interns, small groups, and the mighty black squirrel of the north

Black squirrels are originally from Ontario, but some have recently moved to Indiana! They're strange looking creatures and I'm quite sure we don't have any in Texas. Incidentally, there are no armadillos here.

My trip is going very well - thanks for your prayers and interest! God opens the doors and I just walk through them. I am finding over and over again that the more I know my God and His character, the easier it is to trust Him with the unknown and unseen. God tells not to worry (Matt. 6, Luke 12) and when we do, it not only demonstrates our lack of trust, it shows our lack of undstanding of the sovereignty of God. This is one of the many lessons that He has been teaching me since the inception of Makarios. He is a BIG God and shows Himself faithful in so many ways. Yet it seems I need repeated lessons on trusting Him. It's a struggle for me to find the balance between knowing and fulfilling my responsibilities and knowing what to leave up to Him. Ultimately, I need to leave it all up to Him, but at the same time, He has entrusted me with a job to do in His service. It can then become hard to know if I've done everything that I should do. All I know is I need to do my work heartily as unto the Lord and there's nothing more I can do!

We continue to have a lot of interest in our internship program and in group missions trips. Please pray for those who will be coming down this spring and for our staff as we plan for their arrival. Pray that God will use them to effectively communicate His love to the villagers. We also have the need and opportunity to add some new staff members to our team over the next year. Please pray for God's direction.

By the way, the weather finally did warm up - 60s and 70s! It's a miracle!

Developing

I feel as though Makarios is really taking shape now. I have a full time schedule of educational activities. The Lord has opened many doors to schools, towns and churches. Right now, I am spending Tuesday, Thursday and Friday directly working in the public schhol.This means spending 1 hour a day with each grade and doing educational activities. For example, all of the schools are bare when it comes to supplies, no childrens books, games, nothing; I try to bring some hands on education to the classroom through games, learning centers, creative writing among other things. The education here consists of a morning session of 4 hours in which half the grades go and an afternoon sessionn of 3 hours which the other grades go. All instruction is done be students completing poorly designed textbooks or copying from the board a few notes. The schools are overcrowded and the students have nothing to hold their attention to class, because the teaching methods don't engage the students. A goal of Makarios is to improve these situation through direct intervention, and also through getting some supplies for the schools.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, the focus switches to the education of children who cannot get into these public schools for reasons of citizenship or money. These programs address the basic educational needs, such as number recognition and letter recognition. The students are ages 5-9 and there are two levels. THe goal here is to provide basic skills that will keep the children with the pace of school so if they can get into the school they will not be far behind.
Continuing praying for Makarios bith in the educational and ministerial side of the mission.

searching for autumn in northern Indiana

My October in Indiana has left me with one question: isn't there supposed to be a season inbetween summer and winter? I know I've been out of the midwest for 8 years, so maybe I've forgotten. I have already had to wear a scarf, gloves, and hat to ward off the freezing wind chills. Then all week the weather report has been a big flirt - forcasting 60s and 70s the day before and then the day of announcing a high of 50! Somehow, by the grace of God, I am surviving.

I am currently at Indiana Wesleyan University. Earlier this morning I had a meeting here about our intership program. It went very well and I look forward to having some IWUers down in the DR soon! This afternoon I'll be at Taylor University for a similar meeting.

This evening I'll be having dinner with some good friends of mine in Muncie. I was in their wedding about 12 years ago. They now have three kids, the youngest of which I've never met. I look forward to spending time with them and hearing about their ministry. They are missionaries with Youth for Christ in local public schools.

Thank you for your prayers for safety and provision. God is so faithful! It is a blessing to wait upon Him and to see how He provides for the needs of the kids in the bateyes and for the needs of our staff. Please pray that we will be open vessels through which He can work.

40 degrees and cloudy

It's 88 degrees in the DR, 86 in Austin, and I'm here in Ft. Wayne where it's 40 degrees. That's right. 40! I'm pretty sure, though, that the Lord does not have me here to enjoy the weather - which is good because I'm freezing (changing fall leaves only go so far)!

This week I met with two small groups from Blackhawk Baptist Church. Both of those meetings went well, and several people are interested in going down to the DR both short and long term. The groups were also a tremendous encouragement to me. I also had several meetings about our internship program and funding opportunities. I'm excited to see what will come of these encounters. Keep praying!

