Another convert

God is really moving among us!!! We had a young man come to Christ a week ago. I want to get a picture of him tomorrow at church, if I remember, and then I will try to post it on Monday. God is really moving among the young people. Pray that I'll remember my camera tomorrow and that I'll remember to take the picture and then that I'll remember to update on Monday! My memory is pretty bad these days. You know it's bad when you forget to wash your hair. :-)

Pictures of children

We had a picture shoot a few weeks ago for our newsletter. Here were some good shots of the children. These will also be their school/fall pictures. The background was taken in our community. One of the houses has a gate that goes into their backyard. It is beautiful.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are still on the map folks! Between blackouts and being busy, blog life just hasn't been happening.

We are "freezing"! It is a "chilly" 73 degrees. We've had days in the 70's and sometimes not even making it to 80. The children have been putting on 2 and 3 layers of shirts in the evenings to keep warm. It has been a pleasant break from the 90's and 100's. It even gave us a festive feeling. We decorated for Christmas already.

We will be spending Thanksgiving with some other American missionaries in the capital. We will all enjoy a break from school!

God has been helping us and moving among us and I have much to post. Until then, here's my "I'm thankful for" list:

a Christian family & heritage
salvation and promise of eternal life
a wonderful husband
4 healthy children
a beautiful house
the privilege to serve God on the mission field
our supporters
Christian teachers, preachers and leaders who influenced me
friends
hot water (we didn't always have this and boy has it been nice these cool evenings!)
an automatic washer and dryer
wonderful neighbors
food to eat (especially in this country as you see those who don't have enough to eat)
health and strength
the joy of homeschooling and raising my children

and many, many more!!!

I will try to post - maybe over the weekend since we won't have school!!! Hurrah! Can you tell I'm excited? Teachers look forward to the break just as much as students!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Electric situation worsens

Electric blackouts are just a part of life in the D.R., but recently they have gotten worse. In a community where we are to have 21 hours of electric a day, we have gone to 6 - 12 hours a day. Yesterday we only had 6 hours of elecric in a 24 hour period! It has made life pretty difficult. One night I did a load of laundry at 11:00 when the electric returned because I had been away when the electric was on that day and my laundry was already backed up due to the electric situation. I fell asleep while the load was washing, woke up at 1:00 a.m and put it in the dryer.

We have an invertor, but with only 6 hours of electric at a shot, it is not enough to recharge the invertor. Our invertor has been shutting down leaving us unable to do school, taking a risk at losing things in our fridge, and causing us to toss and turn at night in the heat with no fans to run. Yes, it's still hot here. We pray that they will come up with a solution soon!

Here's an article from a Dominican paper explaining the electric situation.

"Power situation worsens"

"Rolling blackouts have continued nationwide. Yesterday the energy deficit was of 976 MW, or 42%. Extended blackouts are threatening businesses of all sizes. Business owners say that they only receive between three and four hours of power each day. Businesses with inverters and generators are finding there is not enough power to re-charge inverters and fuel bills for running the generators are skyrocketing. Ramon Perez, a business owner in Villa Mella says even with no power, a bill for RD$106,000 (US $3,000) still comes every month. As if that were not enough, he has to pay more or less the same amount for generator fuel per month. The blackouts are being attributed to a US$364.9 million standing debt owed to the energy generators. Hoy explains that the government's debt to the energy generators totals US$700 million, US$300 million in standing debt and US$400 million of a "frozen" debt. Quoted in Listin Diario, Pablo Linares, director of the Dominican Foreign Investment Association (ASIEX) asked, rhetorically, why anyone would want to invest in a country that can't provide the basics to operate. Linares said the DR is at a crucial moment considering it has formed part of the DR-CAFTA and EPA trade agreements and has the potential to attract foreign investment. Manuel Cabrera, director of the Herrera Industrialists Association (AEIH) has also voiced concern about the situation and is calling on the authorities to do something urgently. Pablo Piantini, president of the National Young Entrepreneurs Association (ANJE) said the solution is not to rent new floating generators, but to invest in a real solution. Former president of the National Council of Business, puts it simply as reported in the Listin Diario: "The solution is simple. Rid the system of politics and hire real managers."

Ministry update

The Lord has really been helping us! We sense He wants to bring revival and He is certainly capable - no matter how impossible it may seem! Last Friday night during our normal prayer service, where we all pray for about an hour, the Holy Spirit broke in on us and led us to pray longer naming out the names of our young people. God is really dealing with them! Doug says the Firm Foundations curriculum is bringing them to a sense of how Holy God is and how He sees sin and how dirty they are before Him. Last Sunday night we had 3 young people in church, who do not profess to be Christians, yet they were "Amen"ing the preacher! It was astounding.

