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!

Approaching Halftime

It is really hard to believe, but we're almost halfway done with our year here in the Dominican Republic. Time has absolutely flown by, and yet with all we've experienced, it feels like we've been here much longer than 5 months!

Since our last post, our routine and schedule here has been far from normal. Christmas break, a mission trip to Azua, a visit from family and many other miscellaneous events have made life an adventure over the last month.

Christmas break here is very similar to what we're accustomed to back home in Indiana, except without snow! The weather here did change in December, although it wasn't a drastic change. The mornings and evenings were much cooler - sometimes dipping down into the 60s. Daytime was a bit cooler as well, although we still had plenty of days in the mid-80s. We're currently in what feels like Spring here because trees are starting to show lots of flowers, fruit is starting to bud and the weather is getting warmer again.

Pastor Quina taught the kids how she makes Christmas crafts.

During Christmas break we were able to spend time with people in more casual, intimate ways. We had several invitations to people's houses for holiday celebrations. We went to special church services where almost every time ended with sharing cookies and a special Christmas tea made with ginger. We learned some Dominican Christmas songs and experienced how this country celebrates Christ's birth. It was a beautiful time!

On the second day of the new year we loaded up our van with 6 youth and our family for a mission trip to the city of Azua. Azua is in the southwest part of the Dominican Republic, about 3 1/2 hour drive from Moca. We worked with Pastor Raul Aquino and the Christian Community Church. The partnership with Pastor Aquino came about because many of the translators that have worked with previous teams from Nappanee Missionary Church and Bethel College have come from his church in Azua. It was a pleasure to reconnect with several of the young men who we had met over the past few years, to meet and get to know the pastor and his family and to work alongside many from his church.

Our group had many great ministry opportunities during our three days in Azua. We preached, led worship, performed dramas, taught Bible lessons to children and went door-to-door sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. The youth from our church here in Guanabano are incredible and very easy to work with. While we are looked to as the leaders, we rarely have to take charge of the group because they are very mature and understand what needs to be done and how they should carry themselves. They are a great example to us when it comes to ministry and their willingness to serve.

Our group in Azua.

On the way home from Azua, we ran into some car trouble. One of our water lines sprung a leak and the engine kept overheating. We finally had to pull off the road to try to fix it. Our youth proved themselves very resourceful and worked hard for about an hour to patch up the cracked hose with gum and materials they found on the side of the road! The patch held up just fine for the rest of our 3-hour drive back home and our mechanic even said that their work could have held up for much longer if we had needed it to. We thanked God for the youth and for His protection!

Less than a week after our trip to Azua, we received some much-anticipated guests when Katie's mom and stepfather arrived. They spent a total of 15 days with us. They accompanied us to the national conference for the Christian Missionary Alliance Church, which was a great time to meet other missionaries and many pastors and other leaders of various CMA churches here in the Dominican Republic. After the conference, our family generously took us for a week of vacation in Puerto Plata. We really enjoyed the time to relax, swim, play and just spend time together. It was a very refreshing time for all of us.

Vacation with family was very fun!

We've had a somewhat normal routine these last few weeks, but things are about to change again as Dan's parents arrive this Friday and will spend two weeks here with us. We'll head up to the north coast again for about 5 days of vacation and the rest of the time we'll be together here at our house in Guanabano. We're so thankful that our families are able to experience what our lives are like here. And the vacations have come at a good time as we gear up for the second half of our year here.

As we look forward to the rest of our time here, we are starting to realize how short the time really is. We've got two groups coming from Nappanee Missionary Church and two groups coming from Bethel College. We're excited to be here to help host those teams, but we also know those visits will only speed up our time here.

For much of our time here, we've missed home and the life we left there. We still miss it, but we're starting to feel more comfortable here. With that in mind, we're starting to look toward what's ahead - what God has planned for us. Would you join us as we start to pray and seek God's plan for our future? We don't want to look past what's left for us this year, but we want to start listening for His plans for the future. Thank you for your support and your willingness to pray for us.

Some other prayer requests:

- Pray that we would take advantage of every opportunity to share the Gospel.
- Pray for one of Pastor Quina's churches that is going through a very difficult time and is in need of a fresh start. Pray that we can serve well in that process.
- Pray for Victor, one of the youth here, who just left home to start studying medicine in Santo Domingo. He's an amazing young man and we know he'll do well, but transitions are always difficult. His absence will also be felt here at our church, as he was one of the leaders among the youth and even among the adults.

We love you all very much! Thank you for your love, your prayers and support!

Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe Christmas is almost here! Living in a tropical climate makes it so hard to mark the seasons because the weather is pretty much always the same.

We have had a slight change in our weather here. Instead of reaching in the the mid-90s every day, now we're only averaging 80-83 at midday. The mornings and evenings dip down into the 60s, which has been very enjoyable.

Even though today marks the completion of our fourth month here in the Dominican Republic, this season is feeling much more like a halfway point for us. Because of the semester break, the Christmas season, the change in weather and the changes that are coming in our routine, we feel like we've completed the first phase of life here. Now it's time for something new!

The biggest change that is coming is a more frenzied schedule. Starting in January we'll have visitors with us for at least two weeks of every month except for May. We're very excited to have family, friends and missions trips here with us, but it also means a new set of responsibilities and many plans to make. We'll get back into our normal ministry opportunities in January, but there will be interruptions each month. This isn't a bad thing, just a different thing!

Our first four months here have been incredible! We've had good times, bad times, fun times, confusing times, relaxing times, frustrating times and many, many times when God has clearly worked in and through us.

As we look back at the first four months here, sometimes it's hard for us to remember all the amazing things that happened because it was a time of huge adjustment for us. We have been learning a new language, a new culture, a new family routine and new ways of doing everyday things. We went to bed exhausted nearly every night for the first two months here because of all that we were trying to understand and learn.

This is not to say we've arrived and have become a fully integrated Dominican family, because were' far from that. But it is safe to say that we spend less and less of each day trying to understand what's happening and we're able to actively engage with what's happening. Our ears are catching up to Dominican Spanish. We've got a better grasp of the culture we live in. We're accustomed to the place we live and all of the ways it's different than our home in Indiana.

God has faithfully carried us through the first phase. We're excited to see what He's got planned for the next phase!

Here are a few specific updates:

Last week was a tough one for many of the people in our church. Starting Sunday night, three people who had connections to people in our church died. Two were young men who were in separate motorcycle accidents on the same night. The third was the father of one of the young men in our church. We were able to go to his house the night he died, and then again the next day to attend the funeral and burial. It was a sad day, but it was also awesome to see how this young man's faith in God has carried him through his grief.

Christmas season here in the Dominican Republic is quite different from what we're used to. Here the Christmas season is marked with a lot of partying, which means there is a lot of loud music playing until all hours of the night. It also means the streets are even more dangerous and we have to be extra careful whenever we drive. Our friends here have told us that every December brings a lot of deaths, mostly because many people don't have a lot of hope that the new year will actually come and want to live it up as this year ends. So far, the three deaths of last week are all we've experienced and we hope it stays that way!

Our family has been invited to spend Christmas Eve with Eduardo's family. We'll join his extended family for a Christmas Eve dinner at a relative's house and then come home, hopefully before the crazy partying starts in our town! We're excited to experience how Dominicans celebrate Christmas, especially because almost all of Eduardo's family are Christians and they share the same focus as we do during this time of year.

We're excited about an opportunity we have the first week of January 2015. We'll accompany several of the youth from our church on a mission trip to Azua, a city in the Southern part of the country. This is the second time our youth have made the trip to Azua to minister alongside a vibrant church there. We have some relationships with people in Azua as several of the translators from our previous trips are part of this church in Azua. We're excited to be reunited with them, meet their pastor and work with their church.

Here are some specific ways to pray for us:

• Safety during the Christmas season. We don't plan to be out past dark very often, but even during the daytime the streets are pretty crazy right now. 

• Peace and comfort for the young man in our church who lost his father. His mother is also part of our church.

• God's blessing on our mission trip to Azua. The trip is January 2-5 and it would be great to know many of you are praying for God to guide and protect us.

• Flexibility as our schedule changes. We don't know exactly what the new year will bring, but we're excited to see how God uses us. We want to be flexible enough that we're always open to the opportunities He brings our way.

Thank you all so much for your continued support, prayers and love! We love you all very much! Merry Christmas!

A New Normal

First of all, we're sorry it's been so long since our last update. We had every intention of sending shorter updates more often, but it's been difficult to find the time and to pull our thoughts together on a regular basis. So, for now, we're sending longer updates less often. Hopefully that's OK with all of you!

We're closing in on the end of our third month here in the Dominican Republic. We've had plenty of ups and downs during these three months and we're happy to say that God has been present and faithful through it all.

