One of our missionary kids here in the DR has Dengue fever. Matthew Wagner lives in Santo Domingo. His family also work among the urban poor in the capital. He is a very sick young man at the moment. He is at home under a doctor’s care. Please keep him and his parents and brother and sister in your prayers as they nurse him back to health.
Please pray for this fellow missionary. He is part of our Agape mail ministry.
American Missionary Kidnapped in Haiti
Oct 17, 7:38 PM (ET)
By STEVENSON JACOBS
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Kidnappers seized a U.S. missionary as he left his church in northern Haiti and demanded a $5,000 ransom for his release, U.N. officials and relatives said Tuesday.
The Rev. Pritchard Adams III, a 24-year resident of Haiti, was kidnapped Sunday night in the northern town of Cap-Haitien, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaze said.
Four men grabbed Adams, his wife and a Haitian groundskeeper as they left Adams’ church, Blaze said. The kidnappers drove the three to a secluded area, released Adams’ wife and the groundskeeper and sped off with Adams.
Adams’ mother, Lucy Adams, said the kidnappers contacted her son’s wife and demanded $80,000 for his release. They later lowered the demand to $5,000.
The kidnappers allowed her son to speak with his wife but insisted he speak in Creole so they could understand, Lucy Adams said by phone from her home in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
“He said they (the captors) weren’t mean and ugly to him. He wasn’t harmed in any way,” she said.
Lucy Adams said officials from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti and the FBI have been in contact with her daughter-in-law, who was arranging to pay the ransom.
“She just sent me an e-mail saying ‘please pray for us because we’re going to take the money to a certain spot and later on they’re going to release them,’” Lucy Adams said from Fayetteville, N.C.
Lucy Adams said her son went to Haiti when he was 26 to work as principle of a Christian school. He later moved to Cap-Haitien to become a missionary, running his first church out of a World War II medical tent.
Foreign missionaries have recently become targets for kidnappings, which flourished in the aftermath of the February 2004 revolt that toppled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Though kidnappings are common in Haiti’s violent capital of Port-au-Prince, the crimes have been rarer in the outlying provinces.
Whew! It never ceases to amaze me what God can do though us, however unworthy we may be. The team that is here has several folks who have never done this sort of thing before, they are from different churches and a few even from different States. We were short a translator this morning. It rained and we had all kinds of mud issues to deal with. And yet…
In less than thirty minutes we had set up our “clinic” and “pharmacy” and during the day we treated over 110 patients and dispensed the corresponding medicines.
I felt great hearing comments about the positive impact the church has made in Villa de Yaque, several people expressing interests in coming and participating more in our Bible studies. Please pray with us that this touch of love in Jesus’ name will lead some to seek Him in a genuine, life-changing manner.
The team went “home” (hotel) tired but happy. From my perspective, it was a tremendously succesful first day and I expect each day will be better than than the day before. Please remember that our “successes” rest on your prayers and we are so grateful for all the support we have received.
Tomorrow we will be going to Guayacanal. Remember this is one of our new mission sites. We will be using the covered slab as our clinic site- this is where we have our Bible studies every Thursday. I don’t know how many people to expect because I don’t know how many work during the day, etc. Remember Victor (whose house we use) and Luis Manuel (our only baptized believer) in your prayers as they assist us. One neat thing is Luis Manule’s step father is helping us translate and he is really excited and wanting to learn more about the church and participate more. PTL!
I talked to the director the Civil Defense today and he has gotten permission to use a school for our clinic site on Thursday. That will be so cool! I haven’t worked with him and he is taking the lead on organizing things along with Jouquin, a Baptist layman that is leading an outreach Bible study in this community. Pray for each of them as they work together that things will be done in a way that brings glory to God.
What a joy to meet so many wonderful people! All 8 of our volunteers arrived safely today and with all their luggage. They came on three different flights so I spent a good amount of time going back and forth to the airport!
Please keep us in your prayers as we worship tomorrow with the folks at Villa de Yaque and The Hole and remember Sol as she leads the service in Los Santos. Salvador will be preaching there and I pray it will be a wonderful time of worship and hearing God’s Word. The team will be seeing the clinic sights and getting organized for what lies ahead. It is my hope that they will attend 800-1000 patients during the 6 days of clinic which is a pretty big task! Pray for our translators as they prepare to be away from their regular routines to be with us, for Pepin as he travels from Santo Domingo and for Johnny as he prepares to translate for the first time.
