As Magi ends

Our Christmas Magi Season has ended.

It went super this year. As the Fairfax group left we had a few days to get some stuff done and then we had a very special group come in this past week.

First of all, before that group arrived we had a very encouraging meeting with the local high school. We are trying to work with them in creating this school. The meeting with very well and we are back on track for getting our curriculum worked out for next September.

The second Magi group had a lot of work to do. We did three Magi drops to over 300 children. They handled the fair at Acapulco with only ten of them and did amazing.

I want to personally thank Tommy and Jill Reese, Lynn Mynatt (dad), Lisa and Jill Rhodes, Berneta, Jordan and Jarred Crow, Hoss Ridgeway and Arik Bartlett for coming in here blessing so many kids and truly blessing us.

I am so blessed to have all of you in my life.

I pray that you all have a very Merry Christmas.

God,

Thank you for this season. It is a season of giving and encouragement. Magi went so well this year and I thank you for guiding us through it.

Be with us as we end this season and work hard to get to the next. Help us to lean on you and know you are there for us.

I love you every day!

Magi Week 1

The Christmas season is such a special time of year, and we are privileged enough to have some friends bring us the Christmas spirit every year. The Fairfax church comes to us every December to be a part of the final step in the Magi process.

Every year we receive around one thousand gifts bought and wrapped by people from the United States. These people work with us every year starting in the fall to get these gifts together and get them to us, and then we get to be Santa.

Fairfax brought a group of twenty amazing people this year. Every year we try to improve the process to make it more special for the kids. We put a big task before the Fairfax family and they absolutely lived up to the challenge. We spent a lot of time at our Magi drop locations and really got to have a lot of fun with the kids.

The drops consisted of three parts. The first part was the challenge that Fairfax tackled, and that was a fair. We had seven games set up for each Dominican to play. Some of them were bobbing for passion fruit (apples are a little hard to come here), a three legged race, a balloon stomp, ring toss, and more. The kids has a blast. It was especially fun watching them bob for chinolas. It was a new concept for most of them but they caught on pretty quick.

The second part of our program consisted of Christmas songs sung by the group members and a Christmas story told by one of our missionaries, Porfi. It was special and you could see the Christmas spirit in everyone involved.

The last part was the part all the kids were waiting for, the gifts. It is always so fun to see their faces when they get a gift for Christmas. It is heart breaking to know that our little gift to them might be the only thing they get this year but it does give us joy to bring them a little something every year.

It was a special group and it was our privilege to work beside them this week.

Every night with the groups we always get together for a devotional and people get to share a little about their day. By far the group member most mentioned in these devotionals was Nathan. Nathan helped out in every situation he could possibly help out in. He was Santa’s helper elf passing out the gifts and brought smiles to the faces of so many kids. Nathan is a fifth grader. What a special honor for us to work beside him this week.

Fairfax: Thank you so much for your support. You continue to support us in so many ways and this week was the perfect example of that. I pray that God continues to work through you in the Fairfax area and that He continues to provide us opportunities to work together. Thanks again and I pray that you have a very Merry Christmas.

Dear Lord,

What an amazing week. Thank you for the opportunity to have such an amazing group come in to our ministry here and take the lead on the final part of the Magi process. We pray that all of those 500 or however many kids it was were blessed by those gift and are more able to appreciate the love that you have for them.

I love you every day!

A special Lord's Day

I am sure that today God and his angels were looking down on the Dominican Republic and smiling.

Porfi and Carla were talking just last night about ways to more more intensely talk to the children in the Children's Home of a serious commitment with God. We are doing a lot of things with them which include studying the Bible, trying to speak the Word not only with our words but by our actions in everything that we do, just spending a lot of time with them. But, last night Porfi and Carla were talking about ways to go even deeper with them.

This morning after church we got a surprise that, with so much joy, changed our plans for the day. Wilson came to us and asked when he could be baptized.

Porfi, Wilson and I started talking, and he was ready. We talked about the story of the Ethiopian who Philip studied with. We talked about what baptism means for him and his life. After a few hours of talking and studying about it, we asked the same question that the Ethiopian asked himself “What is stopping you?”. He said nothing. We took him to the river after lunch and Wilson became a part of the body of Jesus Christ.

It was so exciting and I say it again: I know for sure God was looking down on Wilson today and smiling brightly. For a while now we have all noticed something different in Wilson. Since he became the oldest boy in the Children’s Home he has taken on that responsibility and done amazing. He helps around the Children’s Home and sets a great example for the rest of the young boys around him.