God has also been helping in our ladies' meetings. It has been rewarding to watch God work as we have tried to be obedient to His leading for these meetings. We have services in homes of neighbors of our church ladies, our own church ladies etc. In each service God has blessed us with His awesome presence! In 2 different services, 2 ladies have come to accept Christ. There is no greater fulfillment and joy than having part in leading someone to Christ.

This is our church ladies pictured with Jehovan, a lady who has been attending our church some recently.
My heart was touched one Sunday night when we were singing the song "Take My Life". When we got to the part that says, "I bring my life to you to be yours for eternity," I saw Abner (pictured above with Brandon) with both hands in the air and his eyes closed. He is only 10 years old but says he wants to be a preacher when he grows up. It is for people like Abner that we are here!

Roof project

Doug has been working on filling columns and patching up holes where water is seeping through and causing the roof to leak at the mission. When he gets all of the prep. work done, we will be sealing it to stop filtration. The concrete job he had while we were in the States was a big blessing as it gives him the knowledge in what to do in this situation.

Jimmy, one of our faithful young people and church custodian, mixes concrete by hand. It's a tough job here!

House service

Pastor Euddy moved a few weeks ago. It is custom here to have a house service when you move to dedicate the house to God. Here are some pictures of that evening.

I always think house services are neat because the doors and windows are open year round, and the people are not embarrassed to sing loud. So any passersby and neighbors get to hear the singing. No one seems to mind since there is no law of disturbing the peace. It is a great privilege to work in a country that gives a lot of religious freedom.
Doug gave a short message.

Help in homeschool

Ryan on his first day of Kindergarten

I haven't been posting because I'm finally trying to get on a schedule for teaching Ryan Kindergarten this year. We got held up when his books came late, and then trying to figure out how to get it done in our already busy schedule! But we're doing it. Ryan enjoys learning and is a blast to teach. I love being able to teach my own children. There are times and days I think I can't do it, but then I remember, "I can do all thing through CHRIST who strengthens me!"

Looking at the beginning of this school year was very overwhelming for me. I wondered how I would teach Ryan Kinder with the already demanding schedule and a 2-year old running around. Over the summer, it kept me busy in the mornings just to get everyone fed, dressed, and around, family devotions, laundry done before the electric or water went off (usually afternoon) and trying to prepare our main meal for noon. We have adapted this Dominican custom.

I have been amazed at how the Lord has been helping. I do believe He helped me by allowing Ryan's books to come late. It gave me 3 weeks to get Brandon & Regina in their routine without Ryan pesting to do his school. Some days He has helped me by allowing the electric to go off - it keeps me from worrying about laundry while I'm doing school! :-) You have to learn to take everything as a blessing!

Some days we have changed our main meal back to the evening and then I just fix something quick and simple (usually sandwiches) for lunch. I have also learned to start my meal before school and then let it cook while I'm doing school. It hasn't always been easy but God is helping. Some days it seems every time I go to start my schooltime with Ryan, Jonathan is getting into something.

These days are challenging, but they are definitely worth it! I love the fulfillment of teaching my own children and having them at home with me. I pray that these "sowing" years will be worthwhile and I will reap a bountiful harvest in due season.

Another praise

The electric has been on ALL night for the past 4 or 5 nights which has been WONDERFUL!!! Thank the Lord! We're actually getting 6 - 8 hours of sleep at one shot! That makes the difficulties of the day easier to handle. It has been going out at 6:00 a.m., but that's okay because the room is already cooled down and it's starting to get light anyway.

Praise

I should have known the Lord was up to something with all the trials coming at us! When the devil is working his hardest, you can be sure the Lord is working more!!

The Lord has really been blessing our ladies' meetings. We have them weekly and each week we do something different. One week we gather for a Bible study, other weeks we have a service in the house of one of our neighbors, another week we do something fun etc.

Last week we had a house service in the home of Lucrecia - neighbor to Mercedes who faithfully attends our church. We were elated when the invitation was given to accept Christ, Lucrecia said she wanted to. The ladies were very excited. One of them said to me, "It's not in vain, is it?" I said, "No, it's not."

This neighbor lady was a bother to Mercedes to the point that Mercedes prayed, "Lord, either change her heart or help her to move." Mercedes was thrilled when God answered her prayer by changing Lucrecia's heart!

Sorry I do not have a picture. I hope to get one of Lucrecia when she comes to church. Pray that she will be able to come. She has obstacles hindering her from coming to church, but she needs the support of the brothers and sisters in her early Christian walk.

God is faithful!

We're also praising the Lord for a spiritual refreshment He has poured on us this past week and a new faith to pray and believe for revival in the darkness of the community where our church is - called Sabana Perdida.