I am so at peace with this project and feel so hopeful for the outcomes. Pray with me that all that God has in store for us and for the communities will be realized.
The season has changed. You might not think we have a “fall” here in the tropics but we do, of sorts. The days are shorter, and the temps are more bearable. I still am anxiously awaiting my time in New England in November to really enjoy some brisk temperatures, but I am happy for our change of seasons, even though it is from hot to not quite as hot.
Here is a quick update on what has been going on the past few days as I get ready for the medical project next week…
I finally completed out team of four translators- it has been a struggle because of school. Most of our translators are students so to work all day during the week is impossible and to have translators coming and going would be hard too since we will be hosting clinics in not so easy to reach locations. Johnny is Luis Manuel’s step father. He has not spoken English for a while but I think he will come up to speed in a hurry. Pray for him as he translates and also that he might sense God’s love and respond in faith!
We had good Bible discussions last night in Las Charcas and Guayacanal. We had a TON of people at the second place- lots of youth and children and a strong group of adults too. I am so impressed with the response of that community. Please be praying that we can work to solidify a group of believers to form a church that will minister there in Guayacanal.
The team arrives tomorrow! There are still lots of details to take care of… I have my list and am working to check off all those “to do” items!
We had a wonderful Bible study last night in Villa de Yaqu. We examined the Disciple’s Personality and looked at how many times we leave the door open, even if just a teeny teeny bit, to our old life and unfortunately never claim in full the promises of God because we allow sinful habits to infect us. Our discussion led into some cultural practices in regards to marriage; we have two couples considering getting legally married. Pray for them as they deal with some of the issues surrounding this decision. I was encouraged to be part of a group of people struggling to apply the Word of God to their lives in a most fundamental manner.
I went on to Navarrette afterwards, even though it was as dark as could be with rain clouds. I had a good visit with Mercedes and Minerva about the future of our work there. It seems there are a number of Christians in the community that want a church there in the community. I am pleased to see how God is bringing us all together. It raises a concern for me in that as a SBC missionary, I am called to plant Baptist churches. We have a Dominican Baptist Convention with whom we relate and work with as partners and all of my works relate to them and I am careful to have our pastors and convention leaders know the leaders of our new churches. Recently, three communities have popped up for me to help plant churches with Christians from different denominations. Because of economic realities, they find themselves far from their church. Pray with me as we seek to find God’s will in establishing churches in these communities- all of which are without any evangelical church presence- overcoming any difficulties presented by different denominational loyalties!
I want to ask you to be in prayer for the team of folks that arrive Saturday. We are all working on last minute preparations. In the midst of the busyness, it is important that we allow God to work in our hearts to prepare us for whatever special work he has planned.
–First time missions trip for Mary Brown, Toria Hoke, and Debbie Pannebaker
In addition to these folks, we have our translators, (I am still looking for one or two more.) a Dominican doctor fresh out of school (Noelia, a member of one of our churches), plus the folks who will help with the registration, crowd control, and evangelism. Please keep us all in your prayers!
They will be hosting clinics every day in our different ministry sites. They have received various donations to help us distriubute 200 mosquito nets which is so important with our current dengue outbreak. They also are putting together hygiene kits to give to those who come to the clinic. I believe this will be a special touch of God’s love for the people and I pray they will receive it as such.
Please keep the director of the Civil Defense in your prayers as well. His name is Francisco. I am praying God will draw Him to Himself and that he will become a great instrument in Kingdom work here in the DR.
I apologize for not updating my blog this past week. These past few weeks I have struggled to update regularly, but I am sure it is only a temporary thing! I had my brother and sister-in-law here with me Wednesday through Sunday morning. It was their first visit to the DR. It was great to be able to show them my ministry and also take in some of the beautiful sites of the Cibao. We visited the barrios where I work and met the brothers and sisters in Christ in each place as well as spending a day in Jarabacoa, taking in the beautiful mountains and waterfalls. Saturday we made the trip over to Sosua and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the beach.
