June 2014 Newsletter

The phone rings again. Another member of the Central Church wants to know how Judy is doing. Now responding by memory in Spanish, I explain that Judy has to keep her head down on the table while remaining still. Thankfully, however, the detached retina and cataract surgery was successful. The caller asks, “Did you ever consider going to the USA for the surgery?” “We never did,” I reply, “because we had confidence in the Dominican retina specialist here in Santiago.” I explain that our good friend from church, who is an optometrist, is energetically overseeing Judy’s post-op care and making sure that I take good care of her! The washer goes off. I put my hat and sunglasses on (tropical sun!) and climb the four flights of stairs to the roof to hang the wash on the line. I can hang wash with the best of them. (No brag, just fact.) Last year, I taught 3 young ladies who came on a workteam how to hang clothes on a line. They had NEVER done it before! Life for me took a startling turn March 3 after Judy’s retina surgery. Up to that point I had done very little in the house, even though Judy called my attention to it from time to time. But after Judy’s surgery, I had to do EVERYTHING: dishes, wash and hang clothes, clean house, dust, cook meals (although a LOT of people brought food), squeeze lemons, cut mangoes, and make coffee. It is an honor to serve Judy, and I continue to help with the domestic chores (by popular demand); however, it’s a relief that she has resumed her normal activities. We are grateful for the many phone calls and visits from concerned friends here, as well as the more than 300 Facebook and email messages from friends in the USA. Thank you for your prayers! The eye is healing well. Life’s difficulties not only teach me to be a servant, they make good sermon illustrations! At the Los Girasoles Haitian church, the family there laughed as I told them of my adventures in housekeeping. I preached through Romans 1-8, and used Judy’s surgery as an example of how God works out all things together for our good (8.28). I continue to mentor a couple of young Haitian men, while Judy just completed a study of the book of Ephesians with a group of women. The surgery has taught us to receive the help of God’s family, and look for opportunities to comfort others. One of the pastors’ wives came over several times to read the Word as Judy listened with her head down. Others came by to pray for us. One couple, both of which do not know Christ, came by; and we were able to share and connect with them because his wife suffers from a rare disease. We got to know that couple because of the apartment mortgage situation. We praise God that that has been totally resolved! Last year we paid off the last part of the builder’s mortgage in order to save the apartment from being taken by the bank. Through a series of God-ordained events, this June we received those funds in full. Again, thank you for praying! Our Tuesday night Bible school has 35 students who will complete the final course, Evangelism and Discipleship, this August. While renewing our resident visas with the Dominican government, God gave us the opportunity to put the course into practice. Standing in long, slow-moving lines, we made a new friend with whom we were able to share Christ. He is an outspoken atheist. Pray that God breaks hard, hard ground in this man’s life. Speaking of breaking ground, due to the training of new leadership through the Bible school, one church is starting a new outreach in Santiago’s north. The pastor of another church is planning to start a Bible study in a nearby town. Younger leaders will assume more responsibility in those churches. And the Central church small group ministry has four new weekly Bible studies led by qualified leaders. God is so good! We thank you for responding to His promptings to pray and provide for the on-going ministry here. It’s a joy to serve Him in Santiago…excuse me; I need to go wash dishes…isn’t it true that dirty dishes just seem to multiply!?!?