August 9, 2008

Dear Friends,
More than a month has come and gone since our last correspondence to you. The time has been full of positive steps that foster growth in the local congregations here in the eastern Dominican Republic. We are increasingly pleased with the quality of the eldership in La Romana. They have made decisions and suggestions to the congregation and are daily earning its respect. They, together with the congregation, have decided to begin a “preaching point” or “satellite congregation” in the Pica Piedras area of La Romana. It is on the west side of La Romana and quite a distance from the Central Mutualista where the “mother congregation” meets. They will take turns preaching there on Sunday evening and will pay the rent on a small building. We’ll see where the Lord leads!
July 27th is Father’s Day here and the church ladies and youth prepared a wonderful meal and fun activities for the men of the church and guests. There were prizes for the oldest father, youngest father and father with the most children. As the La Romana congregation matures spiritually, it also continues to grow. There have been 2 more conversions in the past two weeks. Praise the Lord!
At present the congregation is hosting representatives of the Starfish Foundation. It was founded by Mike and Beth Searcy from Louisville, KY, in order to equip children and teens for the school year. In Latin America in general there is an extremely high drop-out rate among young children, partly because the family needs the income that the child can produce shining shoes or ironing clothes, or because the family cannot afford the shoes, uniforms, supplies and books that are required for all of their children to attend school. Mike and Beth raised donations to help 26 children last year and are expecting to help many more this year. The Sunday school teachers worked together to prepare the way for Mike. They canvassed the many children (80-90) who are associated with the church either through Bible club, Sunday school, ESL classes or attend the public school nearest to the church, in order to assess their needs. The children are organized by neighborhoods and will all go shopping with Mike. They also bargained with a local store and got guarantee of a discount if they bought supplies for 30-40 children there. Our Dominican brothers and sisters are showing themselves to be “workmen who need not to be ashamed”. We are thrilled with their initiative.
Meanwhile, in Punta Cana, the construction on the parsonage has progressed greatly. Check the website www.easterndominican.com for recent pictures. A wonderful work team of 40 from Central Church of Christ in Streator, IL came to work in Punta Cana, twenty-two one week and eighteen the next. Chad Kennedy, the youth minister, stayed for both weeks as did we. Their participation helped to finish all the cement work inside and out (roof, plastering and floor). They also brought funds for the front gate that provides security and privacy. They ended the second week by painting the primer on the inside and part of the outside of the house.
Each member of the group brought personal funds to provide at least one child with his or her school shoes. Franklin and Ilonka matched each “Americano” with a school age
“Dominicano” who attends church and Bible club regularly and they all went shopping for shoes. The Streator group bought a total of 48 pairs of shoes.
They also hosted three days of games and activities including water balloons ? and then 4 days of VBS the second week. Many days there were over 100 children present and the temperature with the humidity factored in was also 100. There were about 20 children who won prizes for Bible memory work during the VBS days. It’s very gratifying to see the children memorizing scripture and involved in healthy activities instead of watching TV or fussing and fighting. Somehow they still had the energy to attend evening church services on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday where they sang and gave testimonies. Chad Kennedy and Tony Brown also preached. There were also two conversions at the church services during that time. Franklin and Ilonka are faithfully studying the Bible with those who make a decision for Christ. There were a lot of sad faces on August 5th when the second half of the team left for the airport.
As always we are grateful for your faithful support and your desire to partner with us as church planters in the eastern Dominican Republic. God bless you each and everyone!


In Christ,

Rick and Suzanne York
Missionaries with Eastern Dominican Christian Mission