Dominican Update
July 2007
Rick and Suzanne York, Missionaries

8 Baptisms Highlight Work in La Romana!!

The church in La Romana was blessed on Sunday, June 25th, when 8 new believers were immersed into Christ. It was, as you can imagine, a joyous occasion. Several of the people baptized were the direct result of the English as a Second Language classes that were started in the church this past year. The students have English classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and also have the Bible Study Network classes on Mondays! The church just had a graduation concert with the church full.  A new Bible study group starts July 9, Lord willing. Yudermy Cabrera, Victor’s wife, is heading up the English program and Gregory Stephens is the main teacher.

Mother’s Day Photos!

Mother’s Day is the last Sunday in May in Latin America and is second only to Christmas! This year the church did a photo outreach project where we offered free family photos with Mom after church on May 27th. Even though Rick is not a professional photographer by any means, his new digital camera takes pretty good pictures. We were also able to use frames that were brought by the Erie Christian Church work team and so each Mom got a beautiful, framed picture of her and her family. For many of the ladies in the church it is the first family picture they have ever had!

Sexual Purity Workshop

        One of the real critical social problems in the Dominican Republic is teen pregnancy. La Romana has one of the highest percentages of teen pregnancies related problems in the country. The church wants to present a Biblical viewpoint on sexual purity so a three-day workshop was prepared and presented in June. Attendance was very good, with over 100 on two of the three evenings. Doctors, social workers and psychologists participated along with Terry Green, Youth Minister from Erie, IL as we dealt with the physical, social and spiritual ramifications of teen sexuality and the real need for purity. Each one of the teens signed a commitment card and received a white purity bracelet to serve as a reminder of their promise to God to remain pure. This is just another example of the church trying to impact the community that we live in.

Summer Work Teams from the United States!!

        Three work teams are planned for this summer. Erie Christian Church from Erie, IL came at the end of May for 10 days. They stayed in Dominican homes and worked on a variety of projects. There were lots of tears as they prepared to go back to Erie and  the folks in La Romana really enjoyed their visit. The team spent several days on scaffolding cleaning and painting the church. They also brought and installed 8 spotlights for the church stage. The spotlights will get their first big workout at the Bible Study Network Celebration on June 30 with a concert and dramas. The lights can be coordinated with the music to change according to the beat of the songs so it should be a real show!
        We have a youth team coming in July and an adult team coming in August from New Hope Christian Church in Roanoke, VA. These are their first trips to the Dominican Republic. The youth team will be leading a 3-day camp with the youth from La Romana and two, two-day VBS outreaches in the community. The adult group will be helping reconstruct a playground at a special needs school here in town we work with and also working on the school building that belongs to one of the church members in La Romana. Please pray for the teams and for energy levels for all the Dominicans working with them. It’s very hot and humid right now so that saps the teams’ strength pretty quickly and they really have to pace themselves as they work. 

Franklin and Ilonka in Punta Cana!!!

We’re excited to report that Franklin and Ilonka have just moved to Punta Cana! The Lord is opening doors and we are sure that He has great things planned for that new work. We were able to locate a nice apartment for them in the center of Pueblo Bávaro, the largest middle-class neighborhood in the area. Signing a contract to rent a place can sometimes be a long, drawn out process here but we met recently with the owner, who is an evangelical Christian from Santo Domingo and he was very happy to rent the apartment to a new pastor and family and everything was signed and the keys turned over in about ten minutes, which has to be a record here!
        Please pray earnestly for Franklin and Ilonka and their two children, Christopher(7) and Alondra(4 months) as they move a long way from home and begin this missionary journey. We’re eager to see how the Lord opens doors for this new ministry.

Summer Intern Learning the Ropes!!

        We have enjoyed having Andrew Butz from Cincinnati Christian University here this summer. Andrew came in January with a team from CCU and felt the Lord leading to return this summer and see where the Lord is leading in his life. Andrew has a very strong interest in an area that we feel very strongly about, getting a church camp/conference center started in the eastern section of the country. The camp that many of you know about in Salcedo, is about 6 hours from the eastern section of the country and is really difficult and costly for the churches east of Santo Domingo to use. Andrew has a lifelong and history of working in church camps and is really feeling lead to possibly come and lead in this prospective ministry. Pray for him as he returns to CCU for his last year of college and especially pray for guidance from the Lord.

Time Line for the Future!

        No one can predict the future. That being said, the Bible is clear that planning for the future is wise and so as we examine the next few years, we have begun to make tentative plans for the work in the Eastern Dominican Republic. We are planning to retire from full-time mission work in September of 2013. That sounds like a long way away but it is approaching very quickly. We have established a few goals that we want to share with you as we begin planning for this transition:

• We hope to have another American family join us by September 2010 to begin assuming our role as lead missionaries in the mission work.
• We will have the churches in La Romana, Punta Cana and the eastern section of Santo Domingo organized and functioning with national leadership by 2010, with new church plants planned for 2 other cities in the east.
• We will have a camp/conference center project underway, with property purchased and construction started by 2011.
• We will spend part of 2013 visiting churches and transitioning support from us to the mission team in place by then.

Our hope is that our retirement will be a smooth transition from our leadership to those that will take our place and lead the mission on to bigger and greater dreams in the future. We will continue to own our apartment here so we will be here part of the year after we retire, especially in the winters. We’re seriously considering volunteering to serve as interim missionaries for other missionaries on furlough that would need someone to take their place for a few months. We’re praying for guidance and we’re excited to see how the Lord will open doors in the years to come.

Family News

        Suzanne and Rick celebrated their 33rd anniversary on May 25th! We’ve also been celebrating birthdays with Laurie(25) on April 4, Suzanne on June 16 and Ryan, our son-in-law on June 24th. Emily and Rick celebrate their birthdays on July 3rd. Emily will be 28 and Rick will somewhat older than that! Emily and Ryan are job searching and have interviews or possibilities from Seattle to New York and maybe overseas. Laurie is working for a non-profit job training and placement organization in New York City and enjoying it. She’s also joined the local Garden club in her section of Manhattan.