Dominican Republic Encouragement Retreat 2010

Several ladies went to witness to prostitutes on the street last night. They shared with at least 20. All were interested but not willing give up their lifestyle right now. Most are supporting their family. Pray that they will trust God to provide another way for them.  This was life-changing for all those who participated.

Friday, March 12
We are at the airport in Santo Domingo ready to board for flight home. We had lunch with one of the missionaries at her home. She lives at the new SCORE Sports Complex which is awesome.  The Cardinals, Giants and other teams have fields which join them.  I'm sure you baseball fans would love this. It was very impressive complex. Its been a great but short week.  Looking forward to being home.

If you ever feel led to go on a mission trip but wonder what you could do God will always provide an opportunity for you to minister. I wasn't sure what I would do. I'm not a gifted speaker like Sheri or Margaret. I can't cut hair like Diana but God allowed me to wash their beautiful feet and give them pedicures and foot massages which I felt was nothing but several said they were really blessed by it. I had never even done it before but God allowed me to serve in that way.  Of course there are many ways to minister without leaving the country as well.  Ask God for an opportunity and He will give it to you and you will be blessed as you bless others in the nombre of Jesus Cristos.

Adios Amigos

Thursday, March 11
Up at 5:30, catch the  bus to SCORE at 7:15, conference begins at 8:30.  This was our last day of the ladies conference for the missionary ladies at SCORE.  Margaret led 2 more sessions on God's Call and Sheri Edwards let 2 more sessions.  Both did a wonderful job.  We also had times of fellowship and sharing as we discussed topics at our tables and as a group.  These ladies are so beautiful and precious.  It is our pleasure to minister to them but I think they minister more to us. 

 It is also exciting to be at the SCORE complex and see all the groups coming and going and hear a little of what is going on.  We talked with a group of medical students from Pennsylvania who ministered and shared Christ in a prison today.  Another group returned from ministering in Haiti since Saturday.  Other groups went to villages, nursing homes, orphanages. hospitals.  It is so exciting to see so many people who love God and are willing to share His love even in difficult circumstances.

The conference ended about 3pm.  After setting up the room for a service tonight we had some free time so we went for a walk on the beach.  We walked down to El Sueno's for ice cream but they were closed so Julie, no ice cream.  One of the workers was in here so Sheri tried to communicate with her and ask if she would sell us ice cream even though they were closed.  Well, we ended up with one cup of milk in ice with a straw.  I guess it was not meant to be.

Tonight for dinner we had an Argentine BBQ prepared by Aubie & Gladys Prado who are missionaries here.  They usually use this to raise money for their church planting ministry but tonight the proceeds went to help pay for the burial of a pastor friend from Costa Rica who passed away yesterday at age 42.  Please pray for this family.  It was a wonderful meal served outside under a pavilion.  We were served green salad, potato salad, several types of bbq meat, bread and dessert.  The waiters and waitresses were young people from DR who serve God in the church planting ministry.  Several shared their testimony with us.  It was a heart warming experience.

We said our goodbyes to most of the ladies today since we are staying at the Embassy instead of the SCORE complex.  Before we left for the night, Erica said they could use three volunteers to go with them to witness to prostitutes in the streets at 9:30-11:30pm.  After discussing it among our group it was decided that Diana McCay, Melanie Smith and Melea Hames would go.  They haved just left so pray that they will be safe as they share Christ with those girls.

I know this is just highlights of our day but by the time we get back to our hotel I just can't seem to put my thoughts into words. 

God is good.  We have all been blessed and pray that we have been a blessing as well.  We serve an awesome God! 

Tomorrow we will be picked up here around 10-11am.  Jenny, one of the missionaries is having us over to her new home for lunch and then we will go to the airport.  She has a home at the new Sports Complex since her husband is the director of SCORE and of the Sports Complex as well.  We are scheduled to arrive back to Huntsville at 8:20pm.  The flight is overbooked but we all have seat assignments so we should be ok.  Please pray that the LORD will be with us as we travel.

I may not have another opportunity to write but thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for this week. 

