Brothers and Sisters,
I've been in the Dominican for a little over a month now. It was hard to adjust after being home around my family for a month!! But, the ministry continues! We had a full month of groups in January, each week consisting of over 100 people. Needless to say, we stayed pretty busy! But God is good and gave us energy! So many amazing things happened so far and I wish I could share all of the stories, but I will try and give you at least a little glimpse into the work at hand.
I feel as though when I tell stories to people they can never believe what I am saying is completely true. I find myself in this same situation, out in a village or in town, and finding myself without words, reminding myself to breath, telling myself that the images I see are what is going to push me to make a BIGGER difference. In the past month I have seen so much sickness, death, homelessness, malnutrition, houses with the roofs literally caving in on people, tin shacks that reach about 100 degrees in the afternoon, children begging for 5 pesos (which is about 8 cents) in hopes of getting ONE meal. I have been completely broken, completely lost for understanding, and at times left wondering why... And then I find it, among the brokenness, among the sick, among the hungry... There is one thing and one thing alone that allows people to push on and that is the Love of Christ Jesus. This is such a dark place, but I am often reminded that it doesn't matter how dark the place or situation, His light is greater. 1 John 1:5 says "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." When we walk in obedience and love we find that Light, we find the good amongst the bad and we find the reason to persevere.
I am reminded of a song I absolutely love called "You're Beautiful." It says this "I see your face in every sunrise, the colors of the morning are inside of Your eyes, the world awakens in the light of the day, I look up to the sky and say You're beautiful. I see your power in the moonlit night, planets are in motion and galaxies are bright, we are amazed at the light of the stars all proclaiming who You are, You're beautiful. I see You there hanging on a tree, You bled and then You died and then You rose again for me. Now you are sitting on your Heavenly throne, soon we will be coming home.. You're beautiful.. When we arrive at Eternity's shore where death is just a memory and tears are no more, we'll enter in as the wedding bells ring, Your bride will come together and we'll sing....You're Beautiful."
This song means so much to me because, though there is so much darkness and hurt and unknown in this life, we have a Father--the Creator of the stars, the maker of the universe, waiting for us when this life is over. I don't know about you, but that excites me. In all the bad, we must see the good, find the reasons to rejoice. Although we've experienced all those terrible things, we also experienced miracles. We watched as the wife of a witch doctor surrendered her life to Christ, and an 11 year old (who's mother refused Christ) proclaimed he wanted that relationship with Jesus so badly! We sat back and watched God to take underserving man and make him a preacher of the Gospel. You see, we are rejoicing today, not because we are happy for the struggles of life, but because we are experiencing the Holy Spirit move all around us. We rejoice, but likewise, we mourn. We continue to mourn the lost souls, those who leave this earth without the faith and hope of meeting their Heavenly Father. But my friends, I want to tell you today that we are overcoming. We are experiencing miraculous spiritual healings. He has not left us, nor will he ever. Though the nights are dark, we have the greatest Light one could ask for. We have the Light of Christ in each one of us, waiting for us to take that step and be obedient. Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Brothers, the darkness may come, but rejoice, we have the Light.
I want to share with you a quick update on Leonel. At church last Sunday in Village 51 I think I had the greatest experience thus far in my short life. Not only did people show up, but we started a children's ministry which allowed for the adults to really be able to focus on the Word, to really understand. And they definitely did just that! At the end of the service we had so many people speak up about their faith, about their hope in Christ. Leonel spoke at the end, he told me that he was in town the day before and saw a lady that he knew. He said the lady approached him and said "are you really him, are you really Leonel?" He gave a quick head nod and "Yes." She replied to him "it can't be, you're supposed to be dead, there is no way for you to be alive... you must have some sort of evil spirit in you, what happened to you." Leonel said he told the lady that there was no evil spirit in him, in fact, it was the opposite. He told her how God saved him, how God rescued him that awful night. She didn't believe him and asked him for proof that he was really Leonel, he pulled up his pant leg and showed her the horrific scar that covers the entire outer aspect of his thigh, she then believed it was him but wanted nothing to do with believing God saved him. When Leonel was done telling us this he was kind of upset, he couldn't understand how someone couldn't believe... But I asked, "Do you remember the day you didn't believe God saved you? All it took was for the seed to be planted in you. Remember, we are the light, although she didn't believe you today, doesn't mean she wont believe you tomorrow or the day after or the day after that." “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16. Leonel told me this past month that ever since he became a Christian he dreams every night that he is preaching somewhere!!! That's pretty unbelievable because little did he know we had set up a meeting for him the very next day!!
The next day Leonel and I met with a couple Haitian & Dominican missionaries, all pastors who serve in this area. They were so excited to meet Leonel and hear his story. They couldn't believe the love that this man had. They invited him to start meeting with them regularly and asked that he allow them to disciple him so that one day he can be the pastor he wants to be! It's amazing to see how this undeserving, unworthy man was spared, healed both physically and spiritually, and made into a new creation. He was made into a man deserving and worthy of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ!!! Praise God! He has become the light of his village which now has 20 Christians. I hope that you all continue to pray for him and his village. Though there is now more light in the village than ever, there is still so much darkness.. Please don't forget to say a prayer for them, there is so much power in prayer, and God has answered our prayers for them!
May God continue to bless you all! Continue to shine your light. Never forget, we are children of the Almighty King!
