Back in the Saddle

Early January found us meeting an evangelistic Hispanic pastor, who is starting a church just outside of Athens, GA.  As he shared his vision and burden for the Hispanic people of this area, God touched our hearts to begin praying for this ministry.  When Abel was asked who we were, he responded that we are music teachers and missionaries to Hispanic people.  Imagine our surprise when the pastor and his wife began telling us about their recent fasting and praying for someone who could teach music in their church!

We will begin official music classes at the church on February 10.  Please pray that God will use this to reach many for Him!

We left some of our personal instruments in the DR, due to lack of space, and so are offering music lessons of several types of instruments that we don't have in hand just now.  As long as students bring their own instruments, we can begin the class, but will eventually need a guitar, a trombone or trumpet, and a violin to make the most of our skills and the class time.  Please pray for the Lord's provision in this area -- either to bring some instruments back or find some of good quality in prices we can afford.

Aside from ministry, Abel is taking odd jobs to help support the family, but longs to fill his hours with music ministry and evangelism.  Rebecca is constantly busy -- homeschooling Johabelly and chasing after Matthew, who, at 11 months is walking, trying to run, and trying to climb over all the baby obstacles that are supposed to keep him somewhat confined to the living room.

Pictures soon! (I halfway promise)    

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

We are back in Georgia, where we will await the outcome of our application with the immigration department.  There is no way that we can know how much longer this will take, although we have recently been told that the process can go on for a few years.

To be perfectly clear, the door to our ministry in the Dominican Republic has been shut for the time being.  Our hearts are with the Dominican people, but circumstances require us to be here.  For now, we are going to assist in a Hispanic Baptist Church in Jefferson on Sunday mornings, but are seeking the Lord for His will in our lives.  We long to be involved in a permanent and effective evangelistic ministry with Hispanics, and have a vision for raising up a ministry that would reach the vast numbers of Latino people in the Athens area.        

We thank God for Rebecca's family, who lovingly opened their home for us when we arrived, and for the members of Crooked Creek Baptist, who welcomed us back with open arms.  Although baby Matthew loves all the attention he gets from his aunts and uncles, we would like to have our own place to live before too long.  Please pray for God's provision for our family.  Abel is looking for the way to financially sustain us, either through outside employment or music lessons.  We welcome any contacts that any of you might have.

You have been more than generous over the past three years with your financial support, and we are very grateful.  We feel that we cannot accept further support after the end of this year, as we are not currently on the field and have no plans of return in the near future.  We will let you know when we are able to take up missionary work again, and will update our blog from time to time.  We covet your prayers as we begin anew here in the U.S.  Please let us know if we can serve your church in any capacity, either in music or Hispanic ministry.  We are available for either single day or long term service.  

Thank you for your faithful prayers.  We hope you have a blessed Christmas season.

First Fruits

Hello from the Dominican Republic!

We have now been here for a month, and rejoice that there is already fruit from our labor; or, to be more specific, Abel's labor while I tended the baby. Much of our organized ministry will not begin until the school year starts, giving us time to get things here prepared, but Abel has been working hard with the vocal and instrumental group that leads the worship service at Quisqueyana Baptist. This octet plus piano, guitar, violins, and clarinet has a lot of talent, but the lack of a musically equipped director showed in their performance. A few Sundays later, and we are already seeing the difference. Although the children's ministry has not yet resumed, a group of excited children met Abel at the door of the church yard the Wednesday after English Camp ended.

Music isn't the only reason we're here, though; it's only a tool we use to give the Gospel. It's what opened the door for us to live in Juan Tomas, where we can be involved with the school children here. Apart from the school, there is a large Haitian population in the area to which God is opening the doors for outreach. This is truly a field that is “white unto harvest”, as shown by the recent salvation decisions made by Haitian workers on the dairy goat farm – one of which Abel was able to lead to Christ yesterday morning. We are happy to be serving the Lord here in the Dominican Republic.

A few prayer needs are:

• Wisdom and spiritual strength from the Lord for our family and ministry
• Continued provision, safety, & health
• Our housing: we are currently in a one-bedroom apartment that is simply not big enough for long term. We chose this to paying $300-$500 in monthly rent. There will possibly be a larger apartment available to Fountain of Life School for on of their teachers and family, and we have submitted our name for consideration (we understand there are others interested in this apartment as well). May the Lord's will be done, and no civil war started in Juan Tomas over this residence!! The decision will be made by the Logos Foundation (which owns the apartment) when it is completed in October.
• Internet: still few and far between!

On the lighter side, it is hot, humid, and sunny. I have started hanging the cloth diapers out to dry, although that usually ends by a rush to get almost-dry diapers in before a surprise rain shower gets past the first few drips. I am eyeing the diaper-drying area as a good place to put a potted garden of herbs, green beans, and lettuce (if I can manage to get something to serve as pots for free or a very reasonable price (like almost free). The hot, sweaty baby likes his cool baths. He is hoping to be able to get from Point A to Point B soon by himself without having to accomplish it through rolling over several times. He seems to have a smile for everybody here, and particularly for those whom he associates with his aunts and uncles that have mysteriously vanished and now live in the computer via Skype.

Until next time!

News from the DR!!!

We are in the Dominican Republic!

At this moment, the baby is sleeping sprawled out in front of the “air conditioning” (fans). This climate has done wonders for his sleep routine. There's something about the tropics that makes one want to sleep a bit more often (hence, the afternoon siesta). It is getting dark at 7:00 rather than 9:00 p.m., and the late-to-bed, late-to-rise baby is going to sleep and waking up at an earlier hour. Not to mention that the catnapping baby is taking some real naps. This is absolutely fine with me; I am taking any spare moment possible for unpacking, organizing, showering, and now updating.

