Missions Blog

 

• You, our faithful supporters and prayer warriors. Your prayers, notes, texts, and emails were of great encouragement to us. 
• The generosity of our financial partners to provide a way for our team to travel, stay in safe accommodations, and bring the supplies that were needed for the school and the community projects we would be doing
• The generosity of those who donated supplies. Supplies such as Play-Doh, paper items, and toiletries would "just appear" in The Bible Chapel's preschool resource room. It was like Christmas morning again and again as unexpected gifts would be waiting on the table for the team to take.
• Team unity, giftedness, and cohesiveness. This team was a collection of different talents, skills, and people whom some of us were meeting for the first time, but all with the same mission. God brought us together, and together we saw His plan and carried out His purposes.
• Protection, safety, and health of the team.
• There were illnesses, physical pain, snow, rain...and yet none of them ceased the work that the Lord set forth for us to accomplish. Illness came during hours when we weren't at the school. Pain was met with times of preplanned rest periods. Snow and rain never halted our time with the kids and people we went to minister to. Uncertainties and doubts were met with encouragement and timely answers. 
• Praise God for healing one of our team members from a throat infection.  It started with inflamed tonsils and could have worsened, but God took care of it.    
• Driving to the Pgh airport on January 17th, we were met with snow and unfavorable road conditions, but we all arrived safely, and our flight remained as scheduled. 
• On the way back to Pgh, we flew home two days early and ahead of the snowstorm that Pgh received on Sunday. We did not miss out on any of our scheduled workdays in the school or local community. Our original flights for Sunday ended up being cancelled so had we have kept them we may still be in the Dominican Republic today and needing to spend monies on washing laundry, buying more supplies, and paying for accommodations. 
• The lives touched and impacted through the preschool and after-school programs. The children saw that Christians from another country love them dearly. They got to hear of our good God straight from His Word and be challenged and encouraged to see how His Truth is relevant in their lives. Through their answers and responses to the practical application questions and reflective time, we saw fruit.  
• The opportunity to minister to underprivileged Haitian children. We could see how God used connections between His people to lead us to a community that needed our tangible help and the hope of the Gospel.
• The opportunity to encourage Robin and Hember, the leaders of King's Kids. The Lord designed the Body of Christ, His Church, and He calls us to pray for one another, spur one another on toward love and good deeds, rejoice with one another, mourn with one another, and encourage one another to persevere in living out our salvation in Jesus. We are thankful to have been able to do this for Robin and Hember. 
• Our team has been encouraged and grown in our personal walks with Jesus Christ. We left the Dominican Republic with new friends in Christ. We carry the reminder that obedience doesn't need to know all the next steps, but to stay in step with the Lord. 

  

• The Lord's clear guidance of the land purchase Robin and Hember are considering, and their future school plans
• For the Lord's strength and peace to sustain them and encourage them to persevere
• For them to feel and see the prayers, support, and fellowship of the Body of Christ 
• For the children to be confident in the Lord's truth and follow hard after Him
• For the children and families to see the Lord's hand of protection and love for them

Yesterday (Thursday) was filled with so many special moments. Our Bible lesson was on Jonah. We worked hard to develop the components of each day’s lesson for God’s truth to be clearly communicated. We prepared most parts of the lessons prior to arriving in the D.R., but we added and adapted throughout the week as we better understood the learning styles of the kids. Incorporating a painted whale by Deb as a visual and interactive tool was one of those additions. Our team pivoted together to accomplish the mission well.

  

After reading through the scriptures with the children, a child got to act as Jonah and get swallowed up, then spit back out by the whale! Then the kids played a game similar to “Simon says” to reinforce the importance of listening and obeying the Lord. The preschoolers made a whale to take home with a paper plate and paint, and worked on their counting with a numerical worksheet highlighting characters from Jonah’s story. The older students made bracelets and keychains with beads. When the children repeated the Bible verses, answered the review questions, had giggles and applause at the appropriate moments during the lessons, our hearts swelled in boastful praise of our Lord!

