Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Spring Update from The Rineholts

Missions Dominican Republic and Haiti

January 2012

The purpose of an email update here is not to make anyone think we are good people, or that we are doing something so spectacular and deserve credit, in fact we are only attempting to keep people updated
with things that are happening for accountability in ministry and for the edification to the body of Christ knowing that if there is ANYTHING good found here it is not of us, The Rineholts, but it is a work of God and He deserves all the credit, honor and glory. With that being said we would certainly be amiss if all that we ever shared were only the successes in Ministry without letting you know that we do not always hit a home run and by no means are we perfect. Sometimes it seems we go from one mishap to the next with the victories spotted throughout the trials.
At the beginning of the month we had a visit from Pastor Josh from MTVchurch and Pastor Al Wise. This trip would be used to help with planning for future short term mission teams to visit. During the visit Al made a comment of how much different it was to actually live here vs just visiting short term on a mission trip. With the flat tires, street wires providing electric to our house burning in two, water pipes to the house breaking so we would not have water, and to top things off with someone breaking in to the house climbing to our roof while we were asleep downstairs to steal all of our wireless transmitting Internet equipment from the top off our house (making it impossible for us to communicate) weren't enough, we had Seth our oldest son fighting infections in his feet due to ingrown toenails.
We had the pleasure of a few members of the team from St. Peters Church join the girls and Wilkyns at the school while they were visiting with a short term mission team with The Least of These Ministries only to have some of the personal items of the team members to be stolen at the school. As God had been faithful to provide for a guard at the school after the previous incident where Christina's motorcycle got stolen, we were soon faced with yet another unexpected thing where the security companies supervisor was attacked on his way to the school to drop off the shotgun for the guard on duty. The Supervisor was jumped by men and his gun was stolen and then he was shot in the legs. Thank God he is OK after a few months in the hospital. Then we were led to hire an off duty Police officer to guard the school. After hiring the new guard we were back in school on January 17th. Calvary Chapel of Delta had a team come to evangelize here on the mountain with In Calvary's Care Ministry and it was really good to see familiar American faces and to hear the good reports of many who gave their lives to Christ.
From time to time we are challenged even to the point of questioning the call of God in our lives, if this is a work of the flesh or of the Spirit, and I thank God for His faithfulness to speak through His word. During these difficult times He was faithful to lead me to scriptures like Isaiah 43:10 NKJV
“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.
I understand that..."He Is" and that ..."I am not"...nor could I ever be anything without His leading, His hand, His direction. So we pressed on in His name and by His strength.


February 2012

After the break in, and the other bad things that had passed through us, there was a deep temptation to allow fear to control our decisions. I was reminded that "We fear people because they can expose and humiliate us. We fear people because they can reject, ridicule, or despise us. We fear people because they can attack, oppress, or threaten us. These three reasons have one thing in common: they see people as 'bigger' (that is, more powerful and significant) than God, and, out of the fear that creates in us, we give other people the power and right to tell us what to feel, think, and do." ~Ed Welch
I had a renewed sense of God's presence and His comfort and hand of protection that allowed us to continue to hang in there. I was invited by Pastor Tim Dortch to go to Anse Pitre Haiti to help build a new house for a family there. While on that trip I saw the solar powered water project that is being used to supply safe drinking water for literally thousands in this community. I am praying we can replicate this project one day in Batey Central. Our family was invited to serve with Surfistas Cristiana Republica Dominicana (Christian Surfers DR) to be judges at a surf competition in Cabarete in the North Coast. A Doctor and his wife from the north sponsored the trip for my whole family to go and it ended up being a huge blessing for us as an opportunity to get away and refocus on the Lord at the same time as being able to serve at the competition. While on this trip God began to burden my heart for the Youth and the Surfers here just outside of Barahona in LaCienega/Bahuroco area. With one of the gifts given to me from Dustin Miller director of Surfistas Cristiana Republica Dominicana a movie called Walking on Water we were now armed with an opportunity to share Christ with these young folk. We visited for a couple weeks, we prayed for the people there, God gave me a new friend in Kirito a local surfer who is not yet a believer but is allowing God to use him by befriending our family and introducing us to all of the local surfers. With a little encouragement from Kirito we set a date for the premiere of Walking on Water the movie. We canvased the neighborhood a few days before the event to pass out invitations to the movie. The night of the movie finally came and we were blessed to have hundreds of youth show up for the movie. They sat attentively as they heard a redemptive story in their own tongue. The movie had a very clear simple explanation of the gospel. After the movie I gave an invitation for anyone that would be interested in attending a regular surfing/youth Bible study and I had over 30 come down to meet with me. We held our first Bible Study two weeks later and had 25 show up with over half of them praying to receive Christ. Please pray as we continue to minister in this area as well as we have been having a youth Bible study here in Casandra please pray for God's will for this work. Some of you may know that in America people generally fight over surf spots and waves, but here there are over 30 young men in the water and they are not only sharing the waves, but they are also sharing the boards! They only have 7 to go around for all thirty young men. Is is our hope that one day we will be able to have extra surfboards to teach others to surf with surf camps and use this as opportunities to reach others here in this area for Christ. This month we also had a visit from Eric Hanranhan who is a nurse and he was able to do check ups on all of he kids at the school as well as help me finish the roof and a few other construction related items at the school that had been on hold for the past few months as I have been recovering from my fall.(My ankle and my knee have been healing great Praise God)