1 John 3:1-3 "What kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."
I've been in the Dominican for a little over a month now. It was hard to adjust after being home around my family for a month!! But, the ministry continues! We had a full month of groups in January, each week consisting of over 100 people. Needless to say, we stayed pretty busy! But God is good and gave us energy! So many amazing things happened so far and I wish I could share all of the stories, but I will try and give you at least a little glimpse into the work at hand.
I feel as though when I tell stories to people they can never believe what I am saying is completely true. I find myself in this same situation, out in a village or in town, and finding myself without words, reminding myself to breath, telling myself that the images I see are what is going to push me to make a BIGGER difference. In the past month I have seen so much sickness, death, homelessness, malnutrition, houses with the roofs literally caving in on people, tin shacks that reach about 100 degrees in the afternoon, children begging for 5 pesos (which is about 8 cents) in hopes of getting ONE meal. I have been completely broken, completely lost for understanding, and at times left wondering why... And then I find it, among the brokenness, among the sick, among the hungry... There is one thing and one thing alone that allows people to push on and that is the Love of Christ Jesus. This is such a dark place, but I am often reminded that it doesn't matter how dark the place or situation, His light is greater. 1 John 1:5 says "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." When we walk in obedience and love we find that Light, we find the good amongst the bad and we find the reason to persevere.
I am reminded of a song I absolutely love called "You're Beautiful." It says this "I see your face in every sunrise, the colors of the morning are inside of Your eyes, the world awakens in the light of the day, I look up to the sky and say You're beautiful. I see your power in the moonlit night, planets are in motion and galaxies are bright, we are amazed at the light of the stars all proclaiming who You are, You're beautiful. I see You there hanging on a tree, You bled and then You died and then You rose again for me. Now you are sitting on your Heavenly throne, soon we will be coming home.. You're beautiful.. When we arrive at Eternity's shore where death is just a memory and tears are no more, we'll enter in as the wedding bells ring, Your bride will come together and we'll sing....You're Beautiful."
This song means so much to me because, though there is so much darkness and hurt and unknown in this life, we have a Father--the Creator of the stars, the maker of the universe, waiting for us when this life is over. I don't know about you, but that excites me. In all the bad, we must see the good, find the reasons to rejoice. Although we've experienced all those terrible things, we also experienced miracles. We watched as the wife of a witch doctor surrendered her life to Christ, and an 11 year old (who's mother refused Christ) proclaimed he wanted that relationship with Jesus so badly! We sat back and watched God to take underserving man and make him a preacher of the Gospel. You see, we are rejoicing today, not because we are happy for the struggles of life, but because we are experiencing the Holy Spirit move all around us. We rejoice, but likewise, we mourn. We continue to mourn the lost souls, those who leave this earth without the faith and hope of meeting their Heavenly Father. But my friends, I want to tell you today that we are overcoming. We are experiencing miraculous spiritual healings. He has not left us, nor will he ever. Though the nights are dark, we have the greatest Light one could ask for. We have the Light of Christ in each one of us, waiting for us to take that step and be obedient. Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Brothers, the darkness may come, but rejoice, we have the Light.
I want to share with you a quick update on Leonel. At church last Sunday in Village 51 I think I had the greatest experience thus far in my short life. Not only did people show up, but we started a children's ministry which allowed for the adults to really be able to focus on the Word, to really understand. And they definitely did just that! At the end of the service we had so many people speak up about their faith, about their hope in Christ. Leonel spoke at the end, he told me that he was in town the day before and saw a lady that he knew. He said the lady approached him and said "are you really him, are you really Leonel?" He gave a quick head nod and "Yes." She replied to him "it can't be, you're supposed to be dead, there is no way for you to be alive... you must have some sort of evil spirit in you, what happened to you." Leonel said he told the lady that there was no evil spirit in him, in fact, it was the opposite. He told her how God saved him, how God rescued him that awful night. She didn't believe him and asked him for proof that he was really Leonel, he pulled up his pant leg and showed her the horrific scar that covers the entire outer aspect of his thigh, she then believed it was him but wanted nothing to do with believing God saved him. When Leonel was done telling us this he was kind of upset, he couldn't understand how someone couldn't believe... But I asked, "Do you remember the day you didn't believe God saved you? All it took was for the seed to be planted in you. Remember, we are the light, although she didn't believe you today, doesn't mean she wont believe you tomorrow or the day after or the day after that." “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16. Leonel told me this past month that ever since he became a Christian he dreams every night that he is preaching somewhere!!! That's pretty unbelievable because little did he know we had set up a meeting for him the very next day!!
The next day Leonel and I met with a couple Haitian & Dominican missionaries, all pastors who serve in this area. They were so excited to meet Leonel and hear his story. They couldn't believe the love that this man had. They invited him to start meeting with them regularly and asked that he allow them to disciple him so that one day he can be the pastor he wants to be! It's amazing to see how this undeserving, unworthy man was spared, healed both physically and spiritually, and made into a new creation. He was made into a man deserving and worthy of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ!!! Praise God! He has become the light of his village which now has 20 Christians. I hope that you all continue to pray for him and his village. Though there is now more light in the village than ever, there is still so much darkness.. Please don't forget to say a prayer for them, there is so much power in prayer, and God has answered our prayers for them!
May God continue to bless you all! Continue to shine your light. Never forget, we are children of the Almighty King!
1 John 3:1-3 "What kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."