Chillin' out

Thank the Lord, the guy finally showed up this morning to check out our fridge. "Tomorrow" actually came! :-) He took out a small part and left to find a new one to replace it. He came back this afternoon, put in the new part, and the refrigerator ran! So now we will have to set out to the store to get some things to put in it.

Our Dominican neighbors across the street from us have to be among the best neighbors in the world. This morning Doug went over to get a pack of meat out of their freezer and they offered for us to bring over a jug of water to put in their refrigerator and cool. We delightedly accepted the offer since we were dying for cold drinks! By noon it was cold and we enjoyed cold water. They have been so sweet and helpful to us. Thank God for good neighbors!

Doug reminded me that the people in Texas hit by hurricane Ike went for several weeks without electricity! This trial was minimum compared to theirs - many lost their homes. Even in our little trying times of life, God is good. Yet I am very thankful to have our refrigerator cooling again. The luxuries of life are wonderful!

Jonathan's latest accomplishment

I've never seen a 2-year old ride a scooter before! Our little Jonathan has accomplished it pretty well. I guess he's had the other children to watch and learn from.

The "birdie" family

Since that birdie landed in those neighbors' yard (see post from Sept. 16) , we have struck up a friendship with them. Brandon has gone to their house several days to play with the boy and last night we invited him to go to the park with us. His name is Emmanuel. He is bilingual as are his Mom & Dad. The sad thing is that they stay inside almost all of the time and Emmanuel knows little more than playing video games and watching TV.

He went with us to the park and took a cel phone so he could stay in touch with his parents. We played a game similar to horseshoes and Emmanuel loved it! We were touched as he called his parents in the middle of the game and said, "Dad, I'm having a good time!" He also told them "I'm sitting on the grass. It's soft." We figured since he is inside almost all of the time, he may have never even sat on grass!

Tonight he and Brandon were riding bikes together. He's not real steady on a bike, but again, probably because he is inside almost all of the time. Tonight he was intrigued by the beauty of the clouds. We are trying to teach him that there are lots of things to do outside of the house! We pray that Emmanuel and his parents will find the Lord.

Trials and blessing

For an update on our electric situation, the electric is still going out for 3 - 5 hours at night, BUT for the past 3 nights it has rained in the evening which cooled it down and made it comfortable during the blackout time. We haven't woke up as much. Thank the Lord!

On Sunday morning we noticed our refrigerator was not staying cool. The light was on, the fan kicked on, but Doug thought the compressor was not turning on. It indeed proved that the compressor was not kicking on as the food grew warmer and warmer. Monday morning we salvaged what was still okay and asked a few of our neighbors to store it for us, and pitched the rest.

Doug called a guy to come fix it and he said he couldn't get here till this morning at 10:00 or 11:00. Doug had made plans to work at the mission and cancelled them so he could be here when the guy came to fix the fridge, but the guy still hasn't come!! Doug has tried his cel phone numerous times today but can't get through.

We are hesitant to call someone else because this guy fixed our AC and he was very detailed and good. We feel he would do a good job. Some seem to beat and bang things and we're afraid that they may do more damage than repair. :-)

So....another day in the Dominican Republic.....waiting for tomorrow. You never know which day "tomorrow" will be. :-) In the meantime we're surviving without cold water or cold anything, cooking nonperishables such as box macaroni and cheese and pancakes etc., and counting the other blessings we have.

If the guy never comes, we'll have to go to plan B. I'm not sure what that is yet.

In the midst of these trials, we had a wonderful service on Sunday evening with much of the Lord's presence. After we sang "The Love of God", the church was noisy. Almost everyone was vocally praising God. It was a beautiful time and a reminder that God is still in business - even when everything seems to be going wrong! He deserves praise just because He is God - whether everything around is falling apart or staying together.

The verse keeps coming to my mind: "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 38,39) And I add nor refrigerators, nor electric! :-)

Also II Corinthians 4: 7 - 18 has greatly encouraged me.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 ¶ We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Sweating it out

I have not been blogging much recently. The past few weeks have been incredible. Just to survive has been a challenge. We have had multiple electric and water outages (thank the Lord for that 500 gallon tank of water on the roof - it has already been used!), and one day we had our phone lines out. That has kept me bouncing between striving to get the household chores done and keeping up with the rest of the schedule.

Now that the storms have passed, we have had extreme heat the past few weeks. We are still seeing temperatures of 86 outside when we got to bed at night and it is 90 degrees inside. It makes it a little tough to sleep since they are now turning the electric off in the middle of the night, too. Last night it was off for 6 hours. We had the children in our room so they could enjoy the AC, and then when it shut off, we were all tossing and turning and the children were fussing because they were hot. Nights like that carry into the day and make the daily duties like school etc. a challenge. Life is never boring here! :-)

I know it sounds very simple to you, but if you think of it, would you help us pray that the electric would at least stay on all night so we can sleep comfortably? It sure makes a difference in how we function through the day. If it were just Doug and I, we could handle it better, but when the children don't sleep, they have a hard time applying their minds to school. I've always said we could handle the demands and heat of the day if we can just sleep through the night.