March 2012

Sometime in February a credit card that was linked to our personal savings account was "skimmed". This is where thieves plant an intricate device at an ATM machine to capture the info and even the pin number you press in for your card. Jen noticed that we had several charges on the card that neither of us had done (somewhere in Illinois). So Jen planned a short two week trip back to the US in order to get the card straightened out so that the funds could possibly be returned by the bank. When Jen arrived in the US at BWI she realized there was something else physically wrong with her. Her face began to swell and she had severe pain. Jen went to the emergency department at the York Hospital where they kept her for the next 6 days. Jen had been bitten by a spider before she had left the DR and this had turned out to be MRSA. The two week trip turned into a three week trip due to her illness. We thank God that she was in the US for the care that she had needed and God has healed her and she is doing very well now. During March Pastor Julian Matthews of Greater Grace Church Cabo Rojo, Peurto Rico  had planned a trip with me to St. Marc Haiti to work on the 102.3 Radio Station and to attend to some administrative needs at the Maranatha Children of Grace Orphanage. Since this trip had already been planned and Pastor Julian had to take a Ferry from Peurto Rico to get to the Capitol here where I met him, I was reluctant to cancel the trip and prayed to ask my Heavenly Father for guidance and provision. Through His faithfulness the Truell Family missionaries to Polo offered to watch the children and oversee their home school while Seth, Pastor Julian and I would be in Haiti. As we journeyed to pass through the border at Mal passe/Jimani into Haiti we were met with opposition at the border, because the vehicle we were driving was registered in Peurto Rico but the Haitian Police refused to let us pass into Haiti. It began to get dark and we were literally stranded at the border. We had been checked out of the Dominican Republic and refused entrance into the Country of Haiti. Our passports were accepted but the vehicle was not passed through. I called a missionary friend Bill Jones with IFM missions in Jimani. Bill introduced me to Aaron Lavy the General Administrator at the mission in Fond Parisien, Haiti. Aaron offered for us to stay overnight at the mission base until we were able to get something worked out with the vehicle. I am always thankful and amazed at how our Lord provides the right people in the right place at the right time. Pastor Julian stayed with the vehicle at the border Police station and Seth and I headed in to Haiti to stay at the IFM Mennonite Mission Base for the evening. In the morning we had arranged for the vehicle to stay at a mission base on the Dominican side and also hired a vehicle from the Haitian base to take us the rest of the trip to St. Marc with all of the supplies for the children at the orphanage. When we got to the house of our friend Pastor Bill Cannon a missionary church planter in St. Marc. We carried in with us new equipment for the radio station in St. Marc. Ears To Hear Radio has provided a new computer and software, a new condenser Mic, a scissor mic stand, new headphones and a small temporary 5 watt transmitter. We worked hard for two days setting things up in the station and by God's grace we were able to get the station that had been off the air for over a year back on the air once again. Within a few minutes of broadcasting one of the young men from the station began to get messages on his phone from people asking if the station was back on the air because they had heard it on the radio! Please continue to pray, this station still needs to have a new transmitter which Galcom International has partnered with Ears To Hear Radio to provide. They are