For the last several weeks we've started to realize that many of the things that are so different from home are actually starting to feel normal. This is true in the small and big things. Here are some examples:

Food
We all like Dominican food but learning how to prepare it was a difficult process. Even preparing the types of food we're used to was not easy. Finding ingredients can be tricky at times. We had no measuring utensils in our kitchen and for a long time our refrigerator couldn't keep food fresh long enough to be able to use it in our cooking.

But now we have a new refrigerator (thanks to a generous gift from an anonymous supporter) and we've learned where to find the ingredients we need. We recently received a set of measuring spoons and cups. Our friend Adriana (mother of Eduardo) has been teaching Katie how to prepare several Dominican dishes. Katie also has a Dominican cookbook that has helped her learn how to cook some common Dominican meals.

Food is a small thing, but it's such a frequent thing that it feels very significant.

Culture
Learning to live in a new culture is a very big thing. It's something we'll probably still be learning when our year comes to an end. However, we've learned a lot already and it's starting to feel normal. We aren't confused as often as we once were. We knew this year was going to require a lot of flexibility and patience, but living here requires much more of both than we were prepared for. Visiting families in their homes was very awkward and uncomfortable at first, but now we look forward to those visits!

Church culture is also very different here and for a long time we were confused during church services and meetings. Now, however, we understand more of what's going on - even if we can't understand everything that's being said - and we deeply appreciate the passion with which the people of this culture worship God. Dominican prayer is a beautiful, passionate, loud and moving thing to be a part of.


All of this is to say that we have started to settle into a new normal. We still miss home and we haven't become Dominican, but we are starting to appreciate the differences. We no longer experience something new every day, although many days still bring new things!

Other news:

Hanah and Eduarni (Eduardo's sister) in front of the Jelly Roll.

We have some great news ... we finally have a vehicle of our own! We recently purchased a 1986 Toyota Model F minivan. With the help of some friends who recently came to visit, we have decided to name the van Jelly Roll because it's white on the outside and red on the inside. We purchased the van for a much lower price than we expected to pay. It had been sitting in storage for the last two years, so it needed some work. Even this, though, turned out to be a blessing. One of the leaders of our church is a mechanic and so we were able to hire him to do all the necessary work. We've already driven the Jelly Roll to Jamao (1 hour up in the mountains) and twice to Santo Domingo (2 hours) without any problems. We're thankful to have our own transportation, as well as a vehicle with the space to carry quite a few people.

Eating lunch with the Rassi family in Santo Domingo.

So far we've had two visits from Indiana friends. Dr. Randy & Bonnie Suttor visited in September. Clay & Becki Rassi and their two sons just left two days ago. We spent two days in Santo Domingo with them before they spent three days with us here in Guanabano. Both visits were very refreshing and encouraging for us. We're thankful for their time and generosity! We have more visitors coming soon and we're very excited to show them the ministry opportunities God has given us.

Another item we'd like to share is the health of the ministry of Pastor Quina's churches. We came into this year thinking we could help provide a bridge between Quina carrying most of the responsibility and other leaders stepping up to relieve her. However, what we've found is that Quina has a great leadership team in place already! She has built a group of leaders who carry much of the load. Quina is still the lead pastor but she gives many responsibilities to the people of the church. There is a rotation of 3-4 people who preach on Sundays. Several others share messages during the weeknight meetings. There are enough musicians to make up several worship teams.

Quina spends a lot of time visiting sick or elderly people in the community. She still preaches every 2-3 weeks. She also puts a lot of her energy into organizing projects that help people in need. Whenever someone in the church has a problem, Quina is almost always the first one to respond. She usually has a driver who picks up people on Sunday mornings, but when he's not available, Quina jumps in the van and drives all over Moca!

We have been incredibly blessed by the generosity, love, hospitality and encouragement of the church here in Guanabano. One of the most significant ways we have started to realize a new normal is within our church family. For a long time we felt like visitors every time we went to a church service, but now we feel like part of the family, part of the community.

Thank you all for your continued prayers, emails, letters and love! God bless you all!

Stripped

Our last couple weeks here in the Dominican Republic have been difficult and wonderful at the same time. Without any special effort on our parts, we've sensed God's presence in a new, strong way. He seems to be speaking to us every day and directing our circumstances in such a way as to teach us lessons so He can speak to us even more!

This sounds like a wonderful experience - and it is - but it's also very difficult. In the past few weeks we've been consistently stripped of things. Now that we're more than a month into our time here, we can look back and see all the things that have been taken away from us ... and we're pretty sure God's not done yet!

We've been stripped of possessions. We recently had some of our clothes stolen while they were hanging to dry at Pastor Quina's house. We left behind many things when we made the move to the Dominican Republic, like our house, car, furniture, appliances, yard, etc. There have been times in the last month that we have yearned for many of these things.