This morning I had the opportunity to help a friend take a group of Somali refugees grocery shopping. Some have been here for six months, and others just arrived in the past two weeks. There are about sixty living in Ft. Wayne right now, and another sixty are expected to arrive in the next few months. It was very cool to be able to meet these people and help them in a small way.

Tomorrow morning I'll be speaking in the young adults Sunday School class at Blackhawk and in the evening service at Grace Bible Church in Berne. This is the church that my dad pastored from about the time I was born until I was nine years old. I'm looking forward to going back and reconnecting with people after all these years.

Life in the D.R.

Makarios is beginning to take shape. IN the form of helping schools and helping children that cannot attend school for for reason of citizenship or money. Helping the schools consists of programs that go into school on school times and provide educational supplies and instruction for the students in grades 1 to 6. This program is ongoing in a batey called Severe and is in the works in another batey called Caraballo.
The part about helping children who cannot go to school is already in 3 bateys, 2 days a week. This program is designed to teach basic skills so in the future the children can attend school and not be far behind. The public schools are overcrowded and underfunded so a few days a week of solid education can keep up with the education some are recieving on the schools. For example i have come into contact with a number of students up to the third grade who cannot write their name.
On a lighter note, i have to be culturally sensitive about the projects I am doing. I was doing a number activity and needed things to count and they also needed to be inexpensive. So I chose beans. Well, everyone got 10 beans and by the time the activity started about 1/4 of the students have eaten at least a few beans. The beans were hard and uncooked but I guess if you have a bean in your hand you should probably eat it. So we went on with the activity and i told them that the beans were school beans not eating beans.
Continue to pray for the Dominican Republic and Haiti as well as makarios.

next stop: Ft. Wayne, Indiana!

God is good, you know? He really is. He continues to meet my needs at the perfect time. I found a Christian mechanic in Cedarville who fixed my clutch for free. Then I cracked a tooth and my friend Cara got me an appointment with a Christian dentist who grew up as a missionary kid in the Dominican Republic, and he fixed my tooth for free!

God has provided for Makarios in similar ways. Last month we were $1600 below budget until the day I had to call in payroll - and then all $1600 came in! This time for me with Makarios has been challenging and stretching. I have been stripped of anything that I could potentially depend on - I don't have a home (my stuff is in storage in Austin until March while I'm on the road), I can't rely on a paycheck, no husband, etc. My stability and trust can only be found in the Lord. It's been a test of my faith and I wouldn't replace this time for anything. God has provided for all of my needs and has been my joy and strength.

I am now in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. I have meetings and speaking engagements set up this week and next, and look forward to having several weeks with my good friend Cara Smith, one of my college roommates. I'm staying with her and her husband and their two kids while I'm here.

Thank you for your prayers, emails, and support. They are a tremendous encouragement to me!

Oh Cedarville, our Cedarville

On my way to Ohio, I passed through Kentucky where I saw a sign that said, "used cows for sale." What is that all about? There's a little restaurant across the street from Cedarville that says "Best tea north of Texas." I just thought my Texas friends would appreciate that. I didn't actually try the tea though, so I can neither deny nor confirm their claim.

Things have been going very well here. I've met with a class and several individuals so far. Tomorrow I'll be meeting with some people in Career Services so that Makarios can be added to their official list of approved intership programs.

Please continue to pray for my safety and health. I need to take the car into the shop tomorrow to get the clutch looked at and I appear to be coming down with a cold. Otherwise, it's great to be back at "the 'Ville." I love it here!

The foundation is being laid

This was a very encouraging and successful week in the Dominican Republic. My focus this week was on two places, Severe and Negro Melo. I wanted to do activities as a model for what I see as the future of Makarios. In Negro Melo, the program was set up as a two day a week, one hour a day learning and fun time. The age focus of these activities is 5-8, but that does not mean that only 5-8 year olds come. We have children that are in school and want reinforcement and also children that are not enrolled in school. For the children not enrolled in school, the activities act as a school substitute for providing basic skills they need to enter the school. It is basically on a Kindergarten level. There are some students that come even though they are older. Most of these are Haitians that just arrived and don't speak Spanish yet.
The other are of this week's focus was Severe. Here I am working in the school during school hours and doing a fun and educational activity for grades one through six. We played math games and also during recess we played some baseball. This site seems like a good one to try and start an organized sports team.
I am very encouraged by the door that God has opened for Makarios. This week the programs will expand to Poncho Mateo and Chi hi Gua. These are two other Haitian bateys. Please continue to pray for Makarios.