February - Reaching the Youth of La Vega

Please pray for this weekend and the next three weekends in February for the "United For Him" event.  We are asking the Lord for great weather, and a wonderful move of His Spirit among the young people attending. Please pray that all financial needs for the event will be met.

Elias Castillo

"Unidos Por El" (United For Him), is the youth event that your missionaries have been very involved with for the past four years.  In fact it is Mitch Martinez and Elias Castillo who are the executive producers of this faith venture.  It is a series of Youth Concerts every weekend in February, which have been organized to create a Christian alternative to the wild Carnival Festival which seems to envelope like a dark cloud the city of La Vega every year. . The spirit of partying, and promiscuity is promoted all weekend long.  Violence and vehicle accidents are par for this event.  Concerned that even children were being drawn into this event, we networked with area youth pastors and began coming together for a clean, spiritual, counterbalance for young people. From a couple of hundred young people, we have grown to over two thousand in these four years.  From Contemporary Christian music, to Christian Rap and Rock, there is something for every one in the family.  I am attaching a link to a video made at

Can a Missionary spend time at the Beach?

I hate to say it, but sometimes there are stereotypes about missionaries that don't match reality? The question of should a missionary enjoy a trip to the beach of course doesn't apply to missionaries working in landlocked countries (of course lakes and rivers have beaches too).  I hate to admit this to those of you who don't know where the Dominican Republic is, but yes we live on a beautiful Caribbean island.  The island was originally dubbed Hispaniola (Espanola) by Christopher Columbus, and was

discovered on his very first journey.  The Taino indians that inhabited this island, called it Quisqueya.  Today the island is split between two very different nations; French-speaking Haiti, and Spanish-speaking
Dominican Republic. The DR is the larger in land mass of the two.  Four fifths of this nation is

Holiday Visits

It was difficult to stretch two weeks in the states into our schedule, but it had to be done.  Difficult because there was so much happening in La Vega, and so many things that had to be put on hold.  We are coordinating the construction of the addition for the Rieles Church, and also in the process of setting up for the 8 day "Unidos Por El Youth Eventl"  in February (this is a Carnaval Alternative for Youth).
We are also applying for a Christian TV channel in La Vega. In December, Debbie was following up the process of obtaining water pumps from the government for the wells we had dug in the Rieles.  We now have three pumps in place thanks to Elias Castillo's help last week.  She has also been gathering toys and gifts for poor children in the Rieles area to be distributed for Three Kings Day celebration (Observed January the 9th this year).  A
wonderful partnering church in Boca Grande (UMC) shipped us 400 lbs of gifts.

 It was wonderful to have an opportunity to be with our children and grandchildren during the Christmas season.  Every three years our mission strongly encourages us to