We've been stripped of comfort. The place we live is very nice by the world's standards. We have everything we need, and more. But it's not home. It doesn't have soft carpet, comfortable couches, a quiet back yard or consistent electricity. Instead it has concrete floors, a metal roof, inconsistent electricity, lots of noise and lots of ants! Many people in the world would consider themselves very lucky to live there, and we're very grateful as well, but it's not comfortable. And it's not easy.

We've been stripped of relationships. When we said yes to the call of God to come to the Dominican Republic for a year we knew it meant saying goodbye to many people ... for at least a year. We counted the cost and we are convinced that following Jesus is more important than any earthly relationship. But, that doesn't mean we don't need those people. We miss being able to walk a few blocks to visit with family, or drive a few minutes to visit with friends. We have friends here, but it's not the same.

We've been stripped of our identity. We no longer hold the positions we used to hold. Dan is no longer a graphic designer or a do-it-yourselfer handyman. Katie is no longer a volleyball coach or a stay-at-home mom like she was back home. We are no longer part of the majority race. We can no longer communicate clearly with the people in our lives. (Side note: When you can't communicate clearly people tend to treat you like you can't do anything else well either. I wonder how many times I've treated someone as incapable just because he/she couldn't communicate clearly or was socially awkward.)

What will we be stripped of next?

No matter what else there is in our lives that needs to be removed, we know God will use it to draw us closer to Him. With every item that has been stripped away, we've sensed the voice of God asking us, "Where do you find your joy? Was it in that thing or in me?"

We are starting to see how many things in our lives have become idols - the things we run to or lean on for our joy, comfort and peace. We can now see how our identity has become wrapped up in the things we have, or the things we can do, or the positions we hold.

God has been asking us, "Who do you think you are? Are you a graphic designer or my child? Are you a white American or my disciple? Are you comforted by the things of this world or only by me?"

As we say goodbye to more and more things, we are realizing that we have nowhere to turn but to our Heavenly Father. He truly is all we need! 

When our clothes get stolen we can shrug our shoulders and say, "We still  have Jesus!"

When we see ants crawling across our dining room table, hoping to find a crumb from our plates we can smile and say, "Thank you, God, for this food."

When the power goes out and our ceiling fans stop moving we can pray, "Heavenly Father, please keep us cool tonight."

And when misunderstandings happen because we can't fully understand the language or the culture we can trust God to give us every word we need to fulfill His purposes.

So, what about you? Do you have idols that have replaced your Heavenly Father? If so, you can get rid of them now ... or you can wait until He does it for you!

Lessons from Life in the DR

We are approaching the end of our fourth week in the Dominican Republic and, needless to say, we have been learning a lot. These early days have been full of new experiences, new sights, new sounds, new food and new relationships.

Here are a few of the most significant lessons we’ve learned:

SLOW DOWN

We are no longer living in an instant culture like we were in the United States. Supplies, materials, tools, certain foods and resources aren’t as readily available here. It probably sounds worse than it is because the people here are used to it. They don’t get stressed or angry when they can’t have what they want right now. I’m sure there are exceptions, but for the most part it is just accepted that some things are going to take some time to get accomplished.

REDUCE/REUSE/RECYCLE

This is not something most visitors to the DR will probably notice, but establishing a home here makes you realize the importance of reducing your waste, reusing what you can and recycling/repurposing as much as possible. Pastor Quina is a master at using things most people would consider trash to create beautiful crafts. We have been using empty plastic containers (like pop bottles) to store water or juice. During our short-term visits here we thought nothing of using disposable plastic cups whenever we got thirsty, but now we see how much plastic gets tossed in the trash so we try to use real cups when we’re home. Another reason to be conservative is because some things are very expensive here and so it just makes good sense to make those things last as long as possible!

REST

Most of you are probably aware of the term “siesta” and understand that it refers to a time of rest in the afternoon. In the DR the term “mediodia” refers to a two-hour period of time in the early afternoon when most businesses close and most people retreat to a shady spot to eat lunch and rest during the hottest part of the day. With our American culture lenses this can look kind of lazy at first. But when we realized that those businesses make up for the two hours of rest by staying open later, our minds were changed. Also, experiencing the midday heat here makes it easy to understand why this culture appreciates the time of rest, shade and refreshment.

WORSHIP

“Si Dios quiere.” (If God desires it.)

“Gracias a Dios.” (Thanks to God.)

“Gloria a Dios.” (Glory to God.)