Blessings,
kathy

Wednesday, March 10
We had breakfast at the hotel and were to be on the bus to go to the SCORE complex but a few of our group were late (everyone but me) but that is ok. They were on Dominican time I guess which is more laid back. We began our actual women’s conference for the missionary ladies today at 8:30 (well I guess they are on Dominican time too because I think we actually began around 9am). We had opening comments and prayer by Margaret, ice breaker by Melanie Smith, season of prayer led by me and Linda followed by our main speaker for the week, Sheri Edwards. Sheri is a former missionary to Brazil and shares a lot of those stories through her study. She is sharing this week on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle your life. She is an excellent speaker and God is really using her to speak to all of us. After a short break and delicious snacks and coffee “café” Margaret brought a lesson on God’s call on our lives. We had discussion times at our tables following this lesson.
We went downstairs to the SCORE dining room for spaghetti and salad lunch. After lunch Diana did haircuts and some of us did pedicures and foot massages for the ladies. They are all even more beautiful now after their cute haircuts.
Last night Jenny got a van and drove us to the beach area and we enjoyed some time seeing God’s beautiful creation. We all love the beach. We then went to dinner to El Sueno and most of the missionary ladies joined us for this treat. This is a wonderful Italian Ristorante on the beach, well just across from the beach. Our food was delicious and we were all set for their homemade ice cream for dessert. However, a large medical team had arrived just before us and had eaten all the ice cream. They have wonderful ice cream with beautiful presentation, like the pineapple ice cream comes in a half pineapple and the vanilla bean comes in some type of large bean, the coconut in a coconut shell (you get the picture). We may go down tomorrow and try again just for the ice cream.
We arrived back at the hotel around 9pm. It was a really good day of fellowship and study of God’s Word and fun.

Blessings,
kathy

Tuesday, March 9
We started the day with a wonderful buffet breakfast here at Embassy Suites and had good fellowship with the missionary ladies here until noon.  We then went to the SCORE complex for lunch.  This afternoon we went out to Los Montenes to a church for a ladies meeting.  This was the first ladies meeting since the church was started.  Very nice building that was built by a team from the states.  The English name is Parkway Baptist Church.  This is kind of funny because “where is the parkway?”  I guess it took about 40 minutes to get there.  We started on a nice road then went for many miles on a very narrow paved road and then drove at least 20 minutes on a dirt road to get to Parkway Baptist Church.  We had a wonderful time of worship with the village ladies with singing, ice breakers, message by Sheri Edwards and then a craft.  They loved the simple little craft of making a bookmark and writing a scripture on it.  Sheri had shared a message on the true light of Jesus Christ.  Being a former missionary in Brazil she used the example of putting a light in her window at night to keep the bats out.  The bats would come in at night and bite her children as they slept.  The village people told her how to solve the problem by putting a light in the window and the bats (darkness) would not come to the light.  Two ladies accepted Christ at the meeting.  PTL.
Last night we had worship with everyone at the complex.  Sarah Liborio shared her testimony.  All I can say is “Wow”.  God really used her.  She returned to the mission field one month after Hugo, her husband passed away.  She has two small children and is traveling today to El Salvador for a memorial service for her husband.  Please pray as she travels to meet her family and Hugo’s family today.  I think 3 were saved last night in the service.  Kiko preached the message and Ryan interpreted for him.  Both did an awesome job.  Gladys and Aubie's son led the worship and did great as well.

Monday, March 8
Margaret Morris, Linda Burns, Diana McCay and I traveled today to the Dominican Republic along with Melanie Smith, Beth Abels and Melea Hames from LifePoint.  Sherrie Edwards, a former missionary to Brazil now living in West Virginia joined our group in Atlanta.  Sherrie is the main speaker for the week for the missionary ladies retreat we are providing for missionaries here in the D.R.  I would not say that our trip was totally uneventful but we were blessed and made the trip fine.  The drama began in Huntsville when Melea (first time out of the country) was called back to the ticket counter because her suitcase had come apart.  She barely made it back to the gate in time to board the plane.  Then in Atlanta Beth’s backpack got caught in the train door but after much tugging was retrieved.  We lost Linda briefly in Atlanta but she finally did make it to the gate just in time to board the plane. 
Once airborne in Atlanta it is really only about 2.5 hours flying time to Santo Domingo.  The time here is 2 hrs ahead of Decatur now and will be only 1 hr ahead when time changes next week.  We were met at the airport by Nate Jude who brought us to the Embassy Suites in Juan Dolio which will be our home until we leave on Friday.  Normally we stay at the SCORE complex but they did not have room to accommodate us this time.  They are having a lot of groups coming here to go to Haiti.  The SCORE missionary ladies met us here and we provided for them to stay the night here with us.  This is a treat for them.
Last night we ordered pizza for everyone and enjoyed a time of fellowship in a conference room area that the hotel provided.  Following dinner we had time of getting acquainted, fellowship, worship, prayer and Bible Study.  We had a wonderful time together, 12 missionaries and 8 of us.  We laughed and cried together.  Sarah Loborio joined us with her sweet little baby, Layla who is only a few months old.  She also has a 2-yr old Matias.  Sarah’s husband, Hugo, died suddenly of an aneurysm when they were home in Kansas for the birth of Layla and for the holidays.  Sarah has returned because God has called her to be a missionary so she is carrying on and waiting for what God has in store for her.  Please pray for Sarah and the children and for Hugo’s family.  Sarah is from Kansas but Hugo was from El Salvadore.  She is leaving tomorrow with the children to visit his family and take Hugo’s ashes to El Salvadore.  He was only 28 years old.
Tuesday we will be ministering in one of the villages and then start our conference on Wednesday through Thursday.