the ChWall.

If someone asked you “What is a chwall?” W

hat do you think y

our first response would be?

Well, in my case let me tell you what a chwall is.

First of all, I understand that “chwall” is not really a word bu

t solely a name given to the new addition to my house.

This Spring Break one of the groups left this huge box of sidewalk chalk. I did not really know what to do with it but it has been put to good use. Rachel Aldridge had brought back some stuff from the last time she went to the United States that I really wanted to try. It is this paint that supposedly works as a chalk board when painted on the wall. Well, she did not buy a lot and I was extremely skeptical of how it would work. Well, when I saw this sidewalk chalk I really wanted to try this stuff.

So, I put up about a 2’x 3’ rectangle, followed the instructions and tested it out. IT WORKED!!! Not only did it work but I realized that it is nothing more than regular acrylic paint, of which we had some lying around.

I took the paint, painted the entire wall of my extra room a

nd created “the chwall”. You can decide for yourself why that is the name but it has a few different possibilities.

The ChWall has many purposes.

1. It is great fun.
2. It is a great way to brainstorm on things that we are doing.
3. It is a great teaching tool.
4. The kids love it. They love playing on it, just drawing things and having fun.

Not that it was a struggle to get kids to come over to the house ever before but I am always looking for new ways to keep them involved. The ChWall serves a great purpose in teaching these kids so many things. We have had so much fun and it has been a great way for us to get to know each other even better.

I am really excited about how God can use the ChWall. That might sound silly but I am a firm believer that God can and does work through our everyday lives and that he opens up doors for us using things that we might never expect.

God,

Thank you for just being you. To a lot of people being thankful for a “chwall” might sound really silly but I am excited about the possibilities of what you can do through such a simple thing.

God, use me in your service to the children of the Dominican Republic. Help me not to just look for fun things for us to do but to use those things as a way to teach them of your love for th

em.

I love you everyday!

a group of very special people

This past week we had a group. Though, it was not a typical group. It was a work group and only consisted of five people: Lynn Mynatt (dad), Beth Knoll, Kenneth Dupree, Eddie Perry (Uncle Ed) and Trevor Hass.

These guys did a ton of work. They finished the roofing on our new school. It looks amazing. They did a lot of electrical work, plumbing, hanging doors, etc. They worked hard and went away having made this place so much closer to the reality of a school.

But more than work they brought a ton of encouragement to this place. I love every single one of those people and I am so happy that they were able to come. I loved the evenings especially when we were able to have dinner, and then visit, whether it be playing random card games, singing from the old hymnals, or just catching up on life. I loved it.

All groups are not like that because there were less people here. Don’t get me wrong, I love a group of 20 that comes in here and I can not wait another week for the Tennessee Tech group to show up, but those small groups are special. We were able to spend a lot of time together and have a lot of fun and encouragement.To Red Bank: I love you guys. You have supported us in so many ways and I

am so grateful. This group was the perfect representation of what you guys have done for this ministry. You

send five people down to help us get our school off the ground. Yo

u are doing some amazing things and we love you for that. God bless every single one of you.

To KD: Thank you for coming. We have been excited about you finally seeing this place for a very long time, and we are so glad that you were able to finally see it. I pray that you were encouraged and I pray that you are able to come back and visit. Keep up the good work with Inner City, I know God is blessing that through you.

To Trevor: I think this week I enjoyed your company more than I ever have. You were a great worker and just a joy to be around. I know I told you this while you were here, but I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your work stories. Trevor, you are an awesome person, keep on track and keep your focus.

To Beth: What an amazing friend. I am starting to cry just thinking about you. I am so excited that I only have to wait until June to see you again here. You are someone who has always been

there for me and I love you so much for that. Thank you for being who you are and don’t change. You worked hard this week, but that was no surprise. You encouraged me so much, no surprise either. I can not wait to look at the stars with you in June when you get here. Thank you for the reminder of how lucky I am to be able to see the creation as I can here, sometimes I forget

. You are a special person in my life.

To dad: Thank you for all the work you did on my house. To be honest I was a little worried about all that I wanted to be done before I moved in, and you did it. You are the best. I am so glad you ar

e able to come here as much as you do. I so wish I could have been there at Christmas but having you down so many times this past year and a half has truly helped me feel at home here. Thank you for helping me. Happy Birthday this month. I love you a lot.

