It's Christmas time in the city!

It's Christmas time here! The Dominicans don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, so the next big holiday on their calendar is Christmas! These pictures were taken on October 10, so you see they decorate early. Christmas lights and decorations are going up all over the city. This store we went to was very beautifully decorated. Here are the children on a Christmas train.

A full shot of the Christmas train engine.
One of the train cars with decorated Christmas trees on it.

The Gingerbread house.

This was an electrical Christmas tree that would pull little white "pellets" from the bottom and spit them out at the top, resembling snow falling on the tree. It was really cute. If you look close maybe you can see?

pictures from September.

This should have gone with the church picnic pictures. This is Yolanda and her husband, Guarionex playing "washers" at the picnic. Dedicating Saul & Leidy's baby. Leidy got saved a few years ago in Doug's S.S. class. The week before they dedicated their baby girl, Saul had a softball accident and had to have a pin put in his leg. This accident is what brought Saul to salvation. In the hospital, he prayed and accepted Jesus as his Saviour.

This is Saul's leg where it was stitched together from the surgery.

We kept the Agape pilots overnight in our home one week. They dedicate time each week to fly our mail and packages in from the U.S. We greatly appreciate their service to us! Brandon wants to be a pilot, so he was happy to be able to visit with them.

We had a tarantula just for them! This pilot was really brave and let the tarantula walk over his hand. The tarantulas will not hurt you unless they are threatened. The ones we have seen here will flick tiny hairs off of their belly that burn like crazy if they touch you. This one was not threatened and so it did nothing to the pilot.

Church picnic

On the Dominican holiday in September, we had a church picnic. We went to a park and had a wonderful time being together. The boys played bitillas - something like baseball played with a broomstick and the cap of of a 5-gallon water jug.

The ladies played "volleyball".

The children enjoyed the playground.

Ninoska got to be at the picnic. She had her baby 4 days after the picnic.

Regina made potholders from her play loom for these ladies, who had birthdays in September. Mercedes' birthday (pictured right) was on the day of the church picnic.

Kids' birthdays

In September we have 2 children who share the same birthday. Here is R. with us and her birthday cake.

This is R. & J. with their birthday cakes. The Thomas one was decorated by Daddy. I don't even have to pay him extra. :-)
The Lord sent us a visitor on the childrens' birthday and she brought gifts for them from the U.S. That was a very special treat!

Then we all went out to Papa John's for their birthday meal.

Sights from the D.R.

In the D.R. there are some very beautiful sights, like this beautiful blue sky......

.....and then there are some not so nice sights, like this trash pile. The country is just like that. It is a very pretty country, but after you've been here, you realize there are pockets of the not-so-nice stuff which is what makes life challenging here. It's those things like the trash piles that remind you that you are in a 3rd world country. :-) Not to mention the daily electrical outages.

We were up on an overpass when I saw these seagulls on top of this sign. I hope they were not the ingredients for KFC. :-)

Now that is a load of plantains! This is a typical sight here - trucks piled high with....you name it. Plantains are similar to a banana and are delicious when they are deep fried green (sort of like a french fry taste) and also delicious sliced and fried when they are yellow (sort of like a sweet potato). Dominicans eat LOTS of plantains and we have come to really enjoy them.

This was a picture I put in of Doug's 35th birthday cake. Daughter and I made his favorite - chocolate with peanut butter icing - and she wrote the words on top with a marker-like decorating pen. It was really neat.

More vacation pics

This is a picture of the room we stayed in on vacation.

This is the restaurant where we ate most of our meals.
We had beautiful scenery to look at as we ate. This was what we saw through the arches of the restaurant.

We're so thankful the Lord gave us a good vacation. We very much needed some time away to relax and the Lord answered our prayer that no mishaps happened. On other times away it seems something came up unexpectedly. The Lord answered our prayer for good health, safety, and good weather. We came back refreshed and ready to work.

Vacation pictures continued

Here are some more pictures of our vacation.

The beautiful Atlantic ocean.

The two little boys in the ocean. I was thankful the waves were breaking further out - I think due to a reef - so where we got in was very calm.

Daddy helped the children build this sand castle.

B. beside the sand castle.

Vacation 2010 Part 1

In August, our family got to sneak away for a few days for a mini-vacation. We headed for the mountains to escape the city. We had a very enjoyable and relaxing time. On the way, we saw these rugs that people had made and hung out to sell to travellers.

Pit stop at McDonald's in the next city. We thought it looked pretty classy.
One of our highlights was go-cart riding...
...and bumper cars.

We also enjoyed the big playground at the go-cart place.

Vacation 2010 Part 1

This was an outdoor restaurant we ate at.

The waiter brought the meats around to the table and carved it off for you.

This guy was from Trinidad and played the steel drum as entertainment while we ate. It was very interesting.

Saul becomes a Christian!

The Lord has really been working here. We have also felt the enemy fighting back. Today a victory has been won!

