Christian Surfer Campout

Group Photo

Seth Jamming with a battery operated amp and a sweet epiphone

A Boa who decided to visit our campsite

Morning Devotion and Impromptu Worship

Another shot of the morning Devo

The Dominican Hippie Van/Surf Wagon

This past weekend, CS Dominican Republic held it’s Second National Camp-Out at Macao Beach in Punta Cana. They had over 100 registrants and even more visiting and participating through-out the weekend. The waves were pretty small but this gave us more time to fellowship. The whole camp gathered together Saturday night for a large worship service Seth and I assisted in leading worship several times throughout the weekend, there were tears by a few afterwards being touched by the Holy Spirit. Other events of the weekend included a Ding-Repair workshop by Eduardo Lara, and a Tandem Surf-Contest. (Two people on one board). We were able to bring some of our guys and gals from the Barahouco Surf Outreach and we also picked up a few in the Capitol on our way through. This was a great opportunity for those who do not yet know Christ to be exposed to the gospel as well as experience fellowship and worship. We were thrilled to be invited to participate with Surfistas Cristiana Republica Dominicana. We pray we will be able to take a group to Cabarete for the Surf  Competition in February.

Batey Central School

Brother Nathan making the School Uniforms

Serving Lunch: fresh banana, milk, and bread.

Children at Recess

School has started ! There are over 60 children attending school. We have 59 registered and 55 of those are sponsored through Children of Hope.The sponsorship helps these stateless children who otherwise would not be able to attend school. Watch Video for Children of Hope.We are developing a lunch program that will allow each child who attends the school to have a nutritious meal and to have a daily vitamin. We need to build a kitchen so we can cook a hot meal for the children. It is our desire to employ a local from the community when the kitchen is complete to make the food for the children each day. The school is part of a community development project that focuses on the spiritual needs of the community through a Biblical Based education and a holistic approach to the problems facing the community that are based in loving the people in the community as Jesus has taught us and to help them in a way that does not hurt them by providing things for them that they could provide for themselves. The approach is one that does not destroy the dignity of the person because the help they receive is not a handout but through carefully measured steps allows them to be trained and equipped to determine the needs of their community and to set goals on how to reach desired end results. Some of the ideas are outlined in the book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett You can get your copy of When Helping Hurts here.
We are working on the new school uniforms for the children of the school. The Uniform will consist of a blue pant and shirt for the boys and a skirt and shirt for the girls. We hope to get a new pair of shoes for each one of the children this year as well.
This week we will be picking up the new school chairs and tables! They have been on order from Disessa a manufacturing company in the Capitol. We will be sure to update with photos as soon as they are in the school, I visited the Christian School of Azua a school that is in partnership with Iglesia Cristiana de la Communidad one of our partnering churches from the Capitol. I met with Pastor Raul who guided me through the facility and shared with me how things have grown to what they are today. They have over 100 students and 8 full-time teachers as well as after-school programs and provide solid Biblical education as well as a hot lunch for the children. While we were there the school had donated 28 desks in need of minor repair to our school in the Batey. This will be a good winter project for us.
We are working on the rebuild of the well drilling rig so we can drill a well for the school in the Batey please pray for this project to move along quickly.
We also need to divide the classrooms and construct a wall around the school for security. Please pray for Wilkyns as he leads this school under the direction of the Holy Spirit and as we walk together in this ministry that we would be surrendered to the Holy Spirit. Please pray for more teachers!!! We need help here.