Sunday: The folks at Villa de Yaque met on their own because I was at the airport. We had our regular services in the Hole and Los Santos. Our attendance was down (we had a heavy rain in the late afternoon which probably had something to do with it). But our regulars were present. We are being challenged by God’s word to go deeper and not be satisfied with just a superficial relationship with Christ. Pray for us as we seek to encounter God in such a way to be forever transformed!
What makes today special? Well, for one thing, today is my and Rosanna’s birthday (Pastor Ortiz and Ingrid’s daughter)! My birthday seems to come closer together than they used to, although for Rosanna (who is 6 today) they take an eternity to get here! Must have something to do about age. What will happen today? I have much to do in getting ready for our medical project next week. The team arrives Saturday. And late this afternoon I will enjoy a birthdfay dinner with my friends in Villa de Yaque. We will celebrate Carolina’s birthday too (hers was the 5th). Tomorrow night I will celebrate with Ortiz’ family and Pastor Nicolas’ family, who has a birthday tomorrow.
I was interested to observe some events that have happened on this day in our past whic hI have included below.
This Day In History…
On October 9
1002 Leif Erikson landed on North America.
1635 Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, was banished from Massachusetts because he had spoken out against punishments for religious offenses. Williams had founded Providence, Rhode Island as a place for people to seek religious freedom.
1701 The Collegiate School of Connecticut was chartered in New Haven. The name was later changed to Yale. 1858 Mail service via stagecoach between San Francisco, CA, and St. Louis, MO, began.
1888 The public was admitted to the Washington Monument for the first time.
1919 The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series. The win would be later tainted when 8 Chicago White Sox were charged with throwing the game. The incident became known as the “Black Sox” scandal.
1936 The first generator at Boulder Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles, CA. The name of the dam was later changed to Hoover Dam.
1974 Oskar Schindler died in Frankfurt, Germany. Schindler is credited with saving the lives of about 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.
1983 Helen Moss joined the Brownies at the age of 83. She became the oldest person to become a member.
1985 The hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered after the ship arrived in Port Said, Egypt.
1986 The musical, “Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, opened in London.
1994 The U.S. sent troops and warships to the Persian Gulf in response to Saddam Hussein sending thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks toward the Kuwaiti border.
2001 Prosecutors in Miami, FL, announced that they would seek a prison sentence if O.J. Simpson was convicted in his road rage trial. Jury selection began for the trial just after the announcement.
I shared in an earlier blog about the ups and downs of ministry. I had a visit this morning and heard about some of our faithful ladies (who should know better) participating in a cultural festival to San Miguel, which is really a very thinly disguised satanic festival. It hurts to see Chist followers make poor decisions and even more so when those decisions reflect so poorly on the church as a whole! That was part of my “valley” experience, wondering if anything we are doing is really making a difference.
Tonight I had a surprise visit from Sol. I had shared earlier about helping her get started selling bedspreads. I loaned the initial money to make the sample and then things sort of fizzled for a while. On our trip to Haiti a few weeks ago I gave her a pep talk to get going even if the other guy (the salesman) was taking forever to get started. Well, she called tonight to bring me the 2,000 pesos I had loaned her! And to show me the new glasses she had bought. (She has been struggling with the required reading for seminary because she needed glasses.) Apparently she has made several sales and has several orders. I was so thrilled, not to get the money back but to see her making progress, and having the money to take care of her needs. Wow, that is a thrill!
And on top of that, the Mother’s Club we visited a few weeks back visited church last Sunday and were thrilled. One of our pastors who is a gifted preacher and one of the professors at the seminary was there as our invited speaker. Now these ladies want to participate in the church!. My hope is to have a new mid-week bible study in their community (which is the next one over from Los Santos) so we can reach more from that sector, and have them come for worship at the church in Los Santos (they are just a 7 or 8 minute walk from the church!) We are going to re-visit with them on Sunday to begin making plans!
So, just when you take two steps back, God pushes us forward a few steps. What is the lesson in all of this? Faithful obedience- not allowing apparent failures to deter us (discourage us, of course, but defeat us, no way!) and trusting God to accomplish His purposes, celebrating all the little victories along the way. So, I am thankful to see Sol getting her sewing business off the ground, buying her new glasses to study better, and thankful for this new group of ladies who want to study God’s word and be a part of a church family! Yeah!!!!
