As I sit here in the Spirit Airlines terminal at Ft. Lauderdale, a stop in my return flight home from Puerto Plata, I am reminded of my playing days. If you have ever played a sport, you know that the worst days of practice the entire year are those just before the season starts. You and teammates have spent weeks or months going through difficult drills, sweating, bleeding, learning plays, beating on each other – tempers flaring up at times. You cannot wait to get to the first game and actually doing what it is you have prepared to do for so long.
This is exactly the feeling I have right now. It seems that for a couple of years our family has been preparing for that which God called us to. We even got to taste the season – only to seemingly have our first game rained out. Today we are trying to wait patiently on the Lord. We know that our call is like that of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 – “He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” We have seen God do some tremendous things this fall and bring such a great team together to do ministry in the DR. We have had our planning meetings, poured through budgets, the Lord has continued to sharpen us in the area of Orphan Care and developed our model for bringing love and hope and a future to the children that will be entrusted to us and now we are ready!
The last piece to come together is the financial piece. As I write this today, we are in need of $1150/month in our family’s budget. We also need $28k to get established there as a family again – this would cover tickets, a car, and our rent until the new missions house is complete. Alliance 29:11 DR is also in need of funds for the project as a whole. We are hoping to build a village of orphan care facilities, as well as, a community impact center on a couple of plots of land totaling 9.5 acres. These pieces of land are centrally located in Puerto Plata and give us tremendous opportunity to impact the entire city. We cannot go without God placing these needs on the hearts of his people and the obedient response of those He leads to act. Until then, we continue with pre-season.
Please pray for the arrival of these funds and God’s time to come. If our family’s resources came in we could leave immediately. If we were on the ground in Puerto Plata we would be able to continue to develop church/pastor relationships, train and recruit staff, launch community ministry through ESL programs teaching English classes, Hope International bank, teen discipleship programs, work closely with CONANI and our lawyer Mateo on compliance and philosophy of orphan care, and lastly, further relationship building in the community.
Brooke and the kids have begun their second semester of home school and are off to a really good start. Brooke is enjoying it, but appreciated the break. She is trying to sharpen her elementary grammar skills and is being challenged by teaching grammar. Please pray for her patience with herself in this area. She is doing a great job, but feels like she is struggling there. The kids are really growing up and taking responsibility for schoolwork. They are proud of their accomplishments and I am proud of teacher and students.
Please continue to pray for Alliance 29:11 and our family in these areas:
· Fundraising for our family
· Fundraising for Alliance 29:11 DR – land purchase $180K
· DR staff currently in place, and staff yet to be recruited
· A durable and inexpensive vehicle for our family in the DR
Another prayer request that I want to address separately has to do with the earthquake in Haiti. CONANI, Child Protective Services in the DR has asked for our help! They are asking us for 2 things, medicine and housing for Haitian Orphans. CONANI requesting our help shows great confidence in Alliance 29:11 and we would love to help care for the onslaught of orphaned Haitian kids to be arriving in the DR. But, we do not currently have the funding to return. Can you help? Please pray for our quick return or give as God leads.
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