The Timothy Project

Tomorrow I am heading to the capital to pick up John Swindler, youth minister at Lexington Baptist, and Chris, his youth intern. They are coming in to do some pre-trip planning for their group project Semana Santa (the week before Easter). Please pray for safe journey and wisdom in making plans.

I have the lemonade on order from Pilar, she and Mecho are coming Wednesday to cook for them and Thursday night we will have our now famous pork chop cook-out with Pastor Ramon. I threw that in to make you all jealous so you will come down to visit me too!

One thing I enjoy being a part of is the relationships between volunteers and Dominicans. It reminds of the treat we will have one day in heaven, worshipping and enjoying one the  presence of every tribe and tongue around the throne of God!

Wednesday evening John and Chris will be with us in The Hole for youth meeting and Thursday night in Villa de Yaque for our regular service there.  Keep this time in your prayers! And remember, I love to have people come to visit!

I wanted to share some news on things I have asked you to pray about and continue to put some urgent requests before for your support in prayer.

• I have asked for 6 people to express interest in attending the seminary that starts again next January. I have had 6 mention their interest! Please continue to pray for each of them and possibly others that God would call to be equipped for ministry. Pray also for the churches to have the vision and commitment to help with the cost of sending these folks to school.
• In the next coming weeks, we will be having a time of commitment for the next year, asking individuals to make a commitment to tithe and give offerings, to read their Bibles, to pray, and to share their faith. Please pray for this time, for goals to be established and commitments made.
• Please pray for two pastors to come forward- one for the Hole and one for Los Santos. Both of these minsitries would benefit greatly by having a pastor and I would be able to begin planting new churches!  One possible candidate preached today- pray if it is God’s will for him to become pastor, he will step forward in faith!
• December is a busy month but I hope to have at least one more training seminar here at the house before I leave for Christmas. Pray for the details to work out!

I must confess- this morning when the rain began to fall and the wind picked up, I was discouraged. We have had so much rain and given where we are ministering, it complicates everything. Mud. People don’t want to leave their homes for the cold.  To top it off, I knew two of our key leaders were going to be away this morning.  Although I was preparing myself for a small gathering, at least I was prepared to go despite the rain.

Well, we had the church full, the sun came out. Sol did an awesome job leading the  music. Miguel joined the church (he was already baptized in another church) and Orlando’s wife made a decision to accept Christ- the two of them should be baptized together very soon! What a day it turned out to be!

Unfortunately, it began to rain again just as it was time to have service in the Hole and we cancelled. It seems we are doing that too much (we have had a lot of rain). I am concerned about our struggling church there in the Hole. Please pray for wisdom and guidance as we seek to make some decisions that will lead to a vibrant church! Especially keep Victor in your prayers as he is the key leader among the group.

I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful time with your families and friends during this holiday.  I am thankful for so much! For each of you who take the time to follow along with the  ministry here and pray together for God’s Kingdom to grow in the hearts of the Dominican urban poor. I am thankful for the many volunteers who come and work alongside us. I am thankful for SBC churches who generously give to support missions both at home and internationally.  And of course, I am thankful for my family and friends who make life special!

This has been a “blah” sort of week- I have had a touch of the flu and we have had cold (relatively speaking of course) rainy weather.  Tuesday night we had a good time in Los Santos and had our first “business” meeting after the Bible study.  I am excited about plans for the future. 

Today I won’t be celebrating with turkey and the trimmings- I will be working as usual with a worship service out at Villa de Yaque in the afternoon. One neat thing is they have invited Sol, the lady who leads music in Los Santos, to come with me to lend them a helping hand. I see that as a healthy development! 

But lest you feel sorry for me, tomorrow I will be celebrating with friends and turkey. A group from Villa de Yaque wanted to help me celebrate our special day and I am very thankful for their thoughtfulness and friendship! Our menu will be sort of Dominicanized but we will have the turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie for sure!

Thanks again for your friendship, your prayers and support! May God bless you as you are a blessing to others!

Over 34 people gathered today on my patio to hear Pastor Manolo teach what the Bible says about tithing and giving offerings.  From what I could tell, all were encouraged and excited with what they learned.  All three missions/churches were represented and I saw them talking among themselves about steps they need to take as church.  Here are some things you can pray with us about:

• for each church to begin to bring their tithes and offerings faithfully each Sunday
• for each church to elect a trusted person to be the treasurer of the church
• for God to call at least two people from each church to attend the seminary which starts the end of January
• for each church to work together to have the resouces to send a group to the national Baptist Convention in January
• for each church to develop a mission heart which leads them to minister to their community and surrounding areas

Tonight, just after we finished the conference, we had Youth Group in Los Santos with about 29 present. Each one received a New Testament and were eager to learn how to use it which was a little chaotic. I have to say, it is a rough group to teach- behavior is a challenge compounded by a group of children that surounds the church- those of you who have been there know there are no walls. This is a great metaphor for the church but can be very distracting! Pray God will grant me more patience and that the youth will learn to pay attention. But most of all, give God thanks for these young people who are spending Saturday in the church! Pray that they would grow in faith and obedience!

I just finished reading this book and want to tell you about it. it is written by Steve Saint, whose father was one of six missionaries killed by the Auca in the jungles of Ecuador. His perspective of missions is truly unique in that he is the son of a martyred missionary, grew up in the jungles, has been a successful businessman and is now living and working among the Auca people.

