FCA Dominican Republic: A New Year

Some of my favorite times are when we just laugh and have fun after Bible study.  Every Tuesday at 2pm we usually have about 15-20 young men from 14-19 years old.

This is a very special picture to us.  Our two Dominican Pastors are on the left and our USA Pastor is on the right.  Omar, Craig and Tito.  We love them all.  They are servants.

Here is Tito leading the Thursday morning Bible study of about 35 young men.  He always starts with Praise and Worship.  I love that about him.

Marcus from The Bridge Church in Lawrenceville (our church) is helping Amandi with his English lesson on Rosetta Stone.  There is nothing funnier than hearing a man repeat the audio speaker by saying, "I am a girl."

Tito and Marcus giving testimonies in front of Team Cedeno at the Avenida.  They spoke about a man's role in the community.  It was so cool to hear them talk about what it means to be a Dad.  I reaffirmed my commitment to Jodi after in front of everyone.  It was really cool.

Jake Alexander from North Carolina Wesleyan playing Peek a chu with the kids on the street.  The boys from UNC Wesleyan really did a great job of loving on the kids in each village.

Our first service in our new church.  La Iglesia de la Gracia (Grace Church).  I love waking up Sunday mornings and praising Jesus with these people.  No rock band, no million dollar building, no air condition, just true praise, worship and study. 

Joel the umpire did a great job.  He spent the whole week with us and the North carolina Wesleyan group.  He may be just a teenager, but he knows the game and loves to serve.  He told me he would much rather preach, disciple and serve in the community.  I told him he is and he doesn't even know it.

UNC Wesleyan.  Kyle Bradley is a great man and disciple of Jesus Christ.  He is a missionary in Santiago, DR with Go Ministries.  He brought this group to Boca Chica and allowed me to be a part of it.  Thank you, Kyle.  You are a good friend.

Ariel and Yeurelin studying a little English.  We are 5 strong right now in our classes.  We have class Wednesdays and Friday from 2-5pm.  They spend about an hour and a half on Rosetta Stone and the rest I stand up in front and teach.  It is fun!

How cool is this picture.  That is FCA Boca Chica All Stars playing in San Pedro against a Christian All-star team there.  Meeting God in Baseball set up a tournament with teams from Santo Domingo, Boca Chica, San Pedro, Hato Mayor and La Romana.  All the teams are coached by disciples and the players are part of a Bible study program. 

Funny picture of the month.  Jodi had to get on the table to take a head shot of Miguel.  He is 6'8" or taller.  He is trying to get a visa in order to come with us to Atlanta in December/January.  Please pray for him.  He will be at the Embassy interview November 8th.

This was a small house.  It is now the design for a future house for the Perez family (Yeurelin) that is over twice the size of the older one.  I am so grateful to have such amazing donors that step up every time we ask for help. 

One of the most exciting things we are doing right now is our discipleship program.  Every Thursday morning we meet at our apartment.  We are using the BILD program from the United States and Jorge Safren from Meeting God in Baseball is leading the program.  We have had two weeks already and it has been a huge blessing.  Thank you MGB and Jorge.

The brain trust.  Craig, Joe Garcia and Randy Saxon leading our meeting to build Yeurelin's home. 

One of the young men that comes to Bible Study, Abel, had his 15th Birthday party at the Francos apartment.  The Francos have taken Abel under their wing for the past 8 months.  It was a lot of fun and the cake was great too.

This was a coaches Bible study on a Thursday night.  Bob Wiedemann and Brent Slade attended and that was really cool to have them there.  Also in attendance was JoJo Catrini, a former student of mine that came down to serve for a week.  JoJo is a marine officer (grad of the Naval Academy) and had 3 weeks off and decided that coming to the Dominican to serve was important.  How cool is that.  That is the American Soldier who loves Jesus!