Special Up-Date

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
        Happy New Year from the Dominican Republic. Suzanne and I pray that the Lord will bless you and your family all through this new year. We are both doing well and excited about the continuing growth of the work in the eastern part of the country.
        We just finished hosting an outstanding team of 15 from Cincinnati Christian University. Larry Travis, who is one of the Vice-Presidents of the school(and also an Eastern Dominican Christian Mission Board Member) lead the team with Prof. Rick Cherock. The team was especially open and eager to get to know their Dominican brothers and sisters. They worked hard and experienced life for a week here. They helped clean up the new church property in Punta Cana and held two packed VBS programs there. We are constantly amazed at the number of people who live within walking distance of the property there. Franklin and Ilonka, along with Ilonka’s Mom, Melania, did a great job hosting and taking care of the team while they were in Punta Cana! It was their first experience hosting an American team and they did great.       
        While the team was here we took advantage and had Larry, Rick, and Bro. Adumn Allen teach and preach on the Eldership in the local church. The next step in growth for the congregation in La Romana is the ordination of elders. There are four men in the church that are considering this calling, along with Victor Jimenez, the pastor. They are Eladio Vargas, Pascual Baltasar, Damian Morales, and Wandy Duverge. They are outstanding men and we’re so pleased to see mature men making this step. Please be  praying for them as they continue to study and meet together and walk through this process. We’re hoping to have an ordination service by July, Lord willing.
        Suzanne and I were able to visit our girls during the holiday season. We spent 5 days with Laurie in New York City and then traveled to Seattle to spend Christmas with Emily and Ryan, and Ryan’s family in Spokane. We drove in snow in both places and we remembered very quickly why we are living here!! It was a wonderful time. Laurie is doing well in New York, planning on going to Graduate school in the fall and has a serious boyfriend so we’ll see what this year brings for her. Emily and Ryan are really enjoying their move to Seattle this past fall. They live right downtown, within walking distance of a lot of things.
        This year shapes up to be one of our busiest yet. We have 8 teams coming to work on the project in Punta Cana plus a dental/surgical team coming in March for La Romana. Our big push this year in Punta Cana will be to get the parsonage and multi-purpose buildings done, Lord willing. We are buying a large tent that will hold about 150 people, that we plan to erect this month. The church should be able to use that to hold services in until the multi-purpose building is finished.
        Our biggest immediate need is to finish paying for the property in Punta Cana by the end of February. We’re making another partial payment of $10,000 on Wednesday and that will leave us a debt of $16, 865. The Lord is providing, as HE always does! We’re so thankful for faithful supporters and simply ask that you pray that this need will be met.
 
 
Thanks so much for your prayers and support. Have a wonderful year and keep in touch!
 
Rick and Suzanne York