Back in La Vega!

This is a link to a short video about our work.

We are Committed to Serve Him



We are excited to return once again to the Dominican Republic.  We are believing the Lord to help us to accomplish more for His Kingdom.  After traveling around the U.S. (50,000 miles plus) for the last 12 months, we have returned to La Vega to serve another four year term as missionaries.  It has taken us a while to settle down as we've had a busy schedule the past month and a half. We are happy to be with our many friends here in La Vega.  It is especially nice to be with our son Joshua and his wife Karina and also with our two grandsons, Ken and Ethan, who live here in town. 

 

In Santiago to visit Mickey D

We appreciate so much Doug and Chris Wilson who shouldered the load during our year of departure to raise support in the states.  They helped us in soooo....many ways to keep this ministry afloat while we were gone.  Doug took charge of the International Fellowship at the Bridge Church/Coffeehouse.  He made sure designated gifts were properly dispensed. Chris was "volunteered" to become the head of the English department with the departure of Jerry Durr. He needed to return to the states to be close to his parents who were struggling with health issues. We are missing him.  She and Doug both took oversight of the finances that support the different Haitian education centers.  There are 10 of these centers now.  I don't have the space to tell you more, needless to say, Thank You, Doug and Chris.  



This summer we have also been blessed to receive on the field the Palmer family.  They have worked many years in inner-city ministry in the U.S., and have also worked with numerous missions teams overseas. Now their heart is set on helping the Haitian immigrants in this country. 

Katie and Patrick Palmer and their four beautiful children!

Also joining us is Miss Sallie Wham from Greenville, South Carolina, who is bringing her teaching experience and educational background to train some of the rural teachers working at the Haitian school programs and also the teachers at La Vega Christian School.

Summers are a busy time for us with Missions Teams!
We were able to host this summer the South Carolina Youth AIM Team.

Jimmy Sellers w/youth and local workers pouring the foundation in Barrancas for the church's new education wing.

The GT Church Youth Team, from Reading , PA.

GT Church Youth working with children in Summer VBS Programs at Rose of Sharon

The Lighthouse on the Rock team from Key Largo, FL.

The Key largo team with Debbie ministering to children in El Limoncito Haitian church.

And we also were blessed by the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship team from Brunswick, NJ.

LCF Worked hard doing a Kid's Camp and painting the Children's Clinic in Santiago

5 Construction Projects have already been launched!

1. At La Vega Christian School we tore down the old cafeteria eating area. The termites were having a heyday there.  We replaced all the wood trusses and wood columns with metal and raised the roof some.  We also finally put a drop ceiling in the third floor hallway, and sealed off all the eaves from the pigeons. We had the buildings and the b-court (cont.) 

The Fire in Barranca

Dear Friends:

I felt compelled to write. This is part of the story of my life, from last week. Some things just happen, and they change us. Thanks for reading. There are photos on my facebook page.

love,  Debbie

Feb. 2, 2015 Barranca

I am visiting a community called Barranca where nine homes burned. Is is hard to imagine living in such a tiny room.   Yolanda lost her home, but I found her on a borrowed bed, with her pots and pans all over the floor, clothes soaking in soap in a black plastic basin, her dishes in a similar one. Clothes were hanging on nails around the walls, there was a clothesline with baby girl clothes. She told me she had recently had a baby. Where was she? In the hospital still, in an incubator, because she only weighed two and a half pounds at birth. She took public transportation into La Vega every day, which is about 30 minutes from Barranca, to breastfeed the baby.

I had brought 3 bags of clothes, a blanket, sheets, towels, washcloths, little shampoos and soaps. I was happy to leave it all with Yolanda, for her other 5 children, ranging in age from 2 to 16, and her dad, a pastor. But before we left, they asked Pastor Alex from the Rails church, who had led me here, to distribute the donations to the community, so that they wouldn’t be blamed for taking too much. That was after we prayed with them all and preached to them, thanking God for sparing their lives from the midnight holocaust. Surely God has a purpose in all this?