currently raising the needed funds to supply the new transmitter. This station will also need to have 6-10 new solar panels purchased and installed to ensure that the station has adequate power and so that the euipment will no longer be in danger of damage from the power spike from the inconsistent source coming from the street. I had been asked to help  with the setting in order of some of the issues at the orphanage in St. Marc as well and part of a team to help set in motion long term goals and sustainability in ministry for the work here. Please pray for the work Pastor Biil, Pastor Julian, Pastor Anous and myself are doing for the orphanage in St. Marc and that God would be honored through everything there in that place. There are many needs at the orphanage and a strong desire to see work done that will last, esecially in the spiritual lives of these children. Seth and I had to leave early from our planned two week trip in Haiti due to an outbreak of infection among my children staying back in Polo at the Truell's home. Seth and I headed in to Port au Prince along with Ebed "dodo" and Pastor Julian. The "tap tap" public transportation van we hired was involved in an accident in City Sole and we had to go to the police station. While at the police station in the streets out front a protest/riot broke out among the people protesting a recent murder of a radio personality and the police had the murder suspect in custoody. The people were chanting give him to us we will give him justice... it was a little scary to say the least especially when the police came out in riot gear and with tear gas.By God's grace no one was injured and we were able to leave the station in about an hour to continue on our journey to the border. When we arrived near the border we were told that the border was closed and had been for a couple of days. They were not letting anyone through. There had been ongoing disputes between the Haitians and the Dominicans and at the height of the termoil the Haitians in retaliation had stolen a flatbed tractor and trailer loaded with cement. They used the truck to block the road at a vulnerable spot and were not allowing anyone to pass through. I told the taxi man to drop us off and we would walk. Thats when I remembered the friends we met on the way in. Seth and I walked to the IFM mission base where they warmly welcomed us and we stayed there for a few days until we were able to make a run for the border. On Saturday morning we heard that they had let a few people go through so Shea (IFM Missionary)and I went to the road block to see if we could pass. I was able to crawl under the truck amd make my way toward the actual crossing which was still several miles away. When I reached the Haitian border patrol there was no one manning the posts. So I went on through to the Dominican side and got our passports stamped back in to the country. I then went back to the IFM base to get Seth and try to get us through with our bags. We finally made it through the border and just as we were to pass through we were stopped by the Dominican Customs police and he was not going to let us pass. He said I hadnt paid the exit fee, I showed him my receipt but he still wanted money from me. I refused to pay his bribe, so I went back to the customs office and while we were there shooting began to break out at the gate where Seth and I just were. We stayed back behind some metal containers and then were able to leave because the Customs police had left once the shooting began. God reminded me through Ebed that what we are working on in Haiti is taking back the air waves from the enemy, he reminded me how big this work is and how much the work is opposed by the enemy. He encouraged me to press on and continue and promised he would pray for my family continually.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

