Dominican Update
February 2007
Rick and Suzanne York

Greeting:

Dear Friends in Christ,
          Suzanne and I send our greetings to you once again from the warm and sunny Dominican Republic.

          There is lots of news to report in this newsletter and we are very encouraged by the way the Lord’s hand is moving in this part of the country. We expect great things to continue to happen in this ministry in the next few years.

New Truck Purchased and Van Stolen!

          We were able to purchase a new 2006 Mitsubishi truck for the mission work in October. Friends and supporting churches, many of whom had ridden in the back of the old Chevy truck, responded to the need for a new truck and we were able to pay cash for the truck. Thank you.  It is a real work truck and has already been put to good use hauling materials for projects and people for church! We had 29 people in the back last Sunday evening and it rode very smoothly!
          We’re using both the new truck and the old truck that the church now has to help transport people home after church. The church van was stolen in November. Victor was at a PTA meeting at school and the van was stolen off the street, in broad daylight! To make the story more interesting, the van was spotted in Santo Domingo a couple of weeks ago, still with the same license plate and church name on the side! The police are investigating, we hope, and perhaps the church will get it back.  Transportation is difficult and becoming increasingly dangerous at night, so providing safe transportation for the church has become a necessity.

Extreme Home Makeover

          If you have seen the TV program about home makeovers you will understand all of the work involved in redoing a home. We hosted a team from the Northeast Christian Church in Louisville that built a new home from the floor up for one of the families in the church in La Romana. Amable Rodriguez and his three daughters, Paula, Nairobi, and Raquel, were in desperate need of a new home. The one they had been living in for years was made completely of tin roofing and was in pretty bad shape. The team sent funds ahead and we were able to get the footing and floor poured before they got here in November. They laid the block and got the roof on in just one week! Lots of effort and prayers went into the project and we were able to later plaster and get all of the electricity and plumbing installed and they now have a lovely two-bedroom home and indoor plumbing for the first time in their lives! Thanks Northeast! 

Planning for the future in La Romana.

Guiding a new church work to self sufficiency is one of the very delicate and difficult parts of being a missionary. Funding is still needed for the new work in La Romana, which is less than 4 years old, but when we met with the Board of Directors from EDCM in September, we began to plan for the church to reach that goal in a few years. The board was great in helping us set in motion a plan to reduce US funds for La Romana and set goals for growth and stewardship for the La Romania church to reach by 2011. The leadership team has discussed this and agreed that it’s a very healthy goal for the church to aim for.

DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?

          One of the exciting outreaches that the church in La Romana is using is English as a Second Language. Gregory Stevens and Yudermy Cabrera oversee this ministry. Gregory has developed a teaching style that is very popular and since starting the classes at the church, over 200 people are taking classes each week. They also offer the Bible Study network on Monday evenings to students and about 80 are attending with several church members doing the teaching. It’s a blessing to see so many interested in studying the Word. The English classes also provide very positive promotion for the church in the neighborhood! 

Punta Cana News
There is so much news regarding this new church plant that it’s hard to know what to choose to share. We don’t want to overwhelm you with information, but let’s just say that the Lord is moving in many different ways to see that this church gets started. Here are the highlights:

• The First Christian Church in Tarpon Springs, FL has become the sponsoring congregation for this project and we thank them for their vision and support!
• Franklin and Ilonka Toribio, along with their son, Christopher, are planning to move to the Punta Cana area, hopefully by July 2007 We have started a Wednesday Bible study in one of the neighborhoods and we spend each Wednesday exploring and getting to know the area.
• We have made connections at a local clinic run by a non-profit organization that would welcome medical and dental teams.
• We have made contact with one of the local primary schools that needs and welcomes help from any church group interested in helping a public school with very basic school supplies.
• Every week we make more and more contacts and find people that are really interested in what we are doing. This is a relatively new area, less than 30 years old, so most people that live there are not from there. That means that they are more open to change and more open to the gospel message.

Because of the tremendous growth in the area, land prices are sky rocketing and a good price is $100 US per square meter. An acre has 4400 square meters so an acre would cost $440,000!! We have found a housing development called Pueblo Bávaro that will sell us a piece of land that is 2756 square meters at $47.50 US per meter, less than half the going price. We’re praying very hard that the Lord will provide for this need and would ask that you pray and also help however you can. The total price is around $131,000 and we’re sure, if it’s the Lord’s will, the funds will be made available. The owners will sell it and finance at this price if we can make a substantial down payment of about $70,000 US.

 NEW ADDRESSES!!

The mailing address that reaches us here in the Dominican Republic has changed to:

 Rick and Suzanne York  DMG # 14772
Agape Flights
100 Airport Avenue
Venice, FL  34285

          Our e-mail is changing because Verizon just sold out to another company so effective immediately our e-mail is: ryork@codetel.net.do
Many of you may recognize that as our old e-mail address!

          Our mailing address for contributions stays the same at:
Eastern Dominican Christian Mission
Rt. 2 Box 266
Clinton, IL  61727

FAMILY NEWS

          It’s hard to believe that our daughter Emily and her husband Ryan are getting ready to celebrate their first anniversary on March 4! How time flies! They are living and working in Medford, Oregon and enjoying life in the Northwest United States. We’ll see where the Lord and job markets lead them in the future!
          Laurie got a new job in the city government in New York City in November. She works for the Small Business Services Administration and has learned a lot in her first few months on the job. She is thinking about starting graduate school in the next year or so and we’ll see where that leads her.
          Suzanne and I continue to do well. I’ve been watching my weight and have lost about 25 pounds, which in turn lowered my cholesterol levels way down! Suzanne has been bothered by a bone spur on her left heel, but it is responding to treatment. Other than that, we’re in pretty good shape!
          We’ll need all of our energy for this year’s work. The calendar is filled with activities, conferences, and work teams coming from the US churches that support the work here so we’ll be on the go a lot of the time!

As always, thanks for your prayers for us and for the work here. Please continue to lift up the church in La Romana and the new church plant in Punta Cana. We do appreciate your help and your support!