I posted a photo that night of the fire’s damage. I didn’t sleep very well. Then I remembered we had some clothes left over from the garage sale at school. I would find that in the morning…

Next day my dear friend Irene Serrano called. She is a missionary in San Francisco de Macoris, about 45 minutes from us. She had shoes, and clothes, and new socks and panties for little girls, and could she come today? Yes! It was Thursday the 29^th, the day Liberty Ministries went home. At breakfast I showed them the photos I had taken the day before. (They had been out souvenir shopping with Mitch all day.) Their hearts went out to the fire victims and right away Jeanette Porter gave me the money to buy every family a bed, and the group took up another offering. On the way there I asked Nicolas from school to go to the bed factory and negotiate a price for 9 beds. He got back to me on time. We prayed for all the families involved, then went to see the new university ministry location and prayed there. I said good-bye to those precious 9 ladies, and set off for school. Even though it was past noon, the factory hadn’t closed for lunch, so I put in my order for the beds. They promised to have them made by Saturday.

Around 2:30 Irene and Sam came over, and after we caught up with our lives, we started sorting clothes. I had a list Alex and Charley made, so we had a bag for each boy and girl, and the women. We decided to just sort out the men’s clothing when we got there, and fit the children for the shoes. They had some groceries, so we quickly arranged them into two separate bags, and Irene bagged the rice on the way to the Rails to pick up Alex. We stopped for some viveres, and decided on plantanos to take to the families. The man at the roadside stand was happy to sell all he had.  When he said 120 we quickly rounded up the money, but we were wrong; there were 120 plantains, at 5.5 pesos each, added up to $660 RD, or $15 US. At the end of the day, Pastor Alex got a bag of rice and the yuca that Irene and Sam had brought. He has to eat, too.

We gave a bag of groceries to Yolanda for her big family, and to a pregnant mom with 2 small children. Irene got right to work with her first aid kit, bandaging up burns, infectious sores, handing out pain medication, laughing and talking and even singing in Creole. That is after she made a video with her husband filming. What a pair of missionaries! I love how we could all work together: the Haitian pastor, the teacher at his school, the Serranos, me, the clothes who

The Power of Long Term Relationships

The blessing started Saturday when Faelo called me to say that his dad and mom wanted to come to church this Sunday. I had told him last week that I was willing to pick up his dad and take him to church if he wanted to come.  Faelo is a multi-talented individual (he just finished the rough-in plumbing on the addition to the Rieles church, and is helping us to hunt for a good deal for a van for the children's program, he has also traveled to Japan to bring in vehicles and parts).  He has been coming to the church for three weeks.  That makes him a church veteran, since this church started only three months ago.  You can read about it in our Fall newsletter posted at our website www.dominicanmissions.com.  The blessing for me wasn't so much that Faelo was reaching out to his family (which was great), but rather that his dad was willing to accompany

All In a Days Work

I tried to write briefly last time and it stretched into two pages.  I am going to try numbering to see if it helps. Not!

1. Up at 6:30 am to make pancakes and coffee for  Pastor/Counselor D.F., who needed my help to make a 3-minute TV script for his ministry (he arrived at 7 a.m. sharp).  Debbie spent the night in the hospital taking care of one of our volunteers who was terribly dehydrated from stomach problems, and she wasn't here.  I knew that I would have a busy day and so I had him come by after dropping his daughter off at school.  Usually I am a night owl and am not up this early.  It is exciting to hear about the counseling center he is

This day in the Dominican Republic

My morning started with Juan Valdez (not the famous coffee farmer), pulling up in his motorcycle to remind me that we had said we would get together to purchase the tin for the Rieles Church addition. Juan is my construction foreman.  He has helped me in over thirty projects in this country.
If I hadn't asked him to come over I might put it off another day or so.  There are usually a lot of issues calling for my attention in a day. And if the materials are not ordered Juan can not be assured of some work this week.  He has been waiting a couple of weeks as I couldn't assure him the funds had all come in. The industrial tin for the roof has to be purchased in cash for the 12% discount.