Yolanda's whole family was not in service last night. That was unusual. Doug called last night and their son, Saul, had been playing softball yesterday afternoon, had an accident, and broke both of his lower leg bones. They were in E.R. with him.

It was just several months ago that Saul raised his hand that he wanted prayer. He has had desire to be a Christian, but everytime he thought he was going to take the step, he changed his mind.

Doug went in this morning to visit Saul. He had been in a lot of pain overnight, and didn't sleep much. Doug spoke to him again about salvation. Saul said he had already been thinking about it and he was ready to pray. So Doug prayed with him and Saul gave his heart to Jesus!

When his mom came in, Saul also testified to her that he had prayed and became a Christian! We thank the Lord for this victory. God certainly knows how to get our attention.

The Lord is really working in the family of Yolanda.

Her father, Andre, started to coming to church over the summer. He was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to have surgery. God did not choose to heal Andre, and Andre had surgery last Monday. Doug spoke with him before he went into surgery and he assured us he was trusting in God and was ready to die if that should happen.

God brought Andre miraculously through the surgery and he did so well that he got to come home 5 days later. For a surgery that serious, you are normally in longer in this country. We praise God that Andre is doing well.

Through Andre's surgery, his son, Yolanda's brother, came to church last night for the first time. He said if his dad came through surgery, he would come to church because only God could bring his dad through a surgery that serious. After service last night, Emmanuel was very warm and said he would be back!

Also, while in the hospital with Andre, Doug noticed Andre's roommate who was also waiting to have brain surgery. Doug felt impressed to pray with him and talk to him about his soul. So he did.

That night Yolanda called Doug very excited and reported that Andre's roommate was all prepped to go to surgery and they decided to do another x-ray. When they took the x-ray, it was clear and he did not need surgery! They were all excited and said, "Tell the pastor 'thank you'." God worked on behalf of this young man. We pray that it will plant a seed in his heart that will someday be reaped!

God is working in an amazing way. Your prayers are appreciated as we are being battled. The battle is real, but God has been the victor in the cases above. I'm glad I'm on the winning side!

Paintings

Painting class is starting to pay off! Here are some of the childrens' paintings that they sold. They were so happy to get some $$ for their efforts! This is the one Regina sold.

Brandon sold this one and the one below.

I may not finish first, but with my Father's help, I plan to finish my race!!

Catching up

Here are some pictures from Feb. - April. In Feb., we helped get medical teams to and from Haiti. We would give them supper, lodging, and get them to the bus stop so they could get to Haiti until the main airlines were able to get into Haiti. It was a pleasure having them in our home and getting to meet such wonderful people.

We enjoy visiting our people. We always come home encouraged and inspired from their outstanding dedication to the Lord. This lady is a gem. She lives across from the church, keeps a very vigilant eye on what takes place around the church, visits the hospitals, attends the nightly prayer services etc. She says, "I don't do it to receive glory for myself, I do it all for the Lord."

Here is a bunch of bananas growing in this lady's yard.

In April, we were privileged and blessed to have 2 mechanics come to do some necessary maintenance on our truck. We had a delightful week getting to know David Gookins and Garvin Gardner. They were a lot of fun and not only helped our truck to run better, but started a lasting friendship. Thank you Bro. Gookins and Bro. Gardner!!

TLC Team

Today we said goodbye to a special group of people. TLC team has been here for 2 weeks ministering, working, and making us laugh. We thoroughly enjoyed their stay. They bonded with our people and encouraged us. Thank you TLC for a great 2 weeks!

Good news!

So thankful for the Lord's presence and help in our service last night! God has been moving among us! Last night Katiuska, a 16 year old girl who we have been praying for for several years, and Anthony, a 10 year old boy got saved! The message was on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago and a challenge to the young people that we need young people who are valiant and bold for God. They bravely and boldly went to the altar and gave their lives to Christ while others were snickering. Thank God for His work among us!!

We have other young people who are under conviction. We believe several are very close to getting saved. Please help us pray!

*Katiuska is pictured below in the gray shirt. This whole family is now saved - except for their son. God is working on him, too.

Pictures - 1st few days back in D.R.

The children were so happy to be back in church with their friends. These 2 boys were the main reasons Ryan wanted to come back.

I love our church people! We especially are happy to have this family in our church. This is Yolanda, pictured with her husband and 2 daughters. They all attend church faithfully. Their son (not pictured) attends sometimes.
One of the first jobs that had to be done was to get 8 new batteries for our invertor to withstand the daily electrical outages. The batteries last about 2 years and the ones we had from the previous term were shot.
8 new batteries - thanks to all who gave toward this project! It makes our lives so much easier.

The month of February, we helped medical teams get to and from Haiti. It kept us busy, but we enjoyed having a small part in this endeavor. Here is one of the teams pictured in our home for supper after arriving on the bus from Haiti.