God's Faithfulness

To all of our friends and family in Indiana, we're happy to hear that you're finally getting some warmer weather after another tough winter. Spring is just around the corner!

Our weather has changed too. We've been getting a lot of rain, which makes for much cooler temperatures, especially in the mornings and evenings. We're in sweatpants and sweatshirts as we write this post!

Dan got the chance to translate as his dad shared a message
with the church in Guanabano.

The coming of Spring also means the coming of a new phase of ministry for us here in the Dominican Republic. We've got a ministry team coming from Puerto Rico in two weeks, followed by a youth team from Nappanee Missionary Church & Transformation Ministries. We're really excited to help Pastor Quina host these teams and to serve as drivers/cooks/translators/logistics coordinators and whatever else might be needed!

It has been several weeks since we last had a visit. Dan's parents were here from February 6-20 and Doris Clay came with her family for a visit on February 16. Both of those visits were very refreshing and fun for us.

Since that time, we've been carrying on with our regular ministry schedule here as well as trying to take advantage of any other opportunities God brings our way.

Dave & Doris Clay (left) of Nappanee Missionary
Church, along with Doris' brother and
sister-in-law, spent a day in Moca with Pastor Quina
and us.

We've been a part of:

• Bible studies
• Community church services
• Visits to homes
• Ministry in schools
• Basketball practices
• Work days
• A discipleship group
• A university bus trip to Samana (east coast)

God has been very faithful to provide us with many, many opportunities to share His love and His Word with many different people.

We're especially excited about a discipleship group that has formed within the last few weeks. We're meeting weekly with two young men and a woman to study & discuss the book Multiply by Francis Chan. This book is designed as a discipleship tool and is intended to be studied together with disciples who want to make more disciples of Jesus Christ!

Pizza and game night at our house!

Another opportunity we've enjoyed is the work at the Missionary Christian Alliance Church in Naranjal. Naranjal is a small community to the southeast of our home in Guanabano. Pastor Quina started the church there and it is currently going through a difficult time. Nearly all of the regular attenders have left to start their own church, which means only a few people come to the services at the CMA church. We've had the pleasure of meeting with this small group, along with a dedicated group from Guanabano, at least once a week and sometimes more. We've helped clean the entire church building, do some mild demolition and we plan to spend a day this weekend painting and doing any other work needed on the building. It's a time of hard work, but it's also refreshing to see Pastor Quina's resolve to never quit spreading the Gospel! She has not shown any signs of discouragement. Of course, she was disappointed and maybe even a little sad that the people left, but her faith in God and her confidence in His call in her life has been an incredible example to us. We're very thankful to be part of this rebuilding process alongside Pastor Quina and the community of Naranjal.

Weekly visits to the school in Guanabano are one of the
most precious ministry opportunities we've been given
this year.

God has also been faithfully teaching us lessons upon lessons during our time here. We have grown in our dependence on Him, our trust in His plans, our desire to serve Him and our compassion for His children. His Word is alive and active and He's using it to speak to us every day!

As we look forward to the next few months, here are some prayer requests:

• We have 5 teams coming this Spring & Summer. It's a lot of work for Pastor Quina, but it's also a great blessing to this community. Please pray for God to direct every project, plan, ministry opportunity and movement of each team.

• Please pray for the church in Naranjal. Pray that God would be clearly seen and glorified through this rebuilding process.

• Please pray that those of us in the discipleship group would be reinforced in our faith through this study and that we would gain a deep desire to pass on the things we've learned. Pray that we would do what disciples must do: Make disciples!

• Finally, as we look ahead we're starting to realize how short our time here is. We've got less than 5 months to go and, while we're excited to come home, we're also realizing how hard it will be to say goodbye to those we love here. We want to finish strong the race God has laid out for us, but we want to prepare well for the next step. It's a tough balancing act, so please pray that God gives us wisdom through all the emotions, changes and next steps!

We love you all! Thank you so much for your continued support and love!