Prayer Requests-October

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Prayer Requests

1. Visas...We have our interview with the Immigration office on Friday October 19th. Please pray for God's favor we have all the paperwork turned in. Please pray for the funding that is needed to make final payment to our lawyer.
2. Continued good health for all...there have been several bugs going around the neighborhood God has kept us from them so far...
3. Pray we are a light to this community...pray God would continue to give us opportunity to share Jesus with the people who live here in this community. We hope to have the Youth Bible Study up and running again in the next few weeks, also the outreach to the Surfers in Baharouco as well.
4. Please pray for our transportation situation... we have been donated a van, and it has been a blessing... after the past two weeks we have had several hundred dollars worth of repairs and it is still not fixed, it may be the transmission :( please pray for God to lead here. The transportation has been vital to the work we do at the school, the outreach to Baharouco, not to mention this is how we travel to the capitol to get the visa work complete and the paperwork for the radio station.
5. Please pray for us to become fluent in Spanish. It is our desire to communicate effectively, we all have learned a great deal of Spanish but we need to be at the next level so please ask God to enlarge our Spanish vocabulary.
6. Please pray as we are waiting for School books for our children to be flown in, we need to get the homeschool running strong, we are behind so we need to double up on classroom time here. Please pray for God's mercy for our family in this area.
7. Pray as we have a team from First Baptist Essex coming in November and another Team in December to work on a house for Wilkyns.
8. Pray for a new transmitter for 102.3FM in Haiti
9. Pray for favor with INDOTEL on the licensing of the Radio Station here in Barahona.
10. Pray God would send laborers into His harvest field. We need help. Please ask God to send His workers.

People

Hi my name is Shalom Re'al Ruth Rineholt I am 11 years old. I live in the Dominican Republic with my family who are missionaries. We live in Alfa Barahona. I remember the first trip when we came to visit and then the second trip with our family is when we stayed to live here. Well that second time we came I met this girl, I was playing with my other friend and my sister Charis when we met Ivelis for the first time. She asked me um if I wanted to be her friend and I said YES and from that day on we are like sisters. When we were in the United States I really missed her like when I am here I really miss my friends in the United States. So one day when we were here about three weeks ago I called Ivelis to come over and sit with me. We were talking about stuff. She has really been through a lot. She was only seven when so many bad things happened to her. I told her that God loves her and she already knew that. I told her that Jesus loved her. And I asked her if she knew Jesus, like really, in her heart and she said "no". I asked her if she wanted to and she said "YES".

So we like prayed and stuff. And She asked Him. She asked Him into her heart. We were both so happy. I am really excited for her!

Love -shalom

Sharing Jesus with Prostitutes

So as we found ourselves stuck in the Capitol of the Dominican Republic for over 2 weeks while working on our Visas, we began to grow weary and anxious to be back in our town, Barahona, to get settled in and to get involved with the work we left 12 weeks before.Feeling somewhat helpless because the circumstances were beyond our control we then were able to exhale, and relaz that God has even this time in His hands we were then able to surrender it to Him. We had the privilege to meet and hang out with a godly young man, Albert who helped us with translating and getting us to where we needed to be. Albert invited us to his church one Sunday and told us about an outreach they had on Wednesday nights to the street workers-prostitutes of the Capitol. We were invited to go along and as the three young ladies (Jen being one of them) we (the men) stood guard and protected our ladies as they shared Jesus with the prostitutes. Jen was told there is a man who brings his 16 year old daughter and his wife to the corner and offers them for sale while he waits patiently in his car to collect the money from the evening. Jen noticed the emotions of the young ladies had been seared, and that the girls had the ability to no longer "feel" as you and I have feelings.One young lady (26 yr old) pregnant with her third child worked hard to wrap and mask the fact that she was "with child" so it would not hurt her nightly income. These ladies eyes have been darkened and they believe "there is no other way" to make money to live as they said to us. As Jen shared a story of hope, when Moses had the Red Sea before him and the Enemy behind him and it appeared that there was no other way, God MADE a Way through the situation and defeated the enemy in the process. We then went to the other side of town where there are different types of street workers. We met with Juan or Juanita as some of his clients know him as. We were faced with the reality of our own fears of talking to a transsexual. Please let me be very frank. By no means do we condone or support the lifestyle this person has chosen, but by just talking to him for a few minutes we were faced with the reality that he is a human. Jesus died for him. Jesus loves him. Please pray that God would convict them of there sin and they would seek Repentance and Reconciliation with Jesus.