After we got back from the river, we all got together and celebrated. We had cake, cokes, we watched a movie, played games, and just had a great time all together. It was truly a day to celebrate what God is doing in the life of Wilson and in the Children’s Home.

We are all so proud and could not have been more excited to spend the day celebrating with Wison.

God,

Thank you for being our Lord and Savior. We are so excited that Wilson has now taken you on as his Savior and Lord.

Bless him. Be with him. Give him strength as he sets out on his journey and walk with you. Help us to be there for him and help him as he is starting a new life.

I love you everyday!

fun with the boys

I love the boys in the Children’s Home and I love getting to spend a lot of time with them. This past SaturdayI got to do just that. We played, we ate, and got hair cuts (not me but them) and just had a lot of fun.

I took the computer over there so that they could take some pictures. They went crazy. They love getting their picture taken. So I have put a few on here.

God,

Thank you for Wilson, Randy, Ariel, Adolfo, Lisandro, and Cristo Daniel. I am just so privileged to be able to spend time with them and be with them. I pray that we are doing exa

ctly what you want for us having these kids here. I pray that Marta, their house mother continues to love on them and give them they

home that they need. Give us strength in raising these boys.

I Love you everyday.

Lisandro

We have a new boy in the Children's Home. His name is Lisandro. Like a lot of Dominicans he also has a nickname that he goes by too, which is Hedwin, but he likes to be called Lisandro. He comes from Gasper Hernandez. He is a precious five year old boy who arrived at the Children's Home on Wednesday. He has no father and no one to properly take care of him so he was brought to the Children's Home for us to take care of him.

Lord,

What an amazing opportunity for us to take in a child and care for him and give him a home. I pray that we are exactly what Lisandro needs right now and I pray that we take care of him with love and wisdom. I pray for Lisando. When I got home Wednesday night I could not help but think how traumatic of a day he was having. He is going through something I can not even imagine. Thank you for this opportunity and give us the strength to take advantage of it.

tomas.

Hello everyone.

I just wanted to post something very short and ask for your prayers. Tomas is headed toward the Hispaniola island, specifically towards Haiti. I honestly do not know why Haiti gets the worst of things when the Dominican Republic sits right here beside Haiti and gets just a few outside symptoms of what happens to Haiti. We are expected to get a lot of rain here on the east side of the island. Pray for us here but please pray that God keep those Haitian people safe.

Lord,

Protect the Haitians from this storm. I selfishly just wish you would turn that storm around and let it disappear into the sea, but I have to believe that you will let you will be done. Keep us safe.

I Love you everyday!

you are special.

Another Saturday and another invite to a Dominican’s home.

This summer I met a lady who is a super special person. Her name is Ana and we had two groups go to visit her for community day this summer. She owner of our secretary, Nubia’s house. But she is more than just her land-lord, she is like a mother to her. She has just recently moved out into the countryside with one of her daughters.

Nubia told me that Ana had invited me to come over at some point, so we went on Saturday.

Saturday before we left I observed a very special encounter between Nubia, our secretary, and one of the street boys from Rio San Juan. His name is Jordan and he has been a part of our ministry for a while. He comes and goes. He has had a tough life and Nubia has been a big encouragement to him. She helps him with his homework, she makes sure that is coming the the events that he can. She is always trying to get him more involved. As she was talking to him she said to him “Eres especial” or “You are special”. I do not know what that meant to that boy right then in that moment, but I know that he needs someone to tell him that he is special. The special thing about it is that this occasion is not the first time I have heard Nubia say these exact words.

There are phrases that stick out in my mind for people that have been inspirational to me, and I know that this one I will not soon forget.

I remember my senior year of high school my English teacher, Laura Lynn Roland would always say as we left class “Have a blessed day”.

After every Spring Sing practice our director, Dottie Frye, would always say “Know that you are loved”

Nubia is a special lady and the special thing about her is that she can see just how special we all are, and she reminds us of that.

Lord,

Thank you Nubia and the reminder that we are all made special, made by you and in your own image. Help me and all of us to remember how special we are. Thank you for the Holy Spirit and the speciality that it brings to us as Christians. Thank you for the special responsibility you have given to us and how special it is that we do not have to be perfect because you fill in where we mess up.

Give us the confidence to know that we are special and the strength to keep fighting for you.

I love you everyday!