  

On Thursday, Dilo and Kevin completed the church painting project and even painted the home next door, too!

Weaved into the day was a lot of prayer over our travels back to Pittsburgh, given the predicted snowfall to come. Should we keep with our original flights on Sunday, switch to Saturday, switch to Monday…left to our own thoughts and concerns, we didn’t know, but we trusted that the Lord would guide us. Together we bowed our heads, humbled our hearts, and sought the Lord for His clear direction and guidance. Saturday flights out of the D.R. filled so quickly that there was no availability for our team. Then the forecast changed and showed snowfalls beginning on Saturday afternoon in Pgh, so that option likely would not have worked anyway! Praise God for that closed door! The Monday option soon closed too, and we all agreed that keeping our Sunday flights was not preferred. We prayed. We waited as conversations were had between the airline company and our trip coordinators in Pgh. And here we are flying home today (Friday), a day we had never even considered.

  
Surrendered.
Prayerful.
Trusting.
We could do all those things with a steady heart because just like we taught the kids this week, we know:
The Lord is faithful.
The Lord is our protector.
He is a promise keeper.
He is bigger than our giants.
He is mighty to save.

Thank you for following along on our journey, lifting us in prayer, and supporting this mission. Check back for one more blog entry to praise the Lord with us, as we will list out the many ways God’s provision was seen and felt!

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
‭‭Joshua‬ ‭1‬:9

  

We experienced substantial downfalls of rain yesterday (Wednesday), but the sun was shining while we visited with residents of a local village and painted two homes. During our time in the village, we gifted the women with cosmetic bags filled with brushes, lip balm, toiletries, and bookmarks with scripture. The children were excited to receive bubbles, bracelets, cookies, and pretzels. As soon as we were indoors for lunch, the downpours came again! We praised God for the few hours of sunshine to complete the work and fellowship we had planned to do!

After lunch, there was another short break in the rain. We got to visit a plot of land where The King’s Kids leaders dream of building a future school with multiple classrooms. They covet your prayers as they seek the Lord’s provision and discern His will.

Today (Thursday) is our final day of assisting with preschool and the after-school tutoring program. Please pray that the Bible lesson and truths about our great Lord would take root in the hearts of the children and that they would be confident that the Lord who made the sun, seas, and stars wonderfully made each one of them with a plan and purpose for their life.

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭145‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Monday meant school was in session! The ladies on our team spent the morning assisting the preschool class, while the men painted the outside of the church where the school is held. The lessons and activities that our team prepared were integrated into the preschoolers’ regular class structure. The kids listened intently as the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den was read to them and how the Lord protected Daniel.

   

After story time, the children rotated through different centers where the lesson was reinforced through snack and a craft. What powerful truths the preschoolers learned today. The Lord is mighty! He is our protector! 

The afternoon was spent with students ranging in age from preschool through teenage years. This time at King’s Kids takes place following regular school hours. Kids come for tutoring and afterschool programming, including mentoring, Bible lessons, and a safe place for friendships to grow, rooted in Christ. The children enjoyed rotating through different stations that included time in the front yard playing a variety of sports, a Bible lesson on Noah, a snack, and an art station where the kids painted.

We thank our Lord for the relationships we are building and pray for the children’s hearts that they will trust and grow in relationship with the Lord. As the kids learned today, God is our protector, and He is faithful to keep His promises!

Our team ended our day around the dinner table at a local pizza restaurant, where we enjoyed being part of the local culture and reflecting on our day. On Tuesday morning, we will arise to roosters crowing and ready to teach the kids about David, a young shepherd boy who defeated the Philistine giant because of God’s power and protection.

Prayer needs for today (Tuesday):
For all of the kids who came yesterday to return today, and to tell others to come too!
For energy and good health to be our best
For our hearts, attitudes, and plans to be surrendered to God’s good will