His reflections on missions is basically what we all know: a professional “missionary force” can not possibly win the whole world to Christ- it is the task of every church, every believer to reach people for Christ.

I really appreciated his treatment of dependency - as you all know that is a constant struggle for us. How to use the bountiful resources God has given us in a way that truly helps rather than hurts.  If you have wondered about those issues, or maybe never really understood what I was talking talking about, I encourage you to read this book, or at least chapters 3 and 7. 

Another issue he raised that really intrigues me is the idea to help create tools for the people to win their own people. In my context, it may be helping them prepare themselves for better employment, using technology that is within their budget restraints. I couldn’t help but think of Dwight Hedges, who designed a basic sound system for use here for about $150 that weighs only 30 pounds and is easy to move around. It would fit on any scooter! 

I encourage you to look at this book and let God help you dream of how you can be a part of fulfilling the greatest commission!

I went back to the doctor on Tuesday with Juana- we went to see a Urologist.  He evaluated her case and feels strongly that the pain she is suffering from is from “bridas” which I think is adhesions in English. What he described is that often after the type of surgery she had several years ago, the intestines and “stuff” can grow together and as they ball up the cause pain. He prescribed a high fiber diet and feels that within two weeks she will begin to feel a lot better. Let’s pray for that to happen.

I have shared with you often my frustration at the medical care for the poor and this is just another example. They have spent thousands of pesos they didn’t have going in circles, doing one test and study after another, without ever even looking for the cause.  This doctor came recommended to me by my own doctor and is obviously knowledgable and conscientous. He did say that she has kidney damage from the past, but that there is nothing to be done about it but there is no need to worry because her kidneys are functioning normally. 

Pray for Juana to find rest and peace. She has suffered a lot of pain and the stress that results from that along with not knowing the cause. All these doctors who have told her she needed to remove her kidney have only increased her anxiety. Now that she has heard a differing opinion, pray she can find some tranquility of mind and allow the diet to take effect.

This Saturday Pastor Manolo, president of our Baptist convention, will be here at the house to lead a conference on stewardship.  The group from the three missions who went Saturday to the culto unido heard him make several announcements about convention plans and were invited to the Convention in January.  Needless to say, they are really excited with the news and want to go to the convention.  I am really pleased with this development; it is so important that these three emerging churches identify with the larger Dominican Baptist family. Pray for this time they will spend with Pastor Manolo and continue to pray for wisdom in bringing them to maturity as churches.

One of the biggest steps of spiritual maturity is learning to tithe and give offerings to the church.  Pray for Pastor Manolo as he leads, pray for the leaders from Los Santos, Villa de Yaque and The Hole, that they would be moved to obedience in this aspect of the Christian faith.

The conference is this Saturday at 3pm.

It has been a wet week! But the sun is out today so hopefully we will be able to dry out. I am loving the “winter” weather- in the 80s during the day and dipping down to 75 at night.

Tuesday night we had a good group at Los Santos- we didn’t have a bible study exactly but we talked about some plans and I tried to help them get a vision for the future. I think they are planning a Christmas event and we are talking about getting a children’s program ready for the new year. Please continue to keep this group in your prayers.

• Orlando- needs to reconcile with a neighbor before he gets baptized (his decision not ours)
• Christian- has a very conflictive family and is seeking tranquility at home
• Gabriel- one of the young men who was baptized and has remained steady in attendance, that he might grow in his faith.
• That God would lead at least two people to enroll in the Baptist Institute to train themselves in Christian leadership

Yesterday it rained ALL day so we didn’t have youth meeting in the Hole. Those of you who have been there know it isn’t the best place to move around when there is lots of mud and water.  But there are some positive developments in our ministry there. Mirian and Jose, who live close to the Hole, are going to begin a visitation program with Victor and Paula on Friday evenings. Please keep them in your prayers as they start tomorrow. 

This Sunday we will have worship services at 2:30pm instead of 6:30pm in the Hole with the hopes of overcoming some of the obstacles that have kept people from attending. Please be in prayer for this time. 

We met in the dark last night in the Hole, and as you see below, many parts of the city are without electricity. I can’t help but think that the city in darkness due to the lack of power is illustrative of the spiritual darkness that envelops it!

3. Blackouts redux
A new wave of blackouts is hitting residents of the Dominican Republic’s larger cities. Many parts of Santiago experienced 18-hour power cuts and Santo Domingo suffered two major blackouts over the weekend. This comes after a period of relatively stable energy supplies, at least for the areas where the bill payment rate is high. According to Hoy newspaper, the power outages were caused by problems in the CDEEE’s transmission lines. Last Wednesday, a failure in the 169,000-volt transmission link to the Haina generation facility shut down five substations and left the areas around the Maximo Gomez and Luperon Avenues in the dark. Late on Friday most of Santo Domingo was blacked out lasting into the early hours of Saturday morning, as EdeSur reported failures in the 138,000-volt and 69,000-volt lines from Haina. These failures resulted in seven sub-stations going dark. Santiago’s La Informacion newspaper reports that the entire city is experiencing blackouts lasting between 16 and 18 hours, but the local distributor EdeNorte has not given reporters any explanation. The recent 5.8% price hike is provoking even more disgust among the clients.