I'm sorry I talk so much about heat, but it is a major factor that we have to deal with here daily. I think we're going to have mandatory nap this afternoon so we can get rid of some of those grumpies that are invading our home.......if the electric stays on! :-)

Birdie providentially hit over the wall?

Brandon came in Saturday after playing badmitton with some friends on the street and said that they hit the birdie over one of the neighbor's walls. Each house has it's own wall surrounding their back yard. It's a big thing here, partly for protection from thieves, and partly for privacy in your back yard, I guess.

Brandon said a neighbor said, "The man who lives in that house is mean." He was afraid to go to the door and ask to get the birdie. We were busy, but tonight Daddy finally took the time to brave it out and go ask the neighbor if they could get the birdie out of their yard.

When the man opened the door, he right away said, "Come in." He told his wife, "A neighbor came to visit us." Before Doug could tell him why he was there, they started chatting. The family lived in Miami for 20 years and have lived here for the past 3 years. They speak English quite well and the children do not speak Spanish. He said they stay in the house all of the time because they don't know anyone, they do not speak much Spanish, and they do not like it here.

Doug said they seemed very lonely and were glad Doug and the children stopped in. They have a boy about Brandon's age and the boy immediately asked if Brandon could stay and play. We offered to take the boy to the park sometime to play baseball. He really lit up at that idea.

He asked what we were doing here and if we had adapted. Doug told him we were missionaries and was able to briefly witness to him. The wife said, "That's great to have something you believe in." Doug was able to tell them it was more than that.

We're convinced that God has us here for more than to just live in a restful community. These people are wealthy, but they are very hungry. In the 9 months we've lived here, God has given us the opportunity to share Christ with several of our neighbors. Our focus is not necessarily to work this community (we live about 15 - 20 minutes from the church), but we are always willing to share Christ with whoever we come in contact.

We're also convinced that there are a lot of lonely people. Don't be afraid to reach out to someone - no matter how mean they may seem. You don't know how lonely they may be inside.

Electric problems

For the past week we have had horrible electric! It has been off more than it has been on. It kept going on and off last night through the night. Today it went off around 7:30 and hasn't come back on yet. (It's now almost 2:00 p.m.) I think we're about on the end of our invertor, so I must close for today. I have more posting to do, but it will have to wait till another time.

Supplied

Out with the old and in with the new - boy, am I glad! Some missionaries that live in this community are "burnt out" and returning to the States for a time of rest - we know all about that! They sold most of their stuff and so we got blessed by a few things of theirs. This couch was one of them. I'm SO happy to not have the ugly brown couch in my living room. This one will match my mauve decor and also fit our whole family as well as be more comfortable! We got it for a very good price. I really wanted hunter green, but hey, you can't have everything! We also got this large tank that will hold 530 gallons of water! That will be very handy for times when the water goes off. It is common here to put tanks such as this on your roof. They do not have water 24/7 and so the reserve water enters your house by gravity until the water comes on again.
Doug and 2 other guys hoisted it up onto our balcony. From there they had to get it up on the roof. They say these things are light, but don't be fooled. Doug said they probably weigh between 150 and 200 pounds and they're very bulky.
Doug used a rope to help guide the tank up the ladder. Easy does it!
Hooray! It's up! Doug spent 4 or 5 hours on the roof on Saturday hooking up the tubes etc. to the tank. It was a heat index of 111 degrees and the roof is black. He was very hot, drained, and burnt when he came in. Thank the Lord we now have a good amount of reserve water!

Double birthday

As mentioned before, Jonathan & Regina celebrated their birthdays on Sept. 11. It was not my desire to have 2 children share the same birthday, but evidently God saw some reason for it. We have been only positive about it and Regina always says she's glad Jonathan was born on her birthday. Here is Regina with her 3 darling brothers.
A close-up of the cake. My life-saving husband helped outline this for me. I then plopped the icing on and smeared it around in the colored zones and he took the black tube and did all of the outline. If you need help doing cakes, you can hire him. :-) It might be expensive to pay his way over, though.
Ryan got Regina a smiley face ball.

Jonathan's birthday

Jonathan got jipped. He just got cupcakes. :-) I had originally planned to make him his own character cake, but we had so many things going on, I ran out of steam. He didn't seem to mind. He enjoyed the cupcakes and didn't know what he was missing out on.
Opening some cars.