around, below is more of a “photo update” with a short commentary for each set of pictures to give each of you a brief glimpse into the last two months.

Below are some pictures from the teacher retreat, which included a time to share prayer requests and praises, a message given by Eduard Gabriel, who in May became the new Carribean President of G.O. Ministries, as well as the team building activities, lunch, time for fellowship, and watching The Emperors Club together. The first picture is of the teachers trying to solve a "human knot" to ecourage cooperation, the second is of two of our teachers taking the free on-line Enneagram evaluation (in Spanish!) that I then used to do a brief session with them about the different personality types outlined by the Enneagram. The is a great tool for encouraging understanding of ourselves and one another! The teachers felt so encouraged and blessed by all they experienced that they asked if this could be something we do more than just once a year!






The next set of pictures is from the Drama Camp. The students had classes in Voice and Movement, Stage Direction and Blocking, and Costume Design, and then presented the parable of the two debtors to a crowd that was nearly double the size of normal attendance at a church service! It was an amazing weekend, with 18 students involved in the camp, the majority of whom do not come to church on a regular basis!

While I was in Louisville, I was able to meet with Jerry from St. John United Methodist who has arranged for 50 computers to be donated to the school from his company!!! He is in the process of evaluating them and getting them set up to be brought down this summer! Thanks to Jerry's work and donations from several individuals and another Louisville business, the lab will become a reality this summer - an amazing blessing!!!

As the pictures below show, the Partnership of Celebration was a great success! The first picture is of one of the several teaching/conference sessions that we attended - the green shirts are from the conference - nearly 180 Americans, Dominicans, Haitians, and Columbians attended the event - including the missionary G.O. supports in Mongolia! The second picture is of the G.O. Board praying over Gabriel and Tata and Eduard and Kendy as the change in leadership became "official." Gabriel will still be actively involved in the ministry, but Eduard is the new Carribean President of G.O. - it was a bittersweet moment.



The next two pictures are also from the conference - the first is of Luis Vargas and his wife, one of our pastors who works in a very poor area known as Padre de las Casas, and a representative from his partnering church - Nate from Reunion Christian in Boston, MA. One of our Board Members - Mike Shyrock - is also in the picture. Mike is part of the church planting organization that planted Reunion. I translated for Nate, Mike, and Luis throughout the conference, and we all had some great conversations! Once I told Luis about how Mike and Nate know each other and about how quickly Reunion has grown (the church is only a few years old and has more than 300 who reguarly attend!), he was very curious to hear their ideas on church growth and reaching out to the community! The second picture is of Romano translating for me as I interviewed our Haitian pastors for some upcoming G.O. projects.




We are getting ready for another Drama Camp, which will be held in Los Guandules with a team from Northeast Christian in Louisville, as well as for a busy summer, and we appreciate your prayers!

As always, thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support! We are so blessed by each of you!

With love in Christ,
Catherine and Amaury

March 19, 2009

Saludos! (Greetings!)

This is what you say every time you enter a store, an office, or a home in the DR (really any place where people are), and it is one of my favorite things about living here – to start off every encounter in such a friendly and open way is a great lesson to learn for every part of our lives!

For Amaury and I, this last month has been full of lessons taught and learned, as our “Teaching Ministry” began in earnest, and we are excited to see how this ministry will grow! So far, we have had three Drama Team meetings, and the team is bonding and learning and growing together as we prepare for our first Drama Camp, which will be held in Hato del Yaque on April 4-5. Also, Amaury began teaching his Protocol and Etiquette classes in Los Perez, and we set up a teacher training at the school that Amaury led to show the teachers how to use the new projector and laptop that were recently donated by a team member from Michigan who had come down last summer! Pictures of all of this are included at the end of the blog! Also, in addition to continuing to supervise Jose Luis in his English class, I began teaching a class specifically for people who are interested in leading English classes at their home churches – at this point the students involved are from three different churches!

One of the students in my English class is also a member of the Drama Team, and his desire to learn and his perseverance despite many obstacles are an inspiration! Marcos lives in Hato del Yaque – a community about 30 minutes outside of Santiago that has very few paved streets, no running water, and intermittent electricity that is usually only on for a few hours each day. He is a 19 year old young man who works for a company that sells fruits and vegetables, such as plantains, which are a staple in the Dominican diet.

His day usually starts at 2 am when he wakes up and then heads off to report to work, which will involve first going to a local farmer’s market to help select produce and then get his assignment for the day, which could include spending the day selling by driving around various “barrios” or neighborhoods in Santiago, announcing what he has for sale over a speaker system that is attached to the truck, or travelling to Puerto Plata to help sell vegetables there. His day ends when he has sold everything he can and then make the trip back to Hato de Yaque, which could be as late as 10 pm if he has been to Puerto Plata that day. He does this 6 days a week – only taking Sunday off to go to church and rest.

Now, however, he has added to that grueling schedule, English classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings (the picture to the left is of Marcos during a recent English class - he has not missed one!), and Drama Team meetings every other Saturday afternoon as well as Drama Camps, which will be held five times throughout the year and will last all day Saturday and Sunday (which means he will not work on those Saturdays). Additionally, he has started a baseball sports ministry to reach out to the young men of the community, offering them a positive alternative to the drugs and gangs which so easily ensnare too many, and to be a witness for Christ in their lives. Why is he doing this? When asked, he is quick to smile and then explain that he wants to help the church grow by reaching out to his community. This answer and his determination to do whatever he has to do to achieve that goal are what inspire me about Marcos. He is one who will show the love, light, and hope of Christ in a place in desperate need of them.