April 2012


I could by no means tell you all of the stories or tell you of all the people that God has used in our lives or brought into our paths here on the field. Likewise the people we have touched or the lives changed. I am so thankful that Jen is back and doing well, Seth had surgery on both of his toes and we have had a few bouts with infections, but God has brought healing. This month we hosted a missions team from Mt. Vernon Church who brought a team to do construction at the school. We were able to install a new water tank, a platform for it, new water pipes to the school and to the bathroom, the new toilet is now working, and a new security alarm system and a camera security system. The team built new steps to the door of the school as well as three new benches for the children to use during school and as Wilkyns teaches a Bible Study for the community on Sunday mornings. Jen and Christina have been faithful to continue teaching their little children at the school and everyone is happy to see the difference that is being made. I am amazed that just one year ago today there was an empty field filled with the dreams and vision from Wilkyns and now we have been able to see God build a facility for these children to have a place to be educated and to learn about the Lord. So much has happened in just one short year. To God be all the glory and praise!! As many of you know that I am always talking about how missions needs to be sustainable and if we as Americans are doing things right we will spend the time needed in making disciples and training up the local people to actually do the work even though many times it is way easier just to do things on your own than to take the effort and time that is needed to train the trainers. I thank God for Wilkyns and the heart God has given him for his community. As we invest time into building this project we are sowing into a work that could be generational. I am so blessed to work with him and I pray that God continues to grow our relationship together.
Right now we have been having some issues with our van. We had been given a 2003 VW Transporter 10 Passenger deisel 5 speed van for use for the ministry here from a partnering Dominican national church in Santo Domingo. Let me tell you it has been such a blessing and without it many of the things that we have been a part of over the past three months would have been impossible. With having a vehicle causes you to have vehicle problems. So I am thankful even for the problems! So Pastor Darren and I started out to the Capitol with his truck and our motorcycles in the back to find parts for my van and to help Nathan a Haitian minister relocate to the north when the engine in Pastor Darrens truck blew. Thank God we had the bikes with us. We were able to get Nathan on the right bus to go to Higuey and Pastor Darren and I began searching for the right parts to fix his truck and the parts for my van. As I write this we are still trying to get the parts needed to fix the van. I believe we may have found them in the Capitol. Please pray for God to continue to work out our transportatio problems. Last year we asked you to pray for a van and God provided! I am sking you to pray again, we could use one more so when the teams come we have adequate room to bring them in, and also the group of youth we are transporting to the Bible study has outgrown our current ride. Praise God the van we currently have is one of the best in fuel consumption and if its Gods will we would love to get one more of the same van.

I wanted to save some Good News for the end. This month we officially received our approval as an International Non-Governmental Organization. We have received our RNC# which allows our purchases here to be tax free(tax here is 16%) and the things we ship in to be exhonerated. This was the next needed step as well to proceed with our FM Radio License application. I have been working on this paperwork daily and at times I feel very overwhelmed but take comfort in the fact that this is His work and He will do what is needed in His way and in His timing! This work has been almost 2 years in the making and we are so happy to see this chapter close and the next one open!

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for us as we seek to be accurate representatives of Jesus here.
2. Pray for us to be led by His spirit and for God's favor in this work.
3. Pray that many come to know Jesus through the Bible studies and the daily relationships we have here in our community.
4. Pray for safety for Jen and Christina as they teach at the school.
5. Pray for Charis she has been seizure free for almost a year. Please pray that God would continue His healing in her.
6. Pray for Seth as he is praying about some big things in his life for his future.
7. Pray that our kids could finish well with home-school.
8. Pray for God's provision for the needed homeschool curriculum for next year.
9. Pray for our Spanish to get better.
10. Pray for these current and upcoming projects: Batey Central school, orphanage in Haiti, water in Batey Central, repair well drilling rig, ECHO agriculture, Haiti 102.3 FM, The Barahona Radio Station, and the medical work in Batey Central, INDOTEL communications project, Solar project for school, Solar project for Haiti 102.3, Solar project for The Barahona Radio Station.
11. Pray as we are seeking God's will for our families housing situation in light of security and cleaner water to reduce the risk of infections.
12. Please pray as we continue to thank God to provide for our family here on the field please pray for His provision to continue.
13. Pray God would provide for the airfare needed to fly back to the United States in June.

God Bless all of you. We are blown away by God's love that has been poured out to our family through you. This last year has been full of tragedy, trials, and also triumphs all of which have caused us to be more thankful that we are sealed by His Love. God in fact answers our prayers. Please Pray.

Lord Willing we will be back in the United States from June 18th, 2012 until September 15th, 2012. If you would like to schedule a missions update presentation during this time please contact me as soon as possible. We are happy to share with your church, youth, or home group. contact: shawnrineholt@yahoo.com or 809-223-7883

2 Corinthians 10:12-18  New King James Version (NKJV)

12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 13 We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; 15 not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, 16 to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment.
17 But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 18 For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.


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