To Uncle Ed: I think that night we got to talk just you and me was truly my favorite time ever spent with you. You are one of my favorite people. I have been praying so much for you lately it w

as amazing just to see you. You worked hard this week. One of my favorite things you said was “I always knew I would work on your house at some point in your life, I just never knew that it would be here.” I always knew you would work on my house at some point too. And I knew it because you and your family have never failed to be anything but support to me. Uncle Ed, I love you very much and your are in my prayers daily.

God,

Thank you so much for these people. They are special to me and th

is ministry. I can not thank you enough for bringing the right people at just the right time. Bless KD, Trevor, Beth, Dad, and Uncle Ed. Bless the Red Bank church as they continue to support this ministry in a way unbelievable to us. God, help us as we continue to grow and start this Discipling Program. We trust in you that it will happen. Help us to keep working but not get discouraged when things look gloomy. Help us to use that time to grow closer to you and be content with what we need and not what we want.

I love you every day.

Happy New Year

2010 is officially over. Happy New Year to all of you.

As 2010 ends I spend some time to reflect. It has been an amazing year and I have only God to thank that I am where I am today. Our team has come so far in a short year and we have even come to the point that we are ready to take on a whole new project.

As you start this year I pray that all of you are able to spend some time with the people you love and with the Creator.

Have a great start to the New Year.

Dear God,

Bring us a prosperous New Year. When the world says that they usually are speaking of prosperity in a economical sense. But, I ask for prosperity in the harvest of your Kingdom. Bring the rains of your Holy Spirit to water the hearts of the people of the Dominican Republic. Help us to be your hands and feet and to never take the credit for the work that you do.

I love you everyday!

Christmas in the Dominican

I love Christmas. It really is the best time of the year. For the last 23 years I have spent Christmas at 5713 Browntown Road. And for the last decade or so I have gone to Gatlinburg with my extended family before Christmas. This year was a little different. Yes, I absolutely missed being with my family in the United States but I could not help but realized how blessed I am.

Most traditions in this country come from a Catholic background. There are not a huge number of practicing Catholics but most people claim that they are. So the big celebration here is on “Noche Buena” or what we call Christmas Eve. They usually have a big dinner with lots of family. I got invitations from several of my Dominican family to spend Christmas Eve with them. We already had plans for our team to spend that night together so I could not take them up on their offer but it truly was uplifting.

One night, I think it was the 23rd, three of my best Dominican friends came over and spent the night at my house. Carlos, Cristopher and Overlin came and stayed up almost all night hanging out, watching movies and just enjoying the Christmas vacation. When they were here I told them something that was on my heart that day. I had been missing my Perry family a lot that day because I could not be in Gatlinburg with them but I was so glad that I had family here with me to spend Christmas with. God bless those boys.

Christmas Eve I ate a lot. I had a Dominican Christmas meal with our two Children’s Home workers then dinner with Norm, Kevin, and the three Menas.

Christmas Day I got up thinking I was going to have to go to the airport, but was relieved of that job. So, I stayed in Bobita all day. I drank my Christmas flavored coffee (thank you Trent and Micah) I watched Christmas movies all day long (thank you mom and dad) I worked on my new Harry Potter puzzle (thank you Nikki) and spent the day with the kids. It was by far the most different Christmas day of my life but I was blessed to have friends around to share it with.

I hope that all of you had a very Merry Christmas too.

Oh and I am pretty upset that the first white Christmas in Chattanooga since the 60’s came the first year of my life that I was not there. But no hard feelings.

God,

Thank you for this time of year. Fairfax brought in the Christmas spirit with their group. The second Magi group only strengthened that. And, my Dominican family topped it off. I am truly blessed to be where I am and have such amazing people in my life.

Bless Carlos, Cristopher and Overlin. Thank you for the time I was able to spend with them. I pray that our relationship comes from you and you use me to help guide those boys into a life with you.

Thank you for my Perry family. I missed them the most and wish I could have been with them. They have done so much for me in my life I can not thank them enough.

Thank you for my family. It was a weird Christmas for us but we are blessed just to have each other.

I love you everyday!

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!