“Dios te bendiga.” (God bless you.)

Those are a few of the phrases we hear every day in the course of normal conversations. The commonality of those phrases illustrates how deeply the worship of God is ingrained in every part of Dominican life. Sure, we use some of these phrases too, but they aren’t nearly as common in the US as they are here. Oftentimes we use the word worship only when we’re referring to singing songs of praise, but seeing and hearing people worship in every part of life here has been an eye opener to us!

THE VALUE OF QUIET & THE VALUE OF LOUD

Urban/suburban life in the Dominican Republic is LOUD! Whether it’s noisy motorcycles buzzing past, extremely loud music coming out of cars and homes or loud animals, this place is rarely quiet. Living in a building with an open-air front room and a metal roof doesn’t help insulate us from the noise. We have come to appreciate the quiet times we get – sometimes early in the morning or late at night we get a reprieve from the noise. But we’ve also come to appreciate some loud things here. For example, we go to church services four times a week and there is always LOUD times of singing praise to God. If there’s a band the music is really loud. If there’s no band, then everyone sings really loud. Especially during the services with no band, we enjoy the sound of people lifting their voices to their Heavenly Father.

What does our mission look like?

We have been living in the Dominican Republic for almost two weeks now but it feels like so much longer. That probably sounds really negative, but we mean it in a good way. It feels like we’ve done more and seen more than what is possible in just two weeks.

We have church services four times a week. We visit a school on Tuesday mornings. We help with basketball practice twice a week and we teach an English class Wednesday nights. Add in random ministry opportunities that come up and it makes for a pretty busy schedule!

That busyness, combined with the heat, can be pretty tiring. But God has been faithful to sustain us and give us energy to do it all and be ready to do it again the next day!

Here’s what some of our ministry opportunities look like:

Tuesday Morning Visits to the School:

First of all, this school is called a colegio, which is pretty confusing because the word looks like college, but it’s a school for elementary and junior high students. It’s a private school and the owners are Christians. We had the chance to be part of a special prayer service at the school the night before the first day of school. We’ve since visited twice on Tuesday mornings. The owners asked us to play sports with the students and have also encouraged us to share messages about Jesus with them.

The playground has a volleyball net so we’ve been playing volleyball with the students. On our last visit we tried to teach them how to spike a volleyball. The youth we brought with us also organized a really fun game and then we split the students into age groups for a time of sharing about Jesus.

Hanah’s highlight: Playing volleyball and spending time with the cute little kids.

David’s highlight: Playing ball with the students.

Katie’s highlight: Seeing familiar faces when we return to the school or when we see the students around town.

Dan’s highlight: Listening to the youth from our church share the love of Jesus with the students.

Helping With Basketball Practice:

There are two places in our town where you can regularly find kids playing basketball. One is the cancha, which is an outdoor court at the park. Usually you only find kids there in the late afternoon and evening because it’s so hot during the day. The other place is called the multiuso. It’s a covered gym where you can almost always find kids playing. There is a man in our town named Victor Rojas who has dedicated his life to using basketball as a way to teach kids about respect, hard work, discipline, sharing and teamwork. His mission is to raise men who will become good citizens, good husbands and good fathers.

Victor is so passionate about what he does and has welcomed us with open arms. In the past few years, Bethel College has sent basketball teams to our town and Victor has been deeply touched by their visits. Seeing people invest time and energy in the mission that he’s dedicated his life to has been a huge blessing for Victor.

Our role in Victor’s work is simple: Come to the court, help him in whatever way we can and share messages of God’s love with the boys (and some girls too). We believe Victor is Catholic and he believes in God. We’re also praying that he will surrender his life to Jesus.

Dan has had the chance to help Victor with teaching basketball skills to the boys as well as sharing messages with them. The rest of our family and the youth from our church are also participating and spending time with the boys.

This is one of our greatest opportunities during our time here because:

• Pastor Quina is a believer in what Victor is doing. She wants us to spend time with him and help make the Gospel a bigger part of his work.
• Victor is a very influential figure in our town. All the boys and young men who spend time with him respect him deeply and he needs help! He works with more than 100 boys and young men – sometimes all at one time – by himself.
• This town is crazy about basketball and Victor’s work at the Multiuso is the center of basketball activity here. His openness to our message is amazing.
• The Bethel basketball team is returning next summer to spend time with the boys and so we can help Victor prepare for their visit.

As we’ve taken part in these ministry opportunities, we’ve learned a lot from the people we’ve spent time with. We’ll share some of the lessons we’ve learned in our next post!