Hato del Yaque is a community that was created by the Dominican government nearly 30 years ago after a massive hurricane devastated the island. The first residents were relocated there from other areas on the island where the destruction was the most severe. They were promised schools, running water, electricity, paved roads – a model community – but those promises were not fulfilled. The community is now held in the grips of poverty, with limited access to education and social services, and drugs, gangs, and alcohol are rampant. It also has the highest concentration of AIDS cases in the Santiago region. These are grim facts that can lead people to live without hope.

But there is hope – Marcos found it, and he wants to share it with as many people as he can. A little more than three years ago, he found hope through his belief in Jesus and his experiences at the church in Hato del Yaque that GO supports. That church started in a cramped 150 square foot room, and is now located in a beautiful new ministry center that will soon have a feeding center, and each day grows as a brighter light in this very dark community.

This is why we decided to hold our first Drama Camp in Hato del Yaque – to support the work of the church there, and offer a program that will hopefully attract not only the young people involved in the camp, but also their parents to the church to see the results of the camp, which will be presented through a short drama during the service.

Marcos and another young man from Hato del Yaque, Christian, who is also a part of the Drama Team and is also attending the English class, are currently recruiting young people (ages 13 – 18) to be a part of the camp. Please keep them and our team in your prayers during this time. Pictured to the left are Marcos, Wendy, and Lisbeth - three of the ten team members - participating in our most recent team meeting. The Drama Team is made up of young people from five different churches who have expressed a desire to reach out to their communities through drama ministry - please pray for them as they take this step of faith, that they will continue to be committed to the ministry and that they will be encouraged and inspired by being a part of this team.

Our “theme verse” for the Drama Team and the camps is 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” We pray that this will be just one of the many lessons learned for our Drama Team members and the young people that come to the camps throughout the year.
As always, thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support!

With love in Christ,
Catherine and Amaury

Amaury leads an activity at the Drama Team meeting we held in Hato del Yaque on Feb 21.

In the second Protocol and Etiquette class, the students learned how to arrange a formal place setting and for what purpose the different glasses and silverware are used. In this picture, Amaury watches as his brother, Nico (who is also the pastor in Los Perez), attempts to arrange the place setting.





The teachers listened attentively while Amaury explained how to hook up the computer and projector - they have both been an amazing blessing for the school and are being used almost daily by the teachers!

February 3, 2009

Bendiciones! (Blessings!)

It seems hard to believe that it is already February! I hope and pray this finds all of you doing well, and for those who are in dealing with snow and ice, staying warm! While things may get a little “cool” here in the DR during January and February (usually only if it rains and then the temperature “drops” to the 50s), it is of course nothing like what the mid-west and northeast have been dealing with, and my thoughts and prayers have been with all of you!

January seemed to fly by – we successfully completed our move to our new home (thank you for your prayers!), we visited the church in Palo Alto where my father-in-law is the pastor, I resumed singing with the worship team at the church in Hoya del Caimito, we helped with a team that came from Real Life church in California, and Jose Luis began teaching his English class!

One of my favorite places to visit is Palo Alto (literally translated as “tall stick”). It is in the mountains outside of Santiago, full of tall pine trees, and amazingly beautiful – you can see Puerta Plata from one side of the mountain and Santiago from the other! The picture to the right is the view from my in-law’s house – if you look carefully, you can see Santiago in the distance. However, the trip can be a bit of a grueling one, and we are not able to go very often – it takes about an hour and a half to traverse the mountain, which is mostly because the roads are in such bad shape. You have to have a four-wheel drive vehicle, or you will get stuck!

We went on this trip with the Schwulst family – Dave and Cherry are part of the GO Ministries team, providing mentoring and pastor support, and they invited us along on this church visit knowing how much we would enjoy it! While we were there, we helped with the church service (I sang a “special” and Amaury led the children’s worship/teaching time). The service began with a series of prayers, directed by “Amado” (Amaury’s father – it is a nickname that means “loving” – which is exactly what he is!), and a devotional time shared by Amaury’s mother, Ramona, reading from the devotional she received at the Women’s Conference GO hosted in September. This was followed by a praise and worship time (during which the offering and communion were taken), and then Dave preached (with Cherry translating). It was a wonderful service! One of the blessings I always take away from my visits to Palo Alto is being wrapped in the peace, joy, and love of Christ, which is so clearly exuded by Amado and Ramona, and evident in the church!

Life in Palo Alto is not easy – there is no running water and no electricity, it rains often – a cold rain that seems to seep into your bones – and most of the people who live there are very poor. For all its natural beauty, it is not a place many people would want to go to start a church, but Amado and Ramona have been there for nearly four years now, building the church and a retreat center, reaching out to the people of the community, and pouring out love and acceptance on all those with whom they come in contact. The church is small, but as Amado says, it is not his church, it is God’s, and he trusts that God will complete the work He has started. Please pray for this church and the work being done in the community of Palo Alto as they continue to shine the light of God from atop this tall mountain in an area that is in great need of the hope, joy, and love that are available to us all through a living, growing relationship with Jesus, regardless of our personal circumstances.

“Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. … And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:11-13 and 4:19

Con amor en Jesucristo (With love in Christ),

Catherine

PS – below are a few pictures from the last month of the things I mentioned in the opening paragraph …











The team from Real Life took the kids from the "hole" - Hoyo de Bartola - to get ice cream - it was a real treat for everyone involved!











These are pictures from Jose Luis' first class - he spoke more English while teaching the class than I did! I certainly learned from him!