A word about internet – The internet at the Bible Center of Juan Tomas is being replaced by a faster service. We have been several days with absolutely no internet at all, and as I type, I am writing by faith that the internet will be functioning sometime in the next few days.

We have been blessed with a dependable vehicle and are already giving it use. Abel is in and out, doing necessary trips to town in order for us to get settled in. We are planning for the fall semester, which begins in August, and plan to go ahead and get started with a class for children and youth at Iglesia Bautista Quisqueyana this week. Now that we have been here for couple of weeks and English Camp is over, we are ready to go!

Speaking of camp, there was a huge turnout. All of the cabins were packed, and the leaders and teachers were busy! The new members of the group were initiated into Dominican food – particularly the camp version. During the camp, they were served beans & rice, salami sandwiches, and of course, the infamous mangu. What would you do if you were given a plate with a greenish gooey glop on it? To be perfectly honest, it's a rare American that can stomach this version of boiled and mashed plantains. The team, however, all ate it or tried to eat it. It's too bad they had to be introduced to it in that particular recipe, as Abel makes a delicious mangu that just about anyone could eat. The spiritual food that week was absolutely wonderful and nourishing, as the team shared about living the Christ-life. We rejoice that four of the boys received Christ, and will be discipled by some of the Dominican Christian leaders.

Thank you for your support and prayers as we begin anew here.   

De La Cruz Disclosures

It's been quite a while since an update!  With our lives thrown out of their previous balance over the last couple of months, it's been a challenge to remember, much less accomplish, our routine activities!
Here are some highlights of the last couple of months:

February -- the focus of the whole month was preparing for the baby.  We had some nice baby showers, thanks to loving family and friends.  Ready for the baby with a week to spare, we decided to record a CD of hymns for meditation.  With a goal of 12 hymns, we managed to record 8 before the baby's arrival.

Matthew Jacob De La Cruz was born on February 26, active and strong.  We thank God for this special blessing in our lives.  He loves music, and is, of course, destined to be a musician!

March -- The month came and went without hearing anything definite about Abel's paperwork from our lawyer.  Please keep praying for this situation!  We are eager to return to the D.R., and begin again in the work there.  We have begun to come up with ideas for a local Baptist Hispanic ministry, and are praying for direction and that God would place this burden on the hearts of some of our church family as well.

And baby Matthew?  Well, the month of March went by in a blur.  It turns out that Matthew has been a "high maintenance" baby (but is anyone who knows us really surprised?), and so while Rebecca takes care of his need for lots of physical contact, Abel stands by for support, washes dishes, cleans house, washes cloth diapers, makes breakfast, supper, and sometimes lunch (our big meal), PLUS continues to work on music when he can sneak away.  That was March.

On April 1, Matthew had his baby dedication at Crooked Creek Baptist Church.  It is our desire that he grow up walking with the Lord.

Until the next time!  The baby is calling.....  

"Blessed be the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusteth in Him, and I am helped:therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him." (Psalm 28:6-7)

We praise God for a positive interview at the immigration office in Atlanta. The interviewing officer said that everything looks complete in the paperwork we turned in, and that the main holdup this year seems to have been due to a mistake by a government official who sent Abel's last name in for the routine background check as “Delacruz,” who does not exist with that spelling. Normally, we would not have even been called for an interview until the background check had been completed – meaning we could have been waiting for something that was never going to happen on it's own! We are informed that it could take 4-6 weeks to finish the process and receive our documents, but that everything has been approved. Meanwhile, our baby is due on February 22, so we have decided to stay here in Georgia through his birth. Lord willing, Abel will make a short trip to the Dominican Republic in March to prepare everything there for our arrival.

We recently visited the Hispanic church in which we served for several months last year, giving music classes and reaching out with the gospel. It was encouraging to see that they have continued with the music program, and are planning to possibly add another service time until they are able to obtain or build a larger sanctuary. Most importantly, we see those who were led to the Lord last spring and summer still faithful and growing spiritually.

We look forward to what God will do in the coming year and being a part of His great work by evangelism and discipleship through music ministry.

And finally......

WE HAVE SOME NEWS!!! After months and months (and more months) of waiting for an interview in the local immigration office, we finally received a letter stating that we are to appear for the interview on December 20 at 8:45 a.m. Interestingly enough, the letter was sent one day after our lawyer's office went to Atlanta to inquire about our case. During this week, we will be preparing for this interview. Please pray for us, as this will make a difference in our future and ministry. Specifically, pray for favor with the interviewing officer and wisdom as we respond to questions.

With the coming of the Christmas season, we have been extra busy. The previously empty calendar began to fill up rather quickly. We finished up our Christmas CD, and have had opportunities to play Christmas music at several churches, plus present the ministry for the first time to a church and several individuals. And just when we thought we were finished for the month and could concentrate on nothing more than the interview, we had a request to give a Christmas concert at a local chiropractor's office this coming week! We thank God for these opportunities to minister, and hope that our music and ministry has touched many hearts. We also thank God for the many individuals who have given to support our ministry out of love, and for some personal gifts that will cover any expenses associated with the interview.

In the Dominican Republic, our “home” church there will be having their Christmas program this Saturday. Although we are not able to be there, Abel has worked hard for the last few months on Christmas compositions for the choir and children's choir, which they will be singing as part of the program. In Juan Tomás, the students at Fountain of Life school are again decorating each classroom for Christmas. We pray that as they prepare their nativity scenes and other decorations that their hearts would be opened to the true reason for Christmas.

Thank you for your support and prayers